Hank

The rudder servos are in the tailcone, easily accessible through the avionics panel behind the wing. Aileron servos are behind the inspection panel at the inboard end of each aileron; patience and small hands help with their removal and replacement. I replaced all of the old, cracked screw fittings in my PC tubing several years ago, it really helped.

Congratulations! Hope everything goes well with the inspection. Check out Plane Covers too--I think they fit tighter, and no fasteners have to be added to the plane.

That's the beauty of Zenni. I don't drive or fly with transition lenses if it's sunny. Their prices are low enough to have dedicated sunglasses in each vehicle.

The other day, I had to push the throttle way, way forward to start moving in the ramp. I was thinking, man, am I that heavy? The ramp looks pretty flat. The. I saw the mixture, advanced it a half inch and we were off to the races!

For prescription sunglasses,mcheck www.zennioptical.com Theynare incredibly inexpensive and have surprisingly good optics. You will need a copy if your prescription, and when you pick it up ask if they will record your pupil distance; if not, Zenni's website has a way for you to measure it. Just got one pair of Transitions and two pair of sunglasses, about $200 total. Love them all!

Yep, my full fuel payload is 670 lb. but I was just over 10 gals under full and was happier on the return trip with more fuel burned off. High temps and heavy load don't make a happy combination, I was thankful for long runways and open approaches at both ends.

That right there is the Mooney experience in a nutshell. It sold me . . .

My "two people and stuff" short body just took three pax across the state and back, 1:35 each way from turn-and-push to idle cutoff. No one complained, although my large front pax had difficulty getting out with people sitting behind him--not much clearance even with me pushing full forward on the yoke. One back seater said he had ridden in the back of a Mooney before (a previous PFM owner converted to Acclaim), but admitted afterwards that he had never been in the back of a short body . . . But he still didn't complain.

Sign up now. It's easier to cancel than to add in late.

Cool Cool! I'll finally get to meet more of the NJ gang. Anthony, are you coming too? Be careful, it was over 60° in the afternoon last year, you'll need shorts and sunscreen.

Check the health of your battery, too. Summer heat is hard on them.

I had a nice little jaunt down to Mobile this morning. It was a very comfortable 72° at 6500 msl, and hotter'n Hades on the ramp. Left to come home right at noon, she was showing 115° out on the tarmac . . . Climb was kinda slow up to 7500, where it was a balmy 68° and the four of us enjoyed my once-again-functional air conditioning. It failed again coming down between the clouds and into the haze layer around 3000 msl, though. Can't complain, smooth flight both ways and only a little nose heavy. Wish I'd thought to take a selfie with all of us in it, we had to look like a clown car after the big guy got out of the right seat followed by a six-footer from the back and his little short wife, then me. The haze down there was pretty bad (it was very hazy the whole way down) but coming back it cleared up above the clouds and we actually had a horizon.

I sure hope today isn't too "final"! I've got a flight in the morning.

Was 125.25 the tower or Approach frequency?

Good story, Richard. You should consider putting all of your writing from intro flight through checkride together and publishing it. I've only flown in 3mi vis once. It looked good from the ground, and an instructor was loading up with a student. So my wife and I got in the plane and taxied out. At liftoff, visibility wasn't bad; we turned crosswind and could see the Class D 4nm away, and almost that far past it. Then we turned downwind, toward the morning sun and bam! I'm not sure it was 3 miles, just all hazy and milky, hiding the West Virginia hills and the Ohio River. Reduced throttle and followed the student & instructor in front of me, landing #2 on 26 with good visibility in all directions except toward the sun.

Isn't that what happened to the K-model at Oshkosh? Bounced landing somehow collapsed his gear?

You'll love the hatrack. I actually keep spare hats there, along with extra headsets, tie down ropes, travel chocks, fuel stick & sample cup, first aid kit, blanket for my wife (she gets cold at 9000 msl), etc. just last week I added a pool noodle with my luggage, stuck one end in the hatrack, the other end was still in the back seat. I don't recall if it's limited to 10 lb or 20 lb, but it's a great place for putting all the little stuff you need in the plane. Some folks keep spare keys there . . . for their mechanic to use when at home (kind of useless if you lock yourself out traveling, the spare keys are still inside).

It's fun to take other pilots to ride, especially Piper flyers. I took a Piper pilot and his two young boys to ride, as he was plane shopping and wanted to see what Mooneys are like. I told him mine is a small, slow one, then we went to ride in the local area. He enjoyed it, and didn't say anything bad about entry/egress or being cramped. But I did get his attention when it came time to land. He was all eyes watching pattern entry, flaps and gear, and everything was fine. Probably comparing it to what he did in his club Piper. Winds were easterly, so we landed on 8 instead of the preferred 26; the threshold is displaced several hundred feet (out of the 3000' of asphalt), we're on short final still over the trees and I pulled the throttle to idle. I noticed some motion in my peripheral vision as I cleared the trees and made a normal descent, touching down a couple of stripes past the numbers and slowing for the single exit 2000' from the end. As we pulled onto the ramp, he looked at me with wide eyes and said, " Wow. When you pulled the throttle back there, nothing happened. My plane would have gone down into the trees." When I moved back south again in 2014, I needed a Flight Review and asked around for an instructor willing to go in my plane instead of renting a Cessna. We take off on the 6500' AUO #18, raise the gear and climb out at Vx, transitioning to Vy around 600' agl. My new CFI is leaning forward, looking out the window and says, "Gee, sure can tell this isn't a Cessna." Interior space isn't the only thing to surprise other pilots!

I usually tell people to roll out onto the wing in their knees, and hold on to the rear doorframe to stand up. Seems to work well. Loading the back seat of a short body is a challenge, though. The right seater gets in last, with the seat slid forward to make room for back seat pax legs . . . Usually all that goes back there is my flight bag, sometimes a suitcase and the dog when we all go together. He's little, loading him isn't a problem. (Toy poodle, 9 lbs. of wagging tail and tongue.)

I think you made record speed on that airplane turnaround! Congrats, looks like your new ride is as nice as the old one. I don't often take my C above 10,000 msl, the climb rate gets pretty bad. I went to 15,000 (18,800 DA) once, had to step climb the last few thousand feet. Enjoy the new plane!!

Yep, I'm still in my "starter" plane, the mighty M20-C. It's been nine wonderful years and more trips than I can count. Only had to watch load, CG and fuel once, when taking three adult cousins out of a grass strip at the beach and up the Outer Banks to FFA. I was limited to 17 gals per side of fuel to stay under gross, but CG was never an issue. Good thing, too, since the other three rotated seats at every stop (fuel at ACZ, FFA then more fuel at MEO out in the sound to fly back). Even took the wife, luggage for ten days and a couple of bags for friends in another plane with Gross Weight issues out to COD and back. Seems like that trip is where I crossed 200 hours total time, and averaged 127 knots westbound and 151 knots on the return to West-by-Gawd Virginny. Could have been higher speed, but we kept stopping to wait for our friends to catch up . . .

Oshkosh is a once-a-year event, creating even stronger and more frequent cases of Get-There-itis. Glad he made it alright . . .

Just a few seconds and a bag of flour!

Last week, Flight Aware said i went 504 nm; then i added at least 35 sm more going for fuel. She took 38.6 gals, or 14 mpg. Maybe i should fly closer to peak or even LOP now that my C will run there.

long arms, small hands and non-metallic scrapers also help . . . plus a comfortable creeper and enjoying fuel vapors.