Hank

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 . . . . .

Fonzie is cool; Fonzie in a P-51 is too cool; Fonzie jumping a shark is not cool at all. Do you think your oil temp is accurate at <180? You can test the probe easily, just run an extension cord or use a camp stove, remove the probe, boil some water and drop the probe in it, it should read 212º or a little less if you are high up in the hills or under a really low pressure system. Just don't let the probe touch the pot, use the wire to suspend it in the water.

You'll use the plane more with an Instrument Rating. I flew all over the country VFR for almost 3 years before finishing up; now I cancel fewer flights, and have completed some important ones that I could not have done without it. Mooneys are traveling machines, and that means crossing weather systems. Sure, I've still had to sit out both thunderstorms and winter weather in the last two years, but not as many "other" days of weather at departure, destination or simply en route. My usable weather window is now much larger. In the meantime, fly as much as possible, learn the plane, get good and comfortable in it. Learn your power settings for different altitudes and speeds, how to climb and descend and slow down to pattern speed. Visit strange new airports, with runways in weird directions, uphill, downhill, humped and dished; even landed on some sloped more like a ski jump. Mix it up with the big boys at some Class C. Then you'll be ready for Instrument work, and excited to go visit even more new places. In my little ol' C model, I've only been asked to "reduce speed for traffic" once, with my -II; it was funny for both of us. Be prepared to "keep your speed up" too, around the pattern, down the glideslope and sometimes even on short final when you simply cannot. It all goes back to learn the plane, learn the power settings, get comfortable with it. My vote goes for keeping the plane IFR-legal. If you can do that AND mount a D-1, go for it!

Ask Ford and Firestone what happens to chronically-overinflated automobile tires. Don't do the same thing to your Mooney, even if your plane will not roll over. The answer is in your POH. My C model is also 30 psi for all tires.

Relax, Zane. You may be part of the 1% who gets a bad name from the other 99%. I also agree that there are times that lawyers are necessary. Part of our current problems, however, are caused by too many hungry personal injury lawyers trolling for cases on contingency, and insurance companies who settle rather than fight. Beat the rapscallions in court a few times, there'll be a lot less settlements and overall costs would decrease. Don't get me started on class action suits where the settlements are divided up between the lawyers and the actual plaintiffs receive mere pittances in comparison. . . Now I need to go flying tonight, assuming the servo has been reinstalled in my left wing. See, I brought it right back to Mooneys.

That works very well in a normal bounce or balloon, but not in the nosewheel-first situation I got myself into by not paying attention. Each bounce was higher and harder than the one before, while holding the throttle all the way out. On my second, higher leap into the air [or was it the third? It was dark, I was confused, there were trees about 2000' away from my first touchdown, I didn't know what was happening], I just shoved everything forward and prayed I would miss the trees that I couldn't see. When I did get down, there were no branches or leaves in the gear, and no visible scratches on the belly . . . and now I pay close attention all the way until the prop stops turning, the switches are off and the keys are sitting on top of the panel. It was definitely a learning experience! I'll have to ask my wife if she remembers it and what she thought sitting beside me that night. Thanks, Seth, for your detailed writeup. I would much rather have my learning experiences vicariously, as I don't sweat or get the adrenaline shakes like when I do it myself!

Good Lord! My C has a useful of 669 with full fuel. Never been there except once when loaded with 4 guys and 34 gallons . . .

My Performance Tables give %Power for each MP/RPM setting, with a further notation: Note that each 10ºF increase above standard temperature will cause a one percent reduction in horsepower, while each 10ºF decrease below standard temperature will cause a one percent increase in horsepower. ISA temperature for sea level is, of course, 59ºF, and WOT/2700 produces 99.5% power. If I depart sea level at 95ºF, I only have 96% power; making the same trip in winter at 29ºF, I have 102.5% power, a difference of 6.5 percentage points or 6.8% more power. Thus shorter ground rolls and faster climbs in the winter. What do the notes to your Performance Tables say? Mine are on the last page before the charts start, but after all the Takeoff and Landing distances, climb rates, altitude compensation, etc.

Try a set of Halos from Quiet Technologies in Mississippi. Phil is on this board somewhere, he is a fellow Mooniac [b-model?] and a nice guy when I met him at Sun-n-Fun last year after the tornado. There's a whole thread about these elsewhere, too. Some people use the foam inserts, I prefer the silicone ones [similar to what I wear shooting and used to wear at work].

