Hank

Airplanes make everything fun. Mooney airplanes make everything funner.

Quote: maropers Following the taxi to camp the tips of my prop had a distinct green tint - like what is left on my tennis shoes after cutting the lawn.

Quote: fantom Just thinking that lots of less experienced pilots, and probably some experienced ones, don't know the proper way to restart their engine in the air. It's in the POH.

Quote: N4352H I cannot ever think of a time or practical reason to run a tank dry. It serves absolutely no purpose and assumes some risk. Sediment clog, vapor lock, engine not restarting. Why do it?

Quote: fantom

Since Squirrel's thread on the 'General' page about this subject was hijacked to rant about the dis/advantages of big vs. small government, I thought I would resurrect the original intent of the thread. Some states charge annual tax to own motor vehicles; some include aircraft in this tax category, some don't; some states charge annual registration or other fees. As many Americans are quite mobile [even those without aircraft], and several members have recently mentioned thoughts of future relocation, I thought a quick compilation of current aircraft-related taxes and fees by state would be of interest. Sure, it can all change with the next election, so please report for your state the current tax/fee structure. Because sales taxes vary tremendously, can be impacted by corporate involvement, and are sometimes assessed on out-of-state transactions by out-of-state owners who make a short visit, let's ignore those for now. I'll start. Again, no sales taxes . . . OHIO: no annual ownership tax. $15 per seat annual registration fee for "small aircraft" which I think means less than 30 passenger seats. I have three "passenger" seats so I pay for four seat registration ($60 per year).

Grass is great! It's just more difficult cleaning wet grass and dirt from the bottom of the wing than it is on a Cessna. The joy of [dewy] morning landings . . .

Quote: sleepingsquirrel I guess home accidents ,but fatal accidents at home are just not news worthy.

Quote: aerobat95 On a side note I was shocked how much red costs.....glad I only have a small pin stripe.

It could still be the capacitor in your mag, that only supplies voltage when the key is pushed in at advance timing to make her fire off. Mine was really hard to crank, but when started ran just fine. If it doesn't fire at all, suspect either the magnetos or the shower of sparks; if it hiccups and coughs but won't catch, then I would chase plugs/couplings. But I'm no A&P, that's just how it worked out for me.

Please, please, please announce 8-10 miles out, and at least once more prior to entering the pattern. Don't be like the Cessna goob coming into my home base right at sunset who announced himself "1 mile east inbound" as I was rotating on Rwy 8 . . . Never heard a peep while programming the GPS, taxiing, running up or back-taxiing 2000'. I couldn't see him until I cleared the trees [there's not much stopping on a 3001' runway], and there he was, going the opposite direction a half-mile or less off my left wingtip as I clawed for altitude with eyes bugging . . . "Any traffic, please advise" is just telling the world that you don't care who is out there, they just need to dodge out of your way.

My mags have been pulled withotu pulling the engine. It pays to have small hands. But I also don't have fuel injection lines to work around. Personally, I would find a different mechanic, but that's hard to do when she won't crank. I had cranking problems twice: once was a bad starting capacitor in the mag; the second time was eroded plugs with too large of a gap.

Annual automobile trips in the US: 100's of millions, perhaps Billions Swimming/diving trips throughout the country: 10's of millions, maybe less Annual GA trips: 10's of thousands Guess which one leads the pack in fatalities/100 million hours [the NTSB standard unit of comparison]? I will grant you that any aircraft accident, no matter how minor, gets far too much publicity with nonsense quotes like "an airplane crash without injuries is a miracle," while the only auto accidents that make the news are the really large or especially gruesome ones simply because there's not enough time or paper to record and distribute them all, even in small towns. Car wrecks and deaths are simply too commonplace for notice, but how many accidents were there at your local airport this year? There are 4 airports in my local area; 2009 = 2 fatals; 2010 = none, I think; 2011 = 3 non-fatals and counting. There were >3 car wrecks in town last week, I'm sure.

Avemco wanted $1600+ for me, with $250 deductibles; my broker found the same coverage, with 0 ded moving & parked, for $1134--it will be more without IR, but >500 hours may reduce it some, I'm not there yet, I don't know.

Check with local pilots in your area. I use a broker here in town with pretty favorable rates. At my renewal in July, Avemco was 50% higher than what my broker quoted [3 different quote amounts from 4 insurers]. If you want, send me a PM and I'll give you their contact info.

Quote: TLSDriver You mean on Mooney Space site?

Quote: jetdriven That brings up another thing that I always do, switch to fullest tank at top of descent. I try to time it to where it is empty then or nearly so, but switch then anyways to not forget later. I hear you, Ross. I drained my right tank with the gascolator pull on the ground, and it takes 2 Hours to drain out 20 gallons. Forever, really.

Quote: Shadrach That's the same latch I have on my 67 F. As I said before, I can't imagine how it would come open if properly latched. Once it's locked, forget about opening it inside or out unless you have a chisel and a hammer of Jaws of life...neither of which would I want to wait for in the event of a fire. My key comes out just fine whether it's locked or unlocked. I suspect most vintage mooneys are this way as it is the same key and lock set that is used for the door.

Yep, and neither my altimeter window nor G327 transponder show altitude in single-foot increments. The altimeter has a "/" every 20', and the transponder moves in 100' increments [at least that's all I've ever noticed it sending, even when the Mode C was erratic and reporting anything from -10,000' to 27,000'].

"In aviation, we have a perfect record. We haven't left one up there yet!"

Some of our planes had 3-blades when we bought them . . . and high heels hurt my feet . . .

Matthew-- You're in the middle of God's country! Review with your CFI what makes a "good" forced landing site, and practice looking for them. I-26 is about the only decent road around, and often low traffic once you get away from Johnson City, but it gets pretty steep. Corn and bean fields can be attractive. Be careful, though--someone ran out of fuel near Asheville a couple of Decembers ago and hit trees on his approach into a pasture, which turned it almost vertical. That is stuck in my memory because it was my model of plane, and I fly into KAVL when visiting Mom & Dad. Find something that looks good from the air, then drive past it and look for power lines, poles, signs, gullies, etc., and it will improve your ability to find good alternatives.

Bob and Don are the men! "the bottom line. Aggressive slips in your Pre-J or J should be okay from a safety of flight viewpoint."--Bob Kromer, Mooney test pilot

Thus the two adjectives in my Owner's Manual. Slips are fine, sustained slips are OK, extreme slips are good, too--just watch the fuel level if you need a sustained, extreme slip. Like when I was practicing slips as a student: climb to 3000 agl, point towards something a long way off and slip 1000' in each direction to get a feel for what it's like and how you descend. Losing a couple of hundred on final is not an issue.

Quote: carusoam Search for threads with Norman (testwest). He was also collecting data on blade width as well for computer modeling. My 2 blade Hartzell on my M20C had 74" diameter my 3 blade McCauley on my M20R has 76" diameter (75" min) That would have been the one! I've already sent the measurements to Norman, that's how I was able to draw such a pretty prop blade . . .