Hank

I have no dog in this fight, but I also don't see the need for VGs on my Mooney. It's taken the wife and I, with full fuel, in and out of a nearby 2000' grass strip without a problem. It's a C-model, too. Any short-body should be able to do this, and probably most of the mid-bodies, just watch out for the heavy noses and high gross weights on some. And no, I won't go there heavy, or even with 4 people and half tanks.

Scott-- My cheapies were from Harbor Freight, I believe $1.99 each. The good, sturdy looking set without leash-attaching rings was purchases from the trailer at Aircraft Camping Registration for $25, which is also their [refundable] rental fee for Sun-n-Fun. But they looked so good, and came with both rope and a piece of PVC pipe to screw them into the ground, that I rounded up to $30 and still feel I came out ahead. Yes, Scott, you just bought what I am disposing of . . .

Quote: DaV8or The only thing that seems to teach people sometimes is to hit them in the pocketbook.

Seems like the bad weather is following me! Got home from SNF on Sunday, and had rain on Monday so hard that I couldn't see across the river while driving home from work. Winds were much milder, though, just in the 30s. At SNF, I tied down with my travel buddy's screw-in tie down set that he had bought at Oshkosh a couple of years ago. Seems his cheap dog-style tie downs broke while screwing them into the ground. The break was right where the 4-way-crimp is put on the shaft to keep the ring from sliding off. We decided to use his good ones instead of my cheap ones, and it proved fortuitous. The plane stayed put! All the other planes at GAC camping at the approach end of Rwy 9 did not; some of the loose planes used Claws, some used screw-ins. Makes me think it was a function of aircraft design [more high wings blew away, but so did some low-wings], possibly how tight the ropes were [slack would let the aircraft bounce up and down, putting extra stress on the soil] and how saturated the soil was where the tie downs were. There was significant pooling all over the field, but of course not uniform flooding. Before we left, I ran over and bought a set. See the photos for comparison. The dog tie-out is longer, the material is thinner, and there is a stress concentration put on the shaft where it was crimped to hold the ring for the dog's lead. The EAA set on the left is much thicker [see Photo #2], has a tighter spiral for better grip, and a shorter non-spiral section to minimize pulling [torque = force x distance]. My old set is now leaving the hangar. Anybody have a big dog? My 8-pounder is far too small to use these on.

I've had great luck with Mother's Aluminum Polish from the nearest auto parts store, big-box retailer, etc. Small jar [~3 or 4 oz], and from the little I've used the last four years, it's a lifetime supply if only polishing the spinner. Just have some good soap handy, and lots of clean cloths--polishing any metal with any decent polish will quickly turn the rags and your fingers black.

See the attached photo for a quick shot of the air camping lot at the approach end of Rwy 9. Several high wings blew around, and the Bo that is turned sideways had two tail tiedowns, one Claw and one screw-type. Both tail tiedowns and the left wing came out, turning the plane just over 90º to the right. Not sure what the high-wing planes that did 180º turns were using. Many display aircraft at center field had Claws on Wednesday, as a storm was predicted for the afternoon that never really materialized. But then again, nothing is tornado-proof . . .

I'll take some comparative photos tonight of my new EAA and old dog-style screw-ins.

The Instrument Rating will significantly improve two things: the number of planned flights that you complete, and your overall flying ability. I shot an ILS approach going to SNF last Tuesday at a towered field, but Jax Center wouldn't turn me over to the tower until I was nearly at the FAF inbound. Could not understand it . . . until talking to the Airport Manager on the ground. He came out to over-ride the pump for a 50¢ per gallon discount for SNF attendees. The tower is part of the nearby Aviation College [Middle Georgia College], is part-time and does not have radar. So expect the unexpected. I entered the clouds at 5500 msl, went through several thin layers, and flew most of the approach in IMC, breaking out at 1200 msl [900 agl], my lowest approach so far. So practice, practice, practice! My buddy travelling with me is not rated, and it was his first-ever approach in actual [though he has many as safety pilot]. Having your passengers' trust, and their lives in your hands, is an awesome responsibility, so study hard, develop a good scan and stay current! That last part, I'm finding out, is not so easy . . .

