Hank

My transition lenses darken a little in the cockpit. But I fly with prescription, polarized sunglasses. I can read all installed instruments including G430W, GTX327, etc. They also work fine with sectionals, en routes and approach plates. I've done limited in-flight testing with my Samsung Galaxy 7", mostly due to either poor weather or plane being in the shop. Carb OH takes a while . . . Once she was put back together, the weather went in the crapper. Don't recall any trouble reading the Samsung. [Hint--it wasn't made by Apple.]

So far, I've not had a problem with passengers getting in the way of controls. So I can't vote, there's no option for "None." I do tell everyone in the right seat to keep their feet off the pedals, and I point them out. But generally, if they slide the seat forward just to the catch and stop, most folks can't reach them, anyway. Then at runup, "Controls Free" is a chance to let them know about yoke motion, too.

Don't forget to put sound insulation under the panel and in the footwells. Engine noise will come right throught the firewall. From outside, much of our noise comes from the prop. And Bo's are much, much louder when taking off! Something about 285 hp.

What's going on is that too large of a load is being applied to your electrical system. The alternator is charging the battery at ~30 amps; the gear motor is pulling 20-25 amps. Then you have radios, GPS, lights, etc. Overload! Things shut down. Electricity is not like a gear train, where the jam can be precisely located and an exact cause found and remedied. Strange things happen, because electricity isn't logical to my mechanically-oriented brain. Overload the system, or get close to it's limit, breakers will pop and things will turn off. I had a bare spot on my landing light wire that rubbed on the cowl that would randomly reset the avionics [G430W and King Com2 & Nav2], wiping the King's memory and setting it to 120.00 while the Garmin was rebooting. No breakers tripped, no circuits popped, but lost the radios all at once anyway. Looked for stuff, wrapped the wire to the light, no more problem. Electricity is weird. Buy a Concorde dry cell, don't let it discharge, these types of things should stop. P.S.--I like my throttle quadrant!!

In our Mooneys, the electric motor drives a four-bar linkage that moves all three wheels at once. Impossible to only move two, they are physically linked to the motor. We don't have a power pack--the motor turns, and the reduction gears slow it down so that the metal rods move slower. It's the same unit that the manual gear Mooneys have, except the electric motor is hooked up to a shorter Johnson bar. I "think" Cessna's just use an electric motor to run a hydraulic pump or pumps, and each gear leg has it's own hydraulic cylinder and lines to the pump(s). Much easier for the motor, and probably a smaller one, too. Here at work, we get >100 tons of force using a 50-hp electric motor; one machine is all-electric, and it has multiple, larger motors to do the same thing. 480V, 3-phase, and really fat power cables coming out of the floor.

Go Concord! I put in whichever one has more cranking amps, since it gets cold around here. Been two years now, and it got me through starting problems related to the carb not sending fuel to the cylinders [sporadic issue for several months]. Still cranks great, at least through last Saturday.

My first guess is that your battery was still not charged, and the alternator was running hard to charge it. The gear motor also puts a large load on your electrical system. The combination of charging the battery and running the gear motor tripped the master switch. Next time you have to jump the plane, don't take off until the ammeter is showing low current. Then radio, lights and gear won't try to pull too much from the system. In the meantime, I wouldn't touch the gear limit switches.

I'd probably just fly whatever other efficient, low-maintenance aircraft he made. There were many predecessors to ours, including some that had "normal" tails. Had Al never gone into aircraft design, surely someone would have thought about fuel efficiency; just because Cessna, Piper and Beechcraft ignored it doesn't mean that Al was the only one who cared about it. Lots of low-volume aircraft were made in the 20's and 30's; lots of one-offs may have succeeded without Al's competition. But Bo's are too pricey to operate and maintain; 182's suck too much fuel. I was looking at aircraft that I could afford and was not happy with what I was hearing about fuel burn. Then I stumbled across my Mooney completely by accident, never having heard of the line before. I'm good now.

That's why my handheld radio lives in my flight bag, with the headset adapter plugged in and ready to go. The batteries in it are NiMH for longer life between charges, and a spare pack of Duracells is in the flight bag ready to swap out. Durn little plastic battery packs [empty!] are quite expensive for what they are. [i've been in injection molding for 20 years . . . wish my own gross margin was that high! ] I needed the handheld once, on a local flight, and it was naturally in the hangar. Now I periodically take the NiMH pack home and recharge them, especially before taking long trips. The Duracells are replaced every year or so, with or without use. Don't want to get stuck again. At least I had already descended below the clouds and been approved for the approach ["cleared for the VOR-A approach, radar contact lost"] when everything went kaput the one time. I've since used the handheld with my Halos while mowing along the runway just fine. In situations like those, handheld mic won't do much. Can't remember a single failure of a headset, but did make one flight using the right-hand plugs due to push-to-talk failure on the left yoke [not my plane]. Thankfully VFR, as reaching for the right yoke to talk was somewhat awkward.

