Hank

I've only slowed for turbulence one time. There was an airmet for moderate turbulence from pretty much the Miss. River and west. Left Rapid City headed to Cody, WY, nice and smooth at 8500, airmet or no. Approaching the Philipi VOR, it got bumpier than I was comfortable with [departing near gross, with the wife, loaded for vacation] and I slowed down to Va. Haven't needed to since. To descend, I typically pull the throttle back two inches and trim for 500 fpm. Walk the throttle back and mixture forward as air pressure rises, to keep the initial descent throttle setting and cruise EGT. With my carb, LOP just doesn't work. Airspeed typically climbs to around 160 mph indicated, sometimes higher, vs. Vno = 175 mph, Va = 132 mph or less. 160 indicated at 10,000 msl = 192 mph, quite respectable for a 40-year-old plane running a 60-year-old engine design. In the summer, it can get bumpy coming down, but speed usually bleeds down in the thicker air, too, and by 4000 msl I rarely indicate even 150. Maybe my 3-blade works as an airbrake to some extent; I use it that way on purpose sometimes, too.

Remember when testing, pull the tuning knob out one click to get the .x2 and .x7 positions. If you get it, you're good to go.

That sounds like the one on my 3-bladed '70-C, for what it's worth. And I have the original cowl. Have you tried the standard vendors and salvage yards?

For standard IFR approaches, I configure my C for 105 mph [= 90kts], generally about 17-18"/2300 RPM [low altitude, low RPMs] with Takeoff Flaps. Around here, most approaches start around 3000 msl; vary as needed. At the FAF or 1 dot high on glideslope, drop the gear, full prop, mixture rich, reduce 1-2", point the nose down and trim to hold. Throttle and flap adjustments are made only as necessary to hold slope & path, then slow for landing. I frequently land with Takeoff flaps, holding the addtional movement for calm days or if I'm high/fast, since power reduction is limited by the idle position. It also reduces the workload from breakout to runway, fewer things to mess with, and she lands nice with partial flaps.

www.fly2lunch.com has some places to check. Seems like www.airnav.com does too.

skywarrior and amelia-- If you're near southern Ohio [what a contradiction in terms!] or eastern Kentucky, there's an event this Sunday at Robert Newlon Airfield just east of Huntington, WV. It's a beautiful 2200' grass strip with brand new campground and a dock on the Ohio River. Skydiving records will be attempted, barbecue will be eaten, lies swapped and fun had by all who come. My Mooney will be parked there for much of the day before departing for the hangar 6nm away; it will take a half-hour to drive back after the 4-minute flight for the bonfire, as Newlon has no lights and some unfriendly-in-the-dark features at both ends. Ya'll come on down! Anyone else in the neighborhood is welcome to come, too.

I had 62.5 hours when I wrote the check, including ~45 minute "test flight" with the owner. I'd been thinking about it since before my checkride, but put it off to concentrate on finishing up. The difficult part was finding places far enough away to knock out the insurance-required dual. Even my C-model is so much faster than the Skyhawk I trained in. Now I really enjoy the combination of speed and economy. It's the only way to travel!

Jolie, that looks like a WONDERFUL opportunity! I just wish it wasn't so far away . . . Any idea how to get the 99s right-seat class on the EAST half of the country? My wife has the book, and did the AOPA class, but it's just not the same as getting in the plane, and I'm smart enough to not try to teach her much myself. I do answer questions and reply to comments, and sometimes explain what I'm doing if she shows interest, but that's all I'm going to try. I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting a class like this, whether it's through the 99s, AOPA, MAPA or even the B/C/P type clubs, it's the training that's important.

Ju$t trying to give my hone$t impre$$ion$ to the new guy. Price insurance for your plane, with 62 hours total time, 0 complex. It'll flat stop your laugh . . . But I was determined, and my check had already been cashed. At least it didn't STAY high, that would have killed me. Now I'm at 400 hours with an IR, and it's downright reasonable.

Dan-- I bought my C-model just 36 days after my PPL checkride, having just my temporary paper and a whopping 62 hours in my logbook, all in Skyhawks. A few transition flights to get the feel of landing [much more ground effect, the wing root is barely knee-high off the pavement] and learn how to slow down, and things have been great ever since. Advice: 1) It can be done easily and well. Just get a good instructor and learn to fly the numbers. All pattern speeds MUST be EXACTLY what is shown in the POH if you want to land; +5 mph and you will get a good, close view of the airport gliding by just below you, and you'll have to push everything forward and try again. 2) Check insurance first. I had a hard time getting insured, even as an owner, due to low time. Finally found $omone to take me on a$ an acceptable ri$k. Expect $ome required dual in$truction; some insurers will require 15-20 hours dual, some will have an addition 5-15 hours solo time before taking passengers. 3) Plan to fly AT LEAST 100 HOURS before your insurance renews. With 100 hrs Mooney time, my rate$ dropped by half. 4) When I finally finished up my Instrument Rating, my rates dropped another 25%. Skip buying a time-builder and start looking instead for a plane that meets your mission profile and is in good mechanical condition. There are threads on this site about what to look for in a Pre-J Mooney--study the advice there if a Mooney is suitable to your needs. Keep flying while you search, as more than 100 hours total time will help with your first year's insurance. One last bit of advice: go to ride in a Mooney. Some people fit better than others, as the seating position is more sports car than sedan, and is very different from a Cessna seating position. I like it, but I also sit similarly in my car. Al Mooney has been described as designing planes to fit people with his own tall, slim build. I'm 5-11 and 185, hardly slim, but long legs help. The panel is sort of close, too. Short bodies [b, C, D, E & G] have little back seat leg room, but I've taken three adults to ride up to 2 hours at a time with little complaint. They wanted to reach our destination without an all-day drive . . .

