Hank

Peter knows Garmin products; to him, everything else is "bottom end," and he's not shy about speaking writing his opinion.

That would be simple to hack around.

The rules are simple enough, even a dummy can understand: http://www.amaflightschool.org/video/jeff-dunham-bubba-j-have-message-you-about-drone-safety (shamelessly copied from www.modelaircraft.org, the Academy of Model Aeronautics. My membership card rides beside those for AOPA, EAA and MAPA, and predates them all.)

Clarence doesn't need fuel flow, just a kitchen timer. When it goes "bing," it's time to land. As a bonus, the engine noise covers up the "tick tick tick" sound that the timer makes!

Look for the typical Mooney stuff--corrosion, regular use, leaky tanks. Check the manufactured date molded into the pucks. SMOH/SPOH, TT, etc. What's in the radio stack? Does it have an engine monitor with fuel flow? It's pretty much a requirement to fly LOP, and you'll want those panel photos with the nmpg displayed to flaunt at us carbed folks. The throttle quadrant is something that I really like. To me, it's much nicer than just having the knobs stick straight out of the panel. But they don't twist for fine tuning. It's a personal thing, they really rub some people wrong--look at the huge job Scott did to swap his quadrant for the push-pull knobs. A J will still be grass-field capable, unless you have the oft discussed but never seen insurance policy that prohibits them. If you plan to go often, the lower gear doors are easily removable, making your clearance the same as the whole pre-J crowd and very grass-field-accepting. But dear God! Get a better picture for your posts in the future! P.S.--almost forgot, the early Js are lighter than the later ones, so you should have decent useful load. It won't be eligible for the gross weight increase, though; that was added to offset the weight gain and get the later ones up near where the early ones already were. Also had something to do with the landing gear, maybe Mooney started using K landing gear to simplify production. PPS--sorry, I live here and read a lot of threads . . . I've never even sat in a J of any vintage. I'm trying to decide if my C is really my forever plane; it's been a great nine years so far!

There's a "you know you've got a big Johnson when" tshirt hiding in there somewhere!

Go for it, Brad. You've got a mid body to copy shapes from, and should be able to find the airfoil design on line to replicate. It's called "experimental" aviation for a reason. Experiment with it and see how well it works, then tweak until you're satisfied. Like Sabremech did with the chinless cowl for C models that is routing through approval paperwork now.

You do realize the scatological origin of "cockpit" and "stick" don't you? They predate Al's first designs . . . My understanding is that the rudder authority comes from the forward lean, not the trim mechanism; it leaves the rudder approximately vertical in the flare, maximizing control authority.

Congratulations on getting a great plane! May your excitement continue for many more years. I bought my Mooney shortly after my PPL checkride. Insurance required 15 hours dual which was interesting and educational at the beginning, and turned into "how many airports can we visit" at the end. The variety of airports was good, it exposed me to many different runway sizes and shapes. A month after my signoff, I went to a MAPA PPP, thinking that having learned to fly the Mooney, I should also learn to fly it right. It was an excellent decision! My training was tailored to my VFR skillset. I highly recommend it. After completing my Instrument Rating a few years later, I went to another one.

Count your blessings, I'm always told to remain clear of the Bravo. But I'm usually going back and forth from Lower Alabama to Western NC, not just hopping across town. Doesn't seem to matter, IFR or VFR, I get to go around. Adds 30 minutes to what would be 1:30 flight . . .

My C would not run LOP until recently, it would just vibrate and shake. Now I can sometimes get almost 25°LOP, all it took was overhauling the carb, rebuilding the doghouse and the carb heat box. But boy, does it slow down when I go there. I generally ripen 50°ROP, and average right at 9gph block time. Flying high (800-10,000 msl), I've been known to fly right at peak. Performance is often very good. Wish I had fuel flow . . . another benefit to all of this work is that I have picked up 10-12 mph, and had to relearn all of my power settings as I was suddenly too fast. Now I indicate in the mid to high 140s mph at 9000-10,000 msl, and have seen 165 mph at 1000 msl. Yesterday going to lunch, I climbed out WOT/2700 and my CHT was right at the edge of the green stripe in my single factory gage. Once I leveled off at 6500 and pulled back to 22"/2400, temps fell nicely. But the factory gage is very imprecise and has very few numbers in it. Groundspeed was variable weaving between cloud tops but was mostly in the 135-140 knot range.

Congratulations, skates! It only gets better . . .

Cool! You guys out back get all the fun toys . . .

Never made it to Harry Clever for pancakes. Ben was our Garmin dealer. But did go with friends to Portsmouth KPMH for Sunday breakfast often. Good times!

Thanks for the update, Steve. And double Thanks for doing this the right way. We'd all rather read your writing than read about you . . .

Hey, your flap and trim position indicators are curved! Mine are horizontal bars that move straight up and down. And without printing the picture and playing with scissors, I'm not sure the Fuel Drain Valve arcs will fit around the outside of the Fuel Selector, either. Where did you find this nice selection of placards? The one for Emergency Gear Extension is in pretty bad shape (too much sweaty IFR training a couple of years ago), and I'd really like to get one that is legible. I know the text (have a copy somewhere), but would love one that will hold up to sweaty knees flying in the Deep South. None of my placards are metal, except maybe the hat rack 10-pounder.

I need something that can get position information from my 430W, and takes no panel space. Wish there was an affordable slide-in ADSB-compliant replacement for my G327 transponder. Still don't understand why the stupid transponder has to stay, also. The way they keep adding equipment is going to force my plane into obsolescence due to lack of panel space! At least the PO removed things like ADF, DME, Loran, etc. My Brittain units are mounted below the panel, so I can't even move them out of the way.

We are flying out for lunch in a little over an hour. Going close to Atlanta, we will once again be happy to not be in the interstate! I've looked down at miles-long traffic jams before, glad to be above them. One was going home from a family Thanksgiving trip, and sure enough, Mom and Dad were stuck in the biggest one we saw . . . Flying on Memorial Day is a great way to exercise the freedoms that so many gave their lives to create and preserve for us. Don't let the remembrance get lost in weekend cookouts and boat rides.

Bob, going by memory the PPP is 16 hours classroom and 4 hours flying in your plane with their CFII. The quality of information and instruction is generally pretty high. I've been twice, may go again in a couple of years. the price held steady at $795 from before I bought my Mooney in '07 until last year, I think. Pretty good value.

Don't you see the electric gear switch in the second photo? He went all out on that panel!

That was both pilots' lucky day!!

. . . and this is why I leave painting to the professionals . . . Unless i can open a can and use a brush.

Anthony, I've flown 10nm in the Alabama flatlands, departing on 31, flown NW and had to circle around and landing on 13. I like to check Airspeed vs Groundspeed on downwind, it's easier to change directions.

The increasing frequency and duration if partly-retracted gear in the winter convinced me. Nothing like flying 15-20 minutes with the gear horn buzzing and "unsafe" light lit, waiting for the last few inches of retraction. Eleven new pucks one December fixed that!

Unless he's never done one, and is learning on your dime.