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Be prepared to walk A LOT, I mean really a lot. I went last year and averaged 8+ miles per day. Even being there all week, I didn't see it all so don't expect to it's much bigger than you realize, the scale can't really be described. If there's any way you can get a bike or a scooter to use there, do it.

LOL, I think they all would... I definitely would have a lot of wire lying on the floor of my cabin.

Just in general on zip ties, get yourself a pair of flush cutters to cut the tag end off. Regular diagonal cutters leave a very sharp end sticking out, I've been cut by a lot of them over the years. These are cheap and work really well. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087P191LP I have a pair that are only ever used on zip ties and other plastic. I've found that if you use them on other stuff they deform a little and don't cut as flush anymore.

I think this turned out pretty clean. I've got a round cover plate that will screw onto the inside piece to cover the hole up when I take the AC out. I'm still working on the plenum and ducts. My daughter and I are going to Durango for Father's Day though, so I wanted to get it into the plane for the trip, we'll just use the included hose this time. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

I'm still waiting on my battery because the first on got lost in shipping. In the meantime, I think I've worked out how I'm going to get the hose through the baggage compartment bulkhead. I'm going to make a piece that's flat in the baggage compartment and protrudes into the empennage that the exhaust hose can be pulled through. In the empennage, I'll have a backer plate that's got 4 holes in it threaded for #8 course wood screws so you can just screw the pieces together instead of through bolting them. This will allow one person to install this alone from the baggage compartment by reaching through the exhaust hose hole and holding the backing plate in place. Then just to make it easy, I'm going to make a cover plate that will screw directly into the piece inside the baggage compartment so when you pull the AC out, you can easily close the hole up. First picture shows all 3 pieces together, next 2 show the penetration and the backer plate. Now I've got to figure out a plenum and vent solution that will be unobtrusive.

It was a G200 that rolled into a Challenger. From what I understand, both are repairable. Both line guys checked that the pin was in the tug, it looked like it was but wasn't just enough to come loose. I talked to one of the line guys involved a few days after it happened and he was still not sleeping well. He's a good guy that's been there a while and very conscientious, stuff just happens sometimes. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

If finding the kit is the main reason you haven't done it, you might want to give Dugosh a call about the kit. I've seen David install at least 2 of these in the last year, he's got to be getting that kit from somewhere. He put one into an E in the last 2-3 months.

That's the SB I was referring to, thanks. I've seen a few of those installed in Cs and Es, it is really labor intensive, I want to say about a 40 hour job, most of which is spent on disassembly and assembly. The repair itself is probably only 4 or 5 hours of work, just because access is tight even with the floor out.

It's easy to be fearless when you're doing the work in Dugosh's hangar. The stuff isn't actually all that complicated but, I knew if I did get completely lost I had the resources I needed to get it out back together. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

I redid my panel at my last annual, it was a huge job. I've got a great relationship with my A&P/IA and they were willing to sign it off. It's really not all that complicated once you understand how it all interconnects, assuming you've got good technical aptitude. I'm mostly retired and like doing my own work mostly because it usually gets done faster than if I have to schedule someone else to do it and when scope creep pops up, and it always does with me, it's not really affecting someone else's schedule. It's also nice to know how everything works, I trust the airplane more now because I understand it all. There are 2 issues though, the first is obviously finding someone willing to sign it off. The other issue though, is that some avionics are only available to authorized dealers. I put G5s and an GPS 175 in my plane, if I'd wanted to do GI275 or G500 and a GTN, it would have been more difficult to get the equipment and STCs. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

Short answer, FAA. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

If anything happened, it's in the belly where the flaps attach. There's an AD or an SB to reinforce that area, I think it was an AD but could be wrong. If it's been done like it should've been, then you're probably OK. If not, you've probably cracked the mount. Either way, I'd have it looked at by someone that knows what they're looking for, you can see if it's been done or if it's damaged by removing a panel and using a flashlight but you need to know what you're looking for. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

I took pictures of my gauges when I got my JPI. It's got most of the markings on it. All they needed from me was the front cover of the owner's manual and the pictures. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

They didn't come with a POH back then, just an Owner's Manual that was about 6 pages and lacked anything of any real substance. I think most of us with older Mooney's have printed off the material C POH from the 70's models, it's much more complete. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

I took off from Carizzozo, NM last summer with a DA of 9k in my C. We were 400 below gross with a 5500ish foot runway. I took off about half way down and stayed in ground effect to the end of the runway to build speed, climb out was about 200FPM after I left ground effect. I had a big, wide valley to climb in and everything went as I expect/planned, it still gives you a little pucker though. I flew over towards the upwind side of the mountains surrounding the valley and caught an updraft that took my climb to 1500FPM. If you've got a good plan and enough room to climb, you can make it work. You can go up in the airplane to a DA that matches what you expect at the field to determine what your climb performance is like. My 1963 Operator's Manual is pretty thin on stuff like that. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

Thank you, that's who I was thinking of.

