Pinecone

Love how they show a single (looks like not a Mooney) on the downwind and short final. Then a King Air taxiing in. Then her walking from a Mooney.

As for oil change intervals, realize that full synthetic oils allow automobiles to triple the change interval. Old days, change oil every 3,000 miles. Modern oils and cars, oil change intervals over 15,000 miles. Unlikely aircraft engines will see this, but 2 or even 2.5 times would nice. If 100LL gets banned, I suspect the roll out to accelerate. And the nice thing about G100UL is, it can be blended and shipped by just about any refinery without needing segregation and dedicated trucks. And no special ingredients sourced from a single source world wide. So, if required and a market, a lot more sources and faster roll out. And remember, the US EPA is not the only thread to 100LL. The ONLY tetraethyl lead plant is in the UK, and could be shut down tomorrow due to mishap, fire, or government intervention. No TEL, no 100LL I can see the auto racing market as a good size add on based on those specs. 98 AKI unleaded race fuel is running over $8 per gallon at the track. And anything over 98 AKI is leaded. A lot of turbo cars would love to be able to have a supply of this fuel

You say you want to build time. Since you mainly fly the one trip, a slower plane means more hours. You really should buy a Champ or a J-3 Cub. That will push the trip closer to 6 hours each way, so in the same number of trips, you fly more than twice the hours. Now, if you want to TRAVEL, then you want to buy the Mooney. That one look nice. Whatever you do, do not start running the numbers for a 201/J or even worse, a 252/K. Especially the 252 if you plan on traveling out west in your later years.

I don't know. Do you? 14 minutes to melt the lenses is well within the range of serious damage leaving them on for the taxi. You don't need to get the melting point to warp the lenses. And they are $273 each to replace them. 137 minutes not so likely.

I have velcro strips on the front of the shroud for the fuel selector and under the cabin air/heat vent. What might them have been for? Maybe an air deflector to direct the air to the front seat area?

Also, cabin heat is a major place where CO comes into the cabin with an exhaust leak. You REALLY want to be able to turn it off.

"Don Maxwell Aviation along with a partner has purchased the STC from Jose and is currently putting kits together to be available by the end of the year. Our current run of kits will be a total of 30 and if you’re interested in purchasing a kit you can contact myself at Don Maxwell Aviation or Kellen Kester at (812) 240-6223." They do need to get their stories straight on the price.

Covers are probably polycarbonate, not polyethylene.

This was just asking each person to rate themselves as a driver. Whatever way they decided to rate themselves. The point is, most people rate themselves higher than the should be. Just based on that concept that only half can be average (the middle of the rating) or better. And this was from a street, safe driving program, not a track based program. And my experience with track driving for new drivers is NOT that they accelerate or brake hard, I look at basic driving skills. Can they put the car in the proper place on the track surface? Can they see what is happening ahead of them? Can they see where the track goes? Going fast starts with the basics, what they lack. Safe driving, most drivers are also bad. Actually, I see more inappropriate acceleration and braking there. Not looking ahead and see what is going on.

It seems they over drive their LEDs, leading to decrease in light over time and heating issues. Not sure, but enough I felt more comfortable with Whelan. I got whatever the latest and greatest ones.

I want two lists from a pre-buy. 1) Airworthiness items. Serious issues. These are used to decide yes/no and possibly to negotiate. 2) A list of all the little things so I have an idea of how to prioritize when and what gets fixed. I expect any used plane to have a number of issues that are not airworthiness issues. On the advice of my mechanic, I had the lifters checked. The seller ended up paying for new lifters.

I researched last summer. Too many flags about AeroLED, so I went with Whelan. LONG track record of aircraft lighting. And the Oshkosh sale helped. Finally flew them at night last month, and they are awesome.

Using laser engraving, of course.

I was that guy that had some symptoms, but remained functional until they gave up on me. This was in USAF UPT in a real chamber. I would hate to see how I do today with some asthma in my old age. I have a Mountain High O2D2 and typically go on O2 between 5,000 and 8,000 feet in the climb. While bringing my plane home, I was at 9,500 and feeling some mild hypoxia affects, so went on O2.

That can also be a function of rigging. I have been told that some experienced riggers, rig the ailerons to be slightly training edge up in cruise and that this increases cruise speed. No idea if this is correct. But mine are rigged that way (came that way to me).

If it met D910, then it would not need an STC. The 100 in 100LL is the aviation lean method. Yes, the required MON is 99.5. I have heard that is it 99.6 aviation lean. And that would mean it does not meet D910. Which is that is the only reason it doesn't meet D910, someone else will modify it slightly to meet the 100 aviation lean rating. I have heard that it doesn't meet some other part of D910.

For parts they fabricate, I am fine with them fabricating on demand. Less overhead. And while I did start by complaining about the price, However, I would think, if they have time, to make some stock parts based on the orders over the past few years. For parts they source from other companies, if they are not going to stock them (no-back spring for instance) that they open up the agreements to allow owners to order directly from the company that makes them. Or even, notify everyone that they are going to place an order and let everyone join in to reduce the cost by increasing volume. And do this at least annually.

Agreed. Those standards are based on developing a new area, so there is no status quo. A replacement or extension of a standard tends to need a proven product. And yes, how it plays out, especially WRT timing, will be whatever it is.

Formula 1 air racers did that, until Nemesis came out and showed that a longer wing was actually faster around the course due to turn performance.

I have a few test rockers from my friend. Who is interested in getting 1 or 2 to test? PM me name and address and I will send them out.

I agree. But the key is, you have to get some viable products out into the market to push the change in standards. You don't change the standard unless there is a good reason to do so. And GAMI is the first step in doing that. Swift 100UL will be another big step. If I buy the STC(s) now, and in 3 or 4 or whatever years, the STC is not longer required due to standards changes, I am fine with that. And there is no reason that the revised standard could not cover GAMI and Swift and any others that come along and work. And then we could just fill up with whatever UL 100 is in the tank at the airport where we landed. But that is years away.

Two things. 1) Be ready to act. Have your funds together. Maybe even a deposit already in the hands of a title/escrow service. 2) Be ready to walk away if there are issues. Don't start thinking of it being YOUR plane until it IS your airplane. I went through 4 airplanes before the one I bought. Some were issues with the planes. Some were issues with the seller/broker. One plane I put a deposit on had a questionable engine. I walked away. The plane is still on the market 8 months later.

I am all for supporting Mooney. And I did order the part through an MSC from Mooney. And yes, I have been around manufacturing, but still.....

IIRC, no, it is not the no lead thing that makes it not meet D910.