Crosswind back to the runway is about 135º, depending upon how far you went beyond the end of the runway and how long into the leg you turn back. I rarely turn crosswind much before 500 agl. From downwind with an engine failure, just fly your normal procedures but don't go quite so far out, since your descent will be starting sooner than "abeam your intended touchdown point." On my first Flight Review in the Mooney, the instructor pulled the throttle on downwind and I just settled into my normal 90 mph speed, dropped gear abeam the numbers and turned base a little early. Just a normal landing with a slightly shorter downwind leg. Engine failure on the straight-out leg is what kills people when they try to do a 180 then find the runway. It's scary being slow that close to the ground, because it's unfamiliar; it's scary not having engine power; steep banks are scary because it's unfamiliar. So they use normal bank angles, pull up to avoid the ground and stall. Nose down immediately, 45º bank into the wind, set best glide speed will work if you are high enough and there are no obstacles. In the video that AOPA has from a fellow Mooney pilot, he almost hit trees on the ridgeline. Listen to his breathing during that short flight!

No, I only use flaps when loaded heavy and raise them after I'm clear of the trees. That's the only climb chart I have . . . I did go to 16,000 msl once, to see how I liked oxygen and how she handled. The last few thousand feet were s-l-o-o-w, with a few level-offs to build speed. I calculated DA of 18,800'. Did I mention it was in August? Flaps up on that one, too. Then some emergency descents, both max speed and max rate of fall. Fun! Here's what the OM says under Normal Procedures/Takeoff and Climb: Retract the landing gear only when safely airborne and in good control. Retract the flaps when the aircraft has cleared all obstacles and has gained an indicated airpspeed of about 80 to 90 MPH. Then comes the following page. Sorry, OM's in 1970 were not heavy on data.

Why all the hulla-balloo about installed traffic avoidance gear? Going by the Nall Report, there are ~3 mid air collisions in the U.S. annually, and a multitude more stall- and stall/spin deaths. Spend your money where it will protect you from the largest threats, not the most visually graphic. Angle-of-Attack should be of interest, as it comes into play at least once on every flight [base-to-final turn], sometimes on departure, and other times. Granted, I've only been flying six years, but even going into Sun-n-Fun, traffic has not yet been a problem. And no, I'm not based at a towered field and I don't visit them often [~3X annually].

Norm-- The published Vy for my C is 100 MPH at sea level, with a straight-line decrease to 91 MPH at 10,000 msl; I approximate as 100-[Alt in 1000's], and try to stay within Vy to Vy+5 during climb. My limiting factor is almost always Oil Temp, but only when it's warm outside.

Mine's a little lower, too, and is a perfect fit for a Mini Mag Lite. I also keep a couple of large binder clips there to hold approach plate books open. No, I haven't converted to electronic yet--the durn iPad is too big, and I've not found a good way to mount my 7" Droid tablet that won't cover up my clock [the red hands are great visual reminders to change tanks; I can't forget what the time is supposed to be, or forget to set the alarm, or not hear it beeping]. Besides, I've yet to have a book run out of power or shut itself down because it sat in the sun.

I climb WOT/2700 to altitude, unless I'm staying in the pattern, then I reduce to ~16" on the crosswind leg to not blow through Pattern Altitude. I hold Vx to clear the trees, then accelerate to Vy and stay pretty close to that all the way up. Level off, accelerate then set whatever I'm going to use for cruise. Sure, the book lists a reduced setting for cruise climb, and I use that when I or ATC want higher, but I'm usually high enough that I can't produce the 26" MP book setting, just Full Forward and ~115 mph. So far I've not needed any emergency evasions . . .

My C climbs faster than that on 20 less hp! WOT/2700/Full Rich, at Vy is 1000+ fpm at home. You need to recheck your math . . . 10 minutes is 1/6 of an hour; 1/6 of 3.5 gph is not 1, it is 3.5/6 = .58, a half gallon. There's no need to lean in the climb unless you use the Target EGT method, as your temps will all rise until you get below peak. See above, I rarely climb for 10 minutes and don't flight plan where ½ gallon makes a difference. I respect the "golden hour" and plan to land with at least 9 gallons, so far haven't been below 11. Good for descents. I maintain cruise MP & EGT all the way down, easing throttle back and mixture forward. Makes for nice groundspeed. I learned the first time I flew an F that procedures don't always transfer well between carbureted and injected engines. I'm supposing that the 115 KIAS climb speed (Vz) is Carson's speed, which I always thought was used as an endurance cruising speed rather than a climb speed. I climb as close to Vy as Oil Temp will permit on the green stripe, and can easily be at 9000' msl, power set and trimmed, within 15 minutes of turning the key. Home field = 567' msl. You injected folks with more power should easily beat me. If a simple Mech. Engineer could work his way through your MS thesis on efficient flying, could you post a link or send me an abstract or something? I apparently didn't absorb as much from the previous Carson discussions here and elsewhere as I thought I did.

