georgeb

You know, The more I read comments like pretty much all of the ones on this post, the more I lean towards accepting the offers on my Mooney and just biting the bullet and getting myself an RV or Velocity. My RV buddies get all the goodies at reasonable prices and every time I read through my EAA magazines I start feeling like this again.. I'm at a point where I need to decide whether or not to invest another 15-25k in Avionics for my Certified Mooney (which I love BTW) or just go the Experimental route. I think about it more and more each month. Hmmm....I wish someone could make me understand the FAA's logic (or lack thereof) where it comes to modernnizing our birds with new technology. I've sat back year after year and watched my RV buddies install some really nice stuff on their aircraft, goodies that are just as good if not better than what we have avalable to us, for a small percentage of what it would cost us for the same capabilities.....Just makes one wonder doesn't it. For now I guess I'll just keep telling myself ...'I choose to be happy' and keep flying this magnificent machine of mine.....Oh, and BTW, I need another 12-15k for an autopilot......'I choose to be happy....I choose to be happy..." George 9488V

I've got a '70 'E' that had this problem but only when the flex bracket would break on mine. I posted this on MAPA and got several responses (even from Don Maxwell) to just cut up a tire and fabricate a replacement during every annual (the tire options seems to be good for a year and very popular, even with MSC's). Do you even have this bracket? It sounds like you don't. The Factory will recommend their part which is also a pliable (tire looking) material that allows the bracket to flex under stress (as in takoff and for some of us even landing). Pretty much in the MAPA list that responded agreed that you'd get just as much (if not more) life from a piece of tire than the factory one. The tire option worked for a couple months for me before breaking again, but I've been good for 8 mos now on a bracket fabricated from an automotive (pre 70's) muffler bracket. We took the material off of that and adapted it to the mooney bracket (the same as you would do with the piece of tire and the factory bracket). If you need to, I can take a pic and show you what I'm referring to. George

OK, my Turn, Being a member of all three at one point or another: here's what I've experienced: First, MOA was 'iffy' about three years ago and as happened to others on this forum, I was one of those that received nothing for my 'discounted' 2 year renewal. In my case, however, they did take my money and i was never informed of any plans to stop their publications. It was obvious that it was an outlet for Mooney Mart and Coy's operation in FL, but that was alright. As for MAPA, I'm still a member and will continue to support them. While they may be a bit behind the times, they are the best source of information technical as well as mechanical that I've seen ANYWHERE..including Mooneyspace....(sorry guys)....I love Mooneyspace for the comraderie and the fellowship that exists here, but if I've got any technical issue that I may have a question on, I turn to MAPA for that. responses from people such as Bill; Don; Kelly; and some of the other excellent A/P/I's/CF?? on the board and even the factory are usually immediate. HAving said that, some people on the list can get a bit critical on some issues and go WAAAAAYYYY overboard with their views on some topics, but those are easily bypassed with the 'Delete' function we all have access to. I excersise that right judiciously when a topic starts going way off focus and people get out of hand....simple to resolve!. A combination of MAPA and Mooneyspace would be a godsend. Convincing some of the people on MAPA to convert, however, is going to be a monumental task at best. With the exception of MOA, Each has it's own merits as well as drawbacks, MOA has only drawbacks. George Briones 9488V

Quote: KLRDMD I'll be there tomorrow around noon to bring it the rest of the way home. Thanks for the offer.

As promised, Finally got around to verifying that I did indeed install the 149nl George

Why'd he stop in El Paso? Need any Help with anything? I'm based here if you need any help. George 9488v

I replaced my prestolite a couple of years ago with a skytek. I've got a '70 'E'. You'll love it once it's installed. The key word here is installed. It is a royal PITA to replace. Lower cowl has to come off and that is no small chore on our beloved vintage mooneys. You'll also have to replace the power cable as the skytek needs a longer one. Like I said, they're great starters, but unfortunately take quite a bit of labor to install. George PS, I believe I have the 149NL. I'll check for sure and update this post. George

