Hank

Strange, the useful load in my C is 970 lb, I've never had a CG problem even with 4 adult guys in the plane (though we were shortchanged on fuel, only 34 gals, but nobody wanted to stay in the plane 3 hours so I could land with the full 45 min reserve that day). Do,you have CG issues? How / what are you loading? I can take the wife on vacation for two weeks, my problem is cubic feet, not gross weight or CG. P.S.--we're all waiting for wonderful tales of the TN speedster! Waiting with bated breath, no less . . .

Yep,that trip was into the wind, west across NC at 4000, climbing to 9000 then 10,000 between GSP and TYS, descending back to 4500 to LEX then turning east back to HTW. Ground speed was generally ~105 knots +/- 5, except crossing terrain towards TYS I hit 68 kts ground speed while indicating 135 mph at 10,000 msl. I climbed to 10 because I was doing lots of weaving around cloud tops (28° OAT) and it was sunset. Total time 4:40, 40 gals (actually 40 point something, less than 41 gal). But there was icing in southern WV, I had to go around. Had 15 min in the left tank, everything else in the right, that's as close as I was comfortable cutting the left tank. But I know my plane, it's steady 9 gph block time when leaned. Now that I've reworked the doghouse twice and carb heat once, it's 10-15 mph faster and will actually run 15-25°LOP if I want to. So sure, I'd make that flight again. KFAY --> KHTW the long way. Don't recall the mileage, but the headwinds were horrible. I generally went direct at 7500 to 10,000 depending on direction and VFR / IFR on that route. In the meantime, we'll just have to wait and see what happened here, just like with the Cirrus chute pull on approach. Eventually both stories will come out,and the planes will have had fuel left or not.

Hmmm . . . My C doesn't have any of that. I routinely fly 400nm on about 30 gal. Fuel change is by the yoke clock; totalizer is on the fuel pump when I land. Never put in more than 40 gal, and that was going way around icing conditions, into the wind the whole way. 4:40 flight time going home, after 2.5 hours outbound. Guess I'm an accident waiting to happen? I think not.

Top latch . . . Top latch . . . When did they start putting in top latches? My 1970 C only has the one down by the handle.

Leave the bumps. Where I used to live, the city buses were wrapped to advertise different events. You'd never get the cut outs lined up with the rivets, to say nothing of how bad several thousand white rivet heads would look shining through your color pattern.

Yeah, me too . . . there is little chance of even a casual observer confusing our Cs, though.

Thanks for the concern, Jose, but I don't pee on my plane. Nor do I use beverage containers, I just wait til I land. I'm also not a chemist, but figured it's called "uric acid" because it is acidic (pH<7), so it could easily attack aluminum, especially along joints and seams where it could sit for quite a while if not washed out. There have been many sad stories of the destructive effects of rat/mouse urine in airplanes. The Venturi does nothing but create suction to pull it out of the cockpit and into the airstream, spraying it out behind. Or are you saying you don't get any on the belly of the plane? I find that difficult to believe. I still say Mike is young enough to not know about the DRE yet, much les BPH.

Just fly regularly in IMC, or wash the belly a lot . . . Uric acid can be quite corrosive. Besides, Mikey's still a young buck.

No, my cookies are fine. They were good, though. Seems to have just been a hang up, it's working now. Weird.

FTFY . . . . .

Sorry! Maybe it won't be too long. Get her a piña colada while you wait, just don't share it . . .

Ow, Cap'n! That hurt my eyes . . . .

My biggest concern with eeny meeny miny moe comes at the end: should it be "you are it" as the final answer, or "you are not it" for additional rounds? Stinking ithingy just introduced another problem it changed the spelling of three of the four words!

Ever since I found a bolt inside my cowl, just laying in the bottom (didn't fly that day), that turned out to be an alternator mounting bolt, I always give it a good shake as well as checking belt tension. Can't check everything, just what I can reach. I also have two openings in top, the oil door and a second one on the other side--can't really reach anything, but at least I can look at both sides.

My wife encouraged me to buy an airplane. I was debating that or a truck . . . She thought she would get more use from the plane (i.e., I would fly her around). She didn't even see it until after I handed the check over. She asked something about it, he looked surprised and asked if she'd seen it. So we went out to the hangar for the introduction, now she's a veteran right seater, looking for traffic when clear and sleeping in IMC (and sometimes in VMC, too). Now I have a plane AND a truck . . . . and they are both Rangers.

I took inspection panels to the same store I bought the SEM paint for the interior. Think they mixed a quart of it. They sold me some small bottles with ball bearings inside for storage. Worked well, until I misplaced them . . . The hard part is touching up a small spot and getting the paint layer thin. I'm talking spots the size if an English pea or smaller, not really suitable for an airbrush.

I'll take some pics of the install in my C this weekend. Don't recall it being difficult, other than getting the screws back into the ring.

You, sir, sound too organized! i was finishing up my PPL training, flipping through magazines at the FBO and trying to find what I could afford to operate after purchasing. The fuel burn on a 182 scared me. I asked people about planes that I saw (this will carry anything the doors will close on, that one glides like a sewer lid when you pull the throttle, those parts are super high, that plane has been sitting for years, it's junk, etc.). The FBO owner had stumbled into a killer deal on an A36, and the Mooney he had been fixing up for himself as a retirement plane was available. We went to ride, he gave me some MAPA logs to look through . . . It was very distracting with my checkride coming up, and I managed to get through that. He agreed to sell it a half at a time. I figured he had more on the line than I did, selling to a freshly-licensed former student of his FBO. Boy, that was the best decision I ever made! Changed my life for the better in many ways. Spent almost every lunch break researching Mooney flying, information, tidbits. Got severe eyes train reading Richard Zephro's site (Mooneyland? Who can forget electric yellow writing on black for one page, the next one is red writing on a green screen, blue writing on a yellow screen and other inappropriate choices). Then I stumbled onto early Mooneyspace. Find a plane. See if you think it's good. Negotiate a price you're happy with. Then arrange an inspection by your mechanic, or at least not thenseller's, who knows about Mooneys. If it's good, pay the man so that your fun can start. There are some good looking ones for sale here . . .

There was imaginary snow on the first takeoff. Later there was a landing in a snow-covered runway. I thought the snow was real this time, but maybe it was also imaginary. Nope, he says "it was completely snow covered, looked like it hadn't been used since snow started falling months ago." Not sure I'd have done that at an unfamiliar field.

Close . . . Spent the first 16 years of my life in the USMC. So my definition if "normal" is a little different from most civilians.

Lots of things I want to know, too. But the FARs cover what is REQUIRED. You may always exceed the requirements, just do not fall short . . .

I've always used/heard "gouge" in this application. What does that make me?

Yep, you're right. But although changing my oil does NOT change the flight characteristics or affect the operation in flight AT ALL, I still fly to warm the oil for quick drain, and take a lap or two around the pattern afterwards to verify no leaks after I'm done. Besides, it's an excuse to fly. But while I log those flights in my logbook, I certainly don't record them in the aircraft logbook.

Here is my old, semi-functional Whelen flasher and my new Whelen LED flasher. This was just after I moved the trim ring from the old unit. Everything fit great. Really bright, too.