DonMuncy

A friend of mine who was at one time a Mooney owner, but is now planeless, has a few things that someone on here may have use for. If any of these are of interest to you, send me a PM and I will put you in touch. He would probably make you a good deal on them. 1. A SPOT Gen3 tracker. This continuously reports your GPS position to a satellite network. You can also send an emergency SOS signal, which is sent to the GEOS Rescue Coordination Center. It's much more accurate than most ELTs. It requires an annual subscription. 2. A Dual XGPS150A external GPS receiver. It connects by Bluetooth to an iPod, iPhone, or iPad. I found it useful in the Mooney where the cockpit sometimes blocked the built-in GPS receiver in my iPad. I just put it on the glare shield and never lost the signal. 3. A Flight Gear Quick Charge 3.0 backup battery and charger from Sporty's. You charge it up before a flight, and if the battery on any piece of portable equipment like an iPad gets low, you plug the equipment into this backup battery.

Glad they are working well. It appears you got one of the last sets I built before I started anodizing them black.

From my reading, it appears there are two lines of thinking on parachute equipped planes. Those who count every "red handle pull" as a life saved, and those who believe that a real pilot would never need or use one. I admit that I lean a little toward the latter, but recognize they have saved some lives. Wouldn't it be nice if someone could do a really comprehensive, non-biased evaluation of the incidents is which the parachutes were used. I know it would be difficult, but it seems one could separate them into "virtually certainly saved a life", "almost certainly were pulled without good reason" and "perhaps life saving". Or am I just day-dreaming?

The wire going from the inboard sensor to the outboard one is (supposed to be) insulated from the inboard sensor by an insulating washer on the inboard sensor. You might check to make sure that is the case. Better yet, use an ohmmeter from that wire to ground. If zero ohms, no insulation. If some low ohms, but not zero, it is acting right.

That kind of a project is pretty unusual. What is your end goal? A fun experimental plane for your own enjoyment? An STC for existing J owners? ...?

Anyone with a Continental engine, or any one considering a Continental should read this three times. My engine had multiple (almost certainly unnecessary) cylinder changes in its life. I am ashamed to admit at least one of them was on my watch.

I am not sure how that works. Will any fuel blender pay a royalty (or some other term) to GAMI to use your formula? Have fuel makers previously paid a fee to someone to use their formula? Or is it like a patent; they only paid it for a period of time? If they pay GAMI for every gallon they sell, I would assume that will be added into the price paid by the ultimate user. Or will it be like other patent situations; someone will steal your formula, change it by a tweak and call it a new product? Then does the FAA step in and say "to be used in aircraft, it must be GAMI's exact formula"?

Oh I beseech you, aircraft Gods, please do not let the evil of corrosion smite me.

The problem with going with your gut, is that for a first time buyer, there is little gut to go on. When I bought my plane 22 years ago, I didn't know squat. I might have bought what I thought was a pretty one, with all kinds of problems. But I was lucky and ran into Don Maxwell and Jimmy Garrison early on. If you have been an aircraft owner before, you know a lot more about what to look for. If someone discovers Mooneyspace when they start looking they should be eons ahead of where I was.

I totally agree. But a "missed" item on a general examination, might be easier to explain than missed corrosion on a corrosion examination. Possibly no difference, but we are trying to do all we can to stack the deck in our favor. And remember any contract is only as good as the individual/entity entering into the contract and their ability/willingness to make it right, if it goes sideways.

That is why I think you should have the shop do a corrosion inspection before anything else. If corrosion is present, at least, you don't have the expense of the rest of the inspection.

Somebody tell me if I am wrong! I don't think I would consider buying travel boards unless I was in the maintenance business. It is my understanding that the travel boards are not the end of the rigging process, but kind of the beginning. After setting with the boards, it needs to be test flown and tweaked until perfect. After that, without some major disassembly or accident, you would be unlikely to ever need them again. That being said, my opinion might change if they were extremely cheap, or if you plan to resell them. Then it would be kind of like renting them.

I think the prebuy should be done in steps: Close inspection for airframe corrosion. If found, reject and move one. Engine. Compressions and borescope. If problems found see if seller will consider a difference of the cost of an overhaul in the price. If not move one. Tank leaks. If found, see if seller will consider a difference of the cost of a tank reseal in the price. If not move one. At that point, I might consider having the A&P/AI do all the inspection required of an annual (but no do an annual). If the deal is consumated, fip it to an annual and you are set for a year.

If you want to be fancy, you can cut grooves in your stick and fill them with JB Weld.