Seth

I met General Yeager at an event in Washington DC just as I was earning my PPL. I was able to ask him a question at one point and said "General, what advice would you give to a brand new pilot?" He said, "Son, when I was your age I was killing Nazi's over Germany." It was hard to see him succumb to old age and dementia like many who live on. I have a friend who met Bob Hoover about 10 years ago and it was a very different conversation. Here's to the great pilots! -Seth

I have them on my mains. And, not my nose. They are black. Three screws to remove. 1983 M20J MIssile 300 -Seth

Erik- It should cost you less at altitude where the air is less dense, hence less drag. So you are correct that sometimes it costs you 5 and other times 7 or 8. And I know you know this, just reminding you! -Seth

A new pressurized fuselage (4 adults 1 kid like a SR22) with the Mooney M22 Flaps, M22 Gear, M20 Wing and a turbo diesel powerplant - that would be a new segment of aircraft. Doesn't have to be blistering fast, but if its pressurized it will take advantage of the turbo diesel aspect, the Mooney wing flies fine in the teens, it would cost less than a Meridian, as it's a 4/5 place, and less than a TBM. One can dream. The parts are there except for a newly designed fuselage which could be the missing link with the other parts that are good. -Seth

I haven't read anything - but wanted to quickly chime in. If running ROP, it doesn't matter. If running LOP, fine wire tempest made such a difference over massive champions for me in an IO550A. So much so that I'm amazed by it. I could run LOP but could "feel" it ever so slightly with the champions. With the tempest, there is no way to tell I'm running LOP from the feel. It runs just fine. Significant fuel savings for just a few knots slower and a cleaner running engine with no negative vibration. -Seth

I’m sorry to hear you are without a medical Can you clarify the engine time? I recognize total time or tack time was the conversion to the Rocket! But what is the engine time since overhaul, overhaul date, top if it’s been done, etc. Thanks! I am not personally going to purchase (love my Missile) but someone showed me the add so I’m asking. -Seth

Sent you a PM. -Seth

Welcome to Mooneyspace and welcome to DC! Congrats on your M20F - Great airplane. HEF is going through an odd transition now with the FBO and some other changes - you may end up with a hangar available there. If you want, I know the guys over at W00 - Freeway - well. It's an odd field to fly into - power lines an an offset 30 degree final on one side swooping over the RT 50 on the way in and trees with a displaced threshold on the other. It's only 2400 feet so make sure you work on your short field landings. I based my former M20F there for two years - learned how to fly Mooney's there. Great maintenance. In addition, Byron (JetDriven) has opened a boutique maintenance shop out of our homefield at GAI. He'll make the large formal announcement at some point, and he can also take care of your aircraft. He's not an MSC and he knows Mooney's intimately (including his own). There's a nice Mooney group up at GAI, and I used to put a monthly Mooney breakfast/lunch group together around the Mid Atlantic. However, COVID along with family responsibility has curtailed me running that for a while now. Once COVID is over maybe I should figure out a way to get that going again. Mike, out of New York, runs a NJ Mooney group and we are close enough that we can meet up with that group for Lunch too. Hangar wise: DC is in short supply and it's expensive. All the local airports have waiting lists. Get on them. Make a lot of phone calls. Often you can strike a deal at certain airports and get in a group hangar until a single unit becomes available. Do you live closest to HEF? With HEF being your base, learn the Dulles East Side Transition. From the North to South / South to North, you can use it to fly between the FRZ and Dulles runways to get to HEF. The local controllers know what it is. You have to request it. Get used to the two waypoints "MIXNN and BARIN" they basically fly a downwing North South along the east side of Dulles. It'll shave 15 minutes of your flight a lot. It comes in especially helpful when flying toward a NE destination from HEF or when returning from a NE destination to HEF. Works both IFR and SFRA/VFR with a Bravo clearance. You'll need to sound confident like you know what you are doing on the radio to get it on busy days, and let them know you can go direct "MIXNN" or "BARIN" "at this time if that helps" - amazing when they know you know it's possible. We get it a lot more with ATC traffic being light these days in and out of IAD. That said, I was denied it on Saturday in the afternoon due to a lot of arrivals - which frankly was a really good sign for the economy. I'll PM you my contact info. Reach out if you have any questions about the area any time. Take care, -Seth

