Hank

I check mags and prop at 1700 per the Manual for my C. The posted photo above for the F says to test both at 1900. On the other hand, as instructed I pull the prop lever all the way back, and am usually pushing it forward about the time it gets all the way back; if I haven't flown in a while, it may sit all the way back for a couple of seconds (especially in cold weather) before anything happens, but the second pull is pretty quick. It never goes more than a couple hundred RPM, with a sound that can't be missed even with a headset--like a loud, low-pitched Bronx cheer. If it's not doing anything, wait a few seconds and see if it moves. If it still does nothing, taxi to your mechanic.

P.S.--be careful setting down bourbon, especially around fellow Mooney pilots. It may disappear . . . .

You just need more stuff on your keyring. This closeup shows mine: There's plenty to hold onto--engraved tag from CFI commemorating my PPL, blue key (baggage door), green key (get inside door), hangar key, maintenance hangar key, old hangar key (just in case). Plenty to hold onto for the push, even with thick Yankee gloves when flying / training in winter with occasional single-digit temps.

Love me some night flight! And no, I don't need an almost-full moon shining almost as brightly as the morning sun. In the (dark) country, it's quiet, smooth and serene; near a big city with a zillion ground lights, a little overcast can make it feel magical. Leaving Charlotte headed just west of North at night, crossing a slivver of VA before entering the E. KY coal fields brings new meaning to "night flight." But it's still nice. Even grass strips are nice. Makes me remember trips to the beach, 40' msl, dropping in over the pine trees that hide distribution lines fro the substation beside the runway . . . My only problem there is seeing the field at night--it's easy to find, but the slot in the trees is so narrow that I lose the lights on base leg. Took me three tries to have final lined up enough land, the first try wasn't even over the field! Even the slightly curved grass strip along the riverbank (with a hump just below rotation speed) is nice. Hmmm . . . Night hours? Hope to add another one or more this week, now that temps are supposed to cool off after tomorrow. Time to get night current again! Right now, almost exactly 10% Night hours. I've taken off in daylight and landed two or three hours later in darkness; I've taken off in darkness and landed two or four hours later in daylight; and just as some flights have started and finished in daylight, some have done so in darkness. One IFR training flight started after work, with prescription sunglasses and ended just after dark--my clear glasses still in the car. Then the landing light breaker tripped and wouldn't stay on. So my choice was to land in fuzzy darkness (I'm nearsighted), or land in crisp detail looking at the trees obstructing the runway through my sunglasses . . . The CFII said to log the nighttime sunglass landing that way.

More than 72 human mammals have perished due to exposure to other human mammals in the City of Chicago this year alone, despite the nearest war zone being thousands of miles away . . . . . Those poor folks lost a lot of Mooney access when Meigs Field closed, to not become a city park, new development or anything else but an eyesore on the lakeshore.

What's wrong with running a clear/white LED bulb with a colored lens, just like we do with incandescent???

So DA was likely just a couple thousand feet, shouldn't be an issue. No RPM rise at shutdown, though, should be addressed.

Don't feel bad, Don. I had two required EE courses (Circuit Analysis I & II), but I can't do those calculations now (only V = IR stuck). So you've got a leg up on this overeducated ME. --Hank, BSME, MSE, PPL, IA and some more without cool abbreviations . . . . .

P.S.--even in my little C, flying time is generally a third of the drive time, less when comparing against driving across Atlanta. Just went to see family ~360 miles up I-85; the drive is usually 6 hours "plus Atlanta traffic" plus construction delays--this spring during annual it was 6-1/2 hours up and over 7 hours home. Last week, my C took 2:15 from the fuel pump here to the tie down there, and 2:04 coming home two days later. Sure, a J could probably have saved ~10 minutes each way at double the purchase price, but the runway is uphill, 2770 x 30 and in rough shape (little original asphalt left, the patched areas are either patched again or crumbling).

Me, too! But I have three buckets: Cost to Purchase/Upgrade, Cost to Own, Cost to Operate. First is obvious; second are recurring expenses after purchase not related to / affected by operation (hangar, insurance, annual, pitot static & transponder tests, ELT batteries replaced every two years, etc.); last is what it costs me to fly (fuel, oil, battery, tires, oil changes, etc.). Little things like flight bags, headsets, CO detector, tools, etc., don't fit into any of these categories, but they do come out of my budget. Hobby expenses? Safety gear?

DA can have an effect. What is your location, field elevtion and temperature? No RPM rise at shutdiwn means idle is not set right.

