Hank

If the shoe fits. . . . :-)

I bought some of these, liked them and now have several in the closet. One lives on the hat shelf in a baggie; the one I use at home lives in a plastic container that I pour water into before use. "The ULTIMATE Cloth" from "The MIRA-cle Cloth Company" sold by a nice lady out of her home. She actually has a neighbor watch her mailbox and ship product when she is out of town. I've misplaced her name, but her number is (614) 337-0519 in Columbus, OH. Kind of like an artificial chamois, but even more absorbent. If you have a good layer of wax [or my preferred Wash-Wax All], the bugs come right off using this here cloth and water. Nothing else to buy, ever, and when traveling just pour the leftover water from a bottle onto the cloth in your hand and remove bugs. Easy, effective and inexpensive. I think the quantity discount is/used to be 5 for $25, or a whole bunch at a better unit price. I bought 5 to start with, gave several away and bought the next-higher quantity. Love them!

Philip-- LOP and ROP are measures of how far below peak temperature you are. Pull the mixture back, watch the EGT. It will rise, and at some point stop moving. That is "Peak EGT." Our carbs do not like to run Lean of Peak; injected engines do. Once your EGT peaks, push the mixture forward [Rich of Peak = ROP]. I often cruise at 50º ROP by the EGT, at 9000 or 10,000 I will cruise closer to peak [to burn less fuel]. My Owner's Manual defines Best Economy as 25º ROP and Best Power as 100º ROP. You need to be careful, though, and use the Performance Charts in the book. Do not lean the mixture if you are running above 75% power. The Chart has columns for Percent Power and Fuel Flow; above 75% power, the fuel flow numbers are quite high. In the picture below, I've highlighted my two most-frequent power setting when cruising 7000-8000', one at 2400 RPM, one at 2500 RPM. Above 8500', I generally run Full Throttle minus enough to move the needle and 2500 RPM. Don't forget, when you look at the Percent Power column, to adjust for temperature. Standard Temperature is provided for the altitude; +10ºF means you have 1% less power; -10ºF means you have 1% more power. DO NOT LEAN ABOVE 75% POWER! It really is this simple! As I mentioned, the formula MP + RPM = 47 gives ~65% power. That makes it easy to remember.

Rob, you'll love the WAAS! Be sure to allow time to practice some GPS approaches with glideslope before your Instrument checkride. They are very nice, and the CDI does not get more sensitive through the whole approach like on an ILS.

For the OCD-inflicted grammarians among us, that's a common misunderstanding of the proper Latinate word, often used instead of "biennial review." Maybe that's why the Feds renamed it "Flight Review" so that some people wouldn't use the "twice a year" word instead of the "once every two years" word that is do durn similar. Too freakin' similar in sound and spelling, too different in meaning--easily leads to confusion. Not good. Latin died as a language more than a millennia ago, and survived in writing for several hundred years afterwards; personally, I applaud the FAA for moving into the 19th century and going to plain English. If only more industries and academia would do the same . . . Now, on to flying and not obscure grammar!

Philip-- We have the easiest-flying Mooney there is. Gotta love the C-model! Unless DA is high, push everything forward for takeoff. I climb full-throttle to altitude, sometimes I remember to lean during the climb [using the Target EGT method and my factory single-point EGT]. Once I level off, I'll set power generally by the charts in the manual that I have retyped into my checklist. At 7500 and above, I generally just pull the throttle back enough to make the needle move, then set 2500 RPM; leaning is simple, either until the EGT needle peaks or my wife complains, then push it back forward some. At 9000 and up, I feel comfortable running close to peak, but climb becomes quite anemic no matter what you do. A good rule of thumb is to have MP + RPM readings total 47 or less. At altitude, 20-21" and 2500 RPM [21 + 25 = 46, safe] is a nice place to run. I generally back off of WOT to get out of the auto-enrichment feature on the carb, and roughening the air flow through the carb may provide better atomization of the fuel and more homogenous mixing for a more even power distribution between cylinders. Maybe one day I can spring for an engine monitor, but honestly I don't have panel space to put one! Target EGT is simple to establish, just take off on a day with as close to ISA conditions as possible [29.92" on the altimeter, 59ºF temperature]. Push everything forward, rotate, raise gear and look at your EGT as soon as you are comfortable. Write the number down when able--that is your Target EGT. The fun part is that no two planes have the same target. Mine is around 1250ºF; at altitude I generally peak 1500-1525ºF; your numbers will likely be different, so use yours. A friend's F [unlike ours, it's fuel injected] peaks around 1350ºF, and he often flies around 1300ºF on the hottest cylinder [#4 on his monitor]. If you really want to try LOP, some carbed engines can run there. Climb to altitude, level off, trim, then try this: Pull throttle back ~½" manifold pressure to cock the butterfly valve and create turbulent flow going through the carb body. Lean to peak EGT or engine roughness. Lean a little more [see LOP threads for desired range; 20-50º below peak is common, depending on % power & altitude]. Crack carb heat, and see if your engine smooths out. Decide if you like how the engine is running, and the speed you are getting. Write everything down to use on your next flight. Expect variations with altitude, and smaller variations depending upon altimeter setting. Good luck, have fun, and fly safe!

