Hank

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!

Jesse, Do you have any data from the cabin air scoop ON the exhaust side? That's where my probe is located . . . Not that I expect the exhaust to contribute significant additional heat, except maybe when I'm using cabin heat since that hose is much, much closer.

Sure is. SC to 'Bama is the short way. TN to Fla. is about twice as long. Or it was when I was living in Dalton . . .

Hmmm . . . I remember seeing last weekend that "IFR" means "I Follow Rivers," but that may have been on Saturday evening's Alaska Wing Men on the National Geographic Channel. All of a sudden, there is a huge amount of flying in Alaska on TV.

Why stick something the size of your finger out the windshield? Since replacing the windshield requires an A&P, and replacing side windows does not, I can suppose that modifying the windshield would require an A&P also, to say nothing of running wiring and hooking up to the electrical system. My C-model has an in-panel digital readout, with the probe in the right-sdie air scoop, nice and easy to run the wires to. Other people put them way out on the bottom of one wing or the other. Personally, I think the air scoop is a quick, simple location, and it picks up very little engine heat.

I haven't heard of one, but I hope to be there this year. I'm coming down from the north, the long way through Georgia.

While I enjoy the show overall, the producers try too hard to add drama where there is none. I never realized until this weekend just how much danger I put myself in everytime I enter IMC while on an IFR flight plan or pop-up clearance . . . Until next Friday

While I enjoy the show overall, the producers try too hard to add drama where there is none. I never realized until this weekend just how much danger I put myself in everytime I enter IMC while on an IFR flight plan or pop-up clearance . . . Until next

While I enjoy the show overall, the producers try too hard to add drama where there is none. I never realized until this weekend just how much danger I put myself in everytime I enter IMC while on an IFR flight plan or pop-up clearance . . . Until n

Quote: Mitch I had this issue sometime back on my F model [electric gear]. This is just a suggestion for your mechanic. Place the aircraft on jacks and remove the belly panels close to the micro switches and gear motor. Attempt to recreate the problem. If it does occur, tap around on the micro switches, motor and all connections in order to get the gear to retract. This may lead you to the answer. As always, please let us know the outcome. Happy Mooney flying!

I have sporadic winter problems with the gear, too. The right one will stay down about an inch [as reported by friends in other planes] when cold, but will eventually raise the rest of the way. Until the recent sighting, I thought it was just the microswitch in the belly. The motor hums, the gear move, but the gear up light won't come on, the floor indicator shows transit, and the durn squeal in the headset won't stop . . .

Quote: highplains I'll throw in this bit about the 182 photos that have drawn critics from far and wide. 280 HP turning a three blade prop burning an appalling 14-15gph for a mind bending 140KTAS. Fuel burn is actually worse than that, 14-15 gph is just the cruise burn. You don't want to look at the flow on the take-off roll. The 182 has served its purpose in my flying education, now I want to move on.

Hey, Scott, I finally made it to the airport yesterday for pictures. Just haven't had much flying weather recently, and it was bad enough last week that the Pilot's Assn meeting was cancelled. If I can't drive safely, I'm not about to try to fly. Pictures show L & R side eyeball airvents, plus an outside picture of the pilot's-side scoop going to the eyeball vent. PO said it was "from one of those guys in Texas," so it could well be SWTA. To be sure, I'd have to dig back through the logs. Good luck with your install! The only problems I've had is that they can be difficult to close in-flight in early winter, as the whole ball will rotate from not being moved all summer long. Even here, the more air I can get inside in the summer, the happier we are, but I can't make myself add a Cool Scoop to the window. Re-reading your post, yes, I have identical scoops in the fuselage on both sides. The plane was painted 2 owners back, with 2-part epoxy paint, and the vent was already in before the paint went on. It may be factory, it may not; I've seen planes with one vent and some with two, so I consider myself lucky.

Welcome to the club! I have a '70 model C. The previous owner has flown it to the beach in 2½ hours, a full 25% faster than a friend's 172 [they travelled "together"--the Cessna took off first and landed last], and used 10% less fuel. It just doesn't get any better than that! If your plane is in good shape, keeping it there should not be expensive. Upgrades, on the other hand, have no limit . . . All I've done to mine is fly it a lot, and replace a few wheel bearings. But she's in the shop right now, too . . . And I'm rapidly approaching a tank reseal . . . Happy flying!

Jim-- Once we get a little closer, I'll let you know. I've been on the planning committee for the last couple, but the weather this week cancelled the Jan. Pilot's Assn. meeting. It's getting close enough that we need to at least pick a date pretty soon.

