Hank

I hit a fog bank in the flare once, it's a very uncomfortable experience. Especially on a short field with trees at the end. Rolled out before I hit the brakes. Never saw it from the air on downwind, base or final, but did have time to ask my wife to turn of the landing light. Did I mention it was at night, too? Not fun.

That's not what the plugs in my 1970 Ranger look like . . . so they must be fine wires and I have Massives. Big center electrode with two prongs on the sides that lean in towards the center. The gap is easily tightened up with a small ring that screws onto the plug, but if I ever over-tighten the gap then I am hosed.

When I first read his post here, my next stop was Google: Hines Aircraft Mooney I did not find anything about the purchase. Scott's post above is the first I saw of that.

See his signature line. He is our direct line to the factory in Kerrville. You know, the one that is not being sold to the Hines dreamers.

Hines' revolutionary propulsion system is a liquid-cooled automotive V-8 engine in the rear of the fuselage, with the radiator behind it. The single engine will drive two ducted fans on the fuselage ala Citation engine placement. Supposed to run 300+ knots on 10 gph, and use engine coolant to deice the wings and tail from the inside as part of the engine cooling process. Did I mention 2000 sm range, with full-fuel 1200 lb payload? It may not be a complete pipe dream, but I take Stacey's message to be that Hines' acquisition of Mooney is.

Just make sure all the non-engine/non-engine-accessory parts are available before buying the engine . . . My C has a nice "chin" on the lower cowl to clear the carburetor, but E's don't. Air filter & landing light location are not necessarily the same,either. What else is different on the front end? Note that some C's have adjustable cowl flaps, but on my C the cowl flaps are fixed. More parts to buy for the conversion, from the flaps up to the lever and a place to mount it in the cockpit. The devil is in the details . . .

I love mine!

The DPE here reviews the aircraft logs to make sure it is airworthy. Takng a few minutes at the FBO with a pad of post-its to mark important items is time well spent. I've heard of one person here who didn't do this, something wasn't right and the plane was grounded 42 nm away until the A&P flew there to correct it. [Not folklore, both the FBO owner and the mechanic told me about this and identified the aircraft to me.] Goo job there, Newbie! Trust, but verify.

Erik, it's happening in Cincinnati now, and has been for a long time. I couldn't remember the name so I googled Lunken and found this newspaper article among other links: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-16/mile-high-club-cincinnati/53124184/1 They use. Cherokee 6, cheaper than a Pilatus. What would you have to charge to make those monthly payments?

Don't overhaul, get an IRAN. Then no metal is removed from the blades unless it is necessary.

An interesting analysis would be retrofitting the Mooney factory with some robotics to automate the frame welding and wing rib alignment. Surely there's no need to still do everything by hand. Could the rivets be at least partially automated? Sheet metal stamping? But that's where you get into bad ROI, having only a small annual production run to spread cost over. Still, one or two assembly & welding robots from the auto industry [even used ones!] would surely be less expensive in the long run than several employees with holidays, vacations, insurance, payroll taxes, etc. What would be required to restart production with some automation? It may not be what you were assigned, but it would sure make for some interesting research and reading.

Bryan-- Look for something like this in your Owner's Manual. The little picture on p.1 shows the disconnect button on the pilot's yoke, and the roll trim knob on the Turn Coordinator. Let me know if you have any other questions. I just had a wing servo overhauled at Brittain for $124, a small fraction of what an STec servo overhaul would cost. But it's just a low-powered pneumatic system that runs on vacuum, with one electronic piece mounted in the tail cone to coordinate everything.

I don't know if Mooney was still putting in the PC in '76. And some owners removed them over the years. What were they thinking? I recommend buying hu s AccuTrak before someone else does . . .

Positive Control. It keeps the wings level, but is easy to override. There's a big thumb switch to temporarily disconnect it when maneuvering. Some planes have a switch on the panel instead. I can send an Owner's Manual excerpt tomorrow. Maintenance of the Brittain systems is simple, fast and inexpensive, but I have no idea about the install cost. Look inside the ELT panel, the two tail servos should be visible, one on each control rod.

Call Brittain in Tulsa. AccuFlight puts in a heading bug; AccuTrak will couple to the 430 and fly nice approaches, leaving you to adjust power and manage altitude. This requires a functional PC system. I love mine, but use the heading bug much more than the other.

Ain't nothing like a good north Georgia smoked barbecue swimming in spicy tomato-based sauce with a side of slaw and some beer-battered Vidalia Onion rings! Now I'm gonna have to fly down and get some, after this here derecho thing blows through! Hope your trip across the desert goes as well as mine across the mountains!