Not always. I had an encounter a bit over a year ago with 2 small birds (pigeon/crow size) ...I climbed and turned left..they did indeed dive and I thought all was good...never felt or heard any kind of impact, but when I landed I had the lower torzo (waist down if they had a waist) of one of the birds wedged between the dorsal and empenage. Bummed me out....As a matter of fact, this thread just reminded me of it....I'm going to church now George

My 2 cents, My first annual (over three years ago) went pretty much how your's is going right now. It actually went closer to three months and cost me a nut. I, however, had saved up my pennies and had several speed mods done at the same time as the first annual. While this did extend the amount of time it took to do the annual, what really affected my annual was the lack of maintenance from the previous owner (that was a pitch for a thorough pre-purchase by the way). I was a first time buyer and new pilot and ..... you know the drill, but the gyst of it is that he found a crap load of stuff that was not only out of compliance, but showed neglect on the part of the previous owner. I've since become pretty anal about my maintenance and the tiniest of issues is immediately taken care of. This has led to my 2 subsequent annuals going smooth (less than a week for both) and relatively in-expensive (as far as annuals go). The fact that it's frequently flown and my AP gets a chance to not only look at but fly her often helps. This not only leads to quicker and cheaper annuals, but you spread the maintenance costs out throughout the entire year rather than being hit with everything at once. Anyway, what I really wanted to say was don't count out an AP simply because he's a traveling AP. You see, my AP is one of these. He does all of the work in my hangar and if the need arises (only once in three years and that was for painting) we'll ferry the plane to a borrowed facility that he arranges ahead of time. He's got more years experience than he cares to remember on everything from DC3's to Mooneys and not only reparing them, but he's also got thousands of hours as a pilot (military; commercial; and private). The only time my Mooney has been in a shop was when I first purchased her and I didn't know my AP. That one visit to a supposedly well equipped shop (at my home field BTW) left my plane not only with a magnetized frame, but with overspray from another plane they were touching up at the same time my plane was in their shop. The magnetized frame (from what I've been told by several including my AP) will come back and haunt me every few years. So to say that I won't take my Mooney to one of the shops that we have on the field is an understatement. The fact that they have a large facility doesn't mean they have the ability to properly repair my plane. There's more to it than just the afore mentioned incident, but you get my drift. I guess my point to all of this is don't count out a guy just because he doesn't have a shop. You may be passing up a gem of a mechanic. George!

Quote: mooneygirl I have PC in my 65E. I just press the button when I take off, land, or turn. I have never really understood why folks would want to take out the button or put a rubber band on it. It is second nature for me to press the button. Flying from the right...isn't very hard at all to overcome the PC. Just my two cents.

Quote: FlyDave

I had the same problem last year with my switches and was starting to have light turn off on me during flight (nav and landing). Problem was traced to old and faulty swithces. My AP made me a new switch panel not utilizing the mooney switches and replaced all of them. Basically he told me 'you can spend almost a grand on the original type or a couple hundred on toggle type. Look at my picture gallery and you can tell which way I went: zetro problems since then. By the way, they are NOT switches, they are indeed circuit breakers. Good luck George

Quote: Mcstealth show off! :)

Quote: Flybeech21 I just checked the Mooney Type Certificate and there is no mention of a PC control system or of Brittain. That is pretty weird when the airplane was originally equiped with this system.

From what I understand, the PC system IS approved for installation in our mooneys so TSO or STC'd should not be an issue with those of you worried about it. I believe that there is no field approval for it so it may have to be installed at Brittain. I'll check on that tomorrow and find out, but I for one am on the list as one who will be upgrading the factory PC wing leveler from Mooney/Britain. As for pulling the button out, There are three other mooney's that belong to buddies of mine here in KELP and they all either pull it out partially (as I do, about 1/4 ") to disable it, or remove it alltogether during takoff and landings. All of us do it with our A/Ps blessing and he's been flying mooneys (not just fixing them) longer than he cares to remember. About flying from the right side, the system can be overridden even while it's engaged, it's just a little hard to do but you can still steer. As an added to the TSO STC question, two of the afore mentioned mooneys have the full autopilot systems in them. Both of theirs track heading as well as hold altitude and I can tell you from flying with them, the systems work great which is why I've decided to add to my system and upgrade to the full out autopilot. George

