Seth

Well done!

What is the cost to add TKS to your bird? Just a thought. I checked out your for sale website and admit that it comes off as very honest and transparent. Whoever purchases your 82 J will have a turnkey airplane in good shape - and they can replace the bulb behind the AP indicators. -Seth

Tomorrow is the last day. I'm curious how many Mooney's on this board have filled up? -Seth

Bill- Thank you and great news. Looking forward to watching developments as they occur in Kerville. Please do not keep us in the dark when you are allowed to talk, and we'd LOVE more updates as events warrent from the factory. Again, thank you. -Seth

The senate passed the bill accoridng to AVWEB that was emailed out today. House passed it unanimously in July as indicated by previous posts on this topic, not sure about the senate vote numbers, but it passed. -Seth

After using Alex's RedLine Sidewidner again, I may have to switch my vote - for getting in and out fo the hanger precisely, the sidewinder may be the way to go. -Seth

After using Alex's Redline Sidewinder for the second time yesterday on my missile, I'm sold. It moves the aircraft at a slow but constant pace. You have to be careful to gently ramp it up and gently come off the drill actuator, It has good control, and moves the Mooney Missile just fine. It's electric, no gas smell, easy to set up, and you can bring it with you if need be in your airplane. My tug is on it's last legs but still working. It's a fixed up EZ 35 Powertow. I may sell it soon and get the Redline Sidewinder. The big negative is that you can't really use it to take your plane around the ramp - such as to self serve fuel or to the wash rack - but then again, you can always simply fire up the engine for that distnace and taxi. -Seth

Welcome to MooneySpace Raygun. So you are aware, the C and E are the short body, with the F and J being the medium body. Stay away from the G (C's engine with F's body - slowest of all Mooney's). The great aspect though is that for the pilot and front passenger, there is very little difference in the C, E, F, and early J's - the front seats have the same legroom. The stretch to mid length in the F and J added space to the backseat. So the pilot will only see a handling difference. if you can swing it, go with the E or F. There are a lot of amazing C's out there, but in Texas on hot days during summer months, you're going to want the extra 20 horsepower the fuel injected engine gives you. The F does what the J does, for less money, and is about 10 knots slower. I used to own an F because I wanted the backseat space. I figured I would own the airplane for between 4-10 years before I upgraded. Three years later, I sold the F and purcahsed my Mooney Missile, which is Amazing (modified J with a larger engine) but starting out it would have been too much plane for the first 100 hours. If you can swing an early J, you may never buy another airplane. However, again, a good F has great value to it. I looked at E's and F's originally, and of the six I looked at, I went with the F. You get better useful load, even though the E is a few knots quicker (same engine, short thus lighter body). The E is the performance champ, the F has some of the best useful loads in the entire fleet. The C is perhaps the best bang for the buck in general avaiation. You can usually get both an E, F, and J to run lean of peak, but of course, not always as every engine is different. Figure out your price range, then go shopping - undersetand that you are going to end up spending 10% of your purchase price in the first year on maintenance you didn't see coming. -Seth

I've kept versions of my map over the years and its fun watching more colors appear as time goes on. I only count states I've actually landed in, not just flown over. -Seth

Thanks Craig! These two new forums will hopefully be well used and is another reason for people to donate to MooneySpace - you built it, listen, and react quickly to suggestions. Well appreciated - hope the donations are doing well to get us at least another year of fantastic service. I'm going to call my MSC on Monday and tell them to either reprise their account or creat a new one for the vendor section. -Seth

Some engines have different manufacturers cylinders mismatched - as noted if the compression, bore, and all that stuff is the same, the engine doesn't know the differnce. Many aircraft when a jug or two need replacing do not match the cylinder. They go with either the cheapest, the best available, the newest technology and such. Some owners try to match for resale value so that the logbooks and engine look unform. I looked at an airplane for sale about six years ago and the cylinder cooling fins were slightly different, fond out it was because ti was different cylinder manufacturers. Engine purred very smoothly too. My aircraft, and my former aircrat, all had uniform cylinders. -Seth

They wanted to see if fuel price was the reason GA is getting smaller and people are flying less. So they got sponsors galore to help cover the cost of fuel. They have each person filling up fill out a survey as well. It's a neat campaign. They sold even more then expected, thus they are cutting the program in half. -Seth

40 hours in a week? 20 round trip for you and doing it twice?!?!? Good for you Mike. -Seth

HAHAHA - That makes a HUGE difference. -Seth

Exactly. We should be fine, but if a typical Mooney can make it to lets say 50,000 hours (and ours are way less - mine is in the 3500 to 4000 range), with slightly higher speeds cruising, then that's slightly more loads than the rest of the Mooney fleet that was built with our airframe. With the T-34's failure was calculated with the crazy G-loads around 6000 to 7000 hours, not 50,000. So, if we are slightly heavier and faster, then maybe we should hang up the wings at 40,000 hours not 50,000 hours. Not something to worry about now, but in those 75 year old DC3s with 100k flight hours . . . Also, I spoke with Air Combat USA. Evidently they rebuild their SF 260 Wings every 7000 hours. The remove the wings and have them rebuilt to new standards. That way any fatigue that may be in there is "erased." That's good to know - they operate 9 of them and have never had a crash in their 20+ years of operation. -Seth

