Seth

Short regional airline career and more family heartbreak: I left my family in early January 2020 and flew out to CAE for an ATP CTP ground program. It involved 40 hours or so of ground instruction, a written exam, and 10 hours of Level D sim time. For this program I logged Boeing 737 Level D sim time (pretty cool – especially since I wasn’t logging Mooney Missile time). Next stop was immediately INDOC which was a two-week program with two written tests at the end of each week. I passed the ATP written during this timeframe as well. Immediately following INDOC was systems. Sadly, my maternal grandmother passed away the Thursday late morning of the first week of systems. She was old, 91, and had various medical issues. She was going downhill fast the previous few weeks. We didn’t expect the end to be so quick, and as a positive she missed COVID passing away in late January 2020. She passed away holding my grandfathers hand with family around her at home. We were close, and this was not entirely unexpected. The airline flew me home last flight out Friday afternoon positive space. They took care of me here. The funeral was Sunday and I flew back on the first flight Monday. I missed one morning session of systems which I was caught up on. I passed my systems tests, got the ceremonial wings, ID card, KCM (Known Crew Member), CASS access, and flew back home. I was home for three weeks, arriving home late on Feb 14th (good day to get home for numerous reasons . A week later my wife’s maternal grandmother passed away. She also had failing health for years and was 92. My wife actually got to fly using the airline benefits to be there in Roanoke, VA, with her extended family, and unfortunately arrived minutes after her grandmother passed. She flew home the next day. Five days before the funeral, scheduled for the end of February (my wife’s family is not Jewish – nobody’s perfect my son William tested positive for flu. My daughter also ended up testing positive. We put them both on Tamiflu antiviral. My wife was feeling very tired and starting with symptoms. We went in ourselves to our doctor and as part of the testing for the flu they asked if she was pregnant. We explained what had occurred three months prior, but also that it could be possible recognizing her being tired, and it made sense to check for decisions on treatment. As it turns out we were indeed expecting again (yay Valentine’s day or a week later). We high fived each other right there in the exam room. It was very early. So, she was put on a different regime. She did test positive for flu so they didn’t bother testing me and I went on Tamiflu antiviral. We had decided that we’d name the child after both our grandmothers. We did attend the funeral out of town, and looking back, just a year later in this day and age, we would have skipped it so soon after testing positive for flu. It was about 5 days later of being on the antiviral. None of us were running fever by the time we traveled or we would not have gone. But still, now to “power though” is a faux pas and if you think you have any symptoms of any illness the accepted practice is to quarantine and stay home. This was just before COVID really hit. We drove the five hours as opposed to the one hour flight in the Missile. I could have requested insurance to cover a rental, but at this point we were already seven months from the incident and we decided to just drive. In early March I flew back to training to observe two of my classmates go through cockpit procedure training. We got one week off after that, and then came back to cockpit procedure training for me and my partner in late March 2020. One hour prior to beginning our cockpit procedure training I received a phone call from my wife that our son William was mid-seizure. This was his second major seizure. She described to me what was occurring, and it was a more intense version of what I personally witnessed the first time as he was bigger and stronger now, thus his muscles could twitch and jerk more violently. It was morning (all his observed seizures have been between 6AM and 8AM). Just like with me he vomited slightly so I had her put his head on his side and scoop out his mouth to ensure his airways were open. I told her to put the phone down, keep me on, and to administer the diastat emergency anti-seizure meds that we now had on hand. It’s basically a valium serum that you insert up the tush. She administered it. I put her on hold and called children’s hospital neurology department to see if our neurologist was available and for advice – we go the three way call going within a within just a few minutes. William was still seizing and not come out of it by 12 minutes into the phone call with Children’s. He was seizing for at least 10 minutes prior, and since it had been more than 5 minutes since administering the diastat, our neurologist, one of our five most trusted doctors (we have a team of 19 therapists and doctors for William), told my wife to hang up and call 911. So in late March 2020, as hospitals were trying to keep people away and lockdowns were happening, our almost three year old was rushed via ambulance to the hospital. My wife accompanied him, and our Au Pair picked them up later in the day. The choices were stay in the hospital for observation or get placed on an anti-seizure drug and get home and out of a potential exposure point. As this was his second seizure and you only get one free seizure, we opted for the anti-seizure drug. It was Keppra and we later learned he had a sustained negative emotional reaction to Keppra (such a sad kid who was easily made upset when on Keppra). We have since titrated over to Trileptal and he’s been his happy self on that. This was prior to his eventual Bohring-Opitz Syndrome diagnosis (late July 2020). I admit my concentration was not there the first day of cockpit procedure training. I basically got some text updates as to his condition as the ambulance arrived about 30 minutes prior to my first session. I informed my instructor and he asked if I needed to leave. I honestly said maybe but would stay until I had more information. I ended up staying for the five-day training cockpit procedure training. The market was in a freefall and COVID was taking over the United States. Lockdowns were beginning. Airlines were becoming empty, routes were getting slashed, it was the beginning of what we’ve come to recognize as a way of life the last year. I was amazed we were still training as other airlines were canceling their new classes. The classes after us were all sent home or postponed. We continued. I passed Cockpit Procedure training and went home. The airports were a ghost town – just a few days difference meant so much. I was one of 7 people on a mainline aircraft flying back home. Only 2 were paying passengers. When I returned home, I was home for a few weeks. I got my travel orders and left for sim training in April. I was not happy about the travel during COVID. We decided even though I had 2-3 breaks at a city that was a quick flight back and forth, and I had travel privileges, I was not to visit for fear of COVID exposure. I have asthma and more importantly didn’t want to harm my family. Our training footprint had a certain number of sim sessions. Toward the end of week two, with two sessions remaining, I was on the phone with my wife at the 10-week checkup for the pregnancy. Sadly, tragedy struck again. The fetus was again dead. The fetus hadn’t grown much at all past a few weeks. Just a speck. The timing was right when we had the flu. After what happened to my wife during the last miscarriage, we opted for a scheduled DNC. We scheduled it for the dates between week two and three where I would fly home and then if need be, postpone my third week (checkride week). I admit I was not as focused during those last two sim sessions before flying home. My instructor was fully supportive as I informed him of what was going on. I flew home and the next morning dropped my wife off at the hospital for her DNC. I was not allowed to be there with her due to COVID restrictions. I stayed nearby and got a call a few hours later that it went well and to come pick her up. I brought her home and tended to her for the next 48 hours. She said she was good enough so I flew back to the sim training for my checkride week. Two days before my checkride, anyone who had not yet taken their checkride was sent home. Myself included. All those who had passed their checkrides prior to that date never flew any IOE before being furloughed in October. It was obvious to me the airline saw the long term effects of COVID and got rid of anyone they could at that point. The difference a few days of decision making cost me the chance at a checkride. I can look back on the experience and know I received good training, 50+ hours in Level D sims, got paid to do it, and am a better pilot for it. I just wish I was given the opportunity to take my checkride, and hopefully earn my ATP and type rating. As I have my ATP CTP ground training and ATP written passed, as soon as I’m vaccinated and numbers look okay (this summer most likely) I’ll go the local flight school using a Seminole, or do a weekend course in NC where I received my commercial multi in a Baron, and earn my ATP. So, in this post summary: -We lost both maternal grandmothers and our kids Claire and William (Claire was very close with her great grandparents) lost both their great grandmothers in the span of two weeks -COVID swept the country. -William had his second major seizure. -We got pregnant again, we had another miscarriage, and I had to take my wife to the hospital for a procedure literally during the April 2020 at that time height of COVID. -I was sent home two days before my check ride and I no longer am employed by the airline. My regional career was just over four months. During my next post I’ll write about the Mooney engine update during this period as that was the only update, I had through April 2020. There was zero updates from MT on the propeller. To be continued . . .