I've found that landing a Mooney in crosswinds is actually easier than it was in the C brand. Slip or crab is just a matter of preferrence. Either will work fine. I too was taught the slip method from the beginning of final all the way to the ground but after experimenting and practice; practice; practice.... I find I'm crabbing a bit more and only slipping at the end (last 50 ft or so). I did consult with a few CFI's on what was best and both pretty much said it was a matter of prefference, However you decide, DO NOT land in a crab lest you want to rip your landing gear off. I do find that landing in strong crosswinds with little or no flaps makes for easier landings in xwinds....especially strong xwinds. Key thing is to not fear the winds and get out there and practice them as much as you can until you feel comfortable with them and it becomes second nature...no probs. George

You're going to love the Mooney. For my 2 cents, I have a 70 E and typically fly 9500 to 10500 at 22" and 2400-2500 rpm. This gets me a 7.8 to 8.5 GPH fuel burn and that's running a bit ROP. I have Gami's and I know I can run LOP w/o any problem, but I just prefer to run it this way. Plugs are consistenly good and engine runs smooth. I do, however, have a 2-bladed scimitar blended airfoil prop and that is the one item that has been the greatest 'nocicable' difference in speed. As far as speeds are concerened, I usually see on average 120-129 with slight to strong headwinds; 130-149 with light/quartering headwinds; and if I happen to be lucky enough to have a tailwind of anykind I've gotten anywhere from 150 to almost 180 in cruise. Mind you, that is groundspeed in knots coming from my GPS, NOT TAS: Real speed! You're gonna love it. While it's true that the Cirrus; Bonanza's are just a tad faster, they're burning almost twice the fuel to get just a few knots faster. I've seen them throttle back to say 12gph rOP to conserve fuel, and they're pretty close to the speeds I'm seeing at 8-10 GPH. If you want to conserve even more fuel (I played around with this for a bit and have settled in at the 22") you can throttle back to 21" at 2400 RPM ROP and you're groundspeed will only reduce by about 3-4 knotts: thing is, you'll see a fuel burn in the mid 6's to low 7's ....it's beautiful . George

Last year during my first annual, I had a few speed mods done to my '70 E, including the dorsal and front cowl mods from LASAR. When I received them and started to look at them the first thing I thought was 'Damn, I'm going to need a painter'. While I was willing (as was my AP) to take on the task, I wanted to take the opportunity to paint the Faded colors on the tops of the wings and some of the Fuse. They had a considerable amount of oxidation and burn from the previous owners lack of care (that's a whole other story). In any case, that was more than I cared to take on myself. What I did was contact a couple of my Bodyshop buddy's here in El Paso and asked them if I could hire one of their painters to do some touchup paint work on my Mooney. Well as it turns out, One of these friends gave me a number to a painter that was doing nothing but contract work; carried all his own equipment; and was willing to take on the job. Well to make the long story short, not only did he take care of 2 colors on the ENTIRE aircraft, but also did a considerable amount of cleanup on the top entire front of the Fuse where the paint had been starting to peel as well as match up the paint the the existing graphics on the back of the Fuse where the speed mods were put on. I'll tell you on a PM how much he charged me, but he's now done work on several of my friends planes as well as painted complete planes. So, long story short, touching up the existing paint will be FAR LESS EXPENSIVE than trying to paint the entire aircraft. The biggest problem we ran into was finding a place to paint the AC. PAINTING IS REALLY A MESSY BUSINESS AND OVERSPRAY WILL GET EVERYWHERE THAT IS NOT COVERED RIGHT. That said, there are a multitude of other issues you will run into (read city codes and regulations) that will need to be overcome, but in the end it all worked out great and this guy (and his son) had work for about 3 mos. just from my small job. So if you have the time and an AP that's willing to work with you, you may be able to do the same thing that I did. By the way, the Total cost (including the Paint and materials) was less that $1k. Good Luck George