Correct. We checked other aviation events and did not want to conflict with NBAA, another Mooney event, and also had to check with the Tampa Airport Authority and the hotel. We went with the next weekend, October 22-24, 2021. Hopefully the "new normal" will be well upon us by then. -Seth

We are pleased to announce that the postponed Mooney Summit VIII will take place on: October 22-24, 2021 in Tampa, Florida Airport: Peter O’Night Airport in Tampa, FL (KTPF) Hotel: The Barrymore Hotel https://barrymorehotel.com/ - When the time comes I’ll send out information for booking our discounted room block rate Registration: www.MooneySummit.com – There is a registration fee this year due to the increased size of the event and associated costs. Registration is $99 prior to July 1, 2021 and $149 after July 1, 2021. One non-pilot spouse/significant other has a zero cost registration. We will release the tentative schedule at a future date. The format will remain similar with arrival and airport day on Friday, and meetings at the hotel conference space all day Saturday and Sunday morning. Except for those that requested a refund due to COVID, everyone who was registered for Mooney Summit VIII are still good to go. Unless state restrictions prohibit large gatherings in October 2021, and the board believes it is appropriate to hold the meeting, then we still plan to have no wait list and a fully open meeting. It is our hope to continue to provide the Mooney Community with a superb presentation lineup at the continued largest gathering of Mooney operators in the world. With our uncapped attendance availability, this should be the largest Mooney Summit to date. Let’s continue to “Better the Breed” in working toward being safer pilots and of course taking care of our own when tragedy strikes. Check back for updates and thank you for being part of the Mooney Summit. -The Mooney Summit Board

Received the part yesterday. Looks good! Everything is finally coming together. I should have a nice write up soon on my newly overhauled Mooney Missile with a 4 blade prop. -Seth

I don't want to sell my Missile, but if someone offered me well above current value, I might be forced to accept the deal. It's has a brand new overhauled engine, brand new MT four blade prop, and should be ready to fly finally in the coming weeks. I have a big write up to report on it soon. Financially it makes sense to get a long body rather than convert your J or K. The conversions were done before the long bodies and then afterward for well less than the price of a new long body or few year old long body. Now, a Missile and Rocket sit in this sweet spot of fantastic performance for less than a long body. But do to the conversion, it doesn't make financial sense. Picking one up in good shape, a heck of a bargain! -Seth

I'm about to purchase new batteries for my Mooney Missile. It takes two, not one, as it helps keep the weight aft. Plus it helps with starting power. I purchased two concords, I think RG35A's in the summer of 2012, so I have 8+ years on these batteries, and they've sat during the last year (again, long write up coming). They were on a trickle charger. But I figure it's time to swap them out. Does anyone know of any black friday specials on concord batteries? I've already asked aircraft spruce and they are looking into it. I also contacted Concorde direct. -Seth

Note, if sent to Continental, which I did thinking i was having at third child (two recent miscarriages), and if I needed to sell the airplane, 90% of buyers will see a factory overhauled engine as better whereas those who really know understand that certain field shops do make a more reliable overhaul, make sure to call and email them more than a few times that it's an STCed engine and you need certain parts to not just be placed in the parts bin and exchanged for an overhauled unit as they've been modified by STC. This was not an issue at a field overhaul shop as they use the parts off your airplane and overhaul those parts when they can. it's not a parts bin special like it is a the continental factory shop. That said, Continental has bent over backward attempting to mitigate the situation and are paying for the additional shipping and modification costs to have Rocket modify the part. And they are supposed to agree (though I haven't got it in writing yet) that the warranty will cover this part too. This will be part of my full write up. I'm 50/50 if I'll be in the air by thanksgiving, and I'm not sure which side to put money on. The modified throttle body, including ensuring the fittings are back to their 45 ish degree positions (delivered from continental with standard 90 degree fittings), is being shipped by Rocket today and I should have it Tuesday at the shop. Only waiting on a few other parts now, which should all arrive next week or the beginning of the following week. We have a real shot at being in the air this month! -Seth

I leave my strobes on at all times for this issue. Actually not true, at night I leave my NAV lights on at all times at shutdown so that either my strobes or nav lights (all LED) will be on if I'm outside the airplane. -Seth

