Hank

Congratulations! It's a long road, but you're there now. It is more of a "license to learn" than your PPL was. Weather briefings will take twice as long. But you will complete more flights, and the satisfaction is tremendous!

I won't yoke mount my mini because it will cover up the clock,which I use to log flight time and switch fuel tanks. And no, I don't want to use a digital timer, it's so much easier to use the analog hands, and whenever the moving white minute hand overlaps the settable but not moving red minute hand, I lean down and switch the tank. No thinking needed, I don't need to write down start time, I can tell at a glance, etc. It's also easy to determine flight time for fuel remaining by counting the number of hours the little hand has moved, then the minutes that the big hand has moved. To say nothing of the extra inertia when moving the yoke, especially when slow in the pattern. How much room is left to either side to grip the yoke? I have a PTT and PC Cutoff button there. Also, I think it would get in the way of leaning down for the fuel selector, and obscure my StormScope, EGT and Carb Heat gages. Placed vertically to the left of the yoke, it may cover the final corner of the window, but way down low, in front of the storm window, isn't somewhere that I often crane my head to peek out. Wonder if it will block the red LED lights that replaced the ashtray? Placed vertically on the yoke, it either what's into my legs, the Jewels or my kneeboard, or else it blocks even more instruments. Not a good choice.

I've seen pictures showing them mounted to the left somehow. Suction cup to the window? I'm curious about this too.

My C has an O-360-A1D, which I thought was in all of them. What's an -A2F? As far as hours go, price the plane with a runout engine. Check pricing for remans from your favorite shops, and as your buddy what he charges to remove and reinstall the engine, and to do a field overhaul with you assisting around the edges. This will clue you in in the total price you are committing to. But I wouldn't overhaul based just on hours. Keep an eye on it and do the overhaul when something tells you that it's ready. Lots of information available on this subject, beginning with Mike Busch and Pelican's Perch. Read up and see what's involved, and if you're ready to go down that road to possibly hold off on that $25K job. Any flying that you do between purchase and overhaul will be gravy; expect zero hours, whatever you actually get will be free.

Rocket is also still supporting the Missile conversion, an IO550 mounted into a J model (I think; it may be an IO520, either way it's a non-turbo little brother to the Rocket). There are some Missile owners here, too.

Last fall was great! Looking forward to another great one this year. edit: Come in down, Anthony! Good people, good times and a nice trip!

Poor plane . . . I really like the A & B models without the bubble canopy. This one will fly again, hopefully fairly quickly. New radiator and prop, some polishing on the belly, tear down engine and fix whatever went wrong with the gear. At least he didn't put it in the water like some guy did in Hawaii with a 337; flew around for two hours burning off fuel, then landed in a lagoon beside the runway. On purpose!

Yep. Looks like they did the good ones first. That explains a lot.

I don't remember just when the wing structure changed, but it was before 68.

Yes, I flew into FXE. Seems with my MAPA discount it was ~6-1/2 AMU for my 52 gallon tanks in 2010. Your larger tanks will cost more. We scheduled the work around the two discount flights weekly between Huntington and Ft Lauderdale International. I picked it up just before Thanksgiving, so it was probably 3-4 weeks. He had two in the shop and another waiting when I got there--it's all about timing and workload, and my timing, as usual, was bad. But he finished on time! It was ready to go when I got there.

More like the waiter says everyone will be served whatever there is more of, everyone gets the same meal and there is no price on the "menu." Hope you like whichever steaming pile they bring, and that you have enough to pay whatever the bill comes to.

I deal with R-space and MOAs in North Carolina frequently. Many times they are cold, sometimes hot, and sometimes NITAMed "hit to the ground" despite charts that say they (R space) begins at 1500 agl. When these overly my destination, I get below 1500 and land anyway. Getting to KFAY from the NW requires avoiding R space, holding course at 4500 msl until about 10-12 nm from the field. Traveling there IFR, my last diversion going to the coast was significant, but I listened in to two F15s headed back in to Seymour Johnson AFB. Not something I'd want to mess around with in-and-out of the clouds. YMMV, closed course, trained professionals, etc.

