NM Mooney

Thanks for the warm welcome. Hah! No, you're not wrong; that is a (pretty awful) typo. It's $13,000 not $1,300. I shouldn't be allowed to type without sufficient caffeine... It's two regular terms plus a summer term, if I'm understanding correctly (which would appear to be dubious at this point): here is the URL to their PDF of projected costs. But still the same deal: the certificate would pay for itself in no time, and evidently there's a shortage of good inspectors and some extended waiting times out here. So, just another LLC for my CPA to charge me extra at tax time. One thing I need to call CNM to talk about is the 'at home' course is $13,158, whereas 'off campus' is $20,536. I assume 'at home' is a term of art for on campus, but the terminology is a bit confusing, at least to me... Thanks again for catching that.

I am new to this forum, and am in the process of buying a 1963 M20C as a restoration project. It was so cheap that I'm almost embarrassed for the PO, but he's ready to let go of the plane, and the airframe looks solid with zero rust or visible corrosion, paint is decent (windscreen needs replacement, and I'll want to upgrade to a frameless version... anyone got a line on the parts? I'm headed out to do a compression check (prop turns freely with nice resistance on compression strokes), pull cockpit trim panels to check roll cage for corrosion (not bloody likely for a NM plane), scrutinize tanks, jack it up and test the retracting mechanism, etc., before finalizing the deal, so seems worth it via a labor/investment calculation. But ultimately, I'm one of those nuts who gets nearly as much out of tinkering as operating so this really isn't about finding the best deal. I will be simultaneously taking an A&P certification course, so I can do my own work and inspections as I go. The total cost of the FAA approved course at the local community college is $1,300 so that will pay for itself fairly quickly. Of course, when I pass the FAA exam, I'll be able to do inspections to pay for gas and hanger space, so seems like a nice way to spend the next couple of decades... Anyway, I am eager to pore over the threads on this forum and am sure I'll have many follow-up questions, but would greatly appreciate responses to my initial questions: has anyone successfully designed mods to the engine cowling, to ease R&R of the side and top panels--i.e., quick release latches similar to the Piper, et al. Same question re: lower cowling. I have some ideas (I engineer and sell CNC parts for British sports cars), but no need to reinvent the wheel if someone has already accomplished this, and (ideally) posted a DIY guide online somewhere; Would FAA approval of such a mod merely be a matter of the A&P inspecting and approving it? Or would the process be more involved, and agency-wide versus individual A&P discretion? I'm not familiar enough with the CFRs to know the answer; what about the best remote filter solution? Has anyone fitted the Airwolf option? cooling re #4 cylinder. Has anyone experimented with adding an NACA duct or some other method to boost cooling of what I understand is typically the hottest-running cylinder? Am I wrong about this being an issue? are there any other maintenance bears (I've read about several of the less-fun tasks unique to the cramped engine bay between the engine and firewall and underneath the sump) that people would put on their short list for good mods, since I'll be pulling the engine and basically going through everything, so I don't have to do stuff twice? Thank you for your help.