The-sky-captain

I was with AOPA last year who had lowest price by far when I bought my plane with no time in a retract. This go around Kelly Petersen beat them by $300. You may give them a try. (Thanks Aaron for the recommendation.)

I agree Jim. I usually find myself in the middle of a great vacation ready to go home just so I can fly! Have a safe trip.

Challenging indeed!! An acquaintence on mine actually wrecked a plane there a year or so ago on a botched landing. I look forward to seeing your pictures.

Scott- If you landed at ROG you were at my home base. I don't remember seeing any Mooney's on the ramp but I could have missed it.

I love the freedom too. Last week I was able to be on a white sand beach for my 6th wedding anniversary and next week I'm going to climb a 14er in Colorado. Both would be in excess of 15 hour drives (each way)and I'm there in 3.5 to 4 hours in the Mooney. Great video George, thanks for sharing.

Oh yeah, I've also heard/read on other forums that oil consumption will go down using the Phillips over the Aeroshell. Is there any proof of this?

i've been running Aeroshell 15-50 with ASL. I'm planning on switching to Phillips 20-50 on my next oil change. A mechanic said if I switch to the Phillips I will have to add an additive (I don't remember the name) that I did not need when using the Aeroshell. I know alot of you use the Phillips so I'm curious to hear what you do. Thanks.

On another note. This morning when I started my plane I heard it backfire. This has never happened before. Any suggestions?

I purchased the precut kit from Gee Bee. The owner of the companys name is Guy and he is extremely helpful and very friendly to talk to. It cost me $135 including the rivets. He said replacing rubber seals that are only five years old with new seals can reduce CHT temps up to 20 degrees. Apparentely the rubber disenegrates fairly quickly. I hope to get some good results being that it looks as if my bottom set of seals are original. I've been have trouble keeping my #4 cylinder cool so we'll see... Plus they are a pretty blue:)

I am going to replace my lower rubber baffeling at my next oil change being that it is starting to show wear. Any suggestions on a specific type or place to purchase?

Sorry to hear that. It's quite a pain to shell out all that cash only to find it wasn't the only problem. Good luck with it!

I shoot for 17 mp which gives me about a 500' per minute descent. I keep the prop at cruise setting until on final.

My POH has a chart depicting the best glide speed under the "Emergency Procedures" tab. It works out to be about two miles for every 1000' agl you are. Speeds are pretty close to what has been mentioned above.

Nice pic Alun! I would love to get my dogs in the plane but with the new leather and their combined 150lbs I don't think that it's a great idea to introduce them the the joys of flight just yet!

Aircraft- This is from the MAPA site under "Mapa log sample articles" tab. It's a pretty good read. Level Flight Cruise Performance 1964 M20E N6966U, Full throttle, 2500 rpm, 50 degrees rich of peak, cowl flaps closed. Altitude OATF MP RAMAIR RPM Direction IASKTS/MP GPS GROUNDSPEEDKTS 10000 64 20.1 off 2500 W 128/148 156 10000 64 20.1 off 2500 S 129/149 132 10000 64 20.1 off 2500 N 128/148 157 10000 64 20.1 off 2500 E 128/148 137 Average GS/TAS 145.5 kts. 7000 65 22.7 off 2500 E 140/162 141 7000 65 23.8 on 2500 E 144/166 144 7000 65 22.7 off 2500 S 140/162 136 7000 65 23.8 on 2500 S 143/165 140 7000 65 22.7 off 2500 W 139/160 160 7000 65 23.8 on 2500 W 143/165 165 7000 65 22.7 off 2500 N 140/162 161 7000 65 23.8 on 2500 N 144/166 166 Average GS/TAS (ram air off) 149.5 ktsAverage GS/TAS (ram air on) 153.75 kts 4500 76 24.7 off 2500 W 144/166 152 4500 76 26.0 on 2500 W 146/168 153 4500 76 24.7 off 2500 S 143/164 138 4500 76 26.0 on 2500 S 144/166 140 4500 76 24.7 off 2500 E 143/164 149 4500 76 26.0 on 2500 E 146/168 151 4500 76 24.7 off 2500 N 143/164 158 4500 76 26.0 on 2500 N 144/166 162 Average GS/TAS (ram air off) 149.25 ktsAverage GS/TAS (ram air on) 151.5 kts

Seems the starting issue was a combo of a couple of bad wires in the starter and a weak battery. The starter was fixed and I had a new battery installed. Cranks right up on the first blade!

On a flight to Little Rock today I noticed my tach bouncing up and down about 100 RPM. The engine was smooth so I think it may be an issue with the cable. Have any of you guys had an issue with this and what was the solution? I've heard lubing the cable can help.

I agree George. It seems to be pretty common in aviation to pay a whole lot for something that gives small rewards.

Mitch- Nice pictures, looks like a 10 from here too! The only problem I had was in getting the 4 fresh air plastic ceiling vents off so I could paint them. What's the trick to getting them off without breaking them??? (The hat rack was a pain in the rear too.) I finished putting all the plastic back in today and will try to get some pics up soon. IT IS FINISHED.

I'll get some pictures up soon. I'm going to start putting the plastic back in tomorrow and I have a feeling it is going to be a little more difficult than it was coming out. Well worth the effort IMO though.

Well, the plastic is out and painted. The process has been much easier than I anticipated and the results are sweeter than expected. I was happy to find the newer style of soundproofing and rust free tubes behind the panels too. These Mooneys are built like tanks!

Are any of you familiar with the Mid-Continent electric AI's? Looks to be a great investment if you fly alot of hard IFR. THe price looks to be around 5k for the Lifesaver model and about a grand less for the standard electric model. http://www.lifesavergyro.com/

I am going to bite the bullet and begin dying my royalite this weekend. I had my entire interior done, with the exception of the plastic, when I bought the plane and it has been dogging me ever since!

Don- It's on a Lycoming, but I have heard that giving the starter a good thump helps sometimes! It's a Skytec that got installed about 4 years ago so the starer should be ok, I would think. My mechanic checked all areas for loose wires and grounds so he may have accidently fixed it in the process:) Jim- I did clean the connections on the battery when I took it out to test the charge but it didn't make a difference that day. It started right up the next day though as if nothing had happened. Who knows about these little things. Thanks for the imput guys.

Last week I went out to fly and I got a clicking sound when I turned the ignition. After several attempts I rolled it back in the hanger. The battery tested good so I called my mechanic the following day. Before he got there I attempted again multiple times to no avail. Needless to say when he showed up it cranked on the first try. I have flown several times since and have'nt been able to replicate the clicking sound. We think it's either a sticking solenoid or maybe the ignition switch. Any ideas?