Hank

I forget their name, and I haven't used them, but there's an MSC near Lynchburg. Or you can come west to Huntington [KHTW] and let my well-trained mechanic do it for you. He has several Mooney's in his care, from C through J that I can think of.

I've never hangared my plane when travelling. Most places I've stopped are $10-$15 per night, waived with fuel purchase. I parked for a week at ROA due to weather and paid the monthly fee as it was cheaper. JGG is also cheaper to pay a month's tie down than four days, I think it was $50 when I visited for a week, ate lunch, fueled up and rented a car. There's a grass strip I visit at the beach that just lowered their rate from $10/day or $50/month to just $5/day or $25/month! Smooth grass, the lights now work, watch the trees at both ends and the power lines running through them to the sub-station beside the runway. But it's less than a mile to the Intra-Coastal Waterway, and sometimes the Marines are practicing following/tracking you from their helicopters as you go in and out.

Part of the fit problem is due to the handmade nature of our birds. As I understand it, even now the factory does not have robotic bending or welding jigs like you see at the auto factories. Someone cuts all of the sheet metal by hand, and even baggage doors are not interchangeable between planes. I had much trimming to do replacing just the nav light cover in my 201-style wingtip, about 1/2" at the rear corner slanting down to 1/8 at the front and rear curved edges. Then I had the pleasure of marking and drilling and countersinking the screwholes to match. At least no one will steal them to [not] fit their plane . . .

I usually land with Takeoff flaps anyway, even when VFR. To quote from my Owner's Manual: "Degree of flap deflection needed will vary according to landing conditions, but for most landings you should lower flaps about half way just prior to turning on to base leg. Extend flaps as required on final approach to adjust for variations in wind, glide angle, and other variables. BEFORE-LANDING CHECK 1. Seat Belts--FASTENED. 2. Fuel Selector Handle--SET for fuller tank. 3. Electric Fuel Pump--ON. 4. Mixture Control--FULL RICH 5. Carburetor Heat--FULL ON. 6. Airspeed--REDUCE to 120 MPH. 7. Propeller--FULL INCREASE. 8. Landing Gear--DOWN and LOCKED; green annunciator light on. 9. Flaps--As required. 10. Trim--As required. Most times I don't even look to see where the flaps are, I just push the switch to raise them when I'm comfortable on the rollout. And since I reset the trim prior to takeoff, I usually ignore where that indicator is, too, but I do notice that it is often very near the Takeoff mark when I'm doing the run-up. [P.S.--my home field is 3000', with nice, tall trees at both ends. No problem getting down with Takeoff flaps. I frequently take off with no flaps, too, but that's just input from two Mooney instructors.] I move flaps and trim, and sometime the throttle, as required to put the plane where I want it. Following a glideslope, though, I usually do at Approach flaps, and find the slippery Mooney descends well if I drop the gear with the needle a dot-and-a-half above center--that will usually bring me down right on the glideslope if I don't muck up anything else. Missed approaches require full power and lots of forward yoke, sometimes with both hands, until I've established and verified positive climb, raised gear and flaps, and then start cranking on the trim wheel. Makes me glad that I'm not in one of the new fire-breathers! Touch-n-goes on long fields [5000+] give me time to get the flaps up [i rarely slow even to 50 mph], and I adjust the trim during the climbout anyway, to hold the desired pitch. We do have the perfect planes for instrument work. Fly safety pilot for someone in a Skyhawk, or fly a practice approach in one. There is so little to do, and so much time to do it in, it's almost boring. My plane rides better and handles crosswinds so much nicer! The whole key is practice, and I really need to go practice some more approaches real soon. It's been a long, nasty winter, and I can feel myself getting rusty. The real challenge to IFR flying, in my very limited experience, is getting/keeping a good scan, and staying sharp. Don't fly any approaches for a few months, then go out and do 3 or 4 at different, nearby airports--it's like being a student again, hot and sweaty even in the winter . . . .

Yep. The center eagle is great. It's visible in my avatar, head towards the rear on both sides of the tail. Brian's image is the same in my avatar. Right now, I'm working on carving one out of a piece of scrap mahogany.

My 1970 Owner's Manual has the first one on the cover, but the middle one is painted on my tail [2 owners ago, in the 90's].

Just wait for your first bit of spatial disorientation! Whheeeee!!! It's a quick trip down, but fortunately I caught it just after exiting the clouds, and climbed back as required. Only happened the one time, on an early training flight. Seems I was turning right to capture an airway, at cruise power. I have not yet had a problem with descents in the almost-a-year since getting my IA. Even during heavy training, being down to 90 knots [105 mph] with Approach flaps by the IAF made all the difference. I have not noticed a huge difference in vertical speed by going to full flaps; dropping the gear seems to do more, and pulling the throttle back does the most.

