Seth

Sorry - Let me get working on the next installment - And yes, she's flying - just got my IFR certs completed this past Monday. So I'll hopefully fly "in the system" sometime soon. We'll complete the first oil change soon as well. -Seth

M20A, B, C, D, E, F. Not sure if the G had a Johnson bar or not. I owned a 1967 M20F for three years and loved the Johnson bar. Even used it after shoulder surgery and was fine. During my maintenance run on it I replaced a bungee which made it run even smoother. After I sold it to a friend who owned it for a 8 years or so he replaced the block. The block can become worn over time (where it locks into the panel). It's a great system. It's up or it's down. It should be easy to operate. If it takes excessive strength, positioning, whatever and it's not an easy fluid motion, take it to a shop to get worked on. -Seth

Congratulations and welcome to the Mooney family. -Seth

Today at ESN (Easton, MD) when dropping off the Missile for it's IFR certs, not 1, 2, or 3, but 6 TB30's landed and later departed along with a T-34. The TB30 is a military trainer (and some are actually armed). These I think were all from the former French Air Force. I know I saw three at Oshkosh in 2019, but this is the largest gaggle of TB30's I've ever seen in my life. I'll post some basic pictures I took of them parked on the ramp. Has anyone in here flown a TB30? If so, how does it compare to other military trainers? I'm pretty sure it is has a Lycoming TSIO540. It's wings are short - 26 feet, and noticeably short compared to the size of the aircraft (in my opinion). I guess that helps with roll rate, speed, and handling to better train for faster heavier jets. Thanks, -Seth

Heads up gang. If you do purchase any of Dr. Fung's books, or if you purchase anything form Amazon, which I know nearly all of us do, please remember if willing, to use smile.amazon.com And choose Mooney Summit as your choice for the charitable donation! I was remiss in putting normal amazon links up instead of smile.amazon.com links up and am thus reminding everyone to purchase with Smile.Amazon.com if you would be willing to with Mooney Summit or another charitable organization selected. Very respectfully, -Seth

Fully agreed, but remember, with proper intermittent fasting, there is no lack of nutrition. You still eat all your calories, food, whatever you should during your eating periods. You should not eat less than you normally would or the body adapts to lower food intake and that has other side effects. Proper nutrition is a must! And trust me, I'm not really an intermittent faster - I just realized that's kind of what I have always done naturally except for when I'm forced to eat breakfast or when I'm hungry in the morning (rare). -Seth

And I LOVE carbs but have really cut them down! I've never done more than a 26 or so hour fast, but I also really haven't attempted it often. So I've never seen the HGH effect personally but I've seen it happen to my wife. -Seth

I need to try the in ear. However I'm happiest with Bose A20's. They are my wife's Bose A20's we got for her after we tried a lot of different headsets for her so she would fly with me more. Since having kids we rarely go up so they've become my go-to headset. 1. Bose A20 2. Lightspeed Zulu 3 (upgraded from a Zulu 2 I got on a trade in on a 30 year old David Clark a retiring pilot gave me). 3. Lightspeed Zulu original I purchased in 2009 4. David Clark I bought in 2004- passive 5. 3 juvenile headsets given to me by pilots with grown kids 6. AVCom Crap headset which used to be my pax headset Also, I have Bose QC25 and QC35 that I'm going to try with an N Flight Mic at some point for a "baby" bose A20 I just upgraded my Bose A20 with a lemo plug and have the original dual GA plug down cable. So I just purchased a used bose A20 upper for $300 and will now have a second bose A20 for the cockpit. -Seth