P.S.--at 7500 msl, standard day, my OM shows the following: WOT = 22.5"; 32ºF; +10ºF --> -1%; -10ºF, --> +1% 2500 RPM, 22.5", 78.8%, 14.0 gph, 167 mph 2500 RPM, 22.0", 76.6%, 13.5 gph, 166 mph 2500 RPM, 21.0", 72.1%, 9.1 gph, 162 mph So I happily trade 5 gph in fuel savings for a loss of 5 mph. One I notice, the other one I will not. Yes, I usually come very close to book speed and fuel burn, even with my 3-blade prop--must be that 201 windshield and wingtips making up for it.

Byron-- That's part of the tradeoff between my 180-hp, carbureted plane with a doghouse, and your 200-hp, fuel injected engine with a fancy set of baffles. Where ICP peaks is of interest, and certainly it's desireable to keep ICP below any pressure values that will cause problems [overstressing connecting rods, engine case bolts, cylinder bolts, etc.]. Running power settings straight from the OM should have been considered by both Mooney and Lycoming, even "back in the day." I've never seen any published values for Internal Cylinder Pressure, nor how much it takes to overstress the bolts; as for valves and camshaft, pressure on them is timing-related, and you know better than most just how adjustable timing is and is not. I don't have an engine monitor, just the factory single-point gages. My operating limit tends to be oil temp getting to the end of the green stripe rather than CHT. Numbers on those stripes are a bit of a joke, there may be two on each one. If I could run LOP, I would certainly like it, but I can't so I run how I am able and I watch three needles: EGT, Oil Temp and sometimes CHT. Temp is usually only an issue during the summer. I'll look the next time I'm out, since I don't remember them from yesterday.

There's a whole thread about this: http://mooneyspace.com/topic/8130-pirep-ipad-mini-in-yoke-mount/

Logbook entry only. Use the correct one per Whelen, not just one that looks good. I reused the trim ring from the old, it-blinks-when-it-wants-to unit. When I showed my old part number to the Whelen rep, his only comment was "Wow, that's an old unit. Here's what you need."

Those of us without Fuel Injection have a hard time running LOP. My engine stumbles and runs rough at or just lean of peak. According to my OM, max economy is 25ROP, and max power/speed is 100ROP, so I generally compromise and run 50ROP [just like the nice folks I bought her from used to do]. I've experimented a little bit trying to run LOP, but the engine just doesn't like it. I generally pull the throttle back just enough to move the MP needle, lean to peak/rough and enrichen 50º; regardless of altitude, I verify that I'm below 75%, and like to cruise around 70% when able. Pulling back the throttle creates turbulent flow in the carb, and should improve fuel atomization and mixing for a more uniform distribution to the cylinders--GAMI doesn't make a "balanced carburetor." Running LOP with a carb is sometimes possible. It generally involves reducing throttle to get out of the auto-enrichment circuit, leaning, adding some degree of carb heat [found by experimenting, there are no markings on the carb heat lever but I do have the optional carb temp gage, interestingly enough marked in ºC], and then leaning again. For instance, in my C, at 10,000 msl, full throttle is 20.2", so I'll generally pull her back to 20" which is significant travel of the throttle lever. At 2500, this gives 70.1% [vs. 71.0% WOT]; at 2600, this is 72.0% [vs. 72.9% WOT] and the throttle reduction costs 1 mph at both RPM [though 2500 RPM saves 0.3 gph vs. 2600 at the cost of 2 mph].

I put on a Whelen LED unit last year. Here's the new one compared to the old one. It's not aerodynamic like the one you're interested in, but it's much, much smaller than the old high-voltage blinker. And it is obscenely bright!

The O-360 in my Mooney gets really rough passing through peak. I run ~70-72% on the rich side. My wife lets me know when I hit peak, often just as I'm seeing it on the EGT to the lower left of my yoke. "Lean to rough" is a pretty good match!

Not so on our Vintage birds up through J's. We sit with elevator level, but the turbo models' elevators all droop to "full down." Besides, I'm addicted to the clock in the center of my yoke to not only count flight time but also to change tanks. Nothing is as easy as watching for the white hands to match up with the red ones to know it's time to flip the selector over. Using a digital on the panel is just not the same [bTDT, don't like it.] It sure would be nice to mount somewhere other than my lap, where I've not found a good spot either, nor a kneeboard that will keep it in a useful location and still leave room to write frequency changes, clearances, etc.

Good luck! Keep us posted . . . . .