KSMooniac

Gary, I'm still scheduled with Crider for mid-August. I just returned from my 20+ hour Mooney trip and haven't touched base with him to nail down a firm date or price yet. I'm chatting with Paul at LASAR about some overlapping nose gear doors and other easy exterior mods and hopefully can get those done soon before paint time. I've decided to defer the smooth belly til later and just get some extra paint. I had also planned to repair my existing cowl, but the latest LoPresti offer piqued my interest again...and like you I'm not that tempted to pursue it seriously.

I have a buddy looking for the LoPresti display now, so I'll report back when he checks in. Jim, the reviews on the LoP cowl are mixed, to say the least. I think it will offer some measurable improvement in cruise speed and cooling ability over my existing (worn) cowl. My CHTs vary up to 40-50 degrees from hottest to coolest and I'd love to equalize them with a better cowl system, and I think this will help. As I mentioned in my first post, I need to repair/replace my nose gear doors and cowl flaps as well as repair the camloc holes on my current cowl, so that is part of my motivation to go with new and improved. I certainly would not spend the money on a cosmetic upgrade only.

Good choice.

The most important question is.... at what price is it BOGO 1/2 off? If it is the $17k+ price that is one thing...if it is the only only-slighty-outrageous price of $12k then we might be on to something... do you know the details, Chris?

I have an S-Tec 30 with altitude hold and GPSS in my J. Is that what you are specifically wanting to demo, or the Century + S-Tec altitude combo? I do fly down to McKinney somewhat regularly. Overall, I'm extremely happy with the S-Tec system in my plane. The GPSS + WAAS GPS is a wonderful combo and takes most of the hard work out of instrument flying and make single-pilot IFR much safer IMO. The altitude hold works very well, and allows you to divert your attention to other tasks. If the pitch force required to maintain altitude exceeds a threshold value, it will honk at you to re-trim, so you don't need to closely monitor your altitude once it is engaged. Best of all, the System 30 lives in the turn coordinator to save space and weight, AND it does not rely on an expensive attitude indicator to work, so if you lose vacuum or your AI it will continue to function.

The rule of 46 is adding your manifold pressure to your RPM/100 and making sure they do not exceed 46. Example, 22" MP + 2400 RPM. Just another silly old wives tale....

I guess you guys should have bought an older 201 with a flat glareshield!

Nice work!

Here is the view on final at 40AR...a few more in my gallery that I just created.

Dave, you have discovered the absolute *best* part about Mooney ownership vs. all the others... a Mooney will always get the XC job done on dramatically less fuel than any other single, and often times it will be faster too. Some of the bigger turbo planes might do some missions faster over longer distance, but will use a lot more fuel. So far my banner trip is Las Vegas (Henderson Field) to Wichita in 5:51 on 49 gallons of fuel total. My parents, bro and sis-in-law and I all left the hotel at the same time. They went to the commercial airport and I cabbed it to Henderson where I needed to flight plan & fuel before leaving. They went to Dallas and Aspen, respectively, via the airlines and I beat all of them home. I love my Mooney!