bluehighwayflyer

Surprisingly, to me at least, age is a real “thing” with insurers. My friend and current CFI is in his early 80s. He has owned several Mooneys throughout the decades and is a Mooney guy through and through. His current plane, though, is a C-150, which I think he bought in the unfulfilled hopes of getting his wife and son their pilots licenses. Now he wants to trade up to something with better cross country performance and he tells me that insuring a Mooney is cost prohibitive, so he is currently in the market for a Cherokee 180. I used to own a Cherokee 180 and have nothing but positive things to say about the design, but damn. For someone with his experience is he really that much greater of a risk just because of his age? I’m a fit and healthy 50 myself and am struggling to accept that this age thing is a reality. But obviously it is. Jim

Agreed. We saw quantifiable increases in both power and fuel consumption with the PF installation in our C, but from everything I have read the J’s OEM exhaust Is already pretty well optimized. Taking the PF exhaust apart and lubricating the slip joints every annual is a PIA, but I go ahead and replace all of the intake and exhaust gaskets while I am at it and I know from experience that otherwise they tend to not get replaced as often as they probably should.

Yes. They share a common anscestory starting with the Dash 80. Brevity can be the enemy of accuracy sometimes. Truth be told the Dash 80 is the model we should all be lauding about how much Boeing got right to begin with all those years ago.

New in box and never installed. Free shipping in the U.S. only. I think this is the best price anywhere, but if you find a new one cheaper let me know and I’ll probably beat it.

I’m sorry about that, Paul. This, too, shall pass, though. On the topic of the Caravan, I read very recently that the USAF has removed formation landings from their UPT curriculum as a result of the fatal T-38 formation landing accident that occurred at Vance AFB last Fall. My dad went to UPT at Laughlin AFB in 1971 and he doesn’t remember doing them, so I guess they were added sometime thereafter. Or maybe he is just suffering from memory loss even more so than I am. Regardless, I wondered if the USAF’s decision would have any impact at all on Caravan operations? Fly safe, and in the meantime enjoy that tasty looking beer. I’ll join you in one later this evening. Jim

PM sent to @TheTurtle.