Intermittent fasting once your used to it should be fine as long as you are fine with it. My wife started experimenting with this to help take off baby weight and the results were amazing. Very important to keep your sodium levels appropriate. She often would crack a few turns of the himalayan sea salt shaker into a glass of a water during the day to keep her electrolytes constant while hydrating. If you are used to it, I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to fly. I often don't eat breakfast (rarely if ever did I eat big breakfasts so I often go 18/6 most days per week. I don't do the longer 24 hour fasts often. What is neat though are two items: After about18-24 hours, mutated cells or not really healthy cells in your body kind of "collapse." In a way, you are flushing out the unhealthy cells during these "24" fasts - which every religion states somewhere helps "cleanse" the body. Again, fascinating. So in a way, you are providing a lighter version of "chemotherapy" to yourself and knocking out pre-cancerous cells from your body. Not bad for simply changing your feeding cycle and working up to a 24 hour fast once in while. After about 30 hours, your body actually starts producing HGH again. Which literally doesn't happy past your late 20's in most people. I've seen certain skin blemishes get better, other conditions fix themselves, its neat when the body repairs itself. Past 36 hours it quickly flips and starts harming the body. She ate pretty much anything she wanted during the consumption hours and drank water and kept her electrolytes up. She did 18/6 5 days a week and one 24 or one attempt at 36 once a week. I was very proud of her and the end results. It completely reset her hormones. Of course we then had two miscarriages over the next year (due to strep and flu), causing weight gain, and other changes, including knocking her hormones way off, so she's planning to start the intermittent fasting again soon. Again, if you do this, and know how you react at certain points of the timeline, you should be fine - stay hydrated and keep your electrolytes up. I suggest reading Dr. Fung if interested in this topic - I'm not a doctor - but i've witnessed the results in my wife, and myself too. https://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Jason-Fung/e/B01BT8K6FK/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0 His books make sense and are an easy read: The Longevity Solution - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NS6X8NG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i6 The Cancer Code - https://www.amazon.com/Cancer-Code-Revolutionary-Understanding-Wellness/dp/0062894005/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwl9GCBhDvARIsAFunhsnBOxKv3vB3a3tFA-6e5avAOr-ZRCrWH0NMrzBxu1YV9GhgYt2luLUaAkRXEALw_wcB&hvadid=477521047615&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9007779&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5454750137170602101&hvtargid=kwd-1029033998526&hydadcr=15498_10339946&keywords=dr+fung+cancer+code&qid=1616189044&sr=8-2 -Seth

The pipe on another area was too long thus making this pipe not fit! You can see the inch or so gap.

I ran goodyear flight custom III's on my mains from prucahse in 2011 to 2017. I replaced one at purchase (no need to do the pair at once) and the other was older. I am on my second set of Flight Custom III's for the mains (again, replaced 2017) and plan to run them as long as i can. Never really have to worry about the tires. The nose was getting worn and was from well prior to 2011 so I replaced the nose with a Goodyear flight special II (lighter and takes less wear). All tubes replaced with tires. Yes, they are expensive and well worth it. Never had a flat and often lose very little if any air. The nose more than the mains (higher PSI). -Seth

Missing logs are generally bad. That said, there is deduction in purchase price, and normally a smaller market to sell the airplane to when it's time to sell, also at a discount. The older the logs are that are missing is better. As long as the last X years show consistent flying, all the work, the airplane is in good shape, and any damage history is noted in the logs, it will be better. If there's obviously a repair on the airplane that's noticeable but nothing logged about it - that could be an issue. An upgrade or STC that's upgraded, but not logged is also an issue. I purchased my 1967 M20F in 2008 with the initial log book missing. It had a gear up a few years before I purchased it with an overhauled engine and new prop. It had flown enough and was maintained by an MSC. I purchased it for $53k and three years and 500 hours later sold it for $50k in 2011. I probably could have gotten closer to $55 or $60k as I put more time on it, did some upgrades, etc, but I also took 500 hours off the engine and did a private transaction quickly to a friend with no listing fees. With the missing first log at the time, I figured it would be hard to get $60k. Also, it needed a paint job, which the new owner did about a year after purchasing. Now it's recently been sold again (9 years later). In it's current state it's worth more than that amount today (especially with the uptick in M20C, E, F, and J model prices). That said, inflation over 8 years probably keeps it about even. My current 1983 Mooney Missile has all it's logs. You can purchase, insure, and fly an airplane with missing logs. Just understand the pros/cons before you do it. Many airplanes are flying with missing logs. Reconstructed information is also a posisitve. If you have logs - take digital pics, scan them, do something so you have a back up somewhere. It's cheap insurance. -Seth