Hey, guys. Last week at Rain-N-Fun was exciting. I watched from inside a hangar as the sky turned black, rain turned to hail, all precipitation and some vendor tents blew sideways. Could not get to my plane tied down at the approach end of Rwy 9 due to trees down on power lines right at the gate. Much water fell the rest of the day. Many trees, branches and tents were down. What amazed me was how quickly the show got put back together. Being my first ever big fly-in, I have nothing to compare it to. The weather going down was poor, with widespread low IFR from the mountains in western NC all the way to south of Ocala, FL, with a break about 60 miles wide roughly around Atlanta. My fuel stop at Heart of Georgia airport south of Dublin had 900' ceilings when I landed just after lunch on Tuesday, so many VFR pilots could not attend prior to the storm. Friday, Sat & Sunday were beautiful! My plane and tent survived unscathed, and a half-full plastic water bottle on a folding table nearby did not even blow over. But the Skyhawk parked on my right wingtip pivoted about its right tiedown and landed upside down and backwards on the beautiful V-tailed Bonanza parked to its right, with the leading edge through the windshield. All I had was water deep enough to get on top of the groundcloth of the tent and make things damp, but some rope and a few trees let things get dry. Damage was widespread in the central part of the airport, and many display aircraft are gone. I only saw limited damage in aircraft parking areas. The entire Zenith Air display [6 aircraft] were totalled, and a Husky on floats ended up on its side, with the down wing bent in two places. I tied down using my fellow travellers screw-in tiedowns purchased at Oshkosh a couple of years ago. The one on the tail leaned forward about 2" due to saturated soil and westerly winds hitting the plane, which faced east. Many "Claw" tiedowns pulled loose from the saturated sand; this is what many of the display aircraft used. I now own a set of the fine EAA screw-ins myself, and my dog-style screws are reverting to pet use only. At least two planes had prop strikes in my parking/camping area: a 182 taxied in Friday morning, buried the nosewheel and stopped with a thud and much flying mud--I saw and heard it. Disheartening is not the right word, these people were arriving for the show and following ground crew instructions. I missed a wedding Saturday evening because the ground around my plane was still squishy, with visible water appearing at each step; I heard on Sunday that a fellow Mooniac two rows away tried to taxi out and depart on Saturday and also had a prop strike. My Sunday 1030 departure was uneventful, other than passing a biplane on initial climb <500' then being passed by a Pitts at 1500'. One never knows what will happen, and staying in bed will not eliminate risk from your life. My heart goes out to those whose planes, cars, tents, trailers, booths, equipment and merchandise were damaged or destroyed, but thankfully there were only a handful of minor injuries. Two funnel clouds came through a crowded airport with hundreds of planes and thousands of people, thousands of tents and campers, and no one was killed. That alone is enough to be thankful for.

Getting a case of spatial disorientation during training is a good thing! Now you know what it feels like, and what to watch for. It happened to me with my CFII in actual, rolling outbound into the procedure turn for a VOR approach. Silly me, I forgot to slow down, hit the turn still at cruise, felt all kinds of funny, and fell out the bottom of the clouds. Recovered, climbed back in, slowed down and completed an otherwise acceptable approach. "Learning moments" must be accepted when they happen. You had yours, now hold on to the lesson. Mitch's turn will come soon enough.

Here's a shot of my ASI in level cruise at 10,000 msl. It's a 1970 C-model, mph in big numbers and knots in little numbers on the inner ring. I'd have to look close to compare against your chart, but that's not possible while writing a reply.

Quote: N601RX My brother and I both got our licesne in a cessnal 150 that we owned. After getting our license we sold it and got our money back, actually all of it. We then brought a Mooney as low time private pilots. The insurance company made us both get 15 more hrs of dual time with a CFI who had at least 30 hrs of Mooney time. The also made us fly 10 additional hours Solo before taking passengers up. The insurance company only said we have to have 15hrs of dual, so most of those 15 hrs can be geared toward IFR time. The Mooney is going to have a higher operating cost (fuel, annual, insurance) that a small cessna or cherokee, so one thought would be find a good deal on a Cessna or Cherokee that is in good condition and is not going to need any work in the next couple of years. Buy it, get your license and sell it. It beats renting and may make more financial sense also.