If it's convenient, stop at KMEI Key Field in Meridian, Ms. The Navy uses it for fuel and there's an ANG wing there so you're likely to see at least a T45 and probably an F18 on the ramp, I once got parked between the 2. KC135s are there often and there are some ANG cargo jets based there, I think C5s but I could be wrong. Add to all that, the FBO is awesome with a soft serve ice cream machine, popcorn and lunch all for free plus reasonably priced fuel. I always try to stop there on a long XC if I can. KMLU in Monroe is a good one along that route as well. It's used by Air Force and Army, I've seen Apaches and some of the USAF twin training jets there. Again, free ice cream and sodas, a great FBO with very nice crew cars and some really good food very close by. I don't remember what fuel prices were like there. I like the airports used by the military for training stops and fuel, they always have lots of nice extras so they can keep that government contract. Our tax dollars are paying for it all so, we might as well use it when we can. There's one in West Texas also, I think it has tacos, I can't remember which one it is though. Maybe someone else here knows.

I just bent a small piece of scrap aluminum that my IA had in the shop on the brake and drilled some holes in it. I had to play with the angle a little to get it level. I don't think it took me more than an hour to work it all out, there's really not much to it. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

I've got a C so I'm smaller inside than your J. My overhead is just eyeball vents and I don't have the knee vents the J does. Airflow into the cabin in the C is garbage compared to a J. I still love the plane though.

That's how you know you reached the best possible deal for everyone involved.

I was thinking something along those lines, hopefully done a little more compactly. We don't have a ton of head room in our Mooneys and that takes up a lot of overhead space. I have some ideas, just have to prototype them to see what actually works in practice. I don't know how I'm going to attach it to the ceiling, I think I'll try to use existing screws if I can model it to do that. I'm thinking of doing something that will use vents like this. I can probably model the thread into the plenum so they screw right into it without needing the backer.

It's nice and tight against the AC, I've just got to model the ribs up top so there's no need for a hose clamp or zip tie. It took 3 tries to get it as tight as I wanted. The ribs are modeled, printing that now to see if I got the taper right. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

My personal feeling is that the insurance companies are the real evil in the system. Before they got involved, 2 reasonable people could work out a reasonable solution. Since they've become so embedded in everything we interact with, attorneys have become a necessity. Without them, insurance companies would probably never pay a claim, no matter how valid. Having spent a lot of time with Plaintiff's attorneys, I think of them more like the police protecting us from being walked all over by insurance companies and huge corporations with deep pockets that would be able to just outspend the victim if there weren't attorneys working on contingency. They're not all good, and certainly not doing what they do out of altruism but, on the whole I think they do more right than wrong. The worst part of all of is that we still end up paying for the insurance company's bad acts in higher premiums, either directly or indirectly through higher costs of goods and services so those providers can pay their higher premiums. It's really no lose for them.

It always amazes me when insurance companies and/or businesses fight something like this. Seems like it would be cheaper to just do the right thing in the beginning. My wife used to work for PI attorneys, they had a case where a guy originally wanted $35k to repair his car and pay for his medical bills after an ATM exploded while he was using it in a drive through. Yes, literally exploded, obviously not his fault. Insurance made him sue them and at the end of the day paid out a several million dollar judgement because they wouldn't do the right thing at the start. I hope you prevail and it's enough to make them have second thoughts about doing the same to someone else in the future. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

Send me your address and I'll mail you a couple once I finalize them - bernie@graniers.com Just cover the postage, you're really part of the design team so I'm not going to charge you for them. I'm still test fitting and should have it worked out this week. One of the things I'm working on getting right is the tightness of the fit, I'm adjusting the gap in the tab still. I made my shoulder a little wider than what I was seeing pictures of and I'm considering maybe putting a little pocket in the shoulder that will let me put some felt weatherstrip in it so it's got something to compress and fill the gap. I'm not sure if that's going to be necessary yet though. Good idea on the ribs, I'd just put an indentation for a hose clamp or zip tie to clamp the hose into. A taper with some ribs would be easier though. I'm not sure about how to attach it to the ceiling yet, I haven't gotten to that part on mine. Embarrassingly, I realized once mine showed up that the reason it was so cheap was because it didn't come with a battery. The Delta 2 1024W battery was on sale for 40% off (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9XB57XM) so I ordered one of those instead of the small one. I'm still waiting for it and my battery cable to show up before I can use it in the plane. I don't know if it would help much with keeping it high but, it would be possible to print a rigid duct tube and a 90 to bring it up to the ceiling and then the rest would just be keeping it there. Actually, now that I'm typing this and thinking about it, doing it that way it wouldn't need to be round, it could be flattened out into a more rectangular shape along the ceiling and have vents along the way for the front and back seat passengers. I'll have to play around with that some in CAD and see what I can come up with. It would have to be done in sections because my printer build area is only about 10 cubic inches. Something modular would be more flexible though.