podair

here is my current panel

Great point, but already got one of those too (MH O2 system), been regularly using O2 for fifteen years, best investment I made in my IFR flying since GPS I think, especially as the Mooney is quite happy in the mid teens despite being normally aspirated. One of my regular flights is a late afternoon / early evening flight on a Friday for 2h30 to 3hrs, usually at 9 to 10k, I used to arrive exhausted especially after a busy work week, now actually feel more refreshed when I arrive in time for a great dinner! I have an O2 cylinder in the hangar and do my own refills. Darn... no no brainer upgrades then... got most of them... new kitchen will have to go ahead then... What's the verdict on the single piece windshield from the early 70s Fs (ie not the 201 one). Easier cheaper to install, keep the inspection panels, but not sure if there is any great benefit and if it looks any better.

agreed, a good engine analyser is a must, first thing I installed when I got the F twelve years ago, and if I ever get another plane. 700 first then upgraded it to a 830 when I re did the panel last year. thanks to all for the great comments so far, lots of good points. 201 windshield conversion was my plan for a while, until I really appreciated the value of the access panels when I got some avionics issues. Now that it has all been redone maybe not such an issue, maybe I ll give it another thought!

since installing a Lasar cowl mod my CHTs are more evenly spread. My cylinder 3 was always hotter by 30 or so degrees. Now cyl 3 is in line with number 2 , they are routinely within 5 degrees of 295 ish for cyl 1 , 320 cyl 2 325 cyl 3 , 310 cyl4 in cruise, and rarely above 365/370 in the climb. I used to aim to keep 3 under 400 in the climb now 370 is the hottest it gets. I did not really get a significant TAS benefit, maybe a couple knots but proper rigging is probably more effective. Still, very happy with the mod, nicely installed flush mount when the aircraft was repainted and very happy with the CHTs.

I have a stock 1967 M20F with a three blade Hartzell and cowl closure mod. Typical flights are 400-500nm at 9-10k feet IFR, where I routinely get 143-145kt tas at 8.5gph. I am debating whether or not the following upgrades would make sense. If you had to pick , which one? Low single digit AMUs only please... Powerflow exhaust? it seems it is optimised for the altitudes I fly at Single windshield (not 201 style, I want to keep the access panels, also have just repainted it in 60s factory scheme, so want it to look original). Monroy tanks? Not really needed right now but I would like to do some serious long distance flights in the future (Europe-Africa), dream on. Electronic Ignition? My slicks seem to be doing fine, no issues with starting. or do I just wait a bit and save , to install the Garmin autopilot when available (have a good old Stec 40 working fine with my GTN)? Avionics wise I have just done an upgrade (new panel with one G5+GTN) but of course there is always a wish for more (that G3X looks great...)!

Awesome job, hats off to the passenger too for keeping calm. IMHO, perfect emergency landing in the circumstances and of course right call to land immediately. Who knows what a baggage door stuck to the tailplane does to the airflow or structure! Dropped the gear when you had the field made, great stuff. No one got hurt and the aircraft is even repairable. I was hoping to fly OSUS at some point (I fly the twins in Dan's group) to see how the K is different to my F but looks like it won't happen! Drop me a line if you fancy a flight in an older Mooney out of Denham. Definitely going to go to Charlton Park now... I can't believe I've been flying here for 20+ years and never been. Get the Husky or any taildragger and have fun on farm strips in the meantime!

sorry to hear about the mix up. I might be interested. To install these on a 1967 M20F, I need to replace the senders with voltage (not digital) cies ones, or can I use the old senders (probably a bad idea) or at least the wiring?

I fly my M20F pretty much exactly the same way as Mr Brown... mine is probably a tad slower but solid 140ktas... stock 1967 F with harzell 3 blade. I use the Mooney to fly to our house in France on a regular basis from the UK, and tend to always fly the same route/altitude. My typical route is around 350nm, of which 30min over water from UK to France or when I was living in Spain over mountains, so I tend to like to fly relatively high. Over the last dozen years and 1200hrs I also find that the ideal is 8k-9k feet leaned at 33litres (8.75 gal/h) at peak/slightly lop giving me 145kts, map around 22 and 2500 rpm (46 key number). Very often fly at 10k due to the airway structure here and 32 litres (8.5) there gives me 143kt, map dropping to 21 (with boost on) . I have O2 so sometimes fly higher due to weather and it is pretty happy 12-13k and slightly higher, but at the cost of some speed where I'd struggle to get over 140kt tas for 30-31 litres. So roughly 1litre (.25 gal) for 2k feet. Double the litre/hour and you get % hp. These numbers are so consistent that I was once getting 5kt less and wondered what was wrong. Turns out the step had not retracted as the tube to the vacuum had come loose. I could lean probably a tad more LOP but it quickly sounds a bit unhappy. Will look into the Surefly next time the mag inspection comes up, the Electroair is also an option.

