Hank

Ju$t trying to give my hone$t impre$$ion$ to the new guy. Price insurance for your plane, with 62 hours total time, 0 complex. It'll flat stop your laugh . . . But I was determined, and my check had already been cashed. At least it didn't STAY high, that would have killed me. Now I'm at 400 hours with an IR, and it's downright reasonable.

Dan-- I bought my C-model just 36 days after my PPL checkride, having just my temporary paper and a whopping 62 hours in my logbook, all in Skyhawks. A few transition flights to get the feel of landing [much more ground effect, the wing root is barely knee-high off the pavement] and learn how to slow down, and things have been great ever since. Advice: 1) It can be done easily and well. Just get a good instructor and learn to fly the numbers. All pattern speeds MUST be EXACTLY what is shown in the POH if you want to land; +5 mph and you will get a good, close view of the airport gliding by just below you, and you'll have to push everything forward and try again. 2) Check insurance first. I had a hard time getting insured, even as an owner, due to low time. Finally found $omone to take me on a$ an acceptable ri$k. Expect $ome required dual in$truction; some insurers will require 15-20 hours dual, some will have an addition 5-15 hours solo time before taking passengers. 3) Plan to fly AT LEAST 100 HOURS before your insurance renews. With 100 hrs Mooney time, my rate$ dropped by half. 4) When I finally finished up my Instrument Rating, my rates dropped another 25%. Skip buying a time-builder and start looking instead for a plane that meets your mission profile and is in good mechanical condition. There are threads on this site about what to look for in a Pre-J Mooney--study the advice there if a Mooney is suitable to your needs. Keep flying while you search, as more than 100 hours total time will help with your first year's insurance. One last bit of advice: go to ride in a Mooney. Some people fit better than others, as the seating position is more sports car than sedan, and is very different from a Cessna seating position. I like it, but I also sit similarly in my car. Al Mooney has been described as designing planes to fit people with his own tall, slim build. I'm 5-11 and 185, hardly slim, but long legs help. The panel is sort of close, too. Short bodies [b, C, D, E & G] have little back seat leg room, but I've taken three adults to ride up to 2 hours at a time with little complaint. They wanted to reach our destination without an all-day drive . . .

I apply mine whenever the Carb Temp needle gets near the orange stripe. For regular landings, I do not. My Owner's Manual says to check that carb heat doesn't kill the engine during post-start-up, prior to turning on the radios. Other than that, it's pretty optional. So far, very little use, no problems.

Simple Green sounds almost as easy as Aero Cosmetics Wash & Wax. Two versions: blue for the plane, red for the belly [it's the degreaser]. Spray it on, wipe with a rag, then buff dry with a clean towel. One rag for the whole plane, but have several wipe dry towels. I usually do the plane in several days, since it's much more than a car's worth of metal. Work in small sections, 2' x 2' or so, use panel lines/rivets to keep track as you go. Spray on. Scrub/wipe. Buff dry. No buckets. No water. [Don't have any in the hangar.] Only do each panel one time. Clean, shiny, smooth surface. Lasts for months and months. I redo the leading edges whenever they get hard to de-bug after flights.

I'm a firm believer in keeping a smooth coat of Wah & Wax ALL on the plane, and I use their degreaser to clean the belly. Just did it Saturday, since I'm in annual and the belly is off. Took ~20 minutes to make the belly uniform maroon, smooth, slick and shiny. The spinner gets occasional treatment with Mother's polish, advertised for mag wheels and chrome motorcycle parts. Doing the whole thing once was hard, now I rarely even touch it up except after birds fly by . . . The windows get Plexus, with a cheap cotton washcloth. Nothing but cotton on the windows! Daily maintenance is with Mira-Fiber cloths. I'll have to bring one in for contact info, but they are man-made fiber similar to but different from microfiber. Wet it with water, squeeze it dry, and wipe. No chemicals to buy. Nothing to rinse off. I've been using it for three years, and am thinking about tossing it and grabbing a second one. [i bought 5 to get a quantity discount, should last a while.] No muss, no fuss, no empty cans or bottles. When wiping gets difficult or bug accretion gets bad, it's time for another coat of Wash & Wax ALL. Then wiping gets easy again.