Fifty-two turns on my C from Unsafe to Down.

Did you turn the crank the right way? Is the lever fully engaged? Always check the simple things first.

Much improved! Cold starts are usually 2-3 revolutions, warm starts a little longer. The OH'ed carb actually sends fuel up while cranking. Then yesterday coming home, the vacuum pump died . . . Out of the shop on 11/21, back in on 12/3. Never even thought about pulling the Alt. Vacuum until talking to my A&P and he asked about it . . . Good VFR conditions, though, just bumpy and gusty, watching the Art. Horizon wander all over, drifting lazily up, down, banking left and right.

I have two answers: every chance I get, and not often enough. My company specifically prohibits business travel by private plane. It is what it is, though. So ALL of my flying is personal. That, though, is why I bought the plane. My parents are 6 hours away, and my inlaws are 8, when traveling by car; my Mooney takes me there in 1:20 and 2:00, so I can feel better about job-related relocation and still being able to get down to them if necessary. We can now visit on a regular weekend, leaving after work on Friday and coming home Sunday afternoon/evening. Can't drive it like that!

Yesterday was fun. Sunday breakfast run, climbed to 3500 feet, lined up on course by the DG, set power and trimmed away, then looked at the 430. The pretty pink line was pointing at about 10 o'clock; clicked to the CDI page--magnetic heading per DG was 333; ground track per Garmin was 015. We had seven planes en route, the Skyhawks were at 3000; as we were flying along looking out the side window, we saw a Skyhawk below that my wife thought was on a crossing course, but no, he was one our "ours" with a similar large crab angle. Traveling 45º degrees to where the nose is pointing is an unusual experience when you are low [the hilltops are 1200-1400'] and the crab angle is very obvious. But it was gusty enough to hand-fly so that I could somewhat keep the wings level; my wife only hit her head on the ceiling once, a first for her short self in over 5 years' right-seating. I can only dream of 225 knots; yesterday I was happy to see 125 . . . and even less coming back with a full belly. Still a student, always learning and dreaming of more.

Two winters at $30/mth is more than I paid Philip. What's the projected lifetime of your engine heater in hours of use? Mine will never run more than 18 hours at a time.

Coming home last Sunday, course 012; winds were 270-280, rising from high 20's to ~40. I had 12-degrees left course correction (360), and a slight left bank more observable by comparing both wingtips to the horizon than on the panel. But I don't have a rudder trim--what would it have done differently?

Yep, I have the one from Phillip on the Avionics page here. Works great! Just added $10 to the card yesterday to run me through the end of Feb. www.pilotportraits.com I think is the website.

Why do you not like the access panels? I have used mine more than once. Without them, the instruments can be quite difficult to reach, only by standing on your head and reaching up, and may require removing the lower units to reach the top ones. Some people are unwilling to use the LASAR conversion due to the lack of instrument access.

I don't know the numbers for my prop, but it's a 3-blade Hartzell on an O-360. The tach is red-striped from 2000-2250, and there's a placard against "continuous operation" under 15". I don't recall the wording, but there's a picture of it in this thread. There has been much discussion about what 'continuous operation' is, with some afraid to run there for 2 whole minutes in the pattern. Personally, I don't watch MP from downwind to taxi, just out the windows with glances at Altimeter and Airspeed, which are not on the other side of the panel.

Thanks, Jim. I hate to sound argumentative, but that seems to be going around lately. It is entirely possible that the paint job was where the old caps had been removed, as they were definitely relocated; I thought it was the new plate with the new caps in them. Memory always goes first, right? At any rate, my plane is flying again after almost two months of annual & carb OH, so my mood should begin to improve. Besides, it's the holidays! Maybe I'll take her up again later this week; after all, I need to test my new cell-phone-powered engine heater switch.

I always heard that the rudder slants forward so that it is approximately vertical in the landing configuration, to improve low speed / high-alpha control. Making the stabilizer straight up was just a cool option rather than having both slant in like on the pretty aerobatic bird above. Aircraft with the entire stabilizer/rudder combo slanting backward give up some rudder authority during landing. Slant the rudder backwards, then raise the nose, the rudder is at a pretty good angle to the relative wind; our rudders are almost perpendicular to the relative wind.

I've seen two Mooneys with bladders. The first one I didn't pay a lot of attention to; the second one had new gas caps in a different location, with paintwork that the applier appreciated more than the recipient. Water in wrinkles may or may not be an issue with Mooney bladders, but it is a known bladder issue, just as heat-related degradation is a known sealant issue. Avoid bone-rattling landings, keep tanks half-full when parked, replace cap o-rings at annual, these are simple to do. I was quoted $10K to install bladders in my C this time last year; instead, I had them stripped and resealed for $6500. The extra few hours' flying time was fun, and well worth $3500. Where else can you legally earn >$500 per hour? The opportunities are few and far between. P.S.--I have a 7-year guarantee; bladder repairs were quoted to be ~8 hours to remove or install. I don't know the A&P who can work for 16 hours for less money than it costs me to fly the differential between PA and FL [call it an extra 8 hours' flight time at 9 gph = 72 gallons x $6 = $432 extra fuel]. That would make the A&P labor rate a mere $432/16 = $27/hr, not happening even on a lawn mower . . .