I nearly flew back with you guys in the King Air! That was very nice to offer it just didn't work with my timing as to what I needed to finish to Oshkosh. It was very nice to meet you! -Seth

The Missile uses the same mount in all four corners. The Ovation uses three of one kind and one of another kind. My gut feeling is the Eagle / S will do the same as the Ovation. I'm lucky in the four the Missile used were the less expensive ones (still pricy) where the expensive one, that fourth one, was not part of the Missile mount. -Seth

Thanks Alex- It shouldn't have been a year. 2-3 months - maybe six - yes. And it wasn't seconds in duration - it was maybe a one quarter second buzz saw sound - that was it "buziiiip." Had I gone with the three blade full feathering Hartzell I'd have had the prop six weeks from ordering. If I had been quick engine wise, I would have had the shop selected and it off soon too. Both could have been back and ready by October/November 2019. But as you read, I had other priorities. Then COVID happened causing months of delays, hurricanes causing communication delays twice, then the issues I haven't written about yet regarding Continental, MT, and Rocket caused months of delays. It should have been done much faster - but in the end it didn't matter how long it took with everything else occuring. -Seth

Purchasing the MT 4 blade propeller and selecting an engine shop In late November 2019, after my wife was home and okay. I made the purchase on the MT prop with Larry though Air Resource LLC. The price was lower than a replacement propeller, so I knew I’d use the difference on whatever additional engine work was needed after the teardown inspection as well as other parts to be overhauled, reconditioned, and repaired while the engine was removed and away. The terms were pay half up front, and half when the prop was ready to ship. There was an additional DER charge paid to Larry. That was also an upfront charge. The order in late November with a 19 week lead time meant the prop should be read to be shipped around late March. That is not when it arrived. I had to give at the time of the order the final location to send the prop, and it was decided that IAD would be where it was shipped by air (that was part of the price). I didn’t realize it would then be trucked to a prop shop – in this case Sensenich in Lancaster, PA, for final assembly, and then trucked back down to W00 in Maryland on the Sensenich truck. This also let me concentrate on the engine. The Mooney Missile engine has special STC parts. So whatever shop I sent it to I had to ensure that as part of the teardown inspection, and work done, and any STC modified parts touched had to conform to STC when returned (foreshadowing). I looked at numerous known name shops, including what many believe to be the best shop for IO-550 work in the country. That said, due to the potential of an expanded family, and the idea of maybe selling the Missile at some point, I opted for a Continental Factory teardown. I knew a gear was not replaced during the overhaul in 2011 even though a service builletain at the time existed that nearly became an AD (learned later about that and pretty angry it wasn’t done) and I also figured the factory shop would find more things wrong. If I were to every sell, the buyer would see a new prop and a factory teardown and inspection, thus any damage possibly encountered from the quarter second in the mud, would simply no longer be there. I made the deal in December and instructed the Mooney Service Center at Freeway that this is where the engine should be shipped. They historically had good dealings with Continental though that’s not where they usually sent engines for teardowns and overhauls. One of two delays caused by the Mooney Service Center at this point was that the A&P who knew my Missile best (outside of the manager and IA) got sick and ended up in the hospital. As the Missile is different, he wanted to take pictures as he took things apart so that he would know exactly what an issue may be when it was time to put everything back together. I know him well and he did not trust anyone else to do so. Frankly, his pictures really helped save us when we had some issues down the line (again foreshadowing). The engine was thus not removed nor shipped until late-January 2020. I expected a 6-8 week turnaround from Continental, thus the engine and prop would arrive sometime in late March – WAY OFF it turned out. Back to mid-November 2019 - it was time to renew my second-class medical for the 135 operation. However, I had spoke with my wife, gained permission, and with the pilot shortage growing by the hour, decided to take steps toward further developing my professional aviation career. I had spoken to many of the regional airline recruiters while at Oshkosh once I had the chance to cool down from the Missile damage (sounds odd). I even “won” a luggage works stealth pilot bag ($340+ value) after speaking with the chief pilot for a bit and entering the drawing. I had an EKG done by my primary doctor, saw it was fine, and then applied for a first-class FAA physical – which I attained. I now had my multi-commercial, 1700+ hours, and a first class medical. Yes, you know where this is going. The weekend after Thanksgiving, I applied to the regionals. I was contacted pretty quickly by four of the regionals and ended up getting hired as a first officer. Some companies at the time were giving $75k bonuses and one was even giving a $100k bonus (not the bases I wanted). I chose a company that was the correct fit and had bases at my local major airports. My ATP CTP training began in early January 2020. I flew for OpenAir last in mid December on a snowy night delivering one of our Part 91 clients to a snow covered runway - it was a challenging and good final OpenAir flight for 2019. Technically I did not leave OpenAir as I didn't want to burn any bridges. I was good until my next internal checkride from a technical standpoint - which ended up being a really good thing. To be continued . . .

