Hank

That looks nice! Cool baby calipers, too . . .

My 1970 C has the guppy mouth closure, 201 windshield and nothing else. I also have a 3 blade Hartzell, which is supposed to improve climb at the cost of 2-3 knots cruise. If I'm twiddling knobs on the 430W correctly, at 8000-10,000 msl, WOT minus a little bit and 2500, I'm getting 145-148 KTAS on ~8.8 gph block time. Using my fingers instead, 144 mph indicated at 9500 msl means add 19%, or 144 + 29 - 1 = 172 mphT = 149 KTAS, if I'm doing it right. SOOOO, why aren't your 200 hp Fs faster than my little 180 hp C with a "3 bladed speed brake" on the front????

I use AeroCosmetics Wash n Wax, one cotton washcloth ans several terrycloth hand towels. Three days is about right: one wing, fuselage half and cowl; other wing, fuselage half, horizontal stabilizers and elevator; then the belly and bottom of the tail. Sometimes this can drag out over a couple of weeks . . . .

Honeymooney flew over here a couple of years ago [again]. It's an E, with a Swiss flag on the tail.

I figure one Mooney wax equals about 4 car waxes [don't have to wax the bottom of the car . . . . . ]

With Throttle at Idle and Mixture Cut Off, I run the fuel pump until pressure builds and stabilizes, then Pump Off. Pump the throttle twice [Idle to WOT two times], then advance it ¼-½" from Idle, put on my headset to kill time [in winter, I also wind and set the clock, since cold fuel evaporates slowly], then crank. For a hot start, all I do is pump the throttle once, advance it ¼-½" from Idle, and turn the key, holding it longer until it cranks up. Cold starts are 2-3 blades, hot starts usually two or three times as long. If it's resisting the hot start, I will pump the throttle quickly while cranking and try to get her to catch. Since I overhauled the carb and the Shower of Sparks four years ago, this is now a rare event.

In my C, I notice improved cold weather climb more than speed. One weekend my wife stayed in bed and i went to breakfast solo, 8°F at takeoff. She climbed like the proverbial homesick angel! Hot starts aren't too bad. I just go Full Rich, pump the throttle a couple of times (watch fuel pressure go down a little), turn the key and push. It generally takes a few more seconds, and sometimes starts a little rough. Are your cold starts good? Two or three blades then running?

It has always been my understanding that the limiting factor on gear speeds has been the doors. As for gear updates, the only one I know has to do with increased gross weight, and the early Js are not eligible. But I fly a C, so I haven't really kept up with all of the details. But welcome to the club, Pat!

Who wants a polished Mooney??

Sure have! Millenials, Gen X and Y, etc., don't even celebrate "the sound of freedom."

Isn't $24.50 Canadian equal to $20 US?

You done good! That's what go arounds are for. Never be embarrassed to do one.

Ya'll be careful when you get flying again. I was only able to make one flight between mid-April and late August. R3cognize that your limits will have degraded . . . I made it through an IPC, but my landings still need work.

I think i know that field, it's near my uncle's house. Glad to hear that everyone walked away! That's the silver lining here.

I keep blankets in the plane 'cause my wife gets cold in cruise. We always have a bottle or three of water. A Leatherman is in my Rubbermaid toolkit, a multiblade knife in the front seat pocket and a Swiss Army knife is in my pocket all the time except when traveling the airlines. Your other items look quite useful, and we've debated getting the mylar Emergency blankets, but those water filter straws are something I've never heard of. Interesting . . . . .

Those are certainly good, but Krispy Kreme is available locally . . . Mike, i paid ~$105 each when i did mine about 4 years ago.

I've found dropping by and working a couple of hours in the evenings also helps time pass, and gets the annual finished quicker.

I'd like to see what it looks like i side. When mine crapped out on a breakfast run, I wasn't able to get involved in the replacement.

Went to a sort of nearby IMC Club meeting this morning. Wind was calm at home and forecast to be 8 knots there. On arrival, they were using 14, and wind was 060@9G17. And it was bumpy below 3000, field elevation 400. The runway was long (8000'?), so I didnt worry, aligned myself with left wing down but working the yoke and pedals to try and maintain that. Just as I touched down and set the nose down, here goes the left wing up and up! I kept her going pretty straight on the right main and nose, but the wind wasn't slacking and the wing wasn't coming down. Interesting periodic squeals were coming from the two tires on the concrete and we began veering into the wind as airspeed bled down and the rudder became ineffective. I considered firewalling it and trying again, but the grass was nice and wide and let me get control again. Missed all the pretty blue lights and taxied down the far taxiway instead of the near one. A nice looking J with a Plane Cover was tied down on the ramp, sheltering from Irma; it's registered to a company in Ft. Lauderdale, and is one character off from my own number (JJ instead of DJ). After the meeting, there was a break then an EAA meeting. Meanwhile I watched a Cessna depart 14 while the winds had picked up to 070@14G21. He weathervaned a lot, and the wings were rocking as he went by me a couple hundred feet up. Decided discretion was the better part of valor and left myself before it got any worse. Tower updated winds as 060@12G21, and approved Runway 36 on my second request (course home was 346). My takeoff roll may have been 500' including the gust factor, and I climbed out mostly at or above 1000 fpm at 100 mph, with ground speed showing in the mid-90-knot range. Nice and bumpy again, but smoothed out by 3000 or so and was a nice flight at 6500. Coming into home, 3200' long, was also bumpy and interesting. I don't like banking as hard as I did at idle, 20' agl over the asphalt, but the resulting landing was a greaser, I didn't feel any wheels touch. If only someone had been there to see it . . . The joy of being the only flyable plane at your home drome . . . She's safely in the hangar now, and I'm watching every forecaster in the Western Hemisphere keep up the mantra they've been repeating about Irma since at least Tuesday: "it will soon turn to the northwest then north," while we watch it move pretty much due west. If it reaches the Gulf, it will strengthen rapidly back to Cat 5, and all bets are off on its track . . . If she start turning north soon, it will get ugly here late Monday or so, a Mooney hour from Panama City Beach. Ya'll be careful out there!!

Who flew along, his vacuum pump in a bucket . .

Hope it's nothung serious. We're hunkered down watching the track move further and further west towards us . . .

Weigh everything and do the math. How much did the CG actually change? Easy inflight test: stabilize and trim, record airspeed. Slide seat all the way back, does trim change, and record new speed.

994 UL - 700 = 294 lb fuel = 49 gal, durn near full (full minus taxi). You've got 25 lb on me, probably due to my 3 blade prop . . . My longest flights so far have been 4:40 and 41 gal for 8.8 gph, but not near gross, landing with 12 gal or 1:20 left. Only 2 souls aboard, and my wife and I were both very ready to get out! Would not have wanted to be aloft for the extra 30-40 minutes.

But the paperwork says you can't have "hazardous" cans sitting outside of an approved cabinet. And as with the FAA, we all know that the paperwork is the most important part, right?

Dryer lint in a ziploc baggie is much better fire starter than cotton balls. Plus its both abundant and free . . . . And burns like nobody's business, right now!