Seth

I flew from Maryland to Peoria (3MY) and came back the same day. It became apparent to me that the areas around Chicago are not getting any feeds. So, when I checked into certain approach controls and centers, they asked me where I departed from and my destination even though I was already cleared. A lot of aircraft were coming from the North (Chicago area) VFR and trying to pick up their IFR clearance, which was not on file, so they would simply give information and be put on a pop up plan. When they hit Indy Center, they were given their climb clearance. This was on Tuesday, 10/7/14. They stated to a few pilots that they expect to hopefully be up and running on Monday again for the first time, but have the fall back plan of what they are doing. Frankly, as a backup plan, it's working, but those controllers are working VERY HARD. I was routed South around the Chicago Center airspace to the South to get to Peoria which is well South West of Chicago. -Seth

Congrats George! Looking forward to seeing your Eagle in person. Based at FDK?

Around the holidays there are deals, trade up programs (steals), and gift cards that come with purchases. You may want to trade it on or keep it as suggested for passenger entertainment. I got the IPad 2 in 2011. In was spending $300+ per year on charts. So in two years with the fore flight $75 subscription, I "got" a free ipad2. I want the Mini so I will see what deals are occurring Black Friday. -Seth

I had to replace a car battery recently (those of you who have the 2002 BMW e39 M5 know it's not a tiny battery - and I know at least 8 of us have the e39 M5) and after searching and searching, it was only a $50 off online coupon on any purchase that got my cost to $137 for a generic battery. $187 without the coupon and that was the least expensive of the batteries that actually fit. The innerstate battery was over $200 and the dealer and local shops wanted $400-$500 to install it. Did it myself for $137 as noted, but that's one heavy battery. I replaced it 5 years ago for less than that without the coupon. Battery prices have gone up. The market has consolidated. The auto batteries are made by basically two firms and then branded. One is Johnson Controls, I forget the other one. -Seth

Thank you for all of the suggestions. The article link is very much the issue OR just a sticky needle. I'll do the test on start up but if I recall I've never had the glideslope show during the start up test. I'll also tap the unit to see if it's just hung up. I'll call Bob Bramble as well as Lancaster Avionics (the shop that updated the 430W and took it out/hooked it back up). Either Bob will fix the needles or LNS Avionics will hook it back up correctly as it may just be the hook up for the ILS did not get reattached correctly. -Seth

Thanks for the summary George. Any MooneySpacers stop by and say hello to you?

How was it? It got windy and the temps fell as the day went on. Any SFRA issues? How did the tower do with the extra traffic? Any important announcements? -Seth

George- Wish I could swing by and say hello but I can't due to the Jewish Holiday on Saturday. I know AOPA didn't realize the date when the decided on the event, but I'm ticked I couldn't make it up there as I'm a half hour away. Have a great time tomorrow - you should have a lot of visitors. I'll swing up to FDK sometime soon. -Seth

No mechanical switch. It's the VLOC/GPS button. However, it flew the GPS approach just fine. It didn't visually show me on the HSI itself the glideslope even though the AP that was getting the signal from the HS had the GS indicator on instead of the ALT indicator on and was flying the GS. Just visually on the HSI the "bar/needle" never came down. -Seth

So I shouldn't have started that discussion about Aspen vs HSI because though I had never had an issue before, I now have one. When conducting a flight early Monday morning to ensure I kept my instrument currency, with a safety pilot on board, I was vectored for an ILS approach and my glide slop indicator never came alive on the approach. I disconnected the autopilot, and then hand flew the approach on com 2, and did the same on my second approach. On my third approach back to my home base at GAI, I decided to see if in GPS mode the glide slope would come alive. It did not. However, the KFC 200 did intercept and start flying the glide path, and did all the way down to "minimums" when I disconnected and landed. Looking more closely a the glide slop indicator, it seems as if the indicator was working, just showing at the top of the instrument (as if I was way low). As in just where I could see it at times toward the top of the indicator. This is the yellow indicator on the sides that shows the glide slope. So: 1. The Garmin 430W is sending the proper information to the HSI to fly the plane 2. The HSI/Autopilot is indeed receiving and flying the Glide Slope on a GPS approach perfectly 3. The HSI is not indicating visually that proper glide slop 4. I did not run a check to see if the ILS was flying properly with the Glide Slope - will have to check that another time The glide slope indicator is either not working or working but indicating only at the top of the device I did have the 430W removed and had the software updated. I realize now that I had not flown an approach since then. Does that mean potentially that a connector did not get plugged back in correctly and I'm just noticing this? Is this a typical indicator of a KI-525A getting ready for overhaul? In the future I will fly the heck out of the box when removed and reinstalled to ensure everything was put back properly. I have already reached out to and left a message for the avionics shop used as they may know more about this issue than me. Thank you in advance for the collective knowledge of MooneySpace -Seth

