Amelia

How I wish I had let Hector talk me into the leather yoke when he did his masterful magic on the interior. But by then I was feeling really broke, and went for powder coating instead. Looked great... for a couple of years. Now AeroComfort's beautifully tailored interior still looks lovely, and the powder coating already has chunks missing. Honest, I don't manhandle it, it just didn't last well. One of these days, I'm going to spring for more of Hector's beautiful leather work.

That would be interesting. I know I looked out the window toward the Albemarle Sound marveling at 0/0 pea soup, then at the flight planner's weather map, before turning in the previous night just before midnight, and saw the whole midatlantic seemed to be speckled with red and pink dots, with very few, if any, blue dots. That's not a scientific study, but I think would have been way beyond my chicken level! The difference between 350' reported and 200' mins just isn't enough for me to slip through, especially with that kind of turbulence.

I heard, but cannot confirm, that his panel-mount GPS was an older model that was certified for en route IFR. No word on what other equipment, portable or otherwise, he might have had on board, but attempting the approach at SFQ with the equipment he was said to have, and the weather he had, arguably wasted time and fuel he might have been used to save his life, perhaps one of several unfortunate decision-links in the fatal chain. I may learn more from people with better knowledge than I can claim, in which case, I will take it all back.

Why divert to Norfolk? Norfolk was close to Suffolk, the uncontrolled field where the pilot missed an RNAV-GPS approach with substantially higher minimums. The field was below minimums for the approach. He was already talking to Norfolk Approach. It seems he didn't have a WAAS GPS, (not approach capable, in other words) and Norfolk has a tower, and an ILS to 200 feet, with the (gusty) wind right down the runway. Due to the low-level turbulence and some reported equipment difficulties, he was having trouble tracking the approach course both places. He also had reported low fuel. I think the decision to land at ORF was a logical decision-- at THAT very late point. Better decision, in perfect hindsight, given the widespread IFR and LIFR conditions all along his route, and poor forecasts, would have been to call it quits for the night far earlier, at a well-equipped and well-lighted airport, refuel, and land at Suffolk sometime after noon the next day well-rested, in sunshine, once the rain and heavy fog moved out. Better late than never!

Yes, that is more or less what I am thinking... Battery for the existing ELT is good money after bad. I do have a 406 PLB, but probably need to go ahead and bite this bullet. Just wondering what will be the easiest brand to fit in with the least amount of re-rigging.

It was his THIRD attempt that got him, after a missed at SFQ and a go-around at ORF. Exhausted pilot, no doubt, probably much lower than he admitted on fuel (no fire at the crash site?), unable to hold his localizer course..., dark, bumpy, Widespread LIFR to VLIFR, and maybe no good alternate within range.... Added to all the other links in the accident chain, this poor guy and his passengers didn't stand much of a chance.Scary!

It is time to replace the battery on my old 121.5 ELT. Should I just go ahead and spring for the 406 Transponder? If so, do yo have a recommended brand? Seems to me there is a wide spread in price. Thanks!

I had sold my C-172 thirty or so years ago, having had a nice offer by somebody who would take good care of it, and THEN realized the stupid FBO wouldn't let its identical 172 leave the state, even with standard hourly minimum and no competition on the schedule. I was, however, welcome to fly it all day long in the pattern or to the other corner of the state for a weekend. I fumed. And bought an airline ticket for my emergency trip the following week. Then a friend called and offered me 1/4 of his beautiful Mooney 231, for less than what the Cessna had sold for. They were superb pilots, excellent mentors, and loved washing and polishing it on a Sunday morning. How I miss them! I gradually, over the years, bought their shares as they found more expensive hobbies, and I've owned it ever since. Now all I need to do is find another such congenial partner who loves washing Mooneys.

Pitot heat works fine. POH isn't here, but I'll look next time I'm at the airport... haven't found the prop heating element even mentioned in the POH I have for a similar 231. The mechanic traced the electricity for the hot prop as far as the prop itself, so brushes, etc. are apparently OK. Probably yet another broken wire, which will be seen to, shortly....thanks, all y'all!