We have figured it out. Throttle body is back with Rocket. When originally sent, Rocket provided the control levers for it which were Rocket parts. That said, they missed the connection issue. When we got it back, we were at a loss. After a series of phone calls and requesting certain diagrams/drawings to be scanned and sent to me, Rocket realized they did in fact modify the throttle body control unit for all Mooney Missiles, they just had not modified one in 22 years. So it's with Rocked. They are modifying it now. it should be sent back late this week or early next week so we can finish attaching everything on the the front end of the airplane. I'd say odds are 50/50 we'll be in the air prior to thanksgiving. -Seth

The prop is worth something too. The person who should comment on this, or who you should call, is Alan Fox. -Seth

Wow, I figured less than 50%, as with modern methods and tracking you can normally reconstruct at least some of it, but if nothing was done since 2006, then well, it'll be hard to get records over 14 years old. I have digital copies of my logs and i suggest everyone do the same. -Seth

Bob Kromer talked about this at length at Mooney Summit III or IV. Climb to altitude as fast as possible so you can make the impossible turn if needed. Once you get to 1000 feet, then nose over into a more cruise climb configuration. That way you are not two miles away when your engine starts stuttering and not quite at 1000 feet. I rotate, give a little nose over to allow the airplane to accelerate, and then pitch up and climb out. As soon as there's no usable runway left, gear up. I usually raise flaps passing 600 and cruise climb at 1000 nosing over to pick up some good speed in the Missile. Again, this way if needed I can make it back. I have done the 180 degree turn and back at altitude lined up over an airfield at 3000 feet (climbing to 4000 feet) and "cut" the power for the turnback. I can make it from 1000 pretty consistently and have made it from as low as 800. I usually turn into the wind during the turn if there's a crosswind to allow the crosswind to push me back to centerline requiring less of a final line up turn. I'll tell you, in my 135 work in the Cirrus SR22, she may sink faster than a Piper Arrow - and you have to keep her at 80 knots or better with no power on final or you lose elevator authority and really slam her in (anything below about 78 kias. If you are at 600 feet in a Cirrus, or are right at 1000 feet, pop the chute, don't try the turn. We are spoiled with the wing and aerodynamic affinity of our Mooney's. -Seth

I'm so curious about this "mock up"

Alex- Great job on this! And for all of you that don't know, Alex flew a leg himself last weekend in his M20K! There's a great article about it over an NBAA. https://nbaa.org/aircraft-operations/safety/coronavirus/business-aviation-lends-a-hand/nbaa-recognizes-healthcare-workers-through-relay-in-the-sky/ -Seth

Congrats!! I've been looking at potentially putting a partnership together for an RV-4 owned by a couple of Mooney and former pilots. But we would all keep our airplanes! Hang around here and let us know how fun the RV is! Looks like a ton of fun. -Seth

I am asking for assistance from the Mooney community. I have a BIG story to tell regarding upgrades and maintenance to my Mooney Missile, but cannot do so yet, however to get my Mooney Missile flying again, I need some collective knowledge experience. I sent my engine to the Continental Factory to be overhauled for a variety of reasons. I will get into those later. The issue, is that when the shiny overhauled engine was sent back, the throttle body control unit was not the one we sent in, and the connection on it for how the hose clips in to one side has a lip instead of a straight metal section. The pictures will show this. The original unit had the same fitting on both sides. The new one that came back had the correct fitting one side and a lip on the other side that increases the diameter to larger than the hose and thus the hose doesn't fit (final picture). 1. Continental is attempting to assist, however cannot identify the part number for the old unit that was somehow discarded despite instructions to not replace the STC'd item. Also, we think the part number matches that of the current one, which is an upgraded version. 2. Rocket Engineering is involved, but we are having difficulties here too. The have provided the lever arms, but we have not yet fixed the lip issue. They are working on a fix, but it's time to reach out for assistance. This can't be the first time an older throttle body control unit was upgraded to a newer style when the owner did not want that for then having to modify the aircraft to be able to run the overhauled engine. Or, it's a common enough issue where a know adaptor or something is in place for this sort of mishap. Many parts from the Mooney Missile were taken from the Cessna 210, 340, and 414. There may also be some Bonanza and Baron parts are many STC's put IO-550's in them. The throttel body control unit may very well be one of these. Looking at the pictures, does anyone know where or how I can source an older throttle body design for an IO-550A so I can have it overhauled and placed onto my aircraft in lieu of the incorrect fresh updated one that was provided as part of the overhaul? Thanks, -Seth

$1064.01 is $1064.01. If you are shopping on Amazon, why not (other charities are worth it too!). -Seth