mooniac58

The handheld/panel mount GPSs are not legal for IFR navigation (only as an aid to situational awareness). For example it is illegal to fly an IFR RNAV/GPS approach using the handheld device...it would also be illegal to track an airway via the handheld during IFR (although I am sure many do this!) I agree with the notion of having one certified installed GPS along with a panel mounted handheld. I think this gets you the best of both worlds and keeps you legal.

Thanks all! We do get some IMC in Hawaii, especially in the winter season (now). Just yesterday Lanai was IFR with 750 foot ceilings. I have seen Maui IFR a handfull of times and Hilo (which I rarely travel too) is always fighting low ceilings. I mainly wanted to get the rating to a) make me a better skilled, more aware pilot easily climb up and down through cloud layers - many times I would climb to cruise and get stuck on top of a 3000 foot thick deck with no holes to get back down, only left with flying 50 miles away to find a way back under it. I flew into Kona on Friday and the vog (volcano haze) was so bad that from the DME 10 arc I could not see the field so ARTCC (with a sigh) issued me the VOR 35 approach. I then had to listed to some grumpy Alaska pilot who was not pleased about having to follow me in. I guess most people here just lie and say they have the field in site because they know from the ATIS that they will see it around 5-7 miles out. Oh well, for now I will stick to the rules - no contact on field, no visual approach.

I am very pleased and proud to declare I have alas taken and passed my IFR checkride! What a journey! The good news for all of you folks is that it puts me one major step closer to being able to work on this website again. My wife and I are expecting our first child here in about 2-3 weeks, so that is of course the next major focus in my life. Once that stabilizes I should be clear to invest 5-10 hours on this site each week again. Thanks to all for your patience and support of Mooneyspace.com! Craig

We will be having our first child in about 2 months (eta Jan 27). I have a question not addressed here. What about infant floatation devices? This will of course be necessary here in Hawaii.

Interesting. I am already realizing why I like to build my sites myself from the ground up. To get this one off the ground quickly I used a base forum and customized, however some of these features like the login I did not program...but I will try to look into this when I get a chance.

For all sites you can usually hold down Ctrl key to open the link in a new window or tab.

About 180-220 per year for me.

1987 M20J - 1890 SMOH 550 STOH Compressions range 74-77 on all cylinders, I do oil analysis at every oil change which is 25-35 hours and it is always good. I don't feel any need to overhaul at this time although the IO-390 does tempt one a little

Indeed. The path to socialism and eventually communism is a slow, slow process. They will gradually take away all of our freedoms until we are prisoners in our own country. Definately write your representatives and complain. Better yet, perhaps it is time again to start a civil war in this country and take it all back. ;-)

I did this once and caught it about 2 mins into cruise. The aircraft was wanting to roll in one direction or the other and speeds were low, which tipped me off to my error. I think I asked my A&P about it and he indicated the electric motor would be the likely thing to get harmed from this...but we did not do any heavy inspection, we just exercised the flaps a bunch and listened and looked for oddities...

My annuals on my J are always $1200-$1500. This is because I also do not defer maintenance (the concept of this to me is silly and dangerous to be honest). My A&P and I spend a lot of time in the plane through the year inspecting and fixing any little thing that does not seem right. On average I would say I spend at least $300-$500 per month fixing little squawks (which is minor when compared to fuel really). So good to plan on $10K per year to keep your bird safe and airworthy. You are going to find Mooney parts are a LOT more expensive than Cessna parts. As soon as the word Mooney is in a part description it is instantly costs 4x what it is really worth. It is the price of owning an exotic airplane...and worth it to me at least!

At WOT and 2500RPM @ 8000ft I only see 155KTS. I have 1850 hrs on the engine, but only about 300 on the cylinders. Seems kind of slow for a J model, no?

Welcome to the site SpeedMooney!

Are yours electric cowl flaps? My manual push rod style ones will not partially open. After pushing in a bit they slam shut the rest of the way. I figure it is a tug-of-war between the air rushing down from the cowl trying to keep them open and the air rushing under the aircraft trying to close them.

I read this and wondered if you could have been reading MPH instead of KPH, since 150 knots is 173 MPH. Well, Mooney claimed the J model was a 201MPH bird. Hence the 201 notation in its name. My handy flight computer tells me that 201MPH is roughly 172KTS. The "201" was the first certified airplane to break the 1MPH per horsepower barrier (and still holds this title today if I am not mistaken). While I know literature top speeds and the real world are different - a 15-20KT difference is pretty drastically different than advertised (8% less). I read AOPA pilot and they said the new Acclaim they test flew actually hit 240 KTS @ FL250...only 2KTS lower than advertised or just .08% less. Perhaps I am missing something here? EDIT: 201MPH is actually 174.6KTS! But this of course makes my points even more valid.

I will fix the sort order bug and add a forum for suggestions and feedback. Thanks!

Totally different than my experience. I see ~10 KTAS by closing my cowl flaps at 6-8000'. Same here. There have been a few times I have puzzled over why I am not getting normal cruise speed only to sheepishly realize I failed at my cruise checklist and left the cowl flaps open. Also, closing these puppies at 140 KTS takes a lot of force, so much I really don't like the feel of it... Also, if you are not getting good cooling you might consider looking over your baffling. My mechanic re-cut some new baffling for my bird and it dropped the CHT at least 60 degrees. At least in my J model it really seems like Mooney got the airflow right in their cowl design, most aircraft run a lot more near the top of the acceptable temp range.

Thanks Sorry for the lack of improvements - but I am working on my IFR rating which is occupying all my free time. Once I nail this down I should be back to adding new goodies to the site!

That is nice. I really never see better than 156 KTAS. Got to admit it is pretty slow and no where near 201 MPH