According the article they usually sell 4000 gallons permonth. By the 15th they are expecting to hit 90,000 in 15 days if the pace stays up. It's a 6.5 hour flight for me - hmmmmmmmmmm -Seth

The Missile Not me - Looks like his name is Henry. If they gave $1 gas to race, I'd head up to Cleveland. -Seth

The purpose of this post is to learn of all flight operations currently offereing simulated air combat - moch dogfighting. I've been reading up a lot of what happned in Georiga with Sky Warriors and their T-34's in 1999. In addition, Texas Air Aces operation that had similar issues with two aircraft (2003 and 2004). Also, I've been looking at the businesses that still provide this hoot of a time to most of us non actualy fighter pilots. I have read a lot about the T-34 AD and the amount of lifetime stress that can build up on an airframe that can cause failure multiples sooner than normal flight parameters (6000 hours vs 50,000+ hours). High G flights continuously very much add up over time, espeically when rolling at the same time. Frankly, it makes me wonder a bit about my own Missille and of course Rocket STC conversions if not smart with turbulance and the green/yellow arc location. I know we have some fighter pilots on the board, and thus their opinions on this would be very much welcomed. This thread is not meant to start a discussion on these moch dogfight operations, but mainly to find out if and where they are located besides the three I'll list below. I may start another thread for true opinions. Without proper training and even with, air combat is phenominally dangerous. I've only been able to find three companies that still conduct real mock dogfighting in piston aircraft. -Air Combat USA based in CA with a nationwide tour during the year (SF 260 and Extra 300 aircraft) -Sky Combat Ace is located in Las Vegas with Extra 300 aircraft -I think there still may be an outfit in Texas with unknown aircraft Does anyone use T-34's anymore after the three incidents of wing separation? Did Air Combat USA use T-34's in the past or only the SF-260 and now Extra? I know Gauntlet Warbirds does have upset recovery training, but not dogfighting. I remember seeing an outfit a few years ago that used Bulldogs. I've read a lot and see both sides of the equation. Safety vs a whole lot of fun vs risk factors. It's an expensive venture from the costs quoted by Air Combat USA. However I do see the stop in Lancaster PA in early April 2014 and my wheels are spinning. I know the insurance costs must be very high. Are there any mock dogfight outfits or business besides the three listed above? Thanks, -Seth

That was a heck of a storm that rolled through. I landed just ahead of it and got the plane in the hanger as the rain hit the airport. Listening on the radio to the lack of information given to the pilots was disconcerting. It's one thing to protect yourself and not say anything that could cost you your job in the letigious society we live in, and it's another thing to cut the crap and say: "the tower was hit by lightning, no takeoffs and landings are authrozied, the field is temporarily closed, no movement allowed, and relay that on ground to each other." Then, someone with a hand radio or ground crews that have radios could simply slowly bring the aircraft at the pilot's discression and liability, as the aircraft is under their command anyway, back to the terminals in a very slow, but safe fashion. Just saying ATC 0 and having now one know what that means is not productive - still, a good learning experience. -Seth

Mike, I was going to state if only they had the $1 deal on the East coast but now I can't say that. Great job, nice 20 hours! -Seth

I called my Mooney Service Center and they found out from the internet and calls just like we did. They have not yet recieved word from Mooney directly (maybe one or two of the premeir MSCs have, but not mine). -Seth

SO SORRY! Hopefully your bird won't be down for too long. Smart to have it taken care of. -Seth

In my 1967 F 200 HP Lycoming - It was about 1 QT every 7-12 hours depending on how I ran it and how full it was. In my current aircraft, the 1983 M20J Missile 300, the 300 HP Continental which I overhauled at purchase, has about 220 hours on it including 120 hours since the Top (partial warrenty repair on cracked cylinders) is running wtih knock on wood amazingly low oil burn. Probably 1 QT every 15-25 hours. I tend to put in a half QT in depending on how I run it once it hits between 15 and 25 hours, and then it's oil change time before I put anything else in. I try to change the oil every 30-35 hours as I OH this engine and want it to last. -Seth

Thanks Craig!! Donation in. You let us know anytime we need to contribute. Still can't believe how useful this site is every day. I joined about a year after purchasing my first Mooney. Amazing it's been half a decade. I also think a vendor forum would be nice as well. Maybe a Vendor and Expert Professional forum where a legal disclaimer states that they would be liable for nothing they state and simply it's asking questions, but we know that they are the experts. -Seth

I see what you mean. Good luck with your search!! Maybe someone needs to get rid of their ovation with TKS. Where you live, FIKI would be nice in the winter, and early spring, and late fall -Seth