We have numerous sponsors and returning for Mooney Summit, however I wanted to highlight two new sponsors who will be attending for the first time this year: MT Propeller / Air Resource LLC - My Missile will be on display so you can all check out the new four blade MT prop on it and Larry will be there representing Air Resource and MT Propeller. He's the DER and distributor. I'm so far very happy with the four blade as you all know. Tanis Aircraft Products - Tanis specializes in engine pre-heat systems however they have other solutions for our airplanes as well. I didn't know this (but found out during my recent significant work on my Missile) that there's a customer loyalty program. They will give you a significant discount on a new style system in exchange for your old one so it does not get sold on ebay. They are trying to get their old systems off the secondary market as they've moved to different types of heating element connections. I'm personally happy with my new system. The owner of the company worked with me to swap out some heating element and probes to dual units in order better fit my current setup vs purchasing new probes in addition the heating element. It in the end saved me some money as part of the new system. I'm happy with it. If anyone has had a positive experience with a vendor that you think would benefit from attending Mooney Summit, please send them to me or Rick Junkin (I'll simply forward them to Rick Junkin). I hope to see everyone in October as long as we are able to hold Mooney Summit VIII legally and it makes sense to do so. -Seth

Erik- Pi day is coming up! I always try to eat a pizza pie on pi day. But my younger brother Zack always reminds me that 6/28 is the more powerful day and number . . . As noted to Dan, the crazy part is I'm only at November 2019. More is coming as part of this novel. The story isn't told (past tense), its just about 1/4 of the way through . . .' I'll work on getting some more out tonight or tomorrow. -Seth

I am showing this to my wife! Thanks Anthony. And that's a neat picture Dan took of us departing from Mooney Summit in historically a Bonanza and a Cirrus vs our Mooney's! -Seth

Thanks Hector - yes, no sugarcoating: it's been rough. However, this write up is not about a pity party. It's about sharing what occurred with the Mooney, why I upgraded where I did, how to avoid this sort of thing, what caused so many of the delays, and what's really important. The side effect I've mentioned a few times now, is the catheric aspect of me sharing it with this group. I look forward to seeing you at Mooney Summit VIII or somewhere else! -Seth

Dan- That's so cool that you took this picture! I'll do a separate post on dissimilar aircraft departures for the first time experience, what we did right, wrong, and improvements for next time. This was a good memory. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at Mooney Summit VIII as long as we can hold it and it makes sense to do so come October. Thank you for your kind words. You've been through a ton as well my friend. We appreciate everything we've learned from you. I have two electronic CO monitors in the cockpit now because of your teachings. I also want to hear more about he M20K at some point (we'll talk by phone). The crazy part is right now my story is in November 2019. We haven't even hit 2020. There is unfortunately more . . . both personally and with the airplane. I did share William's diagnosis out of order which was July 2020, but we'd been dealing with it all along, just didn't know that was it. I'll continue to chronical story . . . -Seth

