Amelia

Hi, Thomas, I have owned a K for a good many years, by purest happenstance,, and although the nearest real estate rising more than 200 feet MSL is 200 miles west of me, I love my turbo. If you find a good deal on a beautiful K, do consider it. It is so much more capable. On a hot and humid southern afternoon, the sky is full of popcorn in the haze, coalescing into summer squalls. Rise above them into clear and glassy smooth. Climb at 800+fpm to find that 40kt tailwind. As for messing with O2, s'wunnerful. If you're flying home at night, plug in your nasal cannula,even if you're only at 6000 feet, and watch those lights out there brighten as if by rheostat. You are fairly quickly an hour or two less tired. The oxysaver (and similar brands) cannulas make it easy and economical to take advantage of the higher altitude capabilities, but the speed and ease of climbing even no higher than 12,500, make my 231 a real joy.. The J will be cheaper per hour, a little, below 8000 or so, and if you do all your flying within your sea level airport traffic area, well then,there's your answer, but if you do substantial cross country flights, it sure is convenient to not obsess over density altitudes!

Does your iPadMini stay cool enough with this rig?

This happened to me on liftoff one night long ago... I hit a ridge in a crossing runway pretty hard right at 65-70, may have blown the right tire then, and suddenly the controls behaved very strangely, reluctant to climb at all, despite full power. Identifying the problem was the scary part, while attempting to fly the airplane at night at an unfamiliar controlled field.With not knowing if I had a serious engine issue, or something structural very wrong, I aborted the landing very awkwardly. Later it was obvious that the takeoff trim that was right when I started the roll was now all the way down. No wonder it suddenly didn't want to climb. Oof. Embarrassing, to say the least. So, strength to manhandle the elevator control was one thing, but deciding what had happened and exactly what to do about it was an unexpected complication. Now I have a much higher index of suspicion.

Thanks! These nice people told me the same thing about the scarcity of encoding altimeters and parts to repair same. I think new altimeter/blind encoder combo is in my immediate future. They assured me that if it turns out to be a bit of stray corrosion, when the nearest avionics guy sees it on Monday, they'd take their box back. One thing about all this inconvenient avionics stuff is that I am sure meeting some good folk.

Recycling didn't reliably help. The replacement transponder itself seems ok, but seems to be getting bad information. I am sure hoping I can just buy a new bit rather than the whole shebang. Have looked at the Trig/King slide-in units, seem to have merit, but hoping to kick that ADS-B can down the road just a little longer, hoping new and much cheaper/better is just around the corner, of course.

The saga continues. A dear fellow Mooniac came to my rescue, even flying his KT76A to KPNS for me. It checked out perfectly, and the nice avionics man there installed it. He went to do the IFR cert, though, and couldn't get the altimeter to behave itself. He didn't have a shelf full of replacement parts, though, being a fairly new branch, so referred me over to Mobile, to guys who had done excellent work for me before. The Mobile guys then spent several hours checking things out, all bench-tested fine, so clutching my log book stickies, I launched toward home. ATC happy, Grandmama happy...for about 45 minutes. Then about every other controller would tell me they were getting altitude nonsense. Like 9000 feet low nonsense. The others were seeing the same 11,000 feet I was. So the next morning I called the lovely Mobile shop and asked permission to cry on their shoulders. "Yeah, we know. We were watching you on Flightaware." So, while I would love another excuse to visit the Gulf Coast, it is not practical this week, and I NEED a working encoder by next week. Sigh. The encoding altimeter, if I understood them, is an all-in-one thing made of pure Unobtainium, and now I may need to replace the current altimeter with separate altimeter and blind encoder, at quite a steep price. Or something like that. More thoughts, y'all? Anybody got a working one for sale?

Great guy near where I am has offered to deliver it to the local avionics shop, and let him check it out and install it. And I don't have to make a really expensive decision...yet.

that sounds good. I need to talk to the avionics guy I will get back to you. Thanks!,

That might be just the thing, TeeJay! Where in Florida are you? I'm in Pensacola til Wednesday. What do you want for it?

