ttflyer

I'll just add that when we had to do this in February (airplane went out of annual during panel upgrade by 5 days), the local FSDO would have nothing to do with it even though I have a pretty long relationship with them for my day job. It's done online which was then sent to a local(ish) DER who sings off and sends us a bill - in our case $400. For something that the FAA used to do for free. Progress I guess... It took a couple of days. When the FSDO did it, I could do it in an afternoon.

Also, don't overshoot your field. We are used to the drag the gear gives us. If we leave it up, much less drag... Just something to think about. I'd rather "dig in" a bit in field then sail into whatever is at the opposite end of the field...

That's a very nice looking airplane. I have a "top of the market" (read over-upgraded) J. I love it and wouldn't trade but.... I kinda wish it had a J-bar....

Lot's of good bike rental shops in the places I take the Mooney! Also, I don't have to load a bike into an airplane!

I don't know... I kinda like the system we have. Having to call 1980Mooney and then all his neighbors to get permission to do traffic pattern work seems a bit unworkable. And there is NOTHING about China I would like to emulate... so there's that... We're actually all saying the same thing: WE have the best system in the world AND it's probably gonna get F$cked up sooner or later... Exactly how is the question. For my part, I'm glad to be alive now and not in 50 years. Things seem to be going downhill....

I'm not worried about AI taking my job (as a professional pilot) anytime in my lifetime. We are a LONG away from having that technology in the cockpit of a passenger plane. Heck, I fly one of the most recently designed biz-jets. And it's 25 year old technology at best... Airliners are almost all 40-50 year old technology. Even the 787 is old technology - and it has largely failed as a concept (lots of problems with "new" technology in airplanes). The technology isn't there for single or zero pilot airplanes and people aren't ready for it... Also, I assume that if user-fees are implemented, light GA would be excluded. The juice isn't worth the squeeze. But who knows. The government does seem to have a talent for doing REALLY stupid things...

Yeah, but that's not the whole story, is it? We all pay for lots of things through our taxes that we don't use. I have no children yet pay for local schools. I pay for highways I don't drive on. But I like living amongst educated people and Amazon brings me my stuff on those roads so... GA users benefit from a system that was designed for the airlines so they pay for the majority of it. Local communities benefit from having local airports so local communities pay for them. The whole country benefits from a robust aviation industry so the Federal Government subsides it. Airline passengers benefit from GA users using the "system" because it's safer for us to be on radar talking to ATC then flying around NORDO. The OP here was really making an argument for a "free" system for GA, not against it. That other aircraft had no excuse, even VFR, to not be talking to ATC and receiving flight following. If he had to pay for that service, he would have been even LESS likely to use it (rather then just being lazy which was probably the case). Had been talking to ATC, he would have been pointed out but since he was just a target, ATC was too busy to bother. And oh yeah: What's the biggest problem facing the airline industry right now? Labor. They need pilots and mechanics. Where do these people come from? GA. Killing GA through user fees would be about the most short sighted thing they could do. Which is probably why you haven't heard too much about it from the airlines lately...

This is more or less what I do as well. The way I think about it, when it's time to land the gear is the MOST important thing. So it's FIRST. When it's time to land I have to slow down. As I slow down below gear speed, I always put the gear down before I do anything else. Then flaps, pumps, prop etc... But the gear is my first action when it's time to land... Then obviously checked again on base and final with GUMPS. I'll also note that this is different then the way I fly a jet. But Mooneys and jets are different airplanes...

Kyle out at LASAR in Oregon. Seems to be the guru on these things. https://lasar.com/

I don't know what your specific problem is other then Garmin Database Manager is garbage. In our case, I have to clear the cache every time or it fails in the airplane (even though GDM says it completes fine). So... why doesn't Garmin just have the software clear the cache every time?.. Seriously. Send it to India and give a local 5 bucks and he could fix it I guarantee... BTW, try clearing the cache....

Just to close out this original thread... We sent the actuator off to be looked at and got a "there was nothing wrong with it" report back. Everything including the NBS were checked and completely normal. They completed a service bulletin of some kind and did replace the emergency extension pulley as there were some indications of wear there that weren't up to snuff. We put the actuator back in the airplane and it worked normally. Several flights later - no issues. We also had our mechanic replace the CB as it had been tripped many times in all this and is 35+ years old... I'm guessing it was an issue with the emergency extension engagement mechanism. But our mechanic said he checked that... Who knows. Anyway, it works now!

Thanks for that! That is exactly where we sent it. Good news - The actuator is fine. Like worked fine on the bench right out of the shipping box. Fully inspected and everything looked / worked as expected. So the issue is somewhere else - probably electrical. We'll get to chase that down when we get the actuator back...

Thanks for all the advice and tips! I found a guy who seems to know his way around these actuators who's willing to look at for us and let us know what he can do... I think having an expert look at is the first step...

So... It looks like we've had the worst case scenario happen with our gear actuator. My partner was flying last week and the gear failed to retract and popped the CB. Fortunately, the gear was down and locked. He landed normally. We just finally got it up and jacks and the landing gear actuator is locked up. Looks like a No Back Spring failure... It is an Eaton (Vickers) actuator. Any suggestions? Kinda at a loss about what to do next...

I'll just be the counter point here. I owned an extremely nice RV6 for four years before the Mooney. Built by a Vans factory test pilot. Full glass cockpit. Probably one of the nicest RV6s ever built. And I never felt comfortable in it. There was NO doubt that it was built in someone's garage. I got the distinct impression that it would crush like a beer can in any off-airport landing. It was fun to fly but had no mass and no inertia which made it a hand full in a gusty crosswind (it was a taildragger). It also had the glide ratio of a man hole cover when the engine quit... I'll take my Mooney any time... Yes, certified is more expensive. But I would argue safer for a verity of reasons. I would never go back to experimental...