Why the MT prop: As many of you saw, I arrived at Mooney Summit in late September in a blue and white brand-new Cirrus SR22 which I parked next to Alan Fox’s Bonanza (which I had the ride back out to Oshkosh in just 6 8 weeks prior). OpenAir, the 135 firm I fly for – actually I just did some organ lifeguard/medevac flights for the first time in the last few months (odd carrying donor human organs on board and very fulfilling knowing it may save another life at the same time) – also rents aircraft. The SR22 is not as fast as the Missile (fact) but is faster than anything else available for rent so for planned trips or trips where I would have taken the Mooney, insurance paid for the dry rate (yes, I spent more on fuel than I would have, but I’m not complaining – I got to fly to Mooney Summit). Also, the Auto Pilot and avionics are better than any other new piston single in my opinion. I often fly this particular aircraft for charter so I’m very familiar not just with the SR22 but also this example. I picked up Mari “Mars” Metzler on the way as she’s now based out of Langley and dropped her back afterward. We flew back up the east coast in formation with Alan Fox and stopped for an early dinner. Anthony flew with Alan so it ended up being a really nice food stop in North Carolina on the way back for the four of us. My concentration was on business, my son, and Mooney summit. In late September through October I worked harder on selecting the propeller. I discussed this with a few people at Mooney Summit. MT had told me there was a 19-week lead time at Oshkosh, so I knew I’d order the prop before sending the engine out and likely would have the engine back prior to getting the prop (which is what in the end happened but both were EXTREMELY delayed due to complications the shops suffered from COVID). I received the quote from Hartzell so that I would know the amount to pay for the Hartzell prop should I go with it, or the amount I’d have to work with for whatever other propeller I chose. I submitted that quote to the insurance company. I connected with Larry at Flight Resource who is the main distributor for MT propellers in the eastern United States. He also worked with Erik Bolt on his Rocket. MT requested I work with Larry vs the factory direct to continue my purchase. I was fine with that as the Oshkosh discount was still honored. Here’s why I was considering the four blade MT prop and being the first Mooney Missile to have a 4 blade MT: -Lighter – The Mooney Missile and Mooney Rocket are nose heavy. The lighter prop will give it better handling characteristics, more useful load, better CG, and less drag in flight due to the CG moving back what turned out to be over an inch (less downforce required by the horizontal stabilizer, and thus less drag). Also, the landing would has a larger “zone” for proper landings. There was a small area to work with between slamming in the airplane and floating forever. Kind of like how Apollo 13 the movie describes the window to re-enter earths atmosphere. Too steep you burn up, to shallow you skip off into space. Same with a Missile and Rocket – not too difficult, you just have to be more precise than the C, E, F, and even J/K Mooneys from my experience. This would take some weight off the nose. -Removal of full feathering system – this has always concerned me as failure point risk on the Missile. In most singles, when the prop governor fails, the prop goes to the full power blade angle (prop full forward) and you control power with the manifold pressure. As the systems from the Rocket came from the Cessna 340/414 setup and the Missile was adapted from the Rocket, there is an autofeather mode. I have not been able to purely determine this, but I believe through the research I’ve done that if the prop governor fails, the prop feathers. If that occurs, then if you lose the prop governor on takeoff, your prop feathers and your engine quits. This removes that scenario, an additional failure point, weight, and another complex system off the nose -Ground clearance: After suffering the damaged prop at Oshkosh, I was considering a smaller propeller blade. The stock M20J has a 74 inch blade propeller. The full feathering scimitar prop the Missile has is 75 inches. The Four blade MT with the nickel leading edge (I’ll explain that below) can be as small as 74 inches. Their three blade with the stainless steel lading edge can be smaller, but not for the IO550. The three blade that can be on the IO550 was either minimum 75 inches or 74, I forget, but didn’t have the nickel leading edge. So if going MT I decided I’d go with the four blade at 74 inches. That would give me a 1 inch smaller arc, which is only a ½ inch better ground clearance, but with the lighter weight on the nose as well, I figured that would take out a tiny bit of compression of the pucks and the nose wheel tire. Thus, I’d get a little bit better ground clearance. I don’t think it would have assisted with the muddy rut at Oshkosh, but it would incrementally increase my ground clearance. -Nickel leading edge: So the MT prop, which is a wood core with composite construction, has the nickel leading edge feature now available on it’s piston props. They were designed for turboprops and are much stronger/harder and larger than the stainless steel leading edge of the typical MT props on pistons. I was worried about the look, but after seeing it on my airplane I admit I really like it. -Increased runway & climb performance – the Missile is a hot rod on the runway and a great climber – so even better performance was just a bonus. Getting to altitude faster gets my cruise speed in faster, which lowers block time even if there is no speed increase at cruise. -Modern prop airfoil: Thought the scimitar blade on the Missile was already more advanced and modern than the McCauly on the Rocket, there would still be some advantages. The composite wood design, as Erik Bolt explained to me, flexes and scoops the air, not so much pounds/slaps it. Also, more of the prop is sculpted allowing for the blade to transfer more of the energy to thrust. The airfoil “evidently” starts closer to the hub so more air may be pushed though the cowl assisting with cooling as well – there are so many variables when it comes to cooling but my cooling has been pretty good on the break in flights thus far – it was also a typical cold February in the mid-Atlantic . . . in 2021. -Lighter prop – the prop itself is lighter which means faster pitch changes and more of the engine’s energy transmitting to thrust vs turning the propeller – though from a physics point I’m not sure I agree with that entirely as there’s also less momentum. I’ll have to have that proven to me. The pitch changes are indeed faster and noticeable during run up when cycling the propeller. -Smoother prop - the lighter prop was also a smoother better balanced prop evidently with less vibration. And so far, I'd have to say I agree with that. I dynamically balanced my Missile prop, but the MT is a smooth running prop. -Unlimited blade life – MT touts unlimited blade life with proper maintenance. The nickel leading edge helps with erosion and can be replaced if needed. There are other care issues that are concerns, but the essentially unlimited lifespan is a neat factor. That said, this is the third propeller on the aircraft now, but some airplanes go their whole lifespan with their factory propeller. Concerns: -Cruise speed: So four blades has more drag than three blades. It’s less efficient. Yes, the “disc” would be one inch smaller, but the extra blade at low power settings is an air brake. I know this from flying this exact prop on two SR22T’s I’ve operated. Now, for controlling the Mooney float, this could be looked at as a positive. When you pull power out in the flare, the SR22T immediately sits down on the runway as the four blade prop really does act as a brake. In flying the Missile, I’ve learned the glide is a bit different so I’m holding a little power on final and when I pull the power all the way out, she does sit down faster than before – this does help with floating if you come in a little fast. I was worried about losing top end speed in cruise. The aft CG shift should help with that, but still, I wanted data. MT provided this data in a test with Cirrus. The SR22T performed better with the 4 blade vs the 3 blade at all altitudes as the turbo power kept power behind the blades in the thin air. On the SR22, the 4 blade worked better at 13,000 feet and below. Above 13,000, the normally aspirated IO550N (similar to my IO550A) did not put out enough power to overcome the braking effect of the drag. Thus, it was a few knots slower way up high. I was fine with this, as I don’t like going up too high without portable O2, and I only do that a few times a year when I have a good tailwind for fuel economy or for weather/bumps. If I was even speed wise