00-Negative

Is there any place for a rust encapsulator or rust converter on an airplane? https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-rust-encapsulator-platinum.html

Someone here mentioned that LASAR had the seat rollers out of stock. Evidently they listened and have now updated their stock. I purchased new rollers for my plane last year. In the screenshot, you can see today's price and also my invoice from 1/2024 to the right. Quite the price increase. I would like to think this is nothing more than a human decimal error, but I suspect it is not. This coincides with other updated pricing I've seen with LASAR. The sad truth is, I think we are far better off if Mooney shutters for good. Other orphaned airplane owners referenced earlier in this thread have fared far better than we will with LASAR in place. Some folks think that investing in LASAR's success will help protect the value of their Mooney. I think that increasing part costs by 1000% will quickly devalue the fleet. I think what LASAR is not telling us is that this deal is happening regardless of contributions to the Mooney Assurance program. I just don't know if their plan for profitability is well thought-out considering it's on the backs of the cheapest bastards in aviation.

I just did my pilot side. I used the CAD files available in the downloads section. I sent the file unchanged to https://sendcutsend.com/ and for around $120 I had a powder coated panel at my doorstop within a few days. Process probably took me probably 30 hours. I spent a lot of time removing old wiring harnesses for old radios, marker beacon systems, etc that are no longer in the plane. I needed to replace oil temp probe and EGT gauge. I found my 6lb backup navcom tray wasn't properly secured and easily moved up and down, so I fixed that. I replaced old vacuum tubing, scat tubing, pitot & static tubing. Rerouted random ground wires and spent a lot of time cleaning up and routing and securing everything behind the panel. Now it doesn't look like a couple of 6 year olds put my plane together. The only maintenance induced failure I encountered was when I dropped my freshly overhauled directional gyro on the ground. I still have a few minor things I need to do on the panel. Worth it. And future upgrades (G5s, JPI edm 900) will be much easier. Here are before/after pics. You can see the new panel makes my plane much faster. -David

This is the way. -David

Exactly where I stand. Could not have stated it better. Easily in for $5k. -David

I live about an hour away from Pineville, LA. That airport is in a state of advanced decay. Location is only 5 miles or so from a class Delta airport in Alexandria, LA. The population and economic growth in that area seems to be moving toward Pineville and shrinking in Alexandria which is probably why you're reading about it. Pineville recently had the single runway closed for resurfacing. It took 6 months. Otherwise the rest of the airport property is abysmal at best. On the other hand, my home airport which is much more rural, much less traffic and has much less money, had our runway resurfaced in 2 weeks. We've gotten new lighting, VASI lights, and our T-hangars are $63/month. I think it's a reflection of the airport manager. -David

Cad file pilot side: and copilot side from the downloads section. https://mooneyspace.com/files/file/149-m20e-pilot-paneldxf/?do=download&csrfKey=67d1bf7a3a9c4170adef0972346b91a6 https://mooneyspace.com/files/file/148-m20e-copilot-paneldxf/?do=download&csrfKey=67d1bf7a3a9c4170adef0972346b91a6

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Forgot to latch the oil door. On takeoff roll, it flipped open. Made the pattern and landed. My initial instinct was to position the plane in such a way using pitch and rudder that the wind might not rip the door hinge apart. But then a more reasonable voice came into my head and gently reminded me in a harsh way to fly the plane and not kill myself over a replaceable oil access door. I landed and taxied over near my hangar and shut down. I Decided to grab a bottle of water while I was shut down. Went to take off and on take off roll the damn thing was still open! This time I pulled the throttle at around 10ft agl and landed on the remaining runway, shut it down and closed the oil access door for real this time. -David

Thanks for this profound statement. I have checklists. Lots of checklists. Hard copies and digital checklists on my iPad and phone. If following the checklist is the end-all solution, why did a boost -pump indicator light become standard equipment on late models? Your statement contributes absolutely nothing to this conversation. -David

I need this. I have an alert set on my Ipad for 60 sec after takeoff, but the pump still gets left on. Did you just come from the switch with a simple indicator light? -David

Thanks for the write up.

Thanks for the info. While this is one of the best prices I have seen for a 900, sending it to JPI for reprogramming brings the cost up too close to a new purchase.

What would be required to install this on my M20E IO-360-A1A? e.g. Will I need to send it to JPI for reprogramming d/t different fuel tank quantities? -David

I use a suction cup mount and mount it in the copilot windscreen because I don't have a deep enough glare shield. I don't notice it while talking off or landing despite it's obvious obstruction. I do notice it when I'm looking for traffic that I see on my ads-b display. But my success rate of spotting migs is so bad either way. I frequently take weekend trips from South Louisiana to North Arkansas. Traveling north of course it's flawless. Traveling South at heading 190 I will still get around 20-30mb/s with occasional drops. Plenty good enough to use the Windy weather app which is my go-to. I think Starlink just provided an update that allows for better signal quality by having the signal bounce from satellite to satellite. I signed up for the plan outlined in Socal flying monkey's YouTube video. -David

I'll hand deliver unmarked, untraceable US dollars. -David