TangoTango

The brochure appears very promising, but Service Letter 250 section C part 4 makes me nervous. What does Lycoming consider "catastrophic internal damage"? Is a spalled crankshaft "catastrophic", or does Lycoming take a more conservative approach?

Pretty sure the green gas is the old high lead stuff, as opposed to the "new" low lead 100ll. Pre 1970s stuff, no idea if it's still sold anywhere today...

I've been following this on the other forum, glad to see you posted an easy to follow guide here. I just submitted mine, I got an "estimated review date" of 4/15/25. Curious to see what action the FAA takes at that time, as 49 USC §44114 reads to me as not requiring a procedure for compliance until 5/16/26 (two years from the enactment of this Act). Has anyone completed this and actually seen their personally identifiable information removed yet?

I was taught the same process by my transition instructor and have found it works well. I don't prime unless the engine has cooled to ambient. 1,000 rpm seems to be the sweet spot - on a cold start, the throttle position from the last shutdown may need to be pushed forward just a hair to hit the target 1,000 rpm. If I do get hamfisted with the mixture control and push it too quickly on a warm start, the flooded start procedure always bails me out

I think some around here have claimed a speed benefit to running without them. The aluminum trim piece is pretty bulky, and on a critical part of the airfoil. I'm still running with mine attached, but they haven't given me a reason to come off yet. Maybe when I polish the cloudy plexiglass...

@A64Pilot I assume this was done as part of a field overhaul? Do you know who did the work? I'm not aware of lycoming ever offering that as a factory option

I can second the valuation guides from Jimmy, they have lots of detail (much more than Vref used to have when it came with AOPA) and I find them to reflect the fair market value for airframes that are turn-key ready. Here are the pre-201 and the J model guide posts. I'm pretty sure he gives them away to current Mooney owners for free, but I paid $35 for the first and $10 for the second when I was shopping.

Data caps are annoying for home service, and a 50GB cap is pretty low. For mobile use in the Mooney though, 50GB should be adequate for the limited hours we fly. This pricing is pretty great in the context of that mission, too. I'm excited to hear feedback on how well it works. Even the 1Mb "overage" speed is pretty sweet. The passengers may not like it, but I remember when that's all the speed I got at home. I could definitely download a satellite image over that connection in a pinch.

FYI it looks like Ace is discontinuing all LPS products. There is still stock for now, so your local store can order it if you ask. It's also on Aircraft Spruce.

@Lax291 Would you be willing to share the spreadsheet? That sounds useful for staying organized

If you click on the link I posted for Roam, they indicate the speed limitation is "100mph / 160kph". Do you have a link to the $250 plan that doesn't have the speed limitation? I can't find anything on their website except a $165 "Roam Unlimited", but it appears to have the same speed limitation as the cheaper Roam plan.

Where did you see this? All I can find is the overpriced "Starlink Business" aviation plans starting at $2,000/month... They used to have a good plan for us called "Roam", but they recently enforced a 100mph speed cap, and final approach isn't when I need in flight internet

I'd go to Creve Coeur 100%! I've done a bit of flying into 1H0 (although now I operate largely into CPS) and it's a pretty cool environment if you like small airports with a strong GA community. It was pretty sleepy all winter, but now that it's warming up you might start seeing more traffic. Tie downs for a transient is $10/night, paid in the building behind the gas pump. Tie down ropes are in good shape. There is no transient hangar unless you can chat up somebody local to let you into theirs. Gas is cheap for St. Louis and they'll help you pump during business hours. Bathrooms are nice, too. There is no AWOS, so grab the frequency for SUS on your descent if you want weather. The biggest issue for me is the low Bravo shelf above the pattern. It's easy to bust, so plan on a level off on your way out while you contact St. Louis Approach. Fortunately, approach hands out Bravo clearances like candy as long as you aren't crossing the active final into STL.

I just used the Delta 2 Max to preheat my Tanis for the first time, and I am pleased to report it worked well. Temps were around 0C overnight and the power center was in the luggage area with a full charge. I turned on the power center the evening before departure, ran a 16ga extension cord out the window under the cover, and set a six hour timer before the Tanis would kick on using a cheap amazon timer here (note this timer has a "countdown to on" feature, not all do). This meant the power center had to idle the inverter for 6.0 hours, then the timer kicked on the load and it preheated for 4.7 hours. This pretty much ate up all the capacity it has (single digit power state remaining). All in all, I'm glad I did 2048Wh, especially with the idle time required if I want to set everything up the night before and time it for an early morning departure. 1024Wh wouldn't have cut it.

I don't think the IO-360A3B6D this would've come from the factory with is compatible, either

It won't be a fun operation to extract the Bonanza now. Not exactly any warm hangars to work in out on the ice.

We have an agreement in place: If she has a third kid, I get to upgrade to a six place airplane.

I'm an FIS-B weather user (never had XM, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing), but I bluetooth my phone running Garmin Pilot to my GTX-345, and it allows me to pull up on Garmin Pilot the current METAR at any airport in the US, as well as TAF, NOTAMS, etc. I don't use cell service while airborne - in fact, I put my phone on airplane mode just to allow it to charge faster with the screen on all the time while flying. With this, I'm constantly monitoring my destination and several alternates while in cruise, even several hours away from picking up the ATIS.

I actually just ordered a Delta 2 Max, which has a 2048Wh battery - I was worried 1024Wh wouldn't be enough. It eats up 50lb of payload, which should normally work for my mission. Unfortunately, there is no built-in timer that I can find in the unit manual, so I'll have to leave the unit on and use a plug-in timer. It looks like the inverter draws 40w at idle (plus the negligible load from the timer), so I'm going to try setting a timer the evening before and have the Tanis kick on a few hours prior to my planned departure. Once it gets here I'll experiment and report back.

Sorry to revive the thread, but I've been pretty seriously considering one of those 1kw battery power stations to power my Tanis when I'm tied down on a transient ramp. The Ecoflow Delta 2 should power a Tanis nicely for several hours and will only eat up 27lb of payload (with no fuel to carry around in the baggage compartment). The only gotcha I can think of is the requirement to delay starting it, since you'll only have 4 hours or so until you've drawn the 1kw battery down. Maybe a timer of some kind? Of course with a generator preheat solution you have to drive out anyway, so this isn't a new problem.

Hi all, I am the proud new owner of a 1993 M20J. In the process of getting to know her, I found this I reattached the SCAT duct, but it's pretty ratty. I think it's time to just go through and replace all of them under the cowl. I found this thread, but I cannot get either link mentioned to work. Is Gee-Bee Aeroproducts still making finished SCEET hoses? I also see customducts.net mentioned here as the successor to Jonathan Kinney. That link also doesn't work, but there's a website here by the same name. Obviously I could just go to Aircraft Spruce and order some regular ole SCAT duct, but I'd like to know what everybody else is using, and maybe I can find something more durable. Thanks!