between 6,000 to 11,000 feet, really 7,000 to 9,000 feet, I’d be very happy. A slight increase would be a bonus. As climb to cruise would be faster, my block time would still be faster if I was equal in speed. -Paint – well, MT touted that they’ve changed their paint formulas and the erosion of paint should not be as much of a concern as it has been on prior warranty repairs. They suggested to go with one of their specific colors vs a custom color. For the Missile paint design, I eventually chose black with white tips and it’s a good look for the airplane in the end. I was considering one of the burgundy colors as a tip stripe to match the body paint, however decided against that. -Spinner – I liked the polished aluminum spinner on the Missile. That was not going to be an option on the MT. It’s composite and needs to be painted. So, I was going to have pick a color – I’ll explain what we went with and why in a later post. -Wood moisture bubble – there were some concerns with MT where the wood chosen ends up with a “bubble” that pushes up over time and becomes visible under the surface of the blade finish. MT rectified this situation by using an MRI machine. Every piece of wood now passes through this machine and is scanned to ensure it’s uniform so no “bubble” occur. It was only implemented beginning 2017 or 2018 and the number of warranty claims have fallen close to zero for this issue. I was satisfied. -19 Week Lead time – MT was backed up. Hartzell could have a new Missile prop to me in 6 weeks. MT needed 19 weeks to shipping (and then shipping – which ended up being cargo during COVID – thus delayed as less aircraft were flying across the pond. In addition there was final assembly in the United States which I didn’t realize either by an authorized shop, and then it would be sent to Freeway-W00 – So at least 22 weeks in reality – but it ended up being much much longer). -The look – I know, many people LOVE the 4 blade look. I really liked the elegant look of the 3 blade original Missile and was worried the 4 blade would look not right on the airplane. Boy was I wrong. The 4 blade looks GREAT. Even gives the P-51 vibe a bit. The point is I was concerned over nothing for this. I contacted a few MT owners. Some had positive things to say, some did not. Two particular Ovation owners were very helpful. I was leaning toward the MT. Before I had a chance to choose the prop however, tragedy struck. As a heads up, some of what I’m going to describe is going to be a little graphic for those that get woozy. When I got back from Mooney Summit VII, my wife told me she was really tired. She is an angel to have let me go again for 5 days. I said for her to take a nap, put her feet up, and I’d take care of the kids. She then looked at me and said, “No, I’m tired.” Which was code for she thought she was pregnant. It was true. She tested positive a few days later and we were very happy. This also gave me another data point for choosing the engine shop in case I was going to sell the Mooney in the future in search of a 6 seat aircraft – will explain more during a later post. As noted prior my son is very immunocompromised by BOS – though we did not know to the extent at the time, as we didn’t have the full diagnosis, he was always brining home something. It was always two steps forward one step back with William as often he regresses when he gets sick. He brought home strep in October. My daughter got it, my wife got it bad (with a high fever), and somehow I did not (he also somehow brought it home just last week from speech therapy or physical therapy and my wife got it too from him! My daughter and I tested negative earlier this week). At our 10-week checkup and first sonogram for the pregnancy in November there was no heartbeat. The fetus was there but looks like it stopped growing size wise at about 7 weeks. We matched the timeline back to the strep running through the house. The high fever likely cooked the baby. It was very sad. Though it had been three weeks, the body was still hanging on. We were told to give Meghan two weeks to pass the deceased fetus and then make an appointment to schedule an alternate method to get the material out. Meghan’s body almost two weeks later (five weeks since the heart stopped) started to pass the material. I was actually at the OpenAir 135 annual recurrent training when I got the call that the process was starting. I told her to text/call me if I needed to come home immediately and she said she was fine but would if she needed me. It was about 7PM at that point. When I got home about two hours later Meghan did not look good. Very little color in her face and she looked up at me from our bed and inquired how much bleeding did I consider to be “hemorrhaging.” This was my first indication that Houston, we may have a problem. Well, any more so than we already had. We were told about a pad an hour was normal, but she said the rate was about pad every 45 minutes. To me, it was a pad about every 15 to 20 minutes. She called me about 40 minutes later into the bathroom to let me know she was not feeling well, and mid-sentence on the toilet she stopped talking, went tonic, lost consciousness, and I caught her from falling headfirst forward. She then started convulsing. There was a lot of blood in the toilet as I lowered her to the floor. I made sure she was breathing and called 911. I couldn’t chance it if she was indeed hemorrhaging. I’ve seen Meghan go through a similar seizure like episode before actually during the early stages of labor when our son was born. I can get into that another time but here’s the gist of it: This was not a seizure; it was a convulsive syncope event. Meghan has just lower than normal blood pressure. When a combination of factors come together, just like pulling too many G’s in a fighter aircraft, the blood supply doesn’t get to her brain, she gets hypoxic, and passes out – this is known as syncope. In this case, she had material pass through her cervix which releases a hormone to relax the body. The relaxation causes lower blood pressure. In addition, she lost a good amount of blood, thus she had less volume and thus less pressure in her circulatory system. In addition, she was sitting vertical on the toilet, with the highest point of her body being her head. Earlier she was laying down in bed. Thus, she became hypoxic due to lack of blood flow in the brain and lost consciousness. Then passed out. Classic syncope event. However, Meghan is one of the about 12% of people who when they pass out from hypoxia, her body starts convulsing like a G-suit to increase the blood pressure, and get oxygen back to the brain – it’s actually kind of cool if you think about it. The problem is to those that don’t know – like the team that was about to cut her open during the early stages of labor with my son – all you have to do is lie her down and let her recover. When she wakes up she acts drunk, just like someone with slower/decreased brain function with alcohol acts (similar pilots up at altitude with no O2 and hypoxic sounding drunk). She has a certain cadence when drunk and it appeared both times after these convulsive syncope events. Our live in Au Pair I called via my cell phone while tending to Meghan upstairs. She came up and I had her help me get Meghan semi dressed. She watched the sleeping kids until I could get one of my parents over to relieve her (not how you want to tell your parents who did not know about the pregnancy that they were needed as you were rushing your wife to the hospital and we lost a grandkid for you - and they were wonderful support - always have been). I followed the ambulance to the hospital. I still wanted her to go due to the amount of blood, to get some fluids into her bloodstream, and to just ensure she was okay, as I’m not a doctor (despite what some of my friends say). She passed more material at the hospital and we left around 7:30 AM. Her blood pressure was still typically low, but the ER made the call that she should go home and rest. We had her continue to drink a lot of fluid (she drinks a ton of water daily anyway). We had a 8:30 AM appointment at my son’s pre-school to discuss transitioning him to a special education program run by our county. I got my wife home, turned around and went to that meeting. I was truly dragging and the teacher, school director, and counselor all saw that I was off – I usually have a better poker face. I got home about 10:00 AM and slept for about 5 hours in the middle of the day. My daughter Claire who was four at the time slept through the entire thing and she still doesn't know we weren't there that night and Mommy was taken by ambulance to the hospital. We're not keeping it a secret, we just didn't want to scare her - we'll tell her when she's old should it ever come up. Again, picking a propeller and engine shop just was not important. To Be Continued . . .

