Greg Ellis

Well, not by very much. The POH (Owner's Manual) is 51 pages. The airplane flight manual for my specific plane is a whopping 20 pages. I've seen Cessna 172 manuals that were so heavy they were difficult to carry and possibly affected the W&B when added or removed from the airplane.

This may help you. It is the GAMI lean test pdf file. Microsoft Word - GAMI Lean Test.doc (advancedpilot.com)

This is available on ebay and may work for you. MOONEY SHORT BODY BAGGAGE DOOR PROP | eBay

I understand that mistakes can be made and I am one of the most forgiving individuals. But one time I was IFR on an IFR flight plan and had a controller contact me and say “Radar services terminated, squawk VFR for further flight following contact xxx.x” I came back and said that I was on an IFR flight plan, not VFR. He asked me to standby and then came back and told me to keep my current squawk code…. So funny things do happen even though we think that with all the high tech stuff we are immune.

I’m not a mechanic and this following comment will support that but from your photos it looks like they took your airplane, held onto it for a little while, did nothing to it and returned it to you saying “okay, you’re done.”

It was mentioned from another news crew on this that he elected to land gear up because of all the rain we have had here in the last few days he was not sure how dry the ground would be. But they also said he was trying to make it to Spinks airport. If you look at his flightaware track, I don't think that was the case unless he was very lost. The red circle is Fort Worth Spinks Airport.

This is a Mooney from another thread on Mooneyspace. I think this is one of the nicest looking Mooneys I have seen.

No injuries. One person on board. No audio at all with the video for some reason.

This happened this morning about a mile away from my dental office. Small plane lands in Fort Worth field, only pilot on board - CBS DFW (cbsnews.com)

As of 2 years ago, there were two of these at Fort Worth Spinks Airport (KFWS). I saw one of them up close when it was in for maintenance. Cowling was off. Interesting to see the Porsche engine in there. Both planes owned by the same guy.

This may be a stupid question, but does this condemn the cylinder(s)? I know that compression isn't everything in the health of a cylinder but his reported compressions are quite good. And what is the root cause of this on rebuilt cylinders?

I agree with you completely. And from that notice it is extremely thorough. Just about everything is replaced except for the barrel it seems.

That certainly is pretty clear but I don't see in the list that it is mandatory to replace the cylinders. With everything listed you certainly are overhauling or replacing just about everything but I don't see where you have to replace the cylinders. Am I missing it?

Not sure. I think I bought my first one 3-4 years ago I think. All three have had metal cases.

It does say on the metal case that all of the three I have owned came in. This is the latest. The big difference between the older versions and version 5 is that version 5 no longer needs the blue silicone sleeves to protect the articulating head end of the scope. It now has a black tungsten braided mesh.

More photos from the new scope.

So, I have had a Vividia borescope for a few years now. But the newest version, 5, I believe it is, is night and day difference over the old lower resolution scope. The latest version is a high res scope that takes great photos and video. If you want a fairly inexpensive borescope then I recommend checking these out. And I don’t get any money from them. Just a very satisfied user. I am having an issue with one of my cylinders. I am not posting these pictures to get advice on the cylinder so please refrain from that. I am posting them to show you the difference between the old version of the Abelscope and the newest version. And it is not terribly expensive either. I think it was around $300 or 350 for the WiFi version that connects wirelessly to my iPad. So just a positive pirep in case anyone was looking to invest in a borescope. So the first image is from the latest version of the Vividia Abelscope. The second image is from the older scope with low resolution.

They only require a DNA sample if your ADS-B fails....

I don't think that was meant for you personally. I receive those as well. Read it and it will show that It is a special alert that was put out due to midair collision in Alaska in 2019. The FAA states at the bottom that it is a special alert to make sure ADS-B manufacturers are meeting TSO requirements.

You are correct that on the older firmware pressing the LF and Dim buttons together will show the Hobbs and also the Tach time on the same page (at least on mine). Hitting the next button takes you to a different page showing firmware revisions, etc....

May have been mentioned already but this has some basic information about the different models manufactured and when. It will get you up to 2006 at least. Not sure if it will be helpful. Mooney Model Chronology (mooneyevents.com) But along with a few others here, I would love to recommend a Mooney to you and say it will be the perfect plane for your group but with what you are asking, you may want to seriously consider a 6 place airplane and realize you may be giving up efficiency for comfort and peace of mind knowing you can load the airplane how you want without sacrificing fuel, payload, passengers, etc... or change your flight mission to be 3 people and baggage in order to also be comfortable as well. Just a thought.... good luck with the hunt.

I have a short body C model. I kind of wish I had purchased the Yaw Damper even though I was talked out of it by a number of people. While controlling the rudder is not that big of a deal in the C model, I just think it would make my GFC500 just that much more hands off. I am super happy I got the trim servo though.

Interesting. I just watched a video produced by Flying Dirty (dated Feb 2, 2022) and the title was "Why I am not happy with this Autopilot" Overall he states that it does some good things and some things he does not like. It is a good review but not exactly a glowing review of the autopilot. He also states towards the end of the video that if you fly a lot of IFR then this (Aerocruze) is not the autopilot for you. He also talks about what Don Kaye mentions that it has a 700 foot minimum, it will not shoot a coupled GPS approach. Flying Dirty admits that it handles climbs poorly and he hand flies his airplane to altitude and then puts on the autopilot. You have a different take on this autopilot and if it works for you then great but Flying Dirty does not give it such a glowing review. And, in fact, the following is a quote from a response by Flying Dirty on this video. He was responding to a comment made by a viewer of the video. The lines in red were written by Flying Dirty on his own video. The Aerocruze/trutrak is a peace of junk. You want to be extremely careful not to trim up too much or it will release tension and drop really fast. They’ve had several problems with that. Trimming up too much could be particularly dangerous at low altitudes and probably why they have a 700 feet limitation. I learned to trim by disconnecting the autopilot periodically and checking the trim. I never would recommend trimming up too much with that thing my friend. Maybe things have changed since February but I don't think this is actually a glowing review by Flying Dirty.

@KLRDMD may be able to provide some insight here. He has owned both Mooneys and a V-Tail Bonanza but I am unsure what year his V-Tail was.

My 63 C has one. Not sure if it was stock or added later. Was there when I bought the airplane 16 years ago. I have read through all the old logbooks and don’t recall reading an install entry but that was a long time ago.