Hank

That's likely. But depending on the surface you land on, bad things can happen--spinning, digging in the front, etc. Also, gear up on a road gives up all directional control, like when your car slides on black ice--it's going where it goes, and you're along for the ride, holding on and hoping real hard. He did well with control, until the wingtip clipped the first pole.

Well, my flight below the rotation was nice. I was abive everything at 7000, with a nice tailwind--I usually don't get this speed even in descent! But alas, the forecast at home was wrong--last night it was for 25K scattered; when I got here, it was 400 overcast, visibility 2 miles in most. The approach to the runway is 1214 and 1-3/4. Tops were just under 3000 msl, so I diverted to 900 overcast and 10 miles. Now I'm cooling my heels in a stationary chair, waiting for my wife . . . . And we will drive to NC tomorrow, probably in rain and yuck the whole 6 hours. Would have been an easy 2 hour flight this afternoon.

Just use a cheap rubber stamp, and don't align the letters & numbers very well.

I'll be on the southern side of that, coastal Texas to 'Bama. Tailwind are forecast to be 20-31 knots between 6000 & 9000. Woo-hooo!! It will partially make up for the 4 reroute I was given last time that added almost an hour to the trip.

Just as cool as a cucumber! Excellent write up, and a hangar-flying tale for life. "Yeah, I just deadsticked her down from FL210, through icy IMC, and broke out with just enough time to land on a road the size of a taxiway. Couple hours later, the Sheriff made sure the road was clear so I could takeoff and fly home." Great job!!

Sometimes it's best to enjoy the extra day off. When I lived in far western WV, I took my Mooney straight-line to NC and Georgia many times. At 7500 msl, I had well over 2000' clearance over the hills of southern WV, no problem. But I haven't looked at your route. Just watch ceilings and weather, they're calling for storms up that way this weekend. But severe cold will make your Mooney climb like a homesick angel!

You mean other than a general worry / fear about liability and lawsuits? I can't sue myself . . . .

LOTS of right rudder for that takeoff!

My Mooney has two lights: orange / red for Gear Unsafe [UP], and green for Gear Safe [DOWN]. Both are shown in the Owners Manual, just beside the honking big gear switch.

I would love a SkyView, and was sad to see the Dynon did not, and now will not, pursue the Vintage Mooneys for AP . . . . But the AccuTrak continues on a little longer.

When it's that dark, the wing doesn't show up well. At least, not at 9000 feet.

If it all falls through, I'm interested in the Aero Cruze, since Avidyne seems uninterested in approving their nice AP for the pre-J market. My Brittain is barely hanging in there . . . . Assuming, of course, that the installation is compatible with a 1970 C.

@DCarlton, @sdmideas, see above. I sent a PM already for a full set.

Go old school like Jimmy Doolittle and draw a curtain over all of your windows . . . . .

I bought a pair of "visitor" safety glasses for a couple bucks, then sat in my plane wearing them. Trace the outline of your panel on the outside of the lenses, then cover the outside completely and tape over the inside above the panel line. Sandblast the inside [I have two pair, done with different blast media--one was small, the other was glass micro beads], remove the tape and wash them thoroughly. Works great with my old Flightcoms, and my Halos. Because the grit blasting is done on the inside of the lens, you won't scratch them and cause starbursts in your face turning across the sun. My wife cut off a Crown Royal bag to keep them in my flight bag.

I have several sets. Some are recolored as in the photo, some have the flexible covers in the dame colors. Try not to use the same set all the time, get a little wear on all of the keys.

Joey Cole in Dalton is within driving distance, and is a Mooney Service Center. KDNN.

The only time I fixate on instruments is when I'm IMC, and looking outside the window makes things worse. The gear indicator, fuel selector, etc., are all static, while the traffic display is an attractive, constantly changing distraction, which some people fixate on "for safety." Yes, when I update to TV screens on my panel, I'll also have to fight the distraction of those large displays vs. looking out the windows, but that day hasn't come for me yet. In the meantime, not fixating on my tablet isn't a problem. I do my navigation using my in-panel Garmin WAAS unit; the tablet is mostly for approach plates, but it also shows a fancier moving map that is mostly unnecessary.

It's easy to talk on the radio while looking outside and / or scanning your instruments. We all do it on every flight. Now scan your ADSB traffic display while looking outside . . . . It's a tool, but not a primary tool. It's certainly not God's gift to traffic management.

My GPS, the data it uses and the display are all FAA approved. Is your ipad??? I think not, there's no comparison.

I color-coded my keys" Blue for bags Green for go (because I don't know a color that starts with D) Red for fire

This is called Risk Homeostasis. I read a fascinating paper about it and driving, involving not only the introduction of ABS brakes (and why our insurance discount disappeared), but also the conversion of several European countries to driving on the left. It also covered construction zones, widened roads, etc. As road and vehicle conditions improve, risk is reduced so drivers change their behavior to bring their risk level back to where it was before; i.e., we drive faster when roads are widened, and follow closer when our braking is improved, etc. I'm quite certain that this aspect of human behavior carries over into the cockpit with all of us. And each person has a unique risk acceptance profile, so we all drive and fly a bit differently from each other. But I'm in the camp that ADSB provides almost zero protection from midair collisions, and that at close distance the best thing to do is look out the windows and think about a steep turn away from the potential conflict--if nothing else, banking sharply will increase your visibility to the other aircraft.

There were significant changes to V speeds in '68 - '69 for C, E and F models, when flaps and gear all went electric. So model counts, but so does the model year.

Mine appear to be the same blank. Take the door and baggage cylinders to.any lock Smith, and they can be easily renewed to match the ignition key. Just don't mention "ignition" or "airplane" and they'll do it. The doors are just filing cabinet locks. "Can you rekey these two cylinders to match this key please?'

Is that for new servos, or just new rubber boots to put on them? Shouldn't be hard to find several people to split an order, I'd like a couple new boots myself.