Hi. File this under "exciting women are expensive." On the way to visit me dear siblings, the transponder quit responding. Now what? I believe I can replace this one with another King of similar vintage for $675, or I can buy some fancy or semi-fancy ADS-b out-compliant for 7x to 10x that much. which I will have to do anyway in five years. Assuming my family hasn't moved me to a senior-care facility by then. So, what do you think is the best bang for the avionics buck these days?

Very interested in both! Mimi Reiheld

Yeah, cancel MY Acclaim order, too. Better the 1980 devil I know. (Oh, and there's the little matter of the purchase price, maintenance, insurance, property tax, and fuel cost....unless the Mooney Fairy has left a shiny set of keys under my pillow.)

Tell me more? Is this instructional, or does it presume the pilots are already experienced and comfortable with formation flight?

How very nice of you to think of me and say sweet things. I LOVE my fast and faithful 231, still, after 25 years or so. There are much prettier panels out there, nicer paint jobs, but 58H is still everything I want in an airplane, even after all these years. But what Aviation Consumer wants is a set of precise and accurate numbers that would pass engineering muster, and I'm ashamed to say I'm much more a seat-of-the-pants flier. Besides, they want photos. I'd have to wash and wax it, then. How much does it cost? Um... whatever it takes this year. Next year's another kettle of fish. The 231 gets me where I want to go fast, high, and comfortably, How much more does an old bat need?

Oh, i do LIKE that hi-viz and cheerful paint! Cheers! I wish you hundreds of pleasant hours with her.

Late to this party, but I am still happy with the beige carpet and the beige and tan seats to go with the cream colored exterior and pleather interior panels. They don't show so much dirt, are easily scrubbed, and they don't show lint. Light grey would have similar advantages. I sure got tired of the red carpet and upholstery that had been there for the first 27 years of its existence. I can--and do-- tend to ignore the blahzh. It tends to blend right in with the scenery outside.

I like social media...how else would I know what my beloved heirs are up to? I am blessed with a wicked fast scrolling finger, so stupid politics and pointless click bait don't even bother me. Anybody who can't form a simple sentence without resorting to vulgar modifiers gets sent to "ignore." So, @ameliareiheld will be enjoying pretty Mooney airplane pix. Thanks for the heads up.

I've flown with most all of the EFBs, and they're almost all superb, amazing to one who never did get the hang of operating a paper chart and protractor in a tiny airplane in turbulence when the routing changed unexpectedly. That said,I probably won't renew FF this year because I am content with WingX and FlyQ. The split screen, the faster download, the multi-compatible ADS-b, are points in their favor, and FlyQ is cheaper. I like that there's not so much Chinese menu approach to pricing. (Oh, you want fries with that? That'll be another $75. Phooey.) With the latest update, there's better coverage of the Caribbean, Mexico and southern Canada. Yay! I love the fast response to questions, and find the app intuitive and reliable. The airport information display is outstanding, with wind vectors across the runway photo-illustration, and easy access to the information. There are a few things I'd change- the airport current weather overlay R-Y-G spot on the chart could stand to be less obtrusive and more informative, for instance, maybe a much smaller circle or square with the top half for ceiling and the bottom half for visibility.

I went and sprung for a used one... it's installed and is said to work. Whew. Now on to weightier debates. Thanks, all, for the good advice!