Hangar, insurance, annuals, pitot static tests, transponder checks, etc., are costs of ownership, neither Capital nor Operating expense. Like putting tags and insurance on your car, required for use but absolutely unrelated to value and don't change with amount of operation.

Those all require Gross Weight and empty CG, and that's what the OP needs to recalculate.

Then divide by new total weight for CG. New weight = old weight - (removed total weight) + (installed total weight) Just add the columns up for Removed Items and Installed Items.

@DGMorgan79, I got my license flying two 172s--one with 150hp and 40° flaps, one with 160 hp and 30° flaps. Five weeks later, with a whopping 62 hours in my logbook entirely in these two Cessnas, I bought my Mooney. It's been a great 12 years since! (OMG!! 12 years???) Others have done the same. It's all about your attitude, your willingness to learn and getting a good Mooney-experienced CFI for your transition training. Getting IFR in your own plane, with avionics that you know well before starting, and that are the same on every flight, is a good thing!

You and I calculate OpEx differently. Panel makeovers, adding engine analyzers, etc., fits under CapEx in my book. My Mooney has flown well for five decades without several AMU to buy and several more to install a JPI/EI unit. Same for the several additional AMU going from G430W to the 440 (with marginal adxed benefits). Etc. Not saying these expenses are undesirable, just that they shouldn't be lumped into Operational Expenses. Neither should hangar, insurance, etc., be included when figuring your hourly operating costs, because you pay these exact same expenses whether you fly 100 hours, 1000 hours or 0 hours per year. $250 x 12 months = $3000 hangar rent; at 100 hours, it's $30/hour; at 1000 hours, it's $3/hour; at 0 hours, it's an infinite hourly cost. The 100 hour hangar rate is almost my hourly fuel burn . . . . But is the same every month regardless of how much I fly, while real operating expenses vary with flight hours.

I'm generally so lean that I must enrichen to taxi uphill . . . . She coughs, sputters and tries to die . . . .

I would think not! 1982? We got our first electronic calculator in 1974. Well before then, grandpa had an "adding machine" at home with a big, long arm that went ca-chunk.

Don't know about idle FF, but pulling Throttle to ICO at 1000 RPM should result in about 50 RPM rise.

Mine has a whole bunch of camlocs, and two screws--just to either side of the prop. Hmmm, there may be two smaller ones at the rear corners, too. My backseat came from the factory as a split fold-down, for carrying larger stuff while leaving room for a third person. It took a little adjustment, but I've come to like the slanted 6-pack oanel because it allows more stuff on the left side. I count 10 instruments, plus the gear switch, idiot lights and 2 VOR heads to the left of the radio stack. And the ignition, (added) vacuum gauge, etc. One thing I've never understood is why the older Mooneys put the ignition key at the top of the panel. Especially since the ignition key only works on the ignition, and each door has its own key. That leaves the other keys dangling in front of whatever instrument is below it . . . .

My old one isn't Beech.

ZEP makes a lot of good stuff that I have used at work, but only Plexus and terrycloth touch the windiws of my Mooney. Plus the occasional raindrop or snowflake, and the padded insert in my canopy cover.

My IVSI failed IFR recert last year, and after more than a decade, I couldn't go back to the delay in a straight VSI. All the shop could find was a Beechcrqft unit . . .

Almost had it there, cliffy. Missed it by that much . . . All materials (solid, liquid and gas) change density with temperature, not weight. Pour some water, oil, gas, etc., into a calibrated vessel where small volume changes can be measured, and you will notice that the volume is more at higher tempratures and less at lower temperatures. But the weight will never change. Drop the temp to below freezing, fill the container then set it outside on a hot summer afternoin and there will be a greater change in volume. Measure some out below freezing and weigh it; warm the original container to summer ramp temperatures and pour the same volume into your container and it will weigh less. The weight if the oil and gas already in your plane will not change unless you add or remove / use some. The change in volume of one quart of new motor oil by raising its temperature from 32°F/0°C to 100°F/38°C is 0.0265 quarts, or less than one ounce by volume. Thwre is zero (0) change in weight. At the same time, the volume of yiur engune is increased from winter to summer, then decreased again as you climb to cooler altitudes. From my friends at The Engineering Toolbox: The change in the units volume when temperature changes can be expressed as

And whatever dirt, grease and grime has accumulated in wheel wells, tail cone and other inaccessible areas. Need to wash the plane, then let all water evaporate. And remove absolutely everything from inside, vacuum the carpets, etc.