Just measure the screws you want to replace, and order a bag of 100 from Spruce. If memory serves, there is mostly one size on my one-piece belly, except for some little ones behind the front wheel, and a different size for the wing panels. Some go into struts, some tinnermans. I bought two sizes of SS screws [100 ea], and the smallest bag of tinnermans that they carry, in time for the '09 annual. Ran about $50. Any screw I don't like on removal is thrown away. At re-install, I start at one end and put screws in about every fourth or fifth hole, alternating sides the ful length. Use a small pick to get everything lined up for the screw. Then I remove the support, run these screws about halfway in, put in the rest about halfway. Run every 3rd or 4th one until it touches, alternating sides, then touch all of them. Then alternate again snugging them up, then finish snugging. Don't forget to recheck, as I've found one of the 52 belly screws sometimes gets missed . . . Panels are similar but much easier. With the tinnermans, the pick is even more important. Work the star pattern like on your tires, there's just more screws. Start, seat, snug, check. Do I want Bill Wheat's new one-piece belly with cam-locks? You bet! Am I prepared to pay 3 AMU's plus crating, shipping and install labor on the cam lock kit? Not any time soon . . . But I'm getting faster removing and replacing the belly, and I use a simply Craftsman replacable tip screwdriver, with a standard #2 Phillips on standby for the stubborn ones. It's a good forrearm workout, but at least I'm not doing it in July any more!

Quote: flight2000 Speaking of holds, in the 15 years I've been flying IFR, I've never experienced a hold outside of training. Done plenty of missed approaches for various reasons, but never made it to the published hold before being rerouted back to the IAF or on to the alternate. Guess I've been lucky or just odd... Brian

Hope to see everybody there! I'm looking for a 2nd set of eyes in the cockpit, since my wife is heading off to a DAR Convention at the same time. There's a local EAA meeting tomorrow night, so I may find someone then.

Samsung has generally good quality. My touchscreen smartphone from them works well, and the Galaxy Tab looks quite interesting! Not so huge as an iPad, runs Droid OS, has a nice, narrow bezel unlike the iPad, and also has memory card slots to download files onto--the iPad has to email files to get them off the durn thing.

Anyone played with the new Samsung Droid tablet?

Welcome to the club! I'll ask my former partner if he knows of any Mooney-specific instructors in the area. He spends a lot of time in his A-36 now. Another resource to check with in Charleston would be Col. Peters. He's very knowledgable and very experienced, and has always been pleasant and professional to work with. Someone there at the airport or FBO should be able to put you in touch with him.

Kurt-- I bought my C-model with 62 hrs. total time, and I paid for it in the first year's insurance. Go for your complex rating first, and getting it in a Mooney for less money than your current Cessna is a wonderful opportunity. My insurance cut in half for the 2nd year because I tired to fly the wings off of the plane, and hit 100 Mooney hours before renewal. It's a magical number for the underwriters. The more of it you have when you purchase, the better off you will be, but expect 15 hours dual when you do purchase. The IR is a wonderful thing for travelling, but you really want to be comfortable in the plane, know the procedures, know the settings, how she handles and responds, before you start. I started a couple of times . . . a good "fit" with the instructor is critical, too. While it is hard to do, put the Mooney out of your mind and finish your PPL. I had to concentrate hard on that for my last three weeks before my PPL checkride, and five weeks later I owned half of her, but getting insurance was a challenge. Get your PPL, get checked out and have fun getting some good Mooney time while you are shopping!

I love my C-model. It's fairly fast, and pretty frugal. On real XC, figure 30% less time and 10% less fuel than a 172. I average 9 gph and close to 140 kts. groundspeed. Home is 3000', and she goes in and out even at max gross just fine, and I never worry about the trees at either end. Space, though, can be tight. I took some cousins to Kitty Hawk this summer, departing and returning to a 3500' grass strip at the beach. Four adult males limited me to 34 gallons, and I made sure to refill to that level for the return trip, too. Flying with just the wife and I, though, I find the baggage capacity [including the back seat] to be just less than the not-packed-tight trunk of her Corolla. That fills the cargo area to above the back seat, and fills the back seat, too, with only my flight bag in arm's reach. Plates go on the floor, charts go between the seats, and sometimes her purse is at her feet. The extra length of an F would be very nice from time to time, but we only desire it once or maybe twice a year. The O-360 is a good, strong, simple engine. My only difficulties to date have been electrical . . . I suggest finding the threads here about what to look for when buying a vintage Mooney. George Perry has some good information there. There is much more to consider than engine time and manual vs. electric gear. Welcome to the club, and whatever you decide to do, as always, fly safe!

I worked on mine for several months and was almost checkride-ready when the plane developed an electrical problem. Three months later, I got to resharpen my quickly-deteriorated skills and do lots of studying again. Taking the actual practical exam was a bit of an anti-climax, as I had worked so hard for so long getting ready for it. [i was chewed out for ugly holding patterns in a 40-knot crosswind under the hood . . . ] Everything seemed so easy, even the veering, gusty crosswind and the circle-to-land on a 40' wide strip that I couldn't see when the DE told me to remove my foggles. [it was really close on the right side; he could see it, but I couldn't, so I circled left and landed.] Getting that rating felt even better than getting my PPL in the first place, even if the first few flights afterwards were non-events. My first flight that I logged any [0.1] actual was climbing through a scattered cloud that I normally would have dodged around, but hey, I'm on an IFR flight plan so they expect me to go straight. It was the first cloud I'd seen the inside of in several months, and at 500 fpm, those 2000' took a whole 4 minutes. Duly noted. You will get lots of good use from your IR, whether you finish up quick or "traditional." The important parts are to not let the written test expire, and to make the DE happy. Good luck, and fly safe!

