Seth

Glad you quickly ended that spin. How much altitude did you lose in your less than one full rotation? What altitude did you practice the stalls? Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm actually lining up spin training with an instructor (not in the Mooney) for the near future. I just talked about it last week with him. I have a weak stomach (flying has really helped) so I plan to do the spin training with a barf bag handy just in case. I got airsick the second time I did aerobatics. -Seth

That's the great point about an artist. Of course! -Seth

Steve from Flight Chops will be presenting at Mooney Summit! For those of you attending and who wish to meet him. Very cool experience! Nice F!! -Seth

Craig: start a new fundraising campaign for this - maybe you’ll get new additional contributions, keep us up to date on the totals and when you hit your mark, let it be known. In the meantime I’ll send Mooneyspace a check of $100 so you can buy the data. -Seth

Get the B-Kool - It literally changed my life when flying in hot weather. I fly a Cirrus for a charter company - they have AC in the aicraft. B-Kool does the same for taxi and low altitudes. Very much worth it. It is a life changer. -Seth

See if there are any aircraft at your current airport that fit your mission need. Approach the owner and talk about a dry lease or partnership. That could work out. Maybe dry lease for when you need 6 seats and keep the Mooney for all other flights. Also, the dry lease may assist you in the first year or two to see how much you use/need the 6 seats before you sell your Mooney (or decide to keep it). -Seth

Oy! My 1967 F Model I purchased in July of 2008 cost me about 20% year 1 in maintenance including the annual. The annual was expensive as many deferred maintenance items had been missed in the prebuy. The only other big purchases were a Garmin 496 portable and an overhaul of an oil temp gauge. Part of the higher percentage is due to the lower purchase price. in 2011, My 1983 M20J Missile 300 cost me 0% extra. Let me explain: Because I paid much lower than the cost of Missile in good shape, I technically, I paid about 60% of purchase price in the first 3 months, but that included some panel work including an engine monitor upgrade, an aera 560 purchase and panel mounted, an engine overhaul, prop flush, and a few other smaller items. I purchased the plane at a large discount, and for almost exactly the amount spend fixing it plus my purchase price, I was equal to the value of the airplane. The airplane flew perfectly during pre-buy but metal was found in the oil filter, thus, the plane was then grounded, and I let the owner know I was still very interested in the Missile, but not at the original price. I told the broker what I would pay and the owner replied with a no. Three weeks later after lowball bids or no action, I reached out to the broker and my offer was taken. There were a few other items found during the prebuy. A good prebuy makes a world of difference. Also seeing an airplane taken care of by it's owner both in logs and looks helps with deferred maintenance items. It's been a great 7 years. The six years following that work had been pretty good - this last year with autopilot repairs have been a bit pricey, and it's a very capable airplane. -Seth

Pressurization is a nice to have as well. At that price point you can get a pressurized twin, but again, maintance and feeding it may be not what you want. The PA-46 is a nice option. The A-36 is too if you don't need pressurization. I know Alan Fox has a pressurized P210 for sale. If looking at twins, lots of options. A Baron B55 is a great deal, but any twin can get you with double engine overhauls as the big items. Pressurization is also pricy to maintain. A C340, C414, and Aerostar should be looked at. You can pick up an Aerostar for amazing deals these days, they are fast, but like all twins, a lot more than your Mooney to maintain! For $350k with a partner, you could even get into a C-90 king air with -21's. Not crazy fast, but robust, pressurized, and an AMAZING Cabin for a growing family of 5. It's the overall maintenance costs, storage, insurance, phase inspections, gear, etc . . . as a non-working part 91 aircraft though, it's a nice package. You also have your training. Fuel wise, with the right fuel cards and programs, your fuel cost per gallon will be half the 100LL cost per gallon. Don't get me wrong, it's still a massive jump up in cabaibily and cost. You can probably sell it for what you buy it for a few years down the line. They have bottomed out on the depreciation curve - you are basically purchasing the engines with the time they have left. Just saying it's actually a realistic option if looking at $350k. -Seth

Well said - we’ll get a fly in set up somewhere soon! -Seth

For the cost it was Nice! With the trade in value on my 560 it was less expensive to go 660 vs D3 - I was impressed by it. The 660 will also show traffic and weather in addition to the synthetic vision and AHRS page. -Seth

Update: I received the $50 rebate from Garmin I received $450 for the AERA 560 trade in from Aircraft spruce. The remaining $100 will come when I send in the XM antenna which I'll detangle during the install of the 660 in early September. Will update more soon. Happy to show anyone the setup at Mooney Summit at the end of September. -Seth

At the 135 I'm training at, there are even more rules. Non-accurate example: If the alternate only has 1 approach, the expected forecast must be clouds 600 AGL or better. If two approaches (must be to two different runways), it can be 400 AGL (lower). They regiment the process to make the decision for you to ensure you have an out vs legally allowing yourself to be in a really bad place. So when coming back to GAI, the home base for most of the aircraft, the alternate will likely be BWI or IAD. I'm learning a ton at the local part 135 charter company - and it's flying Cirrus SR-22's, not heavy metal. The price point difference of chartering a flight through the company I'm training at vs a King Air or light jet is massive. That's the point for a savvy business operator. It's a neat model and I'm happy to talk about it sometime. All the aircraft are leasebacks maintained by the charter company to 135 standards. -Seth