Quote: KLRDMD Bruce Jaeger from Willmar Air Service (and president of the Mooney Safety Foundation) said at a recent Mooney Pilot Proficiency Program to not manually crank the gear down except in an emergency - never 'practice' it.

Should be 52 turn of the handle from full-up to down-and-locked. Counting them helps to pass the monotony. It never hurts to double-check the floor indicator. I had to finish hand-cranking when I had an electrical failure on a VOR-A approach: dropped gear, hit the landing light, lost everything. Pulled the breaker, engaged crank, turned four times and would go no further. The floor indicator was green and said "Down." Practice with a safety pilot in the right seat. This is something you need to be able to do. A gear-up landing, with new prop, new belly, a few antennas and an engine tear-down may well total some of our aging birds. What's 65% of your insured hull value, compared to these current charges? That's the typical "total" point for many insurance companies.

I have Sporty's 200, with the overpriced extra battery case. Then went to the local big-box store and bought an EverReady quick-charger with AC and cig lighter cords and some 2500 mAh batteries for a fraction of what Sportys wants for theirs. Works very well, and lives in my flight bag with Duracells in the extra case. Left it in the hangar the one time I needed it, on a local training flight. Now it's in the plane all the time.

My POH has 20"/1950 RPM from sea level to 12,500 msl. I've played with it in the practice area just to get a feel for it. "Different" is the best I can say . . . Endurance is 7:45 at sea level, dropping toward 6:00 at 12,500. Feels kind of mushy. I don't recall the AI reading, but the book says speed should start in the 120's and rise towards 150 mph, with range starting at 1000 miles and dropping to just under 950. Depending on the model/year in question, yours will be different.

After landing, my trim is often very near where I position it for takeoff. Light, touching the top of the "Takeoff" mark; heavy, lined up properly. But then again, I rarely make full-flap landings.

That's a big AFFIRMATIVE on the insurance! My checkride was at the end of April, and my insurance renewed in July. With 300 Mooney hours [out of 375], adding on the IR dropped my rates 25%! I plan to invest the difference in avgas, making trips that I used to cancel. Missing the family reunion last year was the final straw, and this year it was not a problem. Even managed to log some actual on the way back.

Congrats on the successful checkride! Mine was back on 30 April. Now comes the fun part--logging some actual on your own. Our planes are EXCELLENT instrument platforms. Despite my earnest pleas, my wife never went along with my CFII, so her introduction was in the soup dodging T-storms. She doesn't like lightning on the ground, and the Stormscope never showed anything within 40 miles, but in-and-out of the clouds, the flashes were visible. Try to have a gentle introduction to actual for your frequent passengers, if possible. Hope you do well, and your passengers aren't alarmed and stay quiet so you can concentrate. The IR is a REAL license to learn! Fly safe!!

Make your measurements [mine are at 2-gallon intervals] using the paint stir-stick and a marker. Then buy either a plastic tube or a "real" fuel dipstick and transfer the marks with an engraver, Dremel tool or the like. They won't ever fade away . . .

Alun-- Thought this might bring a smile while you are down for repairs. Saw this store on a recent trip to Savannah, GA. For some reason, it reminded me of you . . . Cheers! And may you be back in the air quickly, inexpensively and above all, correctly.

KHTW is $4.50, in even-further-south Ohio, across the river from Huntington, WV.

I just use a dab of Mother's Polish from the auto section of my local big-box store. Two-fingers' pressure on an old washcloth, another to wipe it clean, takes ~30 minutes to do the whole spinner. Really makes it shine! Touch-ups from bugs and the occasional bird splat on the ramp are quick and easy. No drill, no $30 pads, just a $5 tub of goo and an old rag.

The gear horn and stall hornin my '70-C are both in the headliner near the overhead lamps.