I use vinyl tubing from Home Depot to slip onto the quick drain. Buy a double-ended tubing connector with barbs on both ends; sand one end for a loose fit, shove the other end into the tubing. The heavy brass will hold the tube down in a bucket/bottle while it drains [i use empty laundry detergent bottles]. Then wipe the ends of the tube clean and push the looser-fitting end into the tubing making a leak-free loop and lean it against the hangar wall. Next time, just pull it apart [that's why one end of the fitting is sanded down] and it's ready to go, just make sure the little bit of residual oil inside doesn't drip on the floor when you start.

And then the White Knight, in pursuit of justice, sues anyone and everyone who ever looked at, touched or spoke to the aircraft owner or pilot, the manufacturer of the aircraft, the aircraft systems, the aircraft parts, everyone who works for those companies and everyone who contracted parts for those companies. If the tort happened at an airport, then the airport, the airport owner, airport manager, all contractors and FBO's operating at the airport at the time, are all sued, too, because some of them have insurance and sure enough, some insurance company or another will choose to settle for a dollar amount instead of paying their own lawyer a [usually higher] dollar amount to prove, at their expense, that they were not involved in the tort in question. THAT is why so many Americans hate lawyers . . . No personal experience, but I know people who have suffered from this--completely uninvolved but drug through the courts, using time off from their jobs and paying their lawyer out of their own pocket to prove their innocence because the responsible party had no insurance but they did. Now can we please stop talking about lawyers and talk about flying our Mooneys? Lawyers make my blood pressure go up.

Good call, Jeff! Everything I've ever read says the third bounce is your prop strike. I went two bounces 'cause I wasn't paying attention and at first didn't know what was going on. If anything isn't right, go around and try again; it's never a bad decision.

I've only used the silicone tips for 3 years. Pull the top of your ear up with the other hand, push it in and let go. After a few dozen times, you'll get the hang of it and do it with one hand. Relacements aren't much more than foam, ~$3/pair but they last a long time with no cold temperature problems. I've replaced one because it kept falling off.

My iPad 1 and Samsung Galaxy do not have a problem, although I do nkt get a cursor on the Samsung and can't edit typing without erasing all the way back. My Motorola phone does better with www.mooneyspace.com/index and I also have no problem with my desktop Dell running IE8. Trying to put the non-existent cursor into already typed text just highlights the entire block of text. No inserting, no changing, no correcting. Any ideas, Craig? The droid phone has no issues, just my 7" droid tablet, and only here.

Company? I thought it was an individual making these. Maybe I'm wrong.

Halos are price-competitive with DC 13.4 passive headsets, which get noisier when wearing sunglasses, restrict what hats you can wear, and will push the button on top of your favorite ball cap deeply into your skull. These issues disappear with the Halo.

Maybe that's why my Owners Manual recommends 1400-1500 RPM for 'extended ground operations.' It may or may not say something about improved cooling; I need to load it onto this tablet for reference. "If it is necessary to hold for clearance instructions, run 1400-1500 RPM for improved cooling and reduced sparkplug fouling." For some reason, I can type but can neither get a cursor nor insert into previously-typed text . . . Samsung Galaxy II, 'Droid.

Order them and find out! IIRC, QT offers a 30-day return if you aren't happy. I'm sure few ever go back.

I wore a set in Sportys showroom, but never flew with them. A year later I bought myself a set of Halos from Quiet Technologies, and love them. The difference is the speakers. Clarity's speakers go in your ear like ear buds, which are uncomfortable for me. The Halo speakers are on the metal band behind your head, the sound travels through a thin tube through the earplug. I use one of the silicone sets, others prefer the foamies. Stereo sound and everything, just no more calling for Departure clearance from the wife while taxiing out by shoving the cell phone under an ear cup; now it takes a hand to hold the phone up to my ear. No more clamp-pressure headaches after a couple of hours. Be careful, though--you WILL try to get out of the plane with them still on your head. :-). No damage . . .

They're little and should be easy to paint. Mine are black anyway. Going to white, you will need a coat or two of primer first. Check your local auto body shop, they should have small spray cans at reasonable prices. I've been meaning to make this change myself, let me know if it's still available.

Ty, we can give more appropriate help if you said what Model & Year your plane is . . . Things changed from time to time. My dimmer is high on the panel, my latch is below my left knee, there is a (small) switch on top of my left main gear leg. Others have dimmers low on the panel, below the throttle or even in the overhead. We don't know where yours is.

Mine works like a charm. His price is cheaper than others I've read about, and requires no work, just plug it in. There are now iPhone & droid apps to control it too.

I'm not home now, but the plane is. I'll see what I can do. I started with what's in the book, then rearranged to suit equipment and my own preferences. Pretty straightforward, but no fancy tabs or anything.