Hank

I thought that's what you were doing on those marathon LOP flights! You did mean tattooing your butt into the plane, right?

Their salesmen are worse, that's why I avoid buying cars as long as possible. Replaced our 95 Accord with a 2011 Altima. Thank God for kbb.com while the idiot was "seeing what his manager can do" about his lowest price ["only" $3500 higher than Kelly . . . ] For repairs, I shop around. The Nissan is getting new AC compressor right now, for $200 less than the Nissan dealer and $400 less than the first independent shop I called. Because it's hotter'n blue blazes and I don't have time to mess with it right now!

When you are on short final, call it 100 agl, what happens to your plane when you pull the throttle to idle? That's pretty much my SOP if I'm on speed [70-75 mph depending on weight], and I generally touch down on the 2nd or 3rd stripe past the numbers. The last Cherokee pilot I gave a ride to freaked out when I did this over the trees, but saved his words until after we landed. "If I'd done that, my plane would have gone down in the trees. But in your plane, nothing happened!" Basicly, whenever I know I have the runway made, throttle goes to idle. If I'm high and fast, it will be sooner.

If you're going to that much trouble, go ahead and update COM2/NAV2 while you're at it . . . . . [says the man with full analog panel, plus G430W and G327. Love me some needles!]

This is another area [along with Airspeed, Altitude and VSI] where needles are so much easier than numbers . . . My EGT gage has a redline. it is likely the gage it left the factory with in 1970.

This is from my 1970 C Owners Manual. I'd expect your D to do pretty similarly, unless you have one of the few (three?) D models that haven't been converted to retract. When I practice, I aim for 105 mph, which is right at my 90 knot instrument approach speed. P.S.--please don't try to land using the attitude shown at the top of the page!

Cost is a major driver. If you sell 250,000 cars each year and can replace a machined metal part and a couple of fasteners with one molded plastic part, it can total a dollar per car easily [for a small part] or more [several dollars each for larger parts; don't forget to include labor savings during assembly]. This applies to just about all manufacturing operations. I've been in injection molding for 28 years . . . One molded TV case replaced seventeen metal parts plus fasteners, and saved beaucoup bucks for the manufacturer [we just supplied molded parts to everyone!]. A second driver for metal-to-plastic conversion in automobiles is weight. The lighter the car, the better the gas mileage, and that does two things for the manufacturer: 1) helps meet ever-increasing CAFE mileage requirements; 2) higher mileage cars tend to sell better, or at least gain advertising points against the competition. It's amazing how little weight reduction is required for a 1 mpg improvement in the test.

Yes, speed control is key! Learn the MP / RPM settings for pattern entry (flaps up and flaps down), and if you are Instrument rated, for approach speed clean and dirty as well as standard climbs and descents. Every knot of extra speed over the numbers caused 100' of extra float before touchdown [source: Bob Kromer, former Mooney test pilot and President of Engineering, Mooney Aircraft Corp.]. Learn to control your airspeed within a couple of knots.

Our props won't feather, but they will move to a coarser pitch when you pull the knob. The full range is in the TCDS, and may be in your Owner's Manual.

I saw them yesterday, didn't think they had been there before. Proud daddy, nervous daughter finished with school and ready for the Real World!

Galvanized fitting, hose clamps, and do I see a piece of ABS behind it all???? Or is that an OEM part that was cleaned up during your work?

Silly question, Richard: why do you remove the entire top of the doghouse? As in my photos, I only remove the outer panel on each side, perfect for plug access. Surely your top isn't all one piece???

These are my silicone Halo tips, and the blue ones I wear at work. The Halo tips are actually more comfortable; neither makes my ears sweat, or slides out like foamies do.

No, there's nothing like that in mine . . . This is the only photo I can find right now, from when I replaced the ignition harness, so it's not really a doghouse photo (but it works).

Total strip and reseal, Oct/Nov 2007 by Edison at Wet Wingologists in south Florida. He has a full page ad in the latest MAPALog. Count me a very happy Customer! Mooney tanks are his entire business; there were three others there when I dropped mine off. Finished on time and on budget, seven year warranty. Happy happy!