I'd like the same part for the "me" door. It's been bent and straightened out several times, and I just rebent it and WD-40'd it over the weekend. So far the baggage door thingy is doing well, I think. "If it moves and it's not supposed to, duct tape it." "If it doesn't move, and it's supposed to, apply WD-40."

Welcome aboard, McPilot! M.C.Pilot? You've got a snazzy looking plane; if you're ever out riding around very far southwest of Pitt, I'm right where Ohio, Kentuck and West-by-Gawd Virginny all come together. My slow Mooney takes just over an hour to get to KPHD for avionics work. If you put "Pittsburgh" and "MSE" in your avatar, you'll get a lot fewer questions; if 'near Pittsburgh' is somewhere we may have heard of, you can even put its name. Some of us even put the year of our Mooney over there. This is especially helpful if you are looking for parts, advice or techniques. I list "Huntington, WV" because that's where I work [and work brought me here], even though my house and home field are across the river in a little town in Ohio; the airport is on the bank of the Ohio River, and was Huntington's original commercial airfield from 1929 until the jet age brought large, heavy, noisy planes and they built a new airport out in the boonies. Just checked--in the 2010 census, Chesapeake had 745 residents [a really, really small town, about half of what I was thinking], and Lawrence County had ~60,000 souls including mine. Nobody's ever heard of it, so I list "Huntington."

Forewarning to the uninitiated: in the South where I was raised, "barbecue" is slow-cooked, smoked pork with sauce [vinegar-, mustard- or tomato-based depending on which state you're in]; barbecue chicken and barbecue beef are available, but 'barbecue' is pork. Barbecue is often chopped, but may be picked [hand-picked off the bone in small pieces], then simmered in sauce. Sometimes available sliced, but like with chicken and beef, it is identified ["sliced barbecue"]; barbecue by itself is little bits of smoked pork cooked in sauce. in parts of the North, "barbecue" is a verb meaning "to cook [whatever kind of] food on a grill." This includes hamburgers, bratwurst, chicken, vegetables and sometimes fruit; in Tejas, "barbecue" is slow-cooked, smoked until it's dry beef brisket, usually sliced, with spicy sauce poured over it. I like hot [spicy] food, and the hottest I've ever been served has been down in that desert--Arizona is proud of theirs, but New Mexico has a Hot Pepper Institute at NMU. You've been warned . . . . Enjoy your trip, have lots of fun, and fly carefully!

Hmmm, I don't have an accurate choice. Instrument rated capable mostly proficient but with a little rust 1-month out of currency [will remedy this week or next] This is the first time I've let legal currency slip.

No one has mentioned certifying a diesel engine for each and every existing aircraft model. I'm supposing that FAA approval to put a particular diesel on your F will not allow me to install the same engine in my C. Honda has been certifying their new GE jet enginefor the last 6 or 7 years, and hope for approval next year.

That is the difference between fire "resistant" and fire "proof." Very few things will not burn if conditions are right--fuel, oxygen and temperature.

There's more to it than the engine & accessories that must be changed. At least the lower cowl, maybe the top, too. Fuel pump, injectors, etc. Engine mounts, spider, intake . . . . Surely it would be easier, faster and cheaper to sell the C and buy an E? To say nothing of the extra headaches.

My longest multi-leg trip was 1320nm, KHTW-KCOD, with one weather stop (long lunch) and two overnights sightseeing; home was marginally longer, two more overnights (one a little early for weather). Nothing like a long VFR vacation with the wife! Later I went KHTW-KFXE and back, one stop each way, solo, IFR. She only holds 52 gallons, and I used almost 60 each way, I think. The longest duration was 4.4 hours into the wind. Groundspeed varied from a high of 115 knots at 4000' passing south of Charlotte down to 68 knots over the hills around Knoxville at 10,000. The trip out had been 2.1, and I was circumventing forecast icing aloft going home. Filled up with 43 gallons, very nervous. Pretty good for 180 hp and 52 gallons, but it's nothing for long bodies or extended tanks.

At home, that will put me 1500' into the woods, because the first several hundred feet were cleared a couple of years ago to salvage a Cessna . . . No offense, Jim. My Mooney experience is pretty limited [i've flown in two], and have only knowingly seen the single example of one with bladders. Either way you go, you makes your choice and pays your money. But no thanks, Byron, I don't want to double my fuel load. It's too hard figuring out how much gas you really have when the dipstick comes out dry and there's still 20 or 30 gallons in the tank.