This is an old-ish stock 231, Paul, There never was any known icing certification. Nothing has been removed or modified, it's just boots on a propeller, and for some reason the thing needs to have some electrical magic done every few years. I already have a little sign, original equipment, yet, that says, "not certified for flight into known icing." And the repair, usually is not more than a few hundred bucks, plus the time and expense of going and finding a prop shop, and sitting all day. I put it off out of sheer orneriness, I guess. There's nothing really very close or convenient. But the day will come, and I WILL pay to get it fixed. Again. Like for about the fifth time, even though I don't have FIKI, and don't ever fly in known icing.So, I need the annual signed off this month. I'm not flying anywhere, prop heater or no, until all this NC 'known icing' goes away for the year, which shouldn't be long, and then I'll pick up all my good intentions right where I dropped them.

Thanks, Nate! I have informed the A&P, IA, and he seems content. He probably was just trying to avoid any future conversations with lawyers.

The 1980 Mooney 231 is in the throes of its annual inspection, and the IA insists the owner get the hot prop repaired before he can, in good conscience, sign it off. Is he right? The only operator of this aircraft knows it doesn't work, has had it repaired over the years, and the repair never lasts long, That person doesn't fly in ice, and doubts if s/he'd trust that hot prop to shed much ice, anyway.... The mechanic was asked if he could stick a little sticker saying 'in-op' on the rocker switch, and he said no. As original equipment, it needs to work. Bless his heart, one appreciates his attention to dotting 'i's and crossing 't's, but is this probably expensive exercise in futility really necessary? Thanks!

Wahhhhh! I want a wife! All the cool kids have one. Actually, my dearly beloved suggested flying lessons almost 40 years ago to the stir-crazy mother of infants as an excuse to take a morning off from time to time...brushed off protests of what was and what was not affordable, ("Psychiatry, now THAT is expensive," quoth he. "We can afford flying lessons.") He hadn't counted on Mooney ownership. He is the best right-seater anybody could ask for, reasonably familiar with the essentials, and totally cool, no matter how justifiably terrified the pilot is. Believe I will keep him around.

I have an EI UBG-16, too. It's for a 6-cylinder engine, yellow-tagged. Wiring harness is included. No probes are included, but all the computer stuff and instruction books are. I would be delighted to get $500 for it.

You got a lot of very good advice already. I've flown that route in my Mooney 231 a dozen times, and it is utterly spectacular. I might be tempted for this time of year, to fly the southern route, and up the central valley of California. It's a beautiful ride, the weather's usually better and much less forbidding terrain, Even so, the southern high desert has its share of winter weather, wet or blowing snow and icy runways. And flying that far in midwinter with a deadline, solo, and with no more experience than you can get in a day or two prior, seems, er, very courageous, to me. Those who warn of gusty winds, airframe and induction icing, low clouds that linger for days, high mountain passes that are impassable, weather that changes from nice to horrid with little warning,long distances between weather reporting stations leading to inaccurate forecasts, are totally right. And it can be cold, especially on climb out, when you have the cowl flaps open, and after dark. But you won't fly at night on that trip, right? Right??? Exhaustion, exacerbated by turbulence, being chilled, being a little uncomfortable with a brand new-to-you airplane, and landing at a lot of unfamiliar airports just does take the starch out of one, so what seems a reasonable 6 hour day, may find you feeling wrung out. Not the best state of mind for good decisions. One good thing is that you won't have to worry about Density Altitude. Probably no dust devils and thunderstorms. Transitioning from a trainer to a Mooney can be done, of course, even with low hours, but there's a lot of information to soak up, a number of Mooney-specific operational techniques to commit to memory, and I found I had a hard time remembering it all at first, especially when I got busy.Having an experienced Mooney pilot along to feed you hints as the appropriate situations present themselves, perhaps repeatedly, helps to avoid that drinking-from-a-firehose feeling. The advice on final approach and landing speed control is the best Mooney advice you'll get.With an airplane this slippery and efficient, there are tradeoffs- one of those is you have to plan descents way ahead of time, and if you're over the fence to a short field at 98 and a little high, you may as well go around now, and try again. You've checked with your insurance company? I tried to get a low-time, about 250-hour VFR pilot added to my policy recently, with me going along for the whole trip, and they just shook their heads NO. Would have been fine if I were a CFI, no doubt. Should you consider all the drawbacks, and significant risk factors,and counting up the strikes against you and coming up with fewer than three potential links in the proverbial accident chain...one final hint: do dress as if you plan to have to hike. Warm layers. Good warm shoes or boots. Take survival gear- a good sleeping bag/space blanket/ water/etc. It's a glorious trip, though, and one that anybody with a Mooney should arrange to make at least once. The very best of luck to you! I will be watching for beautiful photos.

