Hank

Hey, ladies are now up to 7%!! Woo-hooo! That includes both my Primary CFI from '07 and my CFII from '10. Nope, just 6.6%. Stupid me divided women by men rather than Women ÷ (Women + Men) . . . . .

I follow the MAPA recommendation of MP + RPM = 46, so at 5-6K I'm usually at 22"/2400. Speed is usually pretty good, I'm often indicating ~145 mph [160 mph / 139 KTAS]. Higher is faster.

Isn't "Demonstrated crosswind" just what was encountered during certification flights? It is certainly not supposed to be any sort of limit. I've not been able to find anything on crosswinds in my 1970 M20-C Owners Manual other than to take off at slightly higher airspeed than normal, and to approach at higher airspeeds in gusty or crosswind conditions--no numerical guidance is provided, and there is certainly nothing in the Limitations section.

I don't want every flight in my spreadsheet, only my first visit to each airport, to track where I've been. Don't want flight time, either, just date and runway length, and when I remember, my hiurs when I went there first. It's just a small slice of my giant spreadsheet. I'm hangared in only my 5th airport in two states, but am living in Residence #42 in Town #22 scattered across 8 U.S. states and 2 Japanese prefectures. Each is tracked by location and time, and broken down by area, summarized by region and state, and marked where I've lived longest single duration, longest total time and most times. Etc., etc. I try to track Instrument and Night Currency too, but it's troublesome and on a separate sheet. But it's not on my phone, don't want multiple versions laying around getting different pages updated . . . . .

While it's a very manual process, I do keep track of every airport that I visit [ID, name, location, date of 1st visit, runway length, any notes] on a separate tab in my master spreadsheet. Other tabs exist for tracking states visited by mode [drive through, airline to, pilot to, personal vs. business, etc.] [so far, 47 of 'em], tracking airplane insurance hours using their breakdown fields, trips outside the country, First Flights, places I've lived, etc., etc. Sorry . . . but us engineers just seem to live by spreadsheets . . . .

It's all part of learning. That's why we hangar fly, to share and to learn.

Wait a minute--you have a left crosswind, which will blow the plane right, and right rudder to push the nose right, but are turning left? Wind is hitting the tail, pushing tail right / nose left as you begin to climb. This is expected. Why is this a problem? Stay coordinated, keep your ground track aligned with the runway; who cares what direction the nose points? When the crosswind is blowing, I do like my Owners Manual says and go a little faster then snatch it off the runway. My normal rotation is 70 mph, so I'll hold it on until 75 then pop off quickly and weathervane away. P.S.--I've had flights where my wife and I looked out the side windows to watch where we were going due to winds aloft. I've also weathervaned 45° one way or the other when climbing above the treetops. Stay coordinated and make the plane fly where you want it to go, nose direction be durned because it doesn't matter in the air except when trying to land.

But no one is in that position, except for the investigators . . . . . Even though we all ask about and discuss aviation incidents / accidents in all makes, brands and countries. Except for this incident . . . .

That looks like a short rudder. This is the long rudder on my C, notice how it goes below the horizontal stab. Crosswinds have never been a problem, even 50° left in the teens plus 10-12 mph gusts.

Nice, Richard! Mustangs, Corsairs, a Stsggerwing . . . Mooney parking . . . Happy faces! Good times!

I've had Air Stop tubes for several years, added when tires were changed. Tires never seem to lose more than 2-3 psi, and I generally top them off spring and fall. Lose a little more pressure if I don't fly regularly; sitting causes lots of things . . .

My stall speed, gear down, Takeoff flaps is 64 mph, 56 knots at gross, so usually even less. I've landed with a noticeable tailwind twice (once following FSS instructions, once Tower instructions) and have since figured out how to tell before it starts getting weird in the flare. Tailwinds really mess up my landings! And it's not because my groundspeed is a little high . . . .66 knots is my target speed over the numbers if I'm within 300 lb of gross, but of course flare and touchdown are rather slower.

Yep, that's winter in the South. We get an inch or so every few years here in LA. Just enjoy the unplanned day off!

Today the temperature was just was 39°, but last Wednesday the heat index was 46°!

Just like cars, model years and manufacturing dates may not match. Some Model Year 2020 cars are already available. Your '69 model could have been manufactured and even sold in late '68.

Or maybe all three?

I know someone high up in Quality Assurance with a sign on the office wall: In God we trust. All others bring data.

Ain't it great being unique!! Please post some trip reports with photos / video from the Emerald Isle and outlying destinations!

That's fine. Many of us have zero ability to buy new. But you did say that price wasn't a condition . . . .

We ALWAYS worry about each other, and especially about new owners. Please be careful and do your stall practice 3 mistakes high!

Ummmmm, donuts!! Donut Hole, Panama City . . . . C'mon, Mooney Summit! Sorry for the derail, but I'm ready.

How did the discussion morph into icy runways? There ain't no ice on the ground anywhere in Tennessee in August, unless someone knocked over a cooler . . . .

Sure, my C has a little less gas, 52 gal. Math says that's 5:30 flying time. Experience tells me its 6 hours, and that the 4:45 trips I've made [landing with 1:15 or more in the tanks] are longer than I can sit comfortably in my Mooney. But with 970 useful, that's me, full fuel and almost 500 lbs. Leave some fuel behind and carry even more for two or three hours, at 145 KTAS. That's nothing to complain about. She's fast, stable in IMC, is in the air 1000' after oushing in the throttle. I've landed everywhere from 12,000' of superwide concrete to 2000' of slightly-curved grass. Versatile. Frugal. What's not to like?

Another great flight! What continues to amaze me is that you literally built this super plane in your garage . . . . . The Conquest crew may have just been verifying what they saw on their traffic scope ["fish finder"], to make sure you were out of their way.

That's the same wingtip that I have, and both lenses have been replaced at separate times in the last decade. Call it ~$150 each from LASAR, trim to fit, tape down and mark a couple of holes, drill them out, test fit and open them up. Screw onto wing, mark the rest of the holes. When drilling, go slowly, use a new, sharp bit and have a piece of scrap wood under the plastic. This will minimize cracking . . . . but Thin CA glue will wick into the crack when removed from the plane, lest you glue the lens to your wingtip.