I apply mine whenever the Carb Temp needle gets near the orange stripe. For regular landings, I do not. My Owner's Manual says to check that carb heat doesn't kill the engine during post-start-up, prior to turning on the radios. Other than that, it's pretty optional. So far, very little use, no problems.

Simple Green sounds almost as easy as Aero Cosmetics Wash & Wax. Two versions: blue for the plane, red for the belly [it's the degreaser]. Spray it on, wipe with a rag, then buff dry with a clean towel. One rag for the whole plane, but have several wipe dry towels. I usually do the plane in several days, since it's much more than a car's worth of metal. Work in small sections, 2' x 2' or so, use panel lines/rivets to keep track as you go. Spray on. Scrub/wipe. Buff dry. No buckets. No water. [Don't have any in the hangar.] Only do each panel one time. Clean, shiny, smooth surface. Lasts for months and months. I redo the leading edges whenever they get hard to de-bug after flights.

I'm a firm believer in keeping a smooth coat of Wah & Wax ALL on the plane, and I use their degreaser to clean the belly. Just did it Saturday, since I'm in annual and the belly is off. Took ~20 minutes to make the belly uniform maroon, smooth, slick and shiny. The spinner gets occasional treatment with Mother's polish, advertised for mag wheels and chrome motorcycle parts. Doing the whole thing once was hard, now I rarely even touch it up except after birds fly by . . . The windows get Plexus, with a cheap cotton washcloth. Nothing but cotton on the windows! Daily maintenance is with Mira-Fiber cloths. I'll have to bring one in for contact info, but they are man-made fiber similar to but different from microfiber. Wet it with water, squeeze it dry, and wipe. No chemicals to buy. Nothing to rinse off. I've been using it for three years, and am thinking about tossing it and grabbing a second one. [i bought 5 to get a quantity discount, should last a while.] No muss, no fuss, no empty cans or bottles. When wiping gets difficult or bug accretion gets bad, it's time for another coat of Wash & Wax ALL. Then wiping gets easy again.

Quote: KLRDMD Bruce Jaeger from Willmar Air Service (and president of the Mooney Safety Foundation) said at a recent Mooney Pilot Proficiency Program to not manually crank the gear down except in an emergency - never 'practice' it.

Should be 52 turn of the handle from full-up to down-and-locked. Counting them helps to pass the monotony. It never hurts to double-check the floor indicator. I had to finish hand-cranking when I had an electrical failure on a VOR-A approach: dropped gear, hit the landing light, lost everything. Pulled the breaker, engaged crank, turned four times and would go no further. The floor indicator was green and said "Down." Practice with a safety pilot in the right seat. This is something you need to be able to do. A gear-up landing, with new prop, new belly, a few antennas and an engine tear-down may well total some of our aging birds. What's 65% of your insured hull value, compared to these current charges? That's the typical "total" point for many insurance companies.

I have Sporty's 200, with the overpriced extra battery case. Then went to the local big-box store and bought an EverReady quick-charger with AC and cig lighter cords and some 2500 mAh batteries for a fraction of what Sportys wants for theirs. Works very well, and lives in my flight bag with Duracells in the extra case. Left it in the hangar the one time I needed it, on a local training flight. Now it's in the plane all the time.

My POH has 20"/1950 RPM from sea level to 12,500 msl. I've played with it in the practice area just to get a feel for it. "Different" is the best I can say . . . Endurance is 7:45 at sea level, dropping toward 6:00 at 12,500. Feels kind of mushy. I don't recall the AI reading, but the book says speed should start in the 120's and rise towards 150 mph, with range starting at 1000 miles and dropping to just under 950. Depending on the model/year in question, yours will be different.

After landing, my trim is often very near where I position it for takeoff. Light, touching the top of the "Takeoff" mark; heavy, lined up properly. But then again, I rarely make full-flap landings.

That's a big AFFIRMATIVE on the insurance! My checkride was at the end of April, and my insurance renewed in July. With 300 Mooney hours [out of 375], adding on the IR dropped my rates 25%! I plan to invest the difference in avgas, making trips that I used to cancel. Missing the family reunion last year was the final straw, and this year it was not a problem. Even managed to log some actual on the way back.

Congrats on the successful checkride! Mine was back on 30 April. Now comes the fun part--logging some actual on your own. Our planes are EXCELLENT instrument platforms. Despite my earnest pleas, my wife never went along with my CFII, so her introduction was in the soup dodging T-storms. She doesn't like lightning on the ground, and the Stormscope never showed anything within 40 miles, but in-and-out of the clouds, the flashes were visible. Try to have a gentle introduction to actual for your frequent passengers, if possible. Hope you do well, and your passengers aren't alarmed and stay quiet so you can concentrate. The IR is a REAL license to learn! Fly safe!!

Make your measurements [mine are at 2-gallon intervals] using the paint stir-stick and a marker. Then buy either a plastic tube or a "real" fuel dipstick and transfer the marks with an engraver, Dremel tool or the like. They won't ever fade away . . .

Alun-- Thought this might bring a smile while you are down for repairs. Saw this store on a recent trip to Savannah, GA. For some reason, it reminded me of you . . . Cheers! And may you be back in the air quickly, inexpensively and above all, correctly.

KHTW is $4.50, in even-further-south Ohio, across the river from Huntington, WV.

I just use a dab of Mother's Polish from the auto section of my local big-box store. Two-fingers' pressure on an old washcloth, another to wipe it clean, takes ~30 minutes to do the whole spinner. Really makes it shine! Touch-ups from bugs and the occasional bird splat on the ramp are quick and easy. No drill, no $30 pads, just a $5 tub of goo and an old rag.

The gear horn and stall hornin my '70-C are both in the headliner near the overhead lamps.