I still wear the thin Omega I bought instead of a ring when I graduated from college. Keeps great time and is on the 5th or 6th battery in 22 years. Stainless steel looks good with everything, and the gold highlights are nice when dressy. Thought I wanted sub-dials, but am now glad I don't have them. When flying, I always look at it before takeoff, to set the clock in the yoke right after I wind it. Then I move the little red hands to match the time, and I always know how long the engine has been running. For timing approaches, if it's either a long one or an awkward number or starting time, the transponder has a really nice timer built in. If power craps out [bTDT], the yoke clock keeps right on ticking. Yes, WIND/SET CLOCK is on my Pre-Takeoff checklist. Works for me. Don't know what I'll do when my Omega gives up the ghost.

The POH for my C-model shows 230 fpm at 18,000 at a load approx. equal to 2 people, full fuel and some supplies. At that same load, I've been to 15,000 but OAT was 59ºF vs. standard temp of about 8ºF; if I did the math correctly, 15,000 indicated that day was 18,750 DA. Climb was somewhat anemic [100-200 fpm], peak EGT was easy to find [power dropped off sharply], and the plane manuevered crisply [quite a surprise!]. Climbing was done in a continuous right circle, with a CFII/A&P in the right seat. He seemed pleased with the engine performance and climb rate, and yes, we leaned in the climb. No LOP, though, even after leveling off. [it's a C, with a carb.] I would expect your J to climb better, with more power available and better fuel distribution. Just don't be in a hurry, and remember to calculate DA and not rely just on your altimeter, especially this time of year. The higher you go, the greater the difference can become. I tried to keep the climb speed near POH numbers, but (100 mph indicated) - (Altitude in thousands) only applies to 10,000', then it continues to drop down to just 80 mph indicated. And yes, 2% per 1000' loss of indicated airspeed makes 80 IAS = 104 TAS, but it sure does FEEL slow!

Jim's placard looks quite similar to what I remember seeing in my 1970 C-model. We're getting rain all day with thundershowers this afternoon, but I can take a look tomorrow, just let me know.

Calm down! This is a repair to the REAR SPAR!! The REAR SPAR is where the flaps attach. It is NOT the main wing spar, and is NOT the "heart of the plane." Like a properly repaired gear up, this would not disqualify the plane in my opinion. The logs should have enough history and detail to determine if the repair was properly done, at least when reviewed by a knowledgable mechanic. If he can't tell, then he surely will on the pre-buy. A greater concern to my mind is 130 hours in nine years . . . she spent a LOT of time sitting, which can lead to lots of engine trouble. Rust, corrosion, dry-rot in hoses--be sure to get a borescope inspection. That's a waving red flag saying "check me out." I do not see any "STAY AWAY" flags on this plane. All the more reason to get a thorough pre-buy inspection. Then you will know what shape the plane is in, what needs to be done, and you can agree on an accurate price.

Contact the Vintage Mooney Group, they have document sources that they can share with you.

I second the motion to attend Jerry's class. Be well rested, though--my head was ready to explode by the end of the day, and I am very glad to have the notebook to refer back to. Lots and lots and LOTS of good, useful information, some great nuggets and general "things to watch for." GO TO CLASS. GO DIRECTLY TO CLASS. DO NOT PASS "GO." DO NOT COLLECT $200. PAY JERRY $200 INSTEAD.

Contact Clyde Whittenbrook in Barnesville, OH. He's the best Mooney mechanic around, been working on them since Al Mooney finished his first drawing. He may know someone in your area. Congrats on the purchase! I bought my C-model 6 weeks after gettin my PPL in Cessnas. Study your POH, and I strongly suggest making your own checklists. If nothing else, it will force you to go through everything closely several times. The important parts are speed control and descent planning. Have lots of fun in the process!

I built my own checklist from the POH for my C-model. Then I went looking online for some emergency procedures, since my "Emergency" section is two pages, front and back of a single sheet. Half of one side is dedicated to emergency gear extension, and for in-flight fire it says to Close Cabin Heat. Nothing else, just close the heat vent. . . Good luck with your checklist. The nice thing about making your own is that you can rearrange things so that they make sense to you, especially with the pre-flight, taxiing and before takeoff portions. Then you get to mix in the upgrades installed. Word has a nice booklet format buried in one of the layout menus that will print the pages so that they can be stacked and stapled. I use landscape orientation, booklet format, then laminated them with the sticky kind, not the hot lamination that is hard, and the whole thing lives on my kneeboard. Half a sheet of paper is a good size.