Hank

Well, whaddaya expect? It probably rained three or four times on the towels you left outside . . . That's what, a year's worth in Arizona?

Edison is great. Seven year warranty, no issues. He even drove me to the other airport to catch the airliner home when I dropped mine off. He was done on time, too. Join MAPA, he gives a member discount (plus you'll get the magazine, access to the mailing lists and to the PPPs).

Aircraft maintenance, ADs, etc., are on tach time. Everything else is "real" time.mmymplane doesn't have a Hoons, so my logbook has actual time from the yoke clock for every flight. This should be the same as a Hobbs meter records. Isn't it? I've not used a Hobbs since I was a student pilot.

That's true, Jose. My worst headwind added just over two hours to a two and a half hour flight--2:20 out, 4:45 back, straight-and-level groundspeeds as low as 68 knots. But Peter asked for calculations. Now that he's been playing with Perf Tables, paper, pencil and calculator, we tell him that the effect is nearly negligible, unless he reads Anthony's post and goes easy on the brakes and rolls out longer when heavy. But realisticly, the max landing fuel in my plane shouldn't vary more than 40 gals, or 240 lbs. A J, with 64 gal tanks, may vary 50-55 gals. or up to 330 lbs. Both compare to landing with minimum reserve fuel, so usually much less. I learned something here. Full fuel is like adding my CFI on top of minimum fuel! Still leaves almost half of my useful load available. The control feel is definitely lighter, and landing is can be a more ethereal experience when light.

The many make up for the few. One folded dollar at a time . . .

Start with your performance charts. Find speed at your desired altitude and power. Interpolate between the weights shown. if your luck runs like mine, you'll have to interpolate for altitude, do it again for power setting and a third time for weight.

P.S.--why would a repaint increase empty weight? A good paint job starts with stripping the old paint off, right? Or are you saying that my five color paint job weighs more than what was probably a factory 2-tone paint scheme?

War Eagle! I have NO plans to reweigh my C. Between the one piece belly and 3-blade prop, I'm happy with the listed 969 lbs.

The hangar cost, like insurance, does not vary depending on how much I fly. Fuel, oil, tires, engine life, all vary directly as I operate the plane. Thus "operating" costs and "fixed" cost. When you installed your GPS, did you hourly operating costs for that year triple? No, the cost to operate the plane didn't change, but your costs to own the plane sure did. In the winter, do you sometimes not fly (or not fly IFR) for a complete GPS data cycle? I do. So my operating costs for those four weeks are infinite (1/13th of the database cost divided by zero hours). Inflated "operating costs" do,nothing but discourage others from buying a plane. Personally,I'm enough of a CB that I rather like claiming $45-50/hour operating cost; gotta love fuel now at $3.35, less my 15¢ discount as a tenant.

Here, I condensed Mike's answer to make it easy.

"Ten year plan for radios and paint"??? The 430 was put into my plane in 1999; the paint was already several years old. Radio continues to work well after discounted early WAAS upgrade right after I bought her in 2007. I am continuing to get compliments on the paint job. It is easy to get obscenely high hourly costs, just add up every penny you spend and divide by hours flown. Apparently Stinker and I think alike, where the hourly cost to fly is the expenses used to fly, which does not include the costs to own [hangar, annual, insurance, pitot static testing, GPS subscriptions, etc.]. To get the hourly costs many people here have, you've got to be including avionic upgrades [optional, nice to have], ANR headsets, Foreflight subscriptions, multiple ipads to run Foreflight, etc.--too much discretional spending not required to operate the airplane. Maybe there should be three categories: operational [what it costs to fly]; ownership [the fixed costs]; and the Goodies [things you get because you want them]. I bet the latter would be the largest number for many of my fellow MSers . . .

The thing I dislike the most is that they have traded the fully-moving tail for drag-inducing trim tabs . . . But they kept the vertical stabilizer upright for cosmetics only.

As a Manufacturing Engineer, writing product specifications and work procedures, I used to keep that taped to my computer monitor at work. truer words have rarely been written . . .

Lycoming engineers say to not lift by the engine. McCauley says don't lift by the prop. Mooney says don't hold the tail down. When you jack a Mooney, the jack points are not at the CG. How do you hold the plane level? We slid my large plastic trashcan under the tail while re packing wheel bearings, with all the stuff above stacked on it.

Just did my annual, should have taken a picture but I was busy. Got ready to jack the plane, realized we didn't have a tail weight. So we stacked 3 cases of oil, a detergent bottle of used oil, a gallon of water, a box of tools and a couple dozen old, bound approach plates on the horizontal stab. The plane balanced great! Actually had to lift the tail a little bit after raising the gear, but it was really easy to hold.

In cruise, or even on approach, most small planes are just dark spots until we are pretty close. I find preceding traffic easier to spot when they are white airliners or small planes that are banking; in both cases it's generally the white that I see first. At close range, the colors become visible, but naturally that happens closer to a Cessna or Mooney than a 737 or Airbus. You, your friends, passengers, many other pilots on the ground, ramp workers and plane watchers will all see the paint job up close and in detail. Pilots in The air will see a dark spot, then when they are close the white on your plane will pop out. Yellow planes pop out well, too. Low wings with white uppers and colored patches where the wing joins the fuselage are pretty visible banking, but a friend's green Champ can be tough to spot against the ground than another friend's red Citabria. This has been my experience. Take it for what it's worth.

Ah, I didn't know that. There was snow on the ground for my last visit, but not falling. I did appreciate the traditional NJ breakfast, though.

Looking at the Weather Channel, it's pretty deep and white in your area, since you apparently weren't washed away by the storm surge. Beware the late night high tide, though, there'll be another surge. About your Jersey comment, "the land of milk, bread and eggs." I've only been to New Jersey a few times; which exit is this wonderland at? I must have missed it . . .

It's a trainer, so they're not gussied up any. They also look like the down-and-welded version of the retract to come. Add some aerodynamic trim and wheel pants, it'll look better . . .

Just think of it as a "one comma" difference. Never mind the zeroes, it's the commas that matter.

I've been told that Mooneys fly like a truck. Those types don't listen when I tell them that mine doesn't.

The right yoke isn't hollow. Pictures to follow . . .

Guess it won't work here in LA, where any snow is heavy snow.

Here's how mine is done. The wire goes inside the shaft. If you want photos of the back, I can take some tomorrow. the copilot yoke PTT button is done similarly, but the wire is on the outside.

Careful! Mike will start a poll to see if we should have a separate poll page . . .