Example: I found out about a memorial service for a good family friend in Margate, NJ on Monday night. A few of my family members flew up with me for it. I was at the Atlantic City FBO on Monday night. I called ahead to see if they had a crew car I could use vs getting a taxi or rental for the few hours I'd be in town. I let them know it was for a trip 6 miles from the airport for a meorioal service, not heading to Atlatic City to gamble. They could not have been happier to let us use one and said for us to call 15 minutes out on their frequency so that they could call us a taxi should the three crew cars all be used - but they expected one to be avaialble. I let them know it would be closer to 3-4 hours, as there was the service and then probably some food afterward, and they said it was a slow night and not to worry. I purchased 10 gallons avgas (7 minimum to waive their $45 ramp fee), paid my $10 landing fee, $10 parking charge ($10 for every 12 hours on the ramp), and $5 security fee which ended up being $25 total plus the fuel, Because we had the car more than two hours, we also put a few gallons in it, but for the cost of the avgas, I was thinking I wouldn't, but they let me use the car vs getting a rental or taxi so I did it anyway. I think having a crew car/courtesy car makes a huge difference and is a large added bonus - I try to take care of the establishment that provides them. Every time I've been to ACY now (three total) I've been impressed with them, even though they are the only player on the field. Good quick service and they get a lot of traffic. -Seth

I used to operate out of W00, Freeway airport, in MD. It's a 2400 x 40 runway with trees one end and power lines on the other. I learned to fly my former Mooney M20F there. You have a much smaller room for error, but many Mooney's are based on the field and many come in for service. I've seen TLS, Bravo's, Ovations, and even an Acclaim there. Though based at a 4000 foot field now, I am comfortable brining my Missile in there as long as I depart not with full tanks or full seats - I'm sure I could, but why risk it. There is a orange strip at the halfway point of the runway. If you passed that and haven't touched down, go around. I had a scary touch and go / go around a night at a field in NJ that was 3000 feet long. I'm glad I had 300 HP that night and should have gone around earlier - that was Summer 2012. Landing long or coming in fast means a go around, or a nose gear hitting first means a go around. I'd like to know if this pilot is on our board and know what happened. He walked away, so that's what is important, but it must be hard for him to see his plane messed up. I'm pretty sure it will be repaired because of the value of an Acclaim. Glad no one was injured - that's what is most important. -Seth

Are they required? I have no lanyards on my four fuel tank caps (extended monroy tanks) on my Missile (M20J). Is this a nice to have for the R/S, as I've seen some on older Mooneys (retrofit) or is it required? -Seth

Mine was getting caught/having a "catching" feeling during runup two months ago. It looked fine when I mentioned it to my A&P. We decided to lubricated it as it looked fine. That was all that was needed - silky smooth now - if that hadn't have worked I would have been on here asking suggestions. -Seth

As all have said. Not a major. Most likely two repairs or replacement of cylinders with an eye watching the other four. -Seth

Dave- Thrilled to hear you are okay and thank you for sharing. I can only imagine what must have been going through your head. As others have said, you performed beautifully and walked away. Don't beat yourself up - you made the right moves and landed in the airport environment with a dead stick. Get back in the saddle soon!! -Seth

Erik and I met up when he was in town and we started talking about Aspen's vs steam/mechanical instruments. When my HSI/Artificial Horizon/Altimeter/something breaks and needs an overhaul, I may very well upgrade to an Aspen and thus get GPSS for my A/P. Overhaul of an HSI is $3500ish (ballpark) and GPSS install would be about $3000 (ballpark). For $6500, you are well on your way to an Aspen unit. However, then you have to redesign your panel as well as deal with the reliability of the Aspen units. So - two questions on this poll. 1. Are you considering adding an Aspen unit? Yes? Maybe? scenarios? No. 2. Do you know of any Aspen failures? Yours? Friends? I have four local pilots who have Aspens and two of the four have failed. One owner (who is an early adopter) has had multiple replacements under warranty. Three of these four pilots are on MooneySpace. Thanks in advance for your opinions. -Seth