Thanks Steve - that's kind of how I've felt the last 18 months too. Other pilots I haven't shared the issue with my son or other matters I'm about to post (yes there's more), are just flabbergasted I was not as upset that I didn't have my airplane for 18 months, etc, but it really didn't matter. However, please DO INDEED ask me anything you want about the airplane - there's more coming in future posts but the more information shared on MooneySpace is part of what is so great about this community. So do ask away! -Seth

No. But I am actually amazed by the release I’m having getting this out to the MoonySpace community as though is public and I do have close personal contacts I’ve shared this with, I know many of you at arms length and some better; again there’s a true cathartic experience occurring. The next section contains another horrible non-flying event. it’s just been hit after hit after hit after hit after hit - and then COVID on top. But you just keep taking steps forward and picking yourself back up! -Seth

Hank- After the second seizure in March 2020, William was put on Keppra to get him out of the hospital as COVID was sweeping across the country and everything was shutting down. William had a negative reaction to Keppra. It made him emotionally unstable. He became sad, cried, and anything set him off toward unhappiness. Due to the consistent nature of the two seizures shown by the brainscan and also the learned asymmetric brain (hippocampus not forming on the right side), we were able to titrate his meds over to trileptal. It took about a month to build up the levels we needed and then another month to wean him off the Keppra. He's his normal happy self again. We increased his dosage after his break through seizure in October 2020, which was also the shortest and least severe seizure we've observed. I am concerned of how the anti seizure drugs affect cognitive ability and development, especially due to his delays, but I'd rather have him seizure free. -Seth

