Hank

Don't be superstitious, Squirrel--be cautious instead. "Fly as if your life depends on it, because it does." Luck, hope and wishes have no place in flight planning. It's certainly OK to check something out, but not without Plan B and Plan C mapped out and prepared for also. Don't mess with Mother Nature, like the old butter commercials used to say. "Not Flying Today" must always be an option, at least until you are flying a 737 for hire [but even they cancel for weather sometimes!].

I'm only 5-11, and I sit on a 2" wedge cushion for visibility over the nose during landing. There are three seat positions on my C, I fly in the middle one which fits nicely for rudder pedal control. My 5-3 wife sits on three regular chair cushions, and cannot reach the pedals. Headset clearance was never an issue. Now, though, I use Halos for greatly improved pilot comfort--no more headaches, no more sweaty ears in the summer, etc. It will give another inch of headroom if you are close. Note that my seatback has three positions, and I think I'm in the most upright of them. Everyone thinks they don't need a cushion to ride with me. Then they sit in the plane, look out front and change their mind. Every single person who has ever ridden with me uses at least one cushion, most people use two. Lots of headroom. My last BFR, the instructor sat on two cushions and pulled the seat all the way forward to reach the pedals. If you're overseas in Europe, search for EMPOA, the European branch of MAPA. Shouldn't be too hard to find one to sit in and test the fit. Don't believe most of what you hear from Brand B/C/P pilots about "cramped Mooney cockpits," that kind of stuff is what I put in the garden.

I'm a believer in MAPA, too. Just attended a refresher PPP on the 6th at Niagara Falls, so did not try to fly to the far reaches of Texas last week. They generally do a good job, and I haven't been a member long enough for the articles to feel like re-runs as some people complain. Having them on our side, updating the world about the factory, spreading ADs and SBs, getting the word out about upcoming changes and new technologies, is nice so that I don't have to pound the sidewalk and pour through innumberable web pages to get the information myself. The dues, in my mind, is money well spent.

Man, that sucks! Good luck with your search for a good replacement. One positive for electric gear: I store charts, plates and water bottles between the seats, and don't have mismatched arms. It's really not a bad experience. Just be careful with your headset cord after you do your first emergency extension, and be sure to fold the handle down before resetting the breaker. It was an experience I will never forget . . .

At the end of my Instrument checkride, the DPE said I should pursue a Commercial ticket, adding "you have the perfect plane for it." While we didn't stall, 45° steep spirals showed 1500-2000 fpm descents at cruise airspeed. Very stable and smooth. If she stalls cleanly, and you can handle accelerated stalls, you shouldn't have problems with the maneuvers.

Go, Rob! Must be the Johnson bar a d 201 cowl.

Land with Takeoff flaps? Rent travel boards and check for symmetrical flap deflection? Park on a level surface, extend full flaps and measure up from the ground for symmetrical deflection? Seems I've read of an adjustment screw somewhere. Are both flaps at the same position when UP? Lay a yardstick along the upper wing surface [front-to-back], it should be the same angle on both wings, check the gap between the yardstick and the sheet metal. Crawl underneath and repeat the yardstick--are both flaps up the same amount? If not, your A&P can adjust flaps to be the same. See Maint. Manual for adjustment method and proper set points.

Oscar-- Beautiful scenery! Nice flying, too. I'm not sure if your brakes were locked or not. May you, your family and friends manage the Fuego eruption with minimal disruption and loss. Hopefully it's not too close to your homes.

My C has distinct detents at all three positions. I think it is the older, non-rebuildable style. :-( Still no emoticons, but I can post with my Droid phone now. I'll be interested to see what happens.

I had the pleasure of driving a cop-car-turned-courtesy-vehicle somewhere in Illinois while waiting on weather to clear up. It ran, only made occasional strange noises, and had a permanent 10º list to port, even when parked empty. Since it had the airport logo painted on both sides [almost filling the front doors], I had to drive responsibly . . . . "Home of the Friendly People" didn't seem like a good logo to go racing around town! Ya'll have a good time, and eat some barbequed beef for me.

I love Wash-Wax All, use it everywhere but the windows. Red [degreaser] for the belly, Blue [regular] for the rest; Plexus for the windows. I buy white, all-cotton handtowels in bulk for the metal, and white, all-cotton washcloths for the windows. So far, so good. Use 'em til they are nasty and throw them out. Also use the washcloths with Mother's polish to keep the spinner shiny.

Guess I should have looked at the pictures, I responded inappropriately. Your yellow is pretty low--mine starts at 175 MPH, and even on normal descents I rarely indicate 170. Just some of the joys of having so many models. Typical 3000 msl, 23/2300, I'll indicate ~130 MPH.