A good baseline on fuel prices in Europe is Total's Avgas pump rate in France. France has one of the more active GA scenes, and fuel prices are relatively low by European standards, although very expensive by US one. Current price has come off quite a bit, April as in the link below was 1.94, now it will go to 1.64euro a litre from 1 May = $5.65/US Gal https://www.total.fr/mes-deplacements/aviation/carte-air-total-france Total supplies most of the airfields in France and you get a flat rate with their card, and self serve at a lot of places. UK prices are about 10%-15% more expensive on average (my last UK invoice in March was £1.92 per litre around 2.15 euro), German and Spain +33%, Netherlands and Italy +50% just as a ballpark, local pilots feel free to correct. As you can see from the link, Jet A1 is much cheaper (lower tax), hence the relative popularity of Thielert/Austro diesel engines, and mogas alternatives (particularly in NL and Germany), and also why the ultra light / LSA segment is booming. 95 unleaded in France is around 1.40 euro a litre / £1.20 in the UK so at least a third cheaper.

That's exactly what happened on mine, after I replaced the alternator of course...

do you want a KMA24 ?

I had the privilege of seeing that M22 on a stop over at Fairoaks (EGTF SW London) a few years ago. I don't think it was ever based there, probably stopping over too, but even there got pulled out of a hangar so I am sure it got well cared for.

I have a nice KY97a for sale and will look at offers, complete with tray and connectors

still have the KY97A com, accepting offers , really is in perfect condition, with tray and connectors.

Great, that's exactly what I thought the 155xl would be useful for! Send me a PM with your email address, and I ll send you some more details with photo etc.

yup, the F is a great all rounder. I have had mine for 12 years now, approx 100hrs a year, I used to have a Robin 300 before but it was getting a bit tight and marginal for IFR. I thought about 'upgrading' but frankly it suits my needs perfectly (400nm weekend trips UK-France) and has been extremely reliable and costs manageable and predictable. Anything faster or bigger would mean a big jump in the flying budget which I could not afford. Kids are a bit bigger now but with tanks at tabs I easily fly out of our grass strip in SW France in summer. In the past three years I've now redone the interior, had it repainted and upgraded the avionics, so it should be good for another fifty years!

very nice F Frank. Wasn't it based in the UK at one point? I think I've met the previous owner who I think moved to a Seneca to fly his growing family (don't tell mine!).

I clicked on share and it created a code 1571HYR9 To be honest my M20F profile is pretty bare bones. I took the M20J one and adapted some of the speeds and w&b, so I am sure it can be further refined. Pretty adequate for my needs. Then again the profile I use on EuroFpl seems really accurate, the plogs are accurate to the minute, but as you rarely get to fly the exact route you filed, pretty academic.

I use autorouter extensively, absolutely awesome product , let me check how I send my M20F profile over

Trig is a fantastic company to deal with. I had zero issues with my Mode S transponder for 10 years, recently the button started playing up a little so as I was having an avionics redo I sent it back for a bench test and refurb. All done within a week at a very modest cost, and they threw in a new tray as I was still using the old KT76 tray and wanted extra connector space for ADS B. I also have their small 8.33 remote radio, great piece of kit, also zero issues.

oooh... the slider one used on M20Fs? will take a pic of mine Thursday

yep I was thinking along the lines of the door strut stcs they sell for Cessnas and Pipers and wondered if something similar exists. Then again if a new one is cheap, I might as well just replace it. Will call Lasar.

hmm, good idea, I ll have a look at that.

Hi, following an avionics upgrade, rather than keeping them on a shelf, I am selling the following items, posting it here and on Beechtalk before I try Ebay. Happy to discuss offers, all guaranteed to work or will refund your purchase if not. Garmin GPS155XL TSO IFR unit. Great gps, really debated whether I'd retain it as GPS2 in my Mooney but not enough panel space (I replaced it by a 750, amazing unit). I flew tons of GPS approaches with it (no vertical guidance obviously), very straightforward, especially in combo with a colour handheld like the Garmin Aera. With GPS antenna (GA56 not WAAS), data card, Jepp Skybound USB programmer, all pilot and install manuals and may have (not guaranteed, have to look for them) spare connectors but these are easily sourced at Steinair or Mouser. The enter and clr button are well used as you can see from pictures but all function perfectly. Never had a single issue in 10+ years, I thought of keeping it to install on a homebuilt with the indicator sold below but not going to happen in the near future!. $750 Ameriking AK950 Switch and annunciator panel for the Garmin above, $150 with wiring manuals, had it connected to my HSI and KNS80. Be aware AK have been shut down by the FAA (issue with their encoders, not this unit), so I am not sure you can legally install these anymore, but never had any problems. I also have a Mid Continent MD40-242L CDI for the Garmin which I bought to set it up as a GPS2 but that idea got shelved. $150 It would be pretty easy to wire that to the Garmin for a cheap standalone solution as an approach capable solution in a homebuilt or lightly equipped aircraft, so I thought of keeping it on the shelf for my dream Piper Cub or C140 but not going to happen! have the wiring manuals King KY97A 760 channel com with tray and connectors $650 worked perfectly and LCD screen perfect with all pilot and install manuals and wiring diagrams KMA-24 audio panel with tray, no connectors $100 never had any issues, used with a Telex panel intercom (will add that on list once I take pics) with all pilot and install manual and wiring diagrams I also have a KNS80 but doubt anyone would like one, worked great but takes a serious amount of panel space! I am looking for an Attitude Indicator with vacuum flag and ideally internal lighting (Sigmatek 5000B), if anyone has a nice unit PM me. Shipping anywhere included at the above prices (despite being based in the UK...), will accept PayPal or wire transfer Photos to follow

thanks, but on the F it is a slider that clicks into place when extended, I ll try and take a picture next time I fight with it.