Years ago, I jumped through the hoops. Filled out the forms, did fingerprints, interview, training... and .... nothing. I got tired of waiting--- and waiting--- and called the people in charge to find out what the hold-up was. The nice lady said I'd have to speak to Mr. SoandSo, and he wasn't at his desk. "Here," she offered, "Here's his cell number." I protested that I didn't want to interrupt the Government's Business, and she laughed, saying she was sure he wouldn't mind. I found the nice man drowning worms from a fishing boat in the Potomac in a driving rain. He said, "It's OK, nothin's biting." Scribbled down my information, and lo and behold, I had my secret decoder ring within the week. You just have to know what chains to rattle, apparently. Silly, silly security theater, though. Especially considering I don't need a PIN to drive my rental moving van loaded with stuff to go boom, within 50 feet of the Senate Office Building. (looks over both shoulders... just kidding!!!)

I went from a C150 to a C172- for several years, 500 hours, and an Instrument Rating, then to a partnership in a Mooney 231. I see no reason why you can't go directly to a high performance airplane, but you do have to take the training seriously. Don't hurry through it. The more hours of experience, ideally ongoing, you can acquire with an experienced Mooney pilot along for the ride, the better. They're great airplanes, but way different systems and handling characteristics from your trainer. Lots of hours early on with an experienced Mooney pilot, and reading everything you can get your hands on, will teach you the ropes, and believe me, there are a lot of them, not all of them covered in the POH. The thing about a Mooney is that it is slippery. Makes it a joy to fly, and a joy to buy gas for, compared with similarly-advanced airplanes, but it also makes it unforgiving of sloppiness and inattention. You can get yourself in weather trouble in a hurry at 160 knots. An instrument rating provides valuable discipline as well as a convenient way out, especially if you set your personal minimums high, and stick to them for a good while. And about slippery: if you're over the fence to a short field at 100 knots, you need to go around now. They don't slow down well, even with full flaps. Oh, and about that gear: checking the gear down, out loud, on downwind, base, and final is a good idea. Turbo or not turbo? I love my turbocharged Mooney, even though I live at 8 feet MSL. You live where there are significant hills poking into the sky, so a case could be made, especially if you were to find one beautifully equipped at a good price. It's a long way to the nearest hill from here, but that fan gets me over the hot, humid, murky and bumpy air all summer, gives me lots more altitudes from which to choose, including the ones with 40knot tailwinds, it makes hopping over the Rockies and Sierras no problem even on hot days. That turbocharged 1100'per minute rate of climb even through the teens is a real spoiler. Most M231s are fairly well equipped from the outset, and buying your avionics already in the airplane gets you a nice discount. That said, it ain't no bargain. If you are quibbling over 2 or 3 gallons per hour fuel burn, maybe you need to stick with a 150, and leave earlier. Two thoughts about How much does it cost? It's like the old saying: "If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it." And all airplanes are like marriage licenses, it's not the initial $2, it's the forever-after upkeep that'll get you.