We can all cherry-pick data to support any air/ground speed that we want. I have photos showing my C making 183 knots over the ground headed south to Charlotte once; when I was topping the hills between Greenville and Knoxville at 10K indicating roughly the same airspeed but groundspeed bottomed out at 68 knots, I did not take any pictures. Normal everday flights are better used for discussion. I went 1300+ nm west at an average of 127 knots, and returned at an average of 151 knots, including takeoffs, climbs, descents and landings. Don't ask me what my indicated speed was, or the groundspeed during cruise, I was too busy sightseeing and vacationing for three days in each direction. I typically indicate 125-130 knots at 6-9K, and groundspeed is whatever the wind makes it. Book values are 160-165 mph for my plane, so I'm happy. The guppy mouth closure and 201-windshield both help; I've been told the 3-blade on the nose hurts. Either way, I get where I'm going, I can see out the front, and my OAT sensor is not in the way.

Don't forget the improved visibility from inside the cockpit, since the 201 windshield goes several inches further up at the top. Lots of sheetmetal work to be done.

Stopping at KSAV: Sheltair. For fuel, KBNL, Barnwell, SC. KSAV --> KBNL = 68 nm, further than I remembered, more or less north. Expect 6-7 gallons for the trip. I thought the fuel prices were higher than the temperature at Savannah when I was there in June. Must have been 110-115º, sitting at the end of the runway waiting on an airliner to land on the crossing runway and taxi to the terminal before I was cleared to depart. How did I ever get through 2-a-day practice in high school???

There's only the one airport that I could find in Savannah, unless you consider Hilton Head to be "greater Savannah." There are four FBOs; I used Sheltair because I could see their big fuel sign. They took care of me, gave my wife directions to drive out and pick me up [she was already there on business], served good snacks, and gave us a ride to the plane when we left on their golf cart. They also drove [6-8 miles around the runways] to pick us up after I turned in my Avis rental car and brought us back to get in the plane. For fuel, I recommend Barnwell, SC if you are going north. It's about 20-25 minutes' flight, has a nice crew car with COLD air, and saved me over $2/gal since KSAV doesn't much want to sell nasty 100LL. If you have time, the folks at Sheltair also had a brand new LSA on floats that looked like lots of fun. Sadly, I had no time . . .

I like to pull the prop through 2 compression strokes before the first start in the winter. It just seems to help get things moving inside; it definitely gets easier to pull. If I've already flown once that day, I don't generally bother. When I forget, the first revolution is slow, but it cranks up anyway.

The new site looks great, and is certainly faster. Now I can post with my iPad 1; will soon test my Android phone. As of last week, neither could post here. Way to go, Craig!! So where are the emoticons? I want to include one . . .

I had mine stripped & resealed last fall in Ft. Lauderdale (wet wingologists). Don't remember if the warranty is 5 years or 7 years, but it's a long time. Shop the discount airlines, I went round-trip FL to WV for $143. PM for details, but Mooney tanks is Edison's whole business, and he gives a discount for MAPA members. You'll get some good cross-country time going down and back, too. I'm quite happy, and not used to the sudden lack of blue spots on the hangar floor.

Welcome! I'm a 5-year C owner, with lots of fun travel behind and ahead. 1. There is a gear buzzer that sounds in my '70 model if the throttle is reduced to 12" or less and the gear is up. There are two lights on the panel right by the switch--a red one when they are up, a green one when they are down. There is also a lighted mechanical indicator on the floor, red up and green down. 2. Adults find the back seat adequate for short trips. I've never carried four adults longer than ~1½ hours [four men, with only 34 gals of fuel due to gross weight]; they tolerated it to get to Kitty Hawk. Going for lunch or supper won't be a problem. 3. For visibility, I use an angled 2" cushion in my seat [which slides fore/aft but does not raise up]. My wife uses three standard chair cushions, but she's only 5'3". Most passengers use at least one for visibility. She holds 52 gallons, and burns a very predictable 9 gph at altitude [6500-10,000 msl], giving me 5½ hours duration. My longest leg to date, thanks to nasty headwinds and groundspeeds hovering in the 110 knot range [bottoming out at 68 knots clearing the hills around Knoxville], was 4.4 hours and I put in 41 gallons. You'll have a good time flying one! Traveling is great, although I typically run out of space before useful load when traveling with my wife. I measured the cargo door, then went to a Samsonite outlet with my tape measure, and she has the largest suitcase that will fit, as long as I feed it in at an angle until the top corner is inside. The cargo area, stacked near the roof, and the backseat stacked just above the seatback, will hold as much as the trunk of her Corolla [if we don't pack the car full]. It's a dependable 140-knot machine, and I can be in level flight, power set and leaned, trimmed out at 8000' within 15 minutes of engine start at my untowered home field [567' msl].