Teeth aside, in 65 or 66 the wing structure supporting the flaps was changed, raising Vfe to 125 mph. What this did to the flap side of the attachment, I don't know, never having seen either version separate from the airframe. P.S.--my rudder and elevator were punched, but ailerons and flaps are smooth, o that shouldn't effect your desired transplant.

Look in the "Downloads" section at the top. Lots of good stuff there!

You have to read the labels. Much is 70%, but I've found it in drugstores as low as 50%. Used to buy it by the pallet at work, in quart bottles and spray heads, at 70%. The good stuff, 99% IPA, generally comes from chemical or science supply businesses (we used Fisher Life Sciences), in brown glass gallon jugs. It's not suitable to store in plastic bottles for a long time, it will absorb water from the air and not be at 99% very long. For our application, it mattered; to melt ice on your wing and tail surfaces, it won't matter, but it is significantly more expensive Buy what you can find but read the label before adding (more) water . . .

Patching is risky, more so with older models. I'd recommend a reseal when it gets bad enough. Mine took three annuals to reach that point after I bought her, and I went to Wet Wingologists in the fall of 2010. Couldn't have gone better. Good luck with fixin yours!

Yeah, me too . . . But at least she likes flying with me.

The seat back in my C is a PITA to install, much worse than the bottom. But it's factory split reclining. Too, which doesn't help matters. Good luck!

Some planes that sit are still in good shape. My C flew 9 hours total the two years before I bought it, including two post-annual checks and two potential buyers. Not sure if that total included my hour-plus, also, but it may have. I've flown her from 186 to 739 hours, and compression at annual a week ago lifted the IA's feet off the ground (78/80/78/80). Dry climate is good. Last two annuals at an MSC is good. A knowledgable PPI is good, doing it at an MSC is better. Check it out, hope it matches the description. Then haggle on price and the PPI--expect to pay expenses at least one way (maybe roundtrip if too distant), and seller to pay for airworthy items. Write it all down and get it signed before leaving a deposit and arranging the inspection. Then fly the wings off of it!

Can you translate? I don't speak Iowan.

Landings are also better with new biscuits . . . When I replaced mine in Dec '13, they had the manufacture date of "06-69" molded into them. But they were upside down, and I somehow read it as "09-96" so I wasn't too worried. Swap them out, you will like it [just not the price!].

Sounds like a nice day. I terrorized the neighborhood myself on Friday afternoon, headed out over campus and the next town over looking for a buddy's house that I couldn't find. Figured three passes ~1500 agl was enough bother for anyone who was home. Nice gentle power setting, 23/2300 at 2500-3000 msl, 145 mph indicated. Nearby AWOS said winds were 9 knots NW, but I didn't notice while taxiing, departing, crisscrossing campus or landing. Made the midfield turnoff with only gentle braking, a wonderful reminder of the generous 5000' runways around here. Keep flying, bonal, and you'll find out what low groundspeed is . . . So far, my envelope for level, sustained cruise runs from 68 knots to 186 knots, both at 9000-10,000 msl, ~20"/2500.

Yes, they should be rebalanced whether stripped and repainted or stripped and polished. The balance limits should be the same, regardless of the amount of paint applied. My own are base coated with colored stripes running front to back across the ailerons.

My C only has one pin in the door. I have a Service Manual from the late 70s in the hangar; I'll check the PDF I received several years before buying the bound version.

I thought the whole point of "Unread Topics" was to show the ones you haven't read yet. . . Try using the "Back" button. I don't use the Unread function, but often after reading a thread and hitting "Back," it will still show in unread format. The New MS puts a horizontal blue line in threads to show how far you've read, makes it simple to find where you left off the last time.