Getting into DC from College Park couldn't possibly be easier; there's a Metro stop just two or three blocks away from the FBO. Trouble is, the 2500-foot runway at CGS is inside the FRZ, and you have to get your secret decoder code by jumping through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops. Unless this is to be a frequent trip, don't bother. GAI would be my second choice, as it's just a short cab ride to the nearest subway. Getting into DC from any of the outlying airports is a royal PITA, with DC traffic, especially rush hour. The trouble with the smaller or suburban airports is transportation. Almost all of them are most of an hour's drive in non-peak traffic. Landing at IAD is for the very-well-heeled. The daily ramp fee alone will buy a nice dinner for two in town. The commuter train at Manassas has limited hours of operation, you'd spend more time waiting than you'd like. I am guessing, if you're going to be in DC itself, you won't want to hassle with renting a car, as both traffic and parking are a nuisance. You WILL want to spend a whole 20 minutes or so doing the FAA mandated online training.

We used to have three kids in the back seat of our C172, a skinny exchange student, and a couple of toddlers, and flew across the US that way. Then upgraded to the Mooney 231, and still had 3 kids in the back seat, a different skinny exchange student and a couple of grade-schoolers. Our kids shared a seatbelt when that was still legal. Then they grew some, discovered the joys of sibling rivalry, and that quit being an option. I wish we'd had little tablet computers and MineCraft back then. We wouldn't have heard a peep from the back seat.

Richard Taylor's books, though now a little dated, technology-wise, are fun to read, and full of useful integrative hints, ways to pull those King factoids and answers to test questions into smooth real-world instrument flying. To learn about ads-b and the latest iPad apps, Prof Taylor's book isn't going to help much, but his easy, pleasant writing style will help lots on thinking through a flight, getting instrument flying tasks done in a logical and coordinated fashion. I still go back and read his chapters on approaches before an IPC, because an ILS is still an ILS. I talked him into speaking at a pilot's meeting at my home Ohio airport back in the 80s, and he was just as delightful, knowledgeable, and engaging in person as his books had led me to suspect he must be.

I am a member of the chorus singing the praises of Hector and Aerocomfort. I'm not surprised Hector took care of the complaint for Duck,I spite of all the kvetching. My experience could not have been better. It was a splurge, my beautiful interior, and I have only one regret: that I had the yokes powder-coated instead of buying Aerocomfort's pretty yoke covers. The powder-coating looks shabby now, but everything Aerocomfort did still looks fine.

I made that mistake, Hank. I ever-so-smugly gave my snow shovel to the nearest NE Ohio garage sale the day we moved to SC. And was forced to go buy another three months later. Turns out it DOES snow in the south.

Aerocomfort did my interior several years ago, and I am still tickled to pieces. I cheaped out, though, and had the yokes powder-coated with shiny black paint, but it is already chipping. Should have sprung for more Aerocomfort artistry.

I live in the flattest territory you can imagine, average elevation 12 feet MSL. So having a turbo Mooney is silly, right? Wrong! My 1980 231 easily climbs over southern summer buildups, oppressive heat and haze, over winter drizzly stratus to sunshine on top, What is this Density Altitude of which you speak? Not a problem for me, even on a scorcher of a day. The older M20K models, 1979 and up, are quite reasonably priced, comfortable, often very well equipped, with good avionics, autopilot, and built-in O2. Mine sips 12 gph down low, around 11gph at 10,000, and even less, LOP in the teens. I flight plan 160 - 165 KTAS at 10- to 12,000 feet. Higher, with O2 can yield spectacular ground speeds, with the tailwinds eastbound. I have rejoiced in the options I have, to poke along low and slow on a pretty day, or to cross the nation to leap those tall Rockies and Sierras in a single bound. Don't write off the 231s. They're almost as economical as the smaller, slower birds, and more capable. And, no, mine isn't for sale.

What an excellent day! Bob, you and your MRN cohorts did yourselves proud.Good food, good people, good speakers, beautiful weather, and gorgeous airplanes. Took us a whole hour and a half to get from the mountains to the swamp, with silky smooth air and a nice little tailwind. We and the sun called it a day in unison. Thank you all for making it happen.