Kujo-- I had less than 100 hours when I bought my C; your additional hours should reduce insurance somewhat. George Perry has a great thread buried here about what to look for when shopping for a vintage Mooney. I highly recommend use of the search box, it has a lot of great information. C's are great for 2-person travel. I've had 4 adults inside a few times, but it's best for short trips and no luggage, as the back seats get cramped and there's little useful load left for luggage [depending upon the adults!]. F's have more rear seat legroom; E, F & J have more HP, but the fuel injection system management is somewhat more complicated than the carburetor in my C. Go for it, but don't rush into anything. Get a good pre-purchase inspection and negotiate everything that turns up. I bought mine a year or two before I was ready to start looking, because sometimes you actually find the proverbial "deal to good to refuse." I highly recommend attending a MAPA PPP to learn how to properly fly her once you finish your checkout and dual; my PPP started 34 days after finishing dual, and I'm heading back this week for a refresher [400+ Mooney hours later] to see what I've forgotten and what bad habits have snuck in. Either way, have fun and fly safe!

I visit a 2000' grass field with the gravel pile from a cement plant at one end. I never go there heavy, and I certainly never try to depart heavy! All the way to the end, with the tail sticking out over the unmown area; set departure flaps; trim set slightly up, lines mismatched as described above; go to full throttle, release brakes, lift off at 65 MPH. Once positive rate is determined, gear up; raise flaps when above trees or gravel depending on direction. If you can, roll the rough spots to smooth them out. Water makes an excellent weight that won't need transportation to and from the field. I maintain just a little bit of up elevator to lighten the nose. Sometimes a bump will put me in the air below flying speed, keep wings level and set her back down, concentrating on directional control. Other Mooneys live on grass fields, I'm only an occasional visitor. Grass, yes; wet grass is messy to clean up; mud and yuck, no thank you, it will dry out in a day or two, and make for a safe, not-so-messy departure.

Quote: gregwatts I, too, am from the political party that endorses the 201 windshield!

JGG is a nice field, good restaurant, and pretty close to the Historic District. SAV is a fun town, especially the old Waterfront. But the airport isn't close to town. HXD is a great place to visit! W05 is on my list--Gettysburg for me, Hershey for my wife. FFA is nice, be prepared for heat & humidity. It's a short hop [~6½ nm] over to Dare County for fuel. Watch out for other sightseers, and the big red Waco giving tours. I came up from the south, flew along the beach at 1000-1500 agl. Nice views circling lighthouses, detouring out to the end of the capes, etc. Haven't been to Luray since I was a kid, but it was lots of fun. Forgot about the Auto Museum, but it's pretty neat, too. I've heard a lot of good things about Put-in-Bay over on Lake Erie, too. Wherever you go, have fun! Your 2-hour range is a lot further than mine . . . . .

Rich-- Like the others have said, I fly my C into grass strips without any problem, but I avoid soft fields when I know about it. Last year, I delayed my departure from Sun-N-Fun to let the grass camping area firm up some before I taxied out, much less tried a soft field departure. Remember, you only have 9" of prop clearance, and having the nosewheel dig into the mud can quickly reduce that. My normal procedure when carrying a single passenger and light luggage is to put the bottom of the trim indicator even with the top of the "Takeoff" line, a little extra nose-up. When heavier, I put it right on the line; when operating near gross at home, or from grass, I use Takeoff flaps too, just to make sure I get up and over the trees. My Owner's Manual has no information about soft-field operations, but does have this wonderful paragraph that clearly shows a difference between departure in a Mooney and in a Cessna, which is where I transitioned from, too. As speed increases during the takeoff roll, apply back pressure on the control wheel at about 65 to 75 MPH. The aircraft will tend to rock into a nose-high attitude as it breaks ground. To compensate for this tendency, slowly relax some of the elevator back pressure as the nose wheel leaves the runway. Keep the nose on the horizon just after the aircraft breaks ground to allow smooth flight from the runway without an abrupt change in pitch attitude. Maybe Piperpainter will chime in with some tips here. He is also in the Pac NW, flies a C model, and visits all kinds of backwood strips with his tailwheel friends. Look for his videos on Youtube. I can't say I would fly my Mooney everywhere that he takes his, but he is certainly skilled in the types of operations that you are asking about.