ATC has only commented on my speed twice: 1) Asking me to slow down for sequencing on an IFR training flight, still outside the IAP 2) Asking a Lear inbound on the ILS behind me to "reduce speed 50 knots, you're behind a Mooney indicating 80" on my IR checkride [i checked AI, 105 mph; GPS readout was 80 knots]. I asked the DE if I should speed up, his answer was "sure, let's see what you can do." So I raised gear & flaps, gave her some throttle and accelerated down the glideslope, slowing down again when I was 2 miles out for a touch-n-go. The only other speed-related comment was inbound to pick up the DE for my checkride, with a howling tailwind they addressed me as a Baron and asked my intentions. I corrected them with "Mooney" and said "full stop." I'd been practicing there rather often leading up to checkride day. Did I mention that we have no approaches at my home field?

Thanks, Ken. I just remember 2% per 1000' falloff on the airspeed indicator, and if I need "KNOTS" then I use the groundspeed readout on the 430. That's the only place it matters, since it shows distance in nautical miles. Indicated Airspeed in knots is useless when my instruments and books are all in mph.

Wow, I'd love to read the article. But after five minutes of "please wait for our tweets to load" without any of the text itself appearing, I gave up. Tried again later, same results. Tried the "FAQ" option on the left--nothing while I wait for their tweets to load. On a T1 here at work . . . Nothing comes up on their site for me, not even "Search" until after the tweets load, and they won't. So most unfortunately, not only can I not do anything on aero-net's website, I can't even communicate my problem to them . . . Any chance someone could paste the article here?

Whatever happened to "any landing you can walk away from" and all that? While it appears that he may have been behind the airplane, he apparently made a conscious choice to hit the ditch and sacrifice an awesome machine to spare people. That is situational awareness and aeronautical decision making, both of a variety that I hope I never need to demonstrate.

Quote: FuriousPhoen1x Nobody is concerned with their hearing?

George-- 23"/2300 is where I make short trips, usually 3000 or 3500 msl. If I'm going more than ~50 nm, I climb higher and adjust per the book to less than 75%. The numbers above are typical values, but I have to watch temps in the winter and remember that my power is likely 1-2% higher than the table. I'm trying to learn to lean more at higher altitudes when WOT produces less power--at 60-65% power, is it necessary to run 50º rich, or would peak EGT be acceptable? Some carbs run LOP, but not mine. If I'm crossing the Appalachians, I like at least 7500' VFR or 9000' IFR; both are good for WOT/2500. I've seen steady-state groundspeeds from 104 kts to 183 kts running WOT/2500 over the mountains, but indicated airspeed is usually in the mid-130 mph range. Fly safe, and look for tailwinds!

One day, I really need to do the three-course speed check. The 134 mph was Indicated; quick finger-counting tells me that at 10K, add 20% to indicated, or 134 + 13.4 + 13.4 = 134 + 27 = 161 mph, which is in line with what I remember from the POH, even allowing for my 3-bladed speed brake. The memory stick with the photo and POH is downstairs, a couple hundred yards away, and I don't remember the groundspeed on the GPS; when I saw the photo I was looking for indicated airspeed numbers and was happy that the shot had the complete 6-pack and the 430 in it.

Larry-- I have a 70-model C, and my long-term average fuel burn is very glose to 9.0 gph. My "standard practice" varies according to the charts in my POH [OK, already--it actually says "Owner's Manual" on the yellowing cover]. Low altitude: 23"/2300 Medium alt: 23-24"/2400 [keep it below 75% so I can lean it back] Optimum alt: WOT/2500 I recently saw a picture at 10,000 msl, WOT, leaned to 50º rich [should have been leaner], with indicated airspeed of 134 mph. Don't recall the outside temp, but it was last fall coming home from the Carolinas. Don't forget the temperature correction factor on the performance chart, either. +10ºF, -1% power; -10ºF, +1% power. Don't go leaning above 75% total power. I very STRONGLY recommend taking the MAPA PPP to learn the ins and outs of flying your Mooney. If memory serves correctly, there's a formula they publish for our engine [O-360-A1D] something like this: MP + RPM = 47 for 75% power, MP + RPM = 46 for 65% power, MP + RPM = 45 for 55% power. The first one is correct, but I'll need to look up the other two to verify that they aren't 70% and 65%. Your fuel burn appears much too high, even if you were loaded to max.

It could be anywhere. My 70-model has the OAT sensor mounted in the copilot's air vent at the rear of the cowling. Either scoop would be easy to access from the panel. Some people mount them on an inspection panel under the wing. The stock OAT pokes out through the windshield . . . if yours isn't there, just crawl around and look for the probe. Mine's ~1½" long, a little fatter than a pencil, and looks like a steel pin. Happy hunting!