Seth

It was the first time I viewed the night air show up close. Really cool. I hope nothing bad ever happens during a night airshow (disorientation, fireworks exploding while attached to the airplane, etc). -Seth

FYI - it’s not a 155 knot airplane. I flew a G6 SR-20 for tracking for my 135 job. Fine airplane. Does a lot of things well, but 155 is not realistic. Think 140-150 knots depending on settings. -Seth

I’m hoping it’s a lot of fun. Evidently Tom Cruise wanted little CGI and like many other action movies he stars in wanted to shoot the action scenes. This means real flying and real shots of flying in many (but likely not all) parts of this movie. In the trailer his main ride is an F-18. At one point you see a P-51 - my guess is that’s Tom Cruise’s P-51 (if you pause the frame the wing stripes look similar to his but many Mustangs wore invasion stripes). Also, the last shot is an F-14. Nostalgia shot with a flashback to flying with Goose? The only country currently operating F-14’s is Iran . . . Plot? -Seth

That’s what I did. I purchased a used KI256A from Alan Fox until a solution comes out to replace with glass that drives the AP. As people pull their King APs for Garmin I’ll purchase the used working parts inexpensively to keep mine going. That said, flying behind a digital auto pilot is amazing (when I fly newer airplanes for charter). -Seth

Mike - there was a Mooney in Florida (documented here - another M20J - 1983 I believe) who had nearly all oil escape through a burned valve in a very short time. Wondering if you have a valve toward the end of life. Keep an eye on that oil level! Is it dropping significantly under the 6 or 4 qt mark (I forget the min needed)? Have you expirmaented with where it may settle? My plane needs 10-12. Spitsbergen out anything over 10.5. The Cirrus engines take 6-8 and spit anything out over 6.5 Lycomings are different but a qt every 3 hours concerns me. What does the oil analysis show? -Seth

Very cool!!

But for the same annual budget you could be operating a Cheyenne I would love to get some time in an Aerostar at some point!! -Seth

Thank you for the updates Mike. -Seth

I like this sub forum. Good job. Let’s learn from mistake and avoid future mishaps. -Seth

Mike- Just read this / saw the video. I fly one painted the same but with a different N number at Open Air so . . . It was not me!! Besides, I’d have made 10 radio calls by that point. Good job handling the situation and simply going around. -Seth

Hi MooneySpace gang. I haven't been around as much as I've wanted over the past year and a half and want to give an update, both as to why, and what I'm looking to do moving forward. First - yes I'll be at Oshkosh and look forward to catching up with many of you. I'll be camping in the North 40. I'll be by the Caravan tent for the BBQ and the Social. Also, the Mooney forum on Tuesday at stage 8. Second - yes - still working with Mooney Summit and we have a great event planned for September in Florida. The wait list is huge - we were not able to get a larger facility this year due to numerous reasons including the hotel we wanted to hold it in is still closed from the Hurricane damage. It should be open in September, but we can't take that risk. Funding is the other part. Airport day is the last Friday of September at ECP. That's unlimited in capacity. Come on down for that regardless of the rest of the weekend even if you haven't registered. We'll have the PROTE unit from the FAA - test out your hypoxia recognition skills. Third - Now that I have a 2 and 4 year old life is just BUSY - I've been part of MooneySpace since 2009 (bought my first Mooney in July 2008), got married in 2014, had kids in 2015, and 2017. My son (2 year old) had a rough first 18 months but seems to have turned the corner. We have a lot of work ahead of us and a great therapy treatment plan (we don't feel it's time consuming, but when we chart it out - it is intensive!). He's a happy kid and we'll catch him up. Lots of low muscle tone issues and thus non-liner and non-synchronized delayed development. Again, he's a very happy camper and my daughter and he both really enjoy airplanes. Family time and along with growing my business, has just taken a ton of my available resources, and I can't jump on MooneySpace as much as I used to. It's amazing how you are dead tired after putting the kids to bed vs then working into the wee hours of the morning. Aviation wise, as many of you know I earned my commercial rating last summer and was soon hired by a part 135 operator, Open Air, out of KGAI, and fly as a part time charter captain in Cirrus SR-22's. We may be getting some other aircraft in the near future. I'm planning to earn my multi rating in August. That said, I miss posting and reading on Mooney Space. It's fun for me, therapeutic, I love airplanes, and I love the community. So to sum it up, I'm just reaching back out, saying hello, and looking forward to seeing many of you at Oshkosh and Mooney Summit. To those I missed introductions for or have joined while I've been kind of inactive - hello and welcome! I hope to be back posting again a little more often. I hope to make it some of the NJ lunches and mid-Atlantic breakfasts again. Still LOVE my Mooney Missile and should we have a third kid I may need to seriously consider a larger airplane. For now it fits the family perfectly, and should for a while. Happy Flying!! -Seth

Nice update! Glad you kept your Mooney. Hope you find another good faster aircraft. What are you looking at upgrade wise? -Seth

I feel that way about my Missile. I love Mooney's but even when I fly a M20J, or even a Cirrus SR22 for that matter, I think "My Missile Cruises Faster." It has ruined me to an extent. However, the fuel burn, speed, mix, everything about the J east of the Rockies makes a lot of sense. It may be one of the best all around airplanes ever. -Seth

If you haven't yet, and want to do so, please keep Mooney Summit in mind as your charity for Amazon shopping. Go to Smile.Amazon.com and select your charitable organization of choice (hopefully Mooney Summit). Especially now that Prime Day is going on! -Seth

little rocks . . . grape gravy

Seth Meyers will be there! -Seth

Stephen- Byron has created a DIY dehumidifier he uses with his and his wife Becca's M20J. Byron or Becca, either of you two around? -Seth

I used Turo just for the first time this past weekend. I flew to Southbridge, MA for a wedding in Old Sturbridge. The enterprise closed at noon Saturday, and the local guy in town was not really responsive, so I went with Turo. Closest car was an Audi R8!! It was also my wife's dream car. So, I made a deal to take the guy for a flight and we lowered some of the costs. It was a blast to drive and she was giddy about it. I had a good experience and moving forward she wants us to use Turo to get a unique car when we take trips just the two of us. -Seth

Man I miss you guys. Let’s get a breakfast/lunch flight together soon. -Seth

Brian - yes we do -Seth

Yes it is official. Mooney Summit VII registration is live. We sent notice to previous attendees prior to announcing it here. Registration is Open! We should have hotel accommodations announced soon as well. Thank you to everyone who has sent feedback via email, survey, Mooney Space, or verbally. We are always evolving and trying to improve Mooney Summit. This year we may need some more volunteers for a few times including babysitting the FAA PROTE unit and assisting with Ramp access at ECP. I’ll announce once those details are ready. We will continually update the agenda and add details as they become official. I’ll try to post here when the updates are significant. We are all looking forward to seeing everyone in late September if not before. -Seth

That is quite a dent!!! When mine was damaged it was much much smaller than that. Enough to warrant replacement, but really annoying because it was such a small dent. I think I know the guilty party but I could not prove it so I ended up paying for the repair myself. -Seth

Would love to understand real L39 operating costs at some point. Acquisition is not terrible, but what about Autopilot, etc . . . flying above FL180. This would be thread drift so maybe start a separate topic about flying the L39? -Seth

Have you had that much success with the pencil?

I'll have to stop by their booth!