Yes - you have to go the online route now. -Seth

I love my long range tanks - but I also have the Missile Engine - IO-550. For an IO-360, unless you are continually burning through all the gas and needing a little more distance to be covered between your usual flights, I would advise not getting the conversion. Though the extra range is wonderful, how often would you use it? I know it was worth it for my airplane as I can now fly 5.5 hour legs if need be. Without it, I'm looking at 3-3.5 hour legs at high speed. It adds flexibility for the thirstier engines, for the IO360, it will add endurance, but will without question outlast your bladder. Also, when not needing full fuel, or when you don't want to keep it topped off on the ground because you have a flight coming up with multiple people on board, are you going to go flying to burn off the extra fuel or simply not fill it entirely and let the tanks sit half empty, or with 60 gallons? This will in time dry out the sealant as the best thing for the sealant is to have full tanks. That will degrade your climb and cruise performance and make your flexibility an issue when you need to take a quick trip with two or three others but have a wing full of fuel to burn off or drain before taking the trip. It's the fastest speed addition you can put on a plane as you'll have less fuel stops, but unless warranted, in a J it may not make sense. I usually keep 60 gallons in my aircraft when parked and I know it must be drying out the sealant in certain areas. -Seth

Also, seats all the way back make it easier for ingress, egress. I'm 5''6" and have the seat in the first notch for TO and LND so that I can properly work the breaks. In cruise I click back to the second notch. I'm not sure how much that has to with things, but I know the further back the CG the less drag on the Mooney airframe. With the big Missile engine out front (weight) I like to help move the CG aft in cruise. Part of my pre landing checklist is to reposition in the first notch. -Seth

I knew that - found out when flying in a buddy's plane and then measuring because I felt the right seat was maybe a half inch closer to the right, then realized it was the foot wells -Seth

Seems to me, of course after ruling out the test Jose suggested, that your mixture settings are simply off. From what I was told it's a bladder system that controls how much fuel flows at what mixture and power setting. Again, be careful to check the full rich high power and full rich low power settings. Enough to keep the engine running without flooding it on the low power setting and enough fuel for our thirsty engine at takeoff power. We had another Missile owner on here where the setting was not correct on the high power takeoff setting and he ended up needing a Top OH to fix the fried cylinders. -Seth

Unfortunately not today - I'm in DC/MD not flying up to LNS - but let's coordinate sometime for lunch!

Jeff- I do not have the Rocket but I have the other Mooney to come out of Rocket Engineering; The Missile. It's a normally aspirated IO-550 rated at 300 HP as opposed to the turbo version (the Rocket). I had a similar issue when the engine was at idle after the overhual of my engine. When on final if I was properly configured, the engine would stumble when I pulled the power to idle. Once it actually died on me on roll out on the runway. When the engine was remounted and the idle full mixture was set, it was too much flow and would cause the engine to flood. Once adjusted, this was no longer an issue at idle - as the amount of fuel at the full mixutre low idle setting is no longer flooding the engine and causing it to die. However, the new issue is that when the low idle mixutre is alterted, it changes some sort of bladder which also affects the full power mixture setting. Thus, my full rich mixture high power setting was lowered and I was cooking my cylinders at high power settings. It's an adjust, test, and readjust procedure until you have the correct low power full mixture and the correct high power full mixture. Until you have this resolved, simply lean on downwind so that you're engine doesn't gurgle/flood on final when you pull power out. Just remember ot push the mixutre level full forward on go around! This could be the issue - it may be somthing else - have the full mixutre low power and high power bladders checked and adjusted. Take care, -Seth

Congratulations!! That's a lot of flying and you should feel very accomplished. My former 1967 F model did not have an auto pilot (yes wing leveler) and I hand flew that from DC to California and back in 2010. It felt great. In 2013 I flew my Missile across the country going from DC to San Diego, up to Seattle, Minnesota, and back - even a longer trip but faster with the Missile, Oxygen for catching tailwinds, and an autopilot - the autopilot really does reduce workload and lets you better "manage" the flight. To do it without an autopilot is again, completely awesome - I'd do it both with and without - that sounds like a great trip. -Seth