As a C172 owner, I'd chafed a bit with its slow speed and a few other beefs, but basically, I liked it a lot. No idea of upgrading as far as I did, but when a friend offered me 1/4 of his beautiful and totally tricked out Mooney 231, 1980 20K, for considerably less than my 172 was worth, I jumped ship, and that was 30+ years ago. I am still very happy with it. We hauled two grownups, two little kids and a skinny exchange student across the country twice. We hauled the four of us full-sized humans plus a big Lab puppy all over the place. Fast! It has all the room we need, we pack light, and I can beat the airlines, door to door, to any place east of the Mississippi River. (We now live in NE NC. Come take a look. Sit in it. Fly it with me.) You won't need a turbo to climb your lovely mountains, but I tell you, on a high DA day, it is great to zoom over summer buildups to clear and smooth on top, especially when you can find a good tailwind. You might add Mooney 231 to your list, as they had nice panels from the outset, and are often as cheap as the 201s. There was a lot of fear-mongering about the complexity and certain mechanical disaster with the turbocharger, but I haven't found that to be so....yet, in 2000 hours. And my passengers like the room in back, once I get my seat pulled to the forward stops.

Seems like the aviation equivalent of backpackers sawing their toothbrush handles off to save weight. A bit of a stunt to prove a point. Of course, if you never commit aviation except on a dead calm clear morning going to breakfast 20 miles away, it makes perfect sense. I've only had to spring for away-from-home hangar space once. Blowing like stink, mammatus clouds boiling overhead. The COS lineman asked Ms CB is she wanted a slot in the gang hangar for $85. (( 8-O ) For one night. Debated for 1.5 nanoseconds. Oh, yes, please. The ground was littered with fist-size hail the next morning. Tying down would have been a disaster.

Who leaves tie down rings installed? Me. I own this bird to go places, and the hangar is too bulky to pack.

So much good advice. 1. Congratulations, bon voyage on the next twenty- plus year ride. 2. a J has plenty of room for a family of 3, or even 4, minus the doggies. The dogs of GA travelers I know seem to love going to puppy camp, much better than strange places, being cooped up, needy, and sometimes unwelcome. Just look around for a good one, or hire a neighbor to come dote on them at home. 3. As in 3 cheers for baby carriers. I owned a stroller, but rarely took it anywhere, as papoosing was definitely the way to go when they were tiny. They were happier as toddlers up high with a view in a frame carrier, patting mom on the head, than they were stuffed in a stroller. By the time they were mobile, we endured the scornful gazes of disapproval when we were in crowded places, and used toddler leashes. Saved all sorts of panic, and granted them a tiny sense of autonomy. 4. Packing light is so freeing. Any hotel has a place to bed the baby, so lose the pack'n'play. Don't laugh, but a new baby is perfectly fine in a blanket-lined bureau drawer. Our toddlers wanted to either snuggle with us or "camp out" on the floor cocooned in a spare blanket. they're quite flexible. The less cargo you have, the easier and more carefree travel becomes. Seriously. No need to dress fancy or take a lot of just-in-case stuff. You just then have to pack it, haul it, fit it in, take it out, haul it, unpack it, repack it, haul it, fit it in, rinse, repeat. 5. Babies usually sleep peacefully while flying. Nursing on ascent and descent makes ear blocks much less of an issue. 6. The smartest world traveler I know, now in her mid-90s, says "all I need is my passport and my credit card." She vagabonds for months at a time, still, with a roll-aboard suitcase.That thought goes for families, too. You will rarely be more than half a block from a place to replenish your supply of diapers, wet-wipes, and other necessities.

Very few of us deliberately take stupid chances, and yet, totally preventable accidents happen.We train, we work on being meticulous, but even so, we all make mistakes. We have all looked back, if we are honest, and realized that through our own lapses in judgment, if it hadn't been for sheer blind luck, things could have gone very badly. If Mike Buxton and his friends are not to have died in vain, we pilots need to take a careful look at what happened, and why, even when it involves people as respected as Dr. Buxton. There is no intention to be hurtful, but we each must take very seriously those lessons born in tragedy, that through them, we, and others, might live.

Don't know if this is kosher or not, but I am blessed with a nice wide runway at home, so on takeoff into a stiff crosswind I start my takeoff roll at the downwind edge of the runway, nose-down, and down aileron and right rudder as necessary, add power, and angle toward the upwind corner of the runway, gradually straightening the flight path as the speed builds. This cuts my crosswind component considerably.