I am part of the many pilots with a 430 and no "touch screen need" but a strong weather display desire. Yes, I have a stormscope but would like better. Thus, I "need" the $1799 + shipping + tax Aera, or a used-but-bulky 396/496 or something else. As I understand it, the Aera does not have all of the extra wires, antenna, etc., that the x96 and competition have. Is there anything else compact and neat?

I still have the old, fast gear motor, being too cheap to "upgrade" to the slower motor just yet. That's just how us Cheap B@st@rds are sometimes. But I get occasional comments about how soon, and how quickly, the gear goes up when I'm leaving. It is as soon as I can tell I'm climbing, because there are nice, tall trees just ahead, and 3000' give no opportunity to land on the remaining runway. Give me altitude, and give it to me right now. YMMV, of course.

I don't remember the model number, but last fall I just put in a new sealed Concorde. Two models were available, and I took the one with the most CCAs. It is worth the extra $18 to me, since the winters here are cold [by my standards--I'm from Georgia].

Quote: eaglebkh I think there is a correlation here with the ease of gear operation and airspeed: the faster you go, the easier to come down - the slower you go, the easier to go up. I know most of us manual gear folks probably get that gear up right after lift off, because the gear is much harder to get up (for me at least) once the plane exceeds 80-85 mph.

And you can renew your driver's license through the mail! No income tax . . .

Hmmm, I've never had a problem. Sure to happen to me now, though. :-)

Quote: rbridge The arc on my air speed indicator is right around 105. I read people saying 120, and I bet they were converting to mph.

Quote: scottfromiowa Isn't < symbol "less than"? Didn't the question state < or less than 105knots?

Be careful of your units! KNOTS vs. MPH will burn you . . . My 1970 electric gear operating speed = gear down speed = 120 mph = 105 knots. So you are right. Your gear speed is most likely 105 knots, which is THE SAME as 120 mph. Some J's and later models have higher gear speeds, some up in the 140-150 knot range where they are useful for slowing down. Mine are not . . . I get to slow down very slowly before dropping flaps and gear.

Quote: pilot716 Finally took the keys for our 83' m20J and flew off for some touch and goes then getting familiar with the plane..Man!! what a aircraft, 160kts & handled like a real smooth machine, landing over the numbers at 70...many good days ahead, now I see what the craze is!

Squirrel, you crack me up! And for what it's worth, I always say a little prayer when I move that round white knob from Up to Down and listen/feel for the thump on downwind. Then I double-check it on base, and pet it rather protectively on final, just to make sure that those cute little black thingys are all set to be squished on the asphalt. You've got that great big metal piece, though, which is much more obvious. Those durn sheep seem to follow me all over the country, too, but I've not yet determined how I keep hearing them. Even bought myself a new headset, but they still make themselves heard, especially the last obnoxious one with his two-tone bleat . . . As long as I keep cheating death, though, I won't complain about the occasional odd noise. It's kind of like those ones you hear from the engine when heading into the mountains at night, just as soon as you get past gliding distance from the last airport and the next VOR is 80+ nm away and there are no lights visible down below and nothing showing on the sectional except lots of very squiggly lines.

Oil pressure and CHT were both fine, but the Oil Temp would peg when the master was turned on, even when the engine had not run for several days.

No, the end of the safety wire away from the filter wraps around a nice two-piece metal plug that once-upon-a-time had a tiny little safety wire holder sticking out of it [that broke off well before I met my plane]. So the safery wire is wrapped around it and twisted down. A careless placement let it droop down and touch the base of the fitting during twisting, resulting in a short. Cut it off and re-safetied, careful to keep the wire on the top half above the insulator. No problem. I'm about to do it again, I can take a picture if you want. As soon as I pulled the safety wire off, I turned on the master and the Oil Temp was no longer pegged, so I knew it was the problem. There is, naturally, no picture of the defective tie, but I can always add an arrow to the picture. NOTE: My O-360 with added-on oil filter is probably very different from your engine! The filter is horizontal at the rear of the engine, with maybe 1" clearance between the filter & firewall during removal/install. Screwing the filter down more than doubles the room.