Yes - interval takeoff would have been better in this case and what we will do in the future with dissimilar aircraft. We landed separately not in formation. -Seth

Exhaust When the prop was being manufactured by MT and the engine was in Mobile Alabama and the Continental factory, we took the already removed exhaust and sent it out for overhaul. We sent the exhaust first to the shop that overhauled it in Minnesota in 2011. As noted earlier, they realized it needed a mold/bend/tool/jig that only Rocket Engineering had and suggested we send it there for the overhaul. We agreed. However, their shipping department sent it to a similarly named company in Texas. It was sent to a shop that had no clue why they received it. We got a phone call stating they had this exhaust system, and were confused. We sorted it out and it was then shipped via Texas to Rocket Engineering in Spokane, Washington. It was a week delay and no harm done with the rest of the delays, but another time suck to figure out why the exhaust wasn’t at Rocket in Washington State and to then get in there. Rocket Engineering overhauled it and sent it back to us. They were great to deal with, let me know my options on certain areas, overall wear, etc. We had it back before we got the engine back, which was before we got the prop back. MONTHS later – December 2021 – we finally were able to install the exaust on the airplane, however we ran into an issue. One of the pipes seemed as if it was the wrong length and thus wouldn’t fit back together properly. When we looked at pictures of what was sent and what came back, we realized the part/pipe had been overhauled/replaced at a slightly longer length. Again, this is the second time during this process an FAA authorized repair center had sent an overhauled part that was not in compliance to the end user (first Continental, now Rocket). It took some time to get back in touch with Rocket, as they are on an abbreviated hour format right now only four days a week and sometimes take a few days to return calls. However once in touch are responsive. They asked we send the pipe back and they’ll check it on the jig and modify if needed (which they should have done during the overhaul). UPS then took a 2nd day air package and delivered it 10 days later, of course during Christmas week at this point. Rocket confirmed the part did not match the jig, took about an inch or so off it and then expanded the pipe appropriately at that point. It shipped out in early January and we got it a week later – it fit perfectly. This was the second time with Rocket during this project that a part was sent in, was sent back, and then had to be sent back again. They in the end got it right and did good work, but it’s worth noting the being sent twice on two different items. We also had an issue with a part that held the exhaust probe in place but I was able to get one from a distributor in early January. So, I lost another bet at this point that we were into 2021. Everything was coming together. The engine was assembled, and it was time to start the engine and properly set it up for the test flight. We were into the second week of January 2021. We were so close. I had blocked off a few dates around January 15th for the first test flight – weather looked good. To be continued . . .

That's funny. Seriously though, I'm glad we are discussing this subject. Again, we were lulled into the former dissimilar profile withe Mooney and Bonanza flights we had done in the past. We had briefed it, I just didn't think about the different rotation, climb rate, speed, angles, etc of the Cirrus vs the Bonanza and Mooney which while not the same are much more similar. Great information and sharing in this thread. -Seth

The modified throttle body control unit has two matching sides - the hoses fit over the connections. The one sent back had a lip on one side for a V clamp which is not the STC design for the Missile. -Seth