I keep sectionals and enroutes, but only get out the en routes when flying on an IFR flight plan. Since getting my rating last spring, I've made several trips, all with significant amounts of either VMC or above the layer. It's nice to know what's around below the clouds. The approach plate book lives on the floor below the throttle, turned sideways. It's a nice fit there. For training flights, since I live at the intersection of three books, I would stack them in order of use, or put the first one there and put the others between the seats. I'm based in Ohio [OH/PA], literally 4 miles from Huntington, WV [WV/VA] and 12 miles from Ashland, KY [KY/TN], so a round-robin flight can easily hit three or four airports in three states, in three books, in 1½ hours. Fun, fun, fun!! Plates can be downloaded from www.nacomatic.com, which I believe is back up and running after the genius at Flight Prep shut him down alleging infringement on their patent of the idea of doing flight planning over the internet. If you configure your printer correctly, you can print two plates on a sheet of paper, fold it in half, and clip it to your yoke. This works well for your destination, but not for diversions and other instructor-conceived madness. For those, you'll need post-its to mark your airport in the book, and a fat binder clip to keep it open in your lap. Good luck with your training! Passing that checkride makes flying much more interesting, and your airplane much more useful!

Jim-- I'm about 45 minutes due south of CMH, right on the WV line. If anything is going on in the area, let me know! KHTW is pretty small but we manage to have a Community Day every year. I haven't heard the dates this year, but expect it to be in June. Over the years, it has morphed from a Fly-In to more of a "Take People to Ride" day, but visitors are always welcome by car and by plane. We sometimes make it up to Bolton Field for barbecue at JP's, but that would hardly justify cranking your J. Add me to your "interested" file, and let's stay in touch.

Great pictures! And I love your wide, wide runway, too. My wife fully supports my flying habit, and she's quite a photo bug, but I don't know if I could make a low pass over her head . . .

OK. We have a Pilot's Assn. meeting tomorrow evening, I'll take some pictures. IIRC, it's possible to see out the vent around the eyeball, at least on the right side. I'll take pictures of both, and get them up on Wednesday. The joys of life in the country, peace, quiet and dial-up internet. Thankfully we have a T1 connection at work! Yesterday was awesome flying weather, but I didn't drive out on Saturday to shovel snow and plug in the oil heater. At breakfast time, it was 4ºF, so climb rate would have been absolutely nuts! More is coming tonight through Wednesday, so I'm parked for a while. It will be nice to at least visit her with the camera . . . Maybe next weekend (??) I can climb out in sub-freezing temps . . . Depends on how much shoveling is required from the hangar to the taxiway.

I have the airline eyeball-style vents on both sides up front, and the flat ceiling vents. Should I take some pictures??

But my 430W is placarded for IFR approaches, and the Brittain is coupled to it. It will fly a beautiful ILS, VOR or GPS approach, as long as I supply the vertical component. Otherwise, my beautiful approach pattern will be at whatever altitude I enter the approach at.

Mitch and Jolie-- I trained in my electric-gear C model, with a functioning PC system. A couple of times my CFII allowed me to use the Brittain heading bug, until she figured out it was controlling the direction of flight and not just a colored pointer on the DG. After that, I hand-flew everything in training, but never disabled the PC. I don't like pulling the button out of the yoke, and don't carry rubber bands, empty film cans, etc. DO keep some binder clips for holding the approach plates open, but keep them off the yoke. Neither CFII or DE complained that the plane trimmed up and flew straight and level . . . as long as I had the Accu-Trak and Accu-Flight turned off. The DE didn't ask me to demonstrate them coupled to the 430 for an approach, either, since he said it's "not a real auto pilot." [No altitude hold, no "approach" mode, no climb/descent rates, etc.] FYI, my checkride was last April. As an aside, I usually ignore the yoke button anyway. I don't make a whole lot of turns in cruise, and they're generally pretty shallow, often just a tweak of the heading bug. Around the VFR pattern, the resistance keeps me from overbanking, and since I'm used to flying that way, it's not much of a problem in holds, procedure turns, etc. Override is easy and natural, relax pressure and we level off, and I don't have to move my thumb. Can't press the override button and the push-to-talk at the same time, anyway . . .

Yep, that's them. I like to put them in the corners first, but on the six-foot-long belly pan, that's not enough of a start to hold the durn thing up. And with lots and lots of screws, I'd hate to have just one out of 52 not start and require a finger to wiggle something--that means removing several already-done screws, much easier with dzus. Both forearms are always sore after removing/installing the belly.

If I recall correctly, Bill Wheat's $4000 belly pan is carbon fiber [expensive material], and it attaches with those wonderful quarter-turn fasteners like hold on the cowl. My fiberglass belly pan is held on by 52 screws that have to be laboriously lined up and installed every annual. I have to support the belly pan, start a couple of screws at one end, a couple in the middle and a couple at the other end. Then I have to start the remaining screws, then go around again and tighten them up. That makes it easier to pull off and fix if one won't start . . . The voice of experience. Just remember to hook up the antenna wire first, as pulling the durn thing off to hook it up is discouraging. Having the quick fasteners sure would be nice. Now if I could just remember what they're called?

I have NO idea what just happened . . .