KSMooniac

We re-weighed my plane last month after some extensive mods to include a full paint job (final step in my hail repair/upgrade sequence). I gained ~80 lbs over the book numbers, and at least half of that is the paint job IMO. I think today's paint with "friendlier" chemical compositions and higher amounts of solids are quite a bit heavier than what was applied in the early days and likely through the 80's. Doing metallics or other systems with base + clear coat make it even worse, too. The rest of my weight gain can be attributed to the later overhead vent system, SoundEx insulation, and a full set of Bravo seats (2x articulating fronts, removable buckets in back) with memory foam inside and headrests.

Paint is heavy, so it should be stripped before a new paint job. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

Ah, thanks. I forgot it did have an intercooler. I should have remembered that as the M20 Turbos TN kit was essentially a carbon copy except for the retention of 8.7:1 pistons and the 30" MP limit, and I knew it had an intercooler.

If this is the plane under consideration, it is indeed Darwin Conrad's first Mooney mod (Turbo Bullet), but it was pulled from the market after a fatal crash and AD in 1993 that reduced max MP from 38" down to 33". I think the mod was making way over 200 HP and reducing MP down to 33" put it back to 200 HP. It has low compression pistons, and no intercooler, so it is similar to an early 231 but with the Lycoming instead of Continental. The ad copy says Turbo Normalized, and it is NOT that, unless they somehow got a field approval to morph it into a TN setup with high compression pistons and 30" MP max. I don't think it is officially supported by Rocket Engineering since it pre-dates that company, but I believe there is nothing exotic that would make ownership risky. Exhaust is exhaust and can be repaired by competent shops. Turbo and check valves are off the shelf, etc. With some engine operational savvy and a modern engine monitor, it might be a great plane to own if the owner does their part. The down side is that the low compression pistons make it less fuel efficient than a stock 201, so for it to "pay off" the mission should be longer XC where it makes sense to get into the teens routinely and use oxygen. My Mooney mentors in college owned the plane that crashed in 1993 (flown by a friend, fortunately/unfortunately) and their mission had routine trips from TX to NE and all over the country so they loved it. It was replaced by a 262 Mod K and they loved it too.

Best option might be to post a WTB here or on barnstormers. You might get lucky with a Canadian owner that is forced into mandatory overhauls on calendar time, and they may sell to you outright and put that money towards a new upgrade. You could then sell yours privately... As Lance mentioned someone is always looking for a used airworthy prop. This means you'll have money tied up in two props for a while, but ultimately might get you where you want to go for reasonable cost. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

I agree completely that the situation sucks badly, and will likely get much worse with a PE takeover or Garmin monopoly. Last time I shopped for my needs, Jepp was significantly cheaper than Garmin AND they gave me 2 new data cards for free because they were old and dropped out of their inventory system! Garmin sold me a bundle the year before to include a portable update, but when I went to do that, they said my 496 was NOT eligible because it was too old. Then they offered to sell me that update separately for another $100 or $150. That is really awful behavior/customer service... And that was to my face at their Osh tent. At this point we should be able to download nav data directly from an FAA server for free or very low cost. Pipe dream, I know, because they would probably get the same flunkies that made the Obamacare website to make it, and it would cost billions. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

Garmin is not always cheaper... Depends what you have/need, and when you buy a subscription. I had hoped Garmin entering the nav data market would've helped, but they just made it more complicated with their bundles and lack of transparency. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

They're hard to find because by the time they came out, the production numbers were way down compared to the mid 60s and late 70s so there just aren't tons available, but many candidate planes that could upgrade. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

These can be cranked up and down vertically, as well as cranked to set the seat back at any angle. A nice upgrade for any Mooney older than mid-80s. Any local hot rod interior shop can rebuild the foam and covers to a custom spec too. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

Me too. Decent deal, hard to find. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

that is 2-3x what it was 8-10 years ago when I purchased, so that is probably right between inflation and new private equity ownership of McFarlane.

Bevan Aviation in Wichita routinely repairs GNS boxes for all sorts of issues, and especially failing/sticky buttons. They've done mine on one of my units so far. I believe the G1000 uses the same buttons so you might inquire if they'll work on that system as well.

thanks, I stand corrected! I tried to find an AML or other installation doc that would outline which models/systems could be connected, but I could not find it easily. All that aside, I wonder why they didn't do that list little bit of work to include a trim system...

