triple8s

http://www.mooneyevents.com/spins2.html

Left brake binding/sticking? if the wheel has been off and the tiny little spacer is on the wrong side of the wheel then it will cause the caliper to bind once the brakes are applied. The wheel wont bind after reassembly until the brake is applied, once applied then, the caliper wont release fully.

Well...... I have debated as to whether or not to mention this but what tha H3LL if you are looking for nose gear components? Look at KMOR there is a fellow there who I'd bet has what you need. If I need something I always ask him, his father has owned more Mooneys than anybody I know of and probably more than anyone on this forum, controversial, notorious, famous whatever you want to call them they know Mooneys and if you are looking for parts they WILL know where to get them. If you want a contact number I'm sure someone on here knows it, just ask.

All those emergency personel they should have put'r back on her legs the Aussie way, and forgot the crane. I have seen a lot of planes ruined by the crane.

My dad is in his 70's and loves to go places and do things, we have always been close but my flying is something we just dont do together because he isnt a small guy. He is about 6'7 and over 300, the biggest problem is the seatbelt. I was wondering if there is a seatbelt extension. I have seen these for various types of offroad equipment and wondered if there was such a thing for a Mooney. Allso, is there any reason why the seats dont adjust between the last setting that locks and full aft position? Only reason I can think of is for CG but if the seat is that far back no one can be in the rear seat anyway. Anyone else have large passengers?

I was a Cessna pilot before the Mooney and one of the things I had to learn was the leaning required to keep the plugs from fouling while on the ground. Not saying you werent leaning properly but I know I wasnt in the begining, also, it is even more crucial in hot weather. SOP for me now? Lean till stumble at Idle and then richen slightly. Forget to lean and it will show up at the run up. I began to have starting problems and at run up last year, turned out the mags were getting weak so I had them OH last september during annual. You may have mag problems if you are already leaning after start up. Usually if you have any mag trouble it will show up during start up or run up. I flew a 172 with an O-360 lyc and leaning for taxi wasnt an issue in that plane even though it had the same engine, but in "my" Mooney you will lean for taxi.

I dont know what you gain going from a 30 to a 60 but I can tell you this. To have a "legal" installation an authorized S-Tec dealer must install any of their units, that dealer must have an install "kit" which includes the 337, it must be for your serial number aircraft. It must be tested, if any of the parts or pieces of the existing system are left in the plane it will have to be inspected and tested, by that authorized dealer. The install kit from Cobham will cost 1500$ thats dealer cost. Then there is the labor for any and all installation labor and tests. I had a 60-2 in my plane and couldnt find paperwork nor anything on the FAA CD so I had an expense piece of hardware that I couldnt use. To be legal I would have had to disconnect the power source and label it "INOP" so having gotten the IFR ticket, I spent a little (did I say a little?) got a G430WAAS and HSI installed, and while into it had the S-TEC all straightened out. Now I have a nice looking C model with nice avionics low time engine and prop. Yes I have more in it than