Yes that’s the one

I really like the idea of the A-5 as well, but also don't like the sales agreement. The sea ray may not be as sexy, nor quite as quick, but it's a dependable design that's been around for 2+ decades now. Go to their website (noted above) and learn about an australian adventurer who flew it to 25 countries over 7 months retracing an historic flight. Neat 3 minute trailer. Still would be cool to own a part of an A5 one day. My problem is I want to own a part of MANY aircraft. -Seth

Very cool! Especially the ident function. -Seth

Two neat ideas I've recently seen in both Mooney and Epic aircraft: 1. Push to Talk button. In the Epic, as you will be hands off the yoke much of the time, there is a PTT button on or under (I have to remember hand placement) of the armrest for your left arm. That way when in autopilot mode, and your hands are not on the yoke/control column, you can easily key the mic to transmit while your arm is resting on the arm rest. Larger aircraft probably have similar set ups (I would not know . . . yet) but that is a neat feature (at least to me). 2. Radio toggle - this one I saw set up in Byron's Mooney - as part of the GTN he has in his panel, to move the standby to primary radio toggle, he intalled a button on his yoke so that he can switch radios when ready keeping his hands on the yoke. It's a great function that I'm sure many larger aircraft and other types of aircraft have, but it's neat that these sorts of features are available on single GA aircraft. -Seth

Glad you’ll get mooney specific transition training. Once your feel comfortable co e join the NJ mooney group for lunch. I can also head your direction for breakfast sometime or ressurect the mooney breakfast flights! -Seth

Congratulations!!!! When is your new bird due at your airport? -Seth

No no - the yellow dots on the card tell whoever is at the crash site that it may have been Carbon monoxide poisoning. The unit I have is the small yellow Carbon Monxide digital monitor. Now that I’ve researched more it’s fine, but when it ceases to function properly I’ll get a sensicorn or what we the leading active monitor is at that time. -Seth

I hear you, and thought that may be the case, but it shows just a couple PPM. The alarm doesn’t go off until higher, but it’s pretty sensitive picking up PPM when the door is open in taxi, and a few other situations. It even blared one time at me in climb when there was an issue that caused a fuel leak and thus fumes in the cockpit causing a not great situation - I got on the ground quickly and nearly declared - that’s another story for another time. It works well. But when it quits I’m getting a newer one. I have replaced the batteries on my little yellow one twice now. I’ve had it 3-4 years. -Seth

When my small yellow Detector stops working I’m buying one of these. I may also get the 135 outfit I now fly for to get a few of these. Or I’ll get a second one to take with me. -Seth

I do love my Missile. Only three big issues: 1. Nose Heavy - this can be mitigated by a new prop like Erik's 4 blade. I'm fine with it, but when I fly other Mooney's, I'm remembered how much lighter my former F felt. 2. Fuel burn: yes, you can back down the power to J fuel burns and speed - but you are ADDICTED to speed and tend not to. What you can't do, is pull back to J/F low power setting fuel burns. If I just want to go fly for fun, my fuel burn will be be 20-25 gallons at reduced power over two hours vs 15-16 reduced power in my former F. But that's not really my mission anymore. 3. Factory Support: Rocket at some point will stop supporting the Missile and Rocket - when will that be? 5 years? 10? 20? It's an unknown and it's out there. Many of the parts in the Missile are Cessna 210 parts, which also are Cessna 340 and 414 parts. So the parts are there. The unique Rocket parts - that may be an issue way out there. I plan to never sell my Missile and have it be my fun plane, local flier, whatever once I get a pressurized aircraft for family and business. But, at some point I may have to sell the Missile, have a larger pressurized aircraft for distance flying and small two seater for local fun flying. I still think the J or 252 is the best Mooney in terms of all around speed and efficiency. I still think the C is the best bang for the buck. I plan to keep my Missile for a LONG time. I'm amazed how addicted to the speed I am. I borrowed a Mooney M20J from a friend (very generous) for a trip when mine was down for maintance and felt something was wrong when I was still a half hour away from home. And realized I was going 158 knots (FAST J) instead of 185 knots. A two hour trip was closer to 2.5 that day. Speed is addictive. My longer trips do give me time back. In my F, it was a four hour trip to Atlanta, and really a fuel stop on the way unless I had a tailwind for safety. It's just under 3 hours in the Missile non-stop. The round trip times add up. I don't go to O2 levels often, but I have portable O2 when needed to catch tailwinds. My fuel burn drops dramatically those days and my ground speed is over 200 knots. Indicated however drops down with no turbo in the mid teens. It climbs better than the Ovation, is faster than older Ovations and is a tad slower than the Ultra's. After sitting in the Ultras at Oshkosh however, man are those seats comfortable and after flying some newer Cirrus aircraft (contract commercial pilot) the G1000 cockpit really does make a lot of sense and is quite impressive. I still love my Missile. -Seth

Glad this event is still occuring. I'm too far away and will not be there, and wish you the best in hoping it's a great event! -Seth

The B-Kool unit is not a gimmick and life changing. FBO’s usually have ice. Not difficult to load, you get cool air while taxiing and takeoff, and then again when you descend and are back on the ground. Life chaning - get one. In cool weather, no need for it and it gets taken out of the airplane. -Seth

Garmin announced they’d stop taking orders for new 430/530 W units in November 2011 and actually stopped in early 2012. so it’s been 6-7 years now. Originally went on sale in 1998. -Seth