Engine When the engine arrived, we should have looked more carefully for the STC modified parts to ensure the engine was legally set back correctly. We had no reason to assume it was not, but it’s something worth noting for Rocket and Missile owners – if you send the engine to the factory ensure the STC modifications are documented. Thank goodness we did. Once installed, we knew we’d have to bend a fuel line to the front left cylinder to deal with the Missile cowling “wink.” However, we soon ran into a larger issue. As noted on Mooneyspace, the throttle body control unit was not the same as the one we that had been sent to Continental. We showed the pictures and part numbers to Continental and they said they didn’t understand why the part would be different, checked our paperwork, and realized the throttle body control unit had bene swapped for an overhauled unit as opposed to having the STC modified unit overhauled as agreed upon. Thus, they searched for the STC overhauled unit but it was no where to be found. Part of this was due to the fact that the person I had originally spoken with details wise had been part of the force downsizing/furlough that occurred with COVID (He was back toward the end of the saga). Once Continental realized they made a mistake and sent an overhauled unit that legally wasn’t allowed to be put on the airplane, and realized the FAA violation implications, they recognized the situation and did anything and everything to assist in making it right. A higher up was assigned to quarterback the problem. They contacted Rocket Engineering, along with us, so that we could have the part shipped there and modifications would be made in order to bring it up to the STC standard. Rocket received the throttle body control unit and sent it back to us with two control arms attached – but didn’t address the main issues which was that one side of the openings had a lip on it instead of being the same as the other side where a hose could be clamped over it. I’ll attach some pictures. This was already about a month after sending the part to Rocket. To add confusion, we then learned that Continental sometimes does not tell an owner that they are replacing the old throttle body control unit with the new style. We though this may be the issue so we tracked down a shop that overhauls the old units and we got pictures and realized we had the new unit but modified – which did make sense with when Missile conversion occurred – new style modified. So we reached back out to both Continental and Rocket to figure out who made the modifications. It was determined it was Rocket, they realized it after looking at drawings again, and we sent the part back to them a second time (about six weeks after they sent it back to us) and they modified. It was the first time they modified the throttle body control unit for a Missile in 22 years. They did great work the second time. In addition, Continental did not know that the elbow joint boots that Rocket specified were the same parts, just slightly different part number, than what they supply, so they did not send them with the overhauled engine. I requested the parts and Continental sent them. Oh, I forgot to mention, twice during this ordeal the Alabama factory was shut down and evacuated due to hurricanes slamming into the gulf coast. A week would go by each time with no communication. It didn’t matter so much, but it simply dragged the process along with everything else out when it all got added up at the end. Once we had everything back at W00, Freeway MSC, now in mid-November, the throttle body control unit fit just fine. We then realized all the fittings had been swapped out for a standard setup, not the Missile set up. We were able to swap some around but also had to ask Continental for certain fittings. They sent them, but at this point we were into late November. I lost a bet I’d be flying before Thanksgiving with some buddies. So, the prop arm was finally hooked up to an engine that finally had all the right STC parts back on it . . . almost. We’ll talk about the exhaust next. To be continued . . .

WOW! For the dollar cost of doing so per hour, it may make more sense to rent a retract or TAA for the commercial. You'll have to make sure there's a DPE that can give you the checkride in your aircraft prior to committing - then again, with the Meridian, you can cover a lot of ground to a DPE that can do it! -Seth

I ate some pizza yesterady. Hope everyone had a good Pi day 3/14. Looking forward to revisiting on 2Pi day! 6/28!! I did text Erik yesterday wishing him a Pi day directly -Seth

Do you know if they give rides? I found their phone number though some websites that have business information and did leave a message. Does anyone have any more information on Comanche Fighters LLC website? From what I can tell, they are pretty private. What airport do they base the fleet in Houston? -Seth

Thank you

It can take a few hours or 2 years depending on your relationship with the FSDO and whats wrong with the airplane. First ask your A&P their preferred approach. If they have a good relationship you should be good. If they have no relationship, ask them what you should and shouldn’t say, and call the FSDO to make your own contacts to assist with the process. -Seth

And it’s right side up!!!!

Here is the third and final arm installed. So getting that arm correct on the third attempt from MT was a 3.5 month delay.

Anthony you are so good. As you can see the Rakete (Rocket) Arm was not sent with the Rackete (Missile) prop governor, even though it was needed but not correct for the Rakete (Missile). -Seth