Most of us have to pay ferry fuel and airline tickets regardless of what we do. The choices for me boiled down to Paul Beck in MN [>600 nm], Don Maxwell in TX [>700 nm] or Wet Wingologists in FL [600-700 nm]. Bladder installation was a full 54% higher charge; if it could have been done even 400 nm closer, I'd have saved ~50 gallons roundtrip [~$300], would still have needed roundtrip transportation for myself, and spent $3500 more for the install. Your money, your choice--I went to Florida; airline tickets were $143 roundtrip, icing on the cake. Bladders don't just weigh more and have the possibility of developing wrinkles [trapping water in the tank, or worse, between the bladder and the wing skin], they actually have to cut new holes in the top of the wing and put in new caps. So you will have two new functional caps and the two original, non-functional caps, and a paint job around the new ones that may or may not match well. Again, it's your money, you make the choice. I've not seen one that looks really good myself, but my sample size is admittedly very low. Personally, I selected what Mooney has always used, what other manufacturers have been changing to, and what all airliners use: sealed wet wings.

If the PF is current, on an IFR clearance and in IMC, he doesn't NEED a safety pilot . . . . Unless somehow single-pilot IFR has become illegal. I have flown very few approaches in IMC with a second pilot of any sort. But then, the Mooney TC doesn't require a few second pilot.

Just don't try that around here! Pretty soon, high temps will fall below that and stay there for a few months. When it's 10Fthe on the ground, how high must you climb to reach 60F? :-)

You may, sadly, have a fuel leak. My advice is to monitor the situation. Clean it up and see how quickly it reappears. If you are in a hangar, a leak during cold weather will eventually leave blue spots on the floor because it will evaporate more slowly, giving it time to run and drip. Leaks often "appear" during a cold snap, and "cure" when it heats back up, simply due to contraction/expansion of the sealant due to temperature, and the faster evaporation rate during warm weather. Prepare yourself either way. Downtime, labor and round-trip travel somewhere--all of my good options were 700 nm or more, in three different directions. Once properly done [i.e., not a quick patch job somewhere; I did that, and in two years the leak was much worse than before and off I went to reseal], you should have many trouble-free years.

Dan-- This time you went a little too far. Reread FAR 61.55 (a): § 61.55 Second-in-command qualifications. (a) A person may serve as a second-in-command of an aircraft type certificated for more than one required pilot flight crewmember . . . Our Mooneys are not "type certificated for more than one required pilot." Your safety pilot needs only category and class, which for our Mooneys is ASEL. If you are in IMC or on an IFR flight plan and are not current, there needs to be someone current up front acting as PIC, because a non-current pilot cannot file nor act as PIC "under Instrument Flight Rules" regardless of whether it is "Instrument Flight Conditions" or not. IFR Currency is easy to maintain shooting practice approaches in VMC with any rated pilot riding shotgun. This is what I do when I don't have enough approaches in actual, and unfortunately my wife is not rated for anything . . . Becca and Byron have an easy out for this, but at least we don't have to "discuss" who gets to fly each leg. Back on topic: I visited my brother in south Georgia for the holiday. We flew down IFR, and spent a whopping 4 minutes inside of one of the very few clouds we saw, and the haze on descent at sunset was pretty bad--flying south, I could see out the left window, but ahead and to the right I may as well have been inside the cloud still. We came home yesterday, VFR with Flight Following. Some poor soul headed to Cleveland was about to get rerouted while still south of Atlanta and he offered to cancel and go VFR but ATL Center convinced him to stay IFR and accept a reroute about 15º to the right. My longest trip VFR was three days' sightseeing from here to western Wyoming, then three more days' sightseeing coming back. No flight plans, only FF, with one weather diversion each way. An early and long stop for lunch somewhere in Illinois ["Home of the Friendly People"] headed out, and Lincoln, IL on the way home because it was visibly nasty at our planned stop in Springfield. I went IFR to drop off and pick up the plane at Wet Wingologists in south Florida, but it was VMC going down; I could not have departed coming home without IFR clearance, and was in the clouds until past Orlando. Study hard, McStealth, and enjoy that there F! They are faster and slicker than my C. Learn to control speed in the pattern, and good luck slowing down. My first flight in an F, I descended like I am used to in my C by trimming down for 500 fpm, then I glanced at the ASI and saw 190 mph instead of the 165 or so I'm used to . . .

I always thought you had to be current to file/fly IFR,whether in VMC or not. Same for having current GPS database. Maybe I'm wrong?