Not quite, to my knowledge. They do not have their own electric trim system, either separate or optional with the autopilot. I believe their autopilot will prompt you to trim when the pitch force exceeds a threshold. You can trim with an existing electric trim system, or just manually move the wheel. I do not think you can connect their autopilot to a 3rd party trim system directly. The lack of an electric trim option is the only downside I can think of for their system. (I've been flying my J without electric trim forever so it isn't a deal-breaker IMO.) Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

I'm not sure why Mooney ever went away from the squat switch. It is far simpler and less expensive. Those airspeed switches routinely get damaged during the 24 month IFR checks and are difficult to access for service. I'm glad I have a simple squat switch on my J.

I expect it is stopping on a worn spot and needs some service inside. Mine was sent to George's Electric or something close to that in CA all those years ago, but I believe they're long-gone now. If it happened to me today, I'd start with a local electric motor shop and cash to get my homemade fan motor repaired.

If the motor has never been rebuilt, I'd start with that. My '77 quit on me in 2008 and required a motor overhaul.

I'm generally of the same mind as you and frequently buy the minimum required to waive fees at my usual destination, and then stop 25 miles away to tank-up at >$2.00 off per gallon. In my home area I'll try to go to outlier airports to tank-up on a local exercise flight too, But in that crazy state, getting fuel at your destination or even home base for an average price when all of the other "close" airports in the populated area are far more expensive is a big improvement. The based aircraft have been without ANY 100 octane option for a while now, so I expect many of them are happy to buy it at any price, especially "average."

Truth. I do as much of my own supervised work as I can, and currently have some abandoned wires and connectors behind my panel since i just cannot extricate them with the current equipment installed. I just weighed my plane too and lost a lot of useful load (no surprise) so I made an effort to get rid of much dead weight as I could, but some of it just has to wait until a major panel overhaul/scratch build. Working on/behind a Mooney panel in a J or later without backside access is truly the worst part of owning a Mooney.

yes, no 100LL at KRHV. Airnav shows $5.37 SS at Tracy (very rural, I believe) up to $11.37 at San Jose, just 5 miles from RHV. Average within 45 miles is $6.95 for 100LL, so I'd say $6.99 is very competitive. Time will tell if that is a promo or subsidized price just to get some traffic and try it out, or not. I'm still hopeful that eventually G100UL will be common, and the price will be lower than 100LL today due to the lack of restrictions on transport and storage without lead. We'll see.

My senior design project as an aero engineering student was a 4-place RG plane with a rotary engine. Weight and physical packaging/drag reduction are huge plusses in our corner of the aviation world, but the BSFC is not great, unfortunately. I briefly dabbled with an RV-6 kit after college and was reading all I could on the conversions, but eventually came around to thinking a standard Lycoming is still optimal. I wish we had enough manufacturing scale to truly optimize a GA engine production facility to make better parts/engines and get the cost out. It seems every other industry has advanced by leaps and bounds in terms of machining quality, casting, etc. except our products in GA.

yes, any gear can collapse independently with enough force, or mis-rigging. Is that a later model J? KSWI has the best fuel prices in the area and I take advantage regularly!

From FB... I'm not the vendor, but wanted to pass this post along to Rocket owners that want spares! They're a good bunch and I thought I'd share the post here. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

I've posted many times about the Alpha Systems Eagle AOA and there have been a lot of discussions, so search up some topics. Bottom line, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It is easy to see in peripheral vision, has an audio alert, and just plain works. The probe is installed in a lower inspection cover, so you don't really need a new "hole in the wing". ~8 hours might be a fair estimate of labor involved to install it as there is pneumatic tubing (like pitot-static) routed into the cabin, a controller box and small calibration panel, plus the display. You'll need a circuit breaker for power and the optional audio connection to an un-switched input on your audio panel. Integrated software-based AOA displayed on an instrument in the panel is only slightly better than nothing at all. You should not have to look down to reference it in a critical phase of flight, especially in an emergency engine-out forced landing where it might be the most useful tool in the plane. Edit to add support for any modern CO detector. Look up Sensorcon and the history a very fortunate Mooney pilot if you want a fast and portable sensor. I have one and also purchased a Lightspeed DZ headset with the integrated sensor there too. If/when I move to a modern PFD system I might add a panel-mounted solution as well, but I'm wary that they may require expensive replacements in the future to keep working. (I have done no homework on the topic.)

No worries... my first ipad (Mini 2) had the cell option, and while convenient, it was not worth it for me since I primarily just use the iPad for flight stuff and not an everyday device for all sorts of things. I really dislike Apple in general how they run their business but reluctantly gave in to the iPad ecosystem since the best aviation apps were there. A $5 GPS chip should be included in all of these devices instead of bundling it with the cell connection option IMO. It is very nice hardware, I'll admit, but I intensely dislike that universe.