William, my now nearly four year old son, has had issues his entire life. As noted, at 2.5 years he had his first seizure. This was in addition to hypotonia, developmental delays, gastroesphageal reflux disease, strabismus, epilepsy, undersized/underweight, constriction of his upper thoracic airways, asymmetric brain, apraxia of speech, and the need for ankle braces. There are also some minor dysmorphic features. He was just learning to finally walk with ankle braces when he had his first seizure. We knew something was wrong since soon after birth and we are lucky to be based in the Greater Washington DC region with fantastic support and numerous services, specialists and doctors. We treated the symptoms and kept ruling out different diseases and syndromes. No one however could figure it out until we switch geneticists and whole genome sequencing was recommended. I’ll fast forward, in late July 2020, whole genome sequencing found the problem. William is diagnosed with Bohring-Opitz Syndrome (BOS). It’s a very rare and unfortunately serious genetic alteration of the ASLX1 gene. We see 19 doctors and therapists for William. This is a de novo mutation meaning both my wife and I do not carry the gene. The mutation occurred at conception. We have a better statistical chance of winning the lottery 20 times in a row than having a child with BOS. Less than 250 people worldwide have ever been diagnosed. About half don’t make it past two. Of the survivors, half are in wheel chairs due to skeletal or cardiac issues. William has been ruled clear of these complications. 10% of the survivors develop Wilms tumors, mainly near the kidney region but sometimes in other areas in the abdomen. Thus, every three months we take William for a sonogram. Early detection and a surgical procedure cure this cancer. 3% of those diagnosed reach adulthood. The long term survival rate increased recently from 2% to 3% when two 17 year attained the age of 18 and one person was diagnosed in their 30’s. I’m sure many deaths occurred undiagnosed – failure to thrive, respiratory failure, never making it out of the NICU due to infection or other reasons, infant mortality syndrome, etc . . . just like I’m sure more people with BOS are living however misdiagnosed. The percentages though are likely generally accurate even with just a 250 sample size. William may very well be one of the least affected by BOS. He’s a happy kid, fully mobile, and a sweetheart. We are teaching him sign language and he has an augmentative device tablet to assist with expressive communication. He’s becoming more verbal. If you met him you would not know anything was that wrong but if you saw him with neurotypical peers nearly 4 years old you’d recognized how behind he is. He’s also been diagnosed with Intellectual developmental disability (IDD). He has a absolutely fantastic older sister (who LOVES aviation and will be six this summer!), and Meghan and I have processed the long term realities. It’s been hell. And we don’t know any different and love every day with him. Back to the timeline of August 6, 2019: William seized for close to two hours between when we noticed it, got him to the hospital, got the first injection in him to attempt to stop it by slowing/relaxing brain function (it stopped the pulsing motions but he was still seizing, just not as violently), and finally once we got the IV in which took some time (hypotonia – about a half hour with three people attempting to get the IV line in) and valium to finally get him out of the seizure (when his eyes unpegged from looking up and right). He then fell asleep for a few hours. We transported him to Children’s hospital downtown where our neurologist happened to be on that day (we had already performed one Brian MRI to attempt to determine the cause of the developmental delays – really to rule out bad problems). We did not yet know about the asymmetric brain as his second Brain MRI a month later showed that (where the first did not). We spent two nights at Children’s Hospital before coming home. We had a planned family vacation with my in-laws and brother-in-law/sister-in-law and their kids set for August 2019 the week after William had his seizure. It was a trip to Hawaii. We nearly did not go but William recovered enough that we decided to take the trip. He was fine and continued to get better during the trip. He’s since had two more major seizures. He’s now on an anti-seizure medication and has had one smaller third seizure we were able to deal with at home. Between AirVenture, getting the Mooney back to Maryland, the multi commercial, my son’s seizure, and our trip to Hawaii, I had to spend some time concentrating on my business (I run a holistic financial planning firm where I take care of clients, work with other established advisors, and recruit and develop new financial planners). Figuring out where to send the engine and what prop were pushed to the back burner. The Freeway MSC did what was necessary to “start” my annual, then removed the “Maxwell” loaner propeller, boxed it up, and sent it back to Texas. Insurance fully covered the loaner prop. I will later explain what insurance covered and what I paid for out of pocket. I was still at this time getting the written quote form Hartzell for a replacement prop and getting the data from MT as to why it would be a better prop for the Missile. I was also reaching out to suggested shops to get quotes for the engine teardown to be paid for by the EAA insurance policy. It was late September 2019 at this point. I’ll edit the first post to include this next message, and will also state it here. We are not even ¼ through the ordeal yet, but getting this out to MooneySpace, both the family and personal experiences, I’ve realized is very cathartic. Thank you for reading. To Be Continued . . . -Seth

I think one other pilot on MooneySpace has the QC35 and N'Flight Mic combo. We spoke about it a few months ago. Maybe they can give a PIREP. Use the search function to try and find it. I personally may buy the N'Flight mic as well - I have a pair of QC25's and QC35's I purchased off Ebay a while back. I need to test both in the cockpit for how they do in the Mooney. I'll have A20's and LIghtspeed Zulu 3's up front with an original Zulu in the back seat. The QC/Nflight mic combo may be for the back seat, or maybe for me in the future in a turbine or pressurized aircraft. -Seth

Haha. Nice catch. No for 2021. Maybe for 2022!

I will not be attending in 2021. I've actually never attended Sun'N'Fun and have always wanted to. Maybe 2022! -Seth

Here is the next installment: After Ken flew me home from Oshkosh in his 201 (where I suffered from some light hypoxia above 11,000 feet – he was fine – I just became sleepy and nodded off – could also have been due to the stress of the week. I was awake once we were back around 9,500). I have asthma and always feel it when we get above 9,500. Once home I concentrated on getting the Missile back to Maryland if possible. W00, Freeway Aviation and a Mooney Service Center is my trusted crew. The Missile is unique – only about 55 converted and there are just differences in the setup compared to other Mooney’s. My shop knows it well. The prop never stopped turning, though there was an RPM reduction, and I wanted the work done by my shop – again if possible. I ensured the Mooney was towed post Oshkosh to the ramp at Myers aviation on the field and out of the grass. Paul Maxwell as discussed prior had his shop send up the Missile propeller. Myers aviation performed a dye test on the flange and as noted before Alan Fox had removed the prop at Oshkosh and we dialed the crank which was perfectly round. After Alan drove home from Oshkosh he left eh prop in his hangar in NJ. I later drove up from Maryland to get it and it sits in my hangar now. Alan Fox is a good friend. He flew down from NJ to pick me up on 7/31/19 just after I had competed a charter flight in a Cirrus SR22 and we flew in his Bonanza to Oshkosh. We stopped in Cleveland for dinner. We stayed overnight at Oshkosh and early on 8/1/19 we ferried the Mooney Missile back to Maryland. Alan and I flew in formation stopping in Muncie Indiana for lunch. We actually met up with the gentleman who was on the other side of my aircraft at Oshkosh who ended up also becoming a friend – he’s based in Munice. We learned his club 172 had a flat tire prior to departure in line at Oshkosh! What was with our row! I had to make one more bio break in Pennsylvania on the way back. Paul Maxwell was watching online and actually texted me to ensure I was okay during the Pennsylvania diversion. I flew the Missile to W00, Freeway Airport about a 45-minute drive from my home where it would then live until February 2021. On Saturday 8/3/2019 my buddy Ben who owns a nice M20K 231 and I together flew down to North Carolina where we took a three day course to get our commercial multi engine ratings. This had been set up prior to Oshkosh. We earned our commercial multis in a B55 Baron on Monday 8/5/2019. We flew home that afternoon in his M20K. So at this point in the two weeks since the Missile was damaged I had flown in a M20J, SR22, Bonanza, M20K, and Baron. The celebration was brief however upon arriving home. We had a nice family evening. On Tuesday morning 8/6/2019 I went to check on my son, William, who was at the time 2.5 years old, as he was not yet awake and found him mid-seizure in his crib (first seizure). I went into action mode and was lucky we have a very trusted live in Au Pair. My at the time 4-year-old daughter quickly got dressed, and we all drove to the hospital. I took William in while our Au Pair stayed with my daughter in the car and then I had her take her home and then to pre-school. My wife was downtown early that morning and we contacted her to have her meet us at the hospital. I had him to the hospital within about 15 minutes. I will explain more about this in my next post. We spent a few nights at the hospital. To say I was concentrating on other matters than figuring out which propeller to purchase or which shop to send an engine for a teardown was an understatement. This was rightfully so the first series of delays. I know some of you are aware of William’s condition now, but I’ll explain it in the next post. To Be Continued . . .

Mike - that's a good question and I am unaware. Maybe your insurance company could subrogate to the airports insurance policy. Parker may know.

Good point to all of this - Thank you. However the idea is to go the GI275 route first. My HSI is fine right now and is electrically powered. The idea is to get off the vacuum pump system. I've already replaced my KI256A once. I have 300 hours until the vacuum pump hits 1000 hours. Thus, I'm 300 from doing smart maintenance. However, I can instead go on condition and let it keep running since I'm installing the lifesaver - but that's not what I'm going to do. I'm going to install the lifesaver to have a real backup. Then in 2022 or 2023 I'll do the GI 275 and remove the vacuum pump and backup vacuum system. Synthetic vision, driving the king AP, and I just really like the GI275 over the G5. I don't want both a GI275 and G5 in the cockpit - I don't think it will look right with one over the other. However, I'm open to the idea and will research it more however. That may be the best way to go. Replace the HSI with a G5 HSI vs install a separate GPSS box. I'll have to take a look at pricing. If I go GPSS box with the GI275 would be the backup to a potential future G3X or G500TXI depending on what I end up doing with my autopilot over time. I love the GFC700 in new G1000 aircraft I fly so I'm leaning toward a GFC500 at some point when my King KFC200 requires more work than needed to get it going again, but it's good for right now (and hopefully for a long time!). What is the approximate pricing for G5 HSI and 29B installed? Please keep the suggestions coming! -Seth

That's kind of what I'm thinking. A good lightly used GPSS box that will work with the 525A and GI275. But, if the cost starts creeping up and gets close, then dual GI275. What does a used GPSS box go for these days? I just don't know. -Seth

Trust me, it was not free I did turn lemons into lemonade. But I specifically do NOT recommend anyone purposefully get a prop strike at EAA: Not Covered by EAA (your insurance): -Prop strike on the runway -Prop strike while taxing on you own Covered by EAA event insurance: -Prop strike while being marshaled under the direction of EAA personnel/volunteers The further write up will include more information. -Seth

The sound at idle is different. It's different somewhat quieter tone. I'll include There is a distinct sound difference at idle. Both Erik and I noticed that. It's softer but also simply a lower tone - maybe the "scooping" or flexing in of the prop. It is smoother though I used to dynamically balance my prop so it was smooth anyway (but this is smoother) and the pitch changes are faster than a metal prop because it's lighter. I'll write more in the further write ups to come. Yes! I hope to see many of you at Mooney Summit in our "new normal" that should be here by October. -Seth

Hey Sheiff- I'll call you with some of the specific details. Insurance covered a lot of the work - a lot. I'll go into what was covered and what was out of pocket in a later post. They were very reasonable and covered any thing I requested, but I only covered what I should have asked. I did a lot of while the engine is off work and items are already disassembled which was pure out of pocket, but the removal and reattachment were covered so it was worth it in some cases while the items were "off." When the ground is dry most taxing and parking is on the grass, unless you want to pay Bassler to keep your plane at the FBO for I think it's $50 per day of any minute of any day. This gets you onto the field with a reservation when parking is full on the grass, but you can't camp there and it can get expensive. In the past when I've only had a chance to come mid week for two nights I've parked at Bassler. I got charged $150. Each day counts as $50, not each 24 hour period. So if you arrive tuesday, stay all day wednesday, and leave thursday morning, that's "3" days. When the ground is wet, often you are not allowed to taxi on the grass except in certain areas deemed "safe." One year I landed and was told to only taxi on the pavement until directed to the grass parking spot - this was really nice as I worried a lot less. As noted before, one year I was turned around as they didn't like the idea of a Mooney taxing through a questionable area other airplanes were fine to go through. It's most important to keep trim all the way up, control column in you lap, go very slow and don't touch the brakes if you don't have to, instead, simply power back gently and let the airplane come to a stop on its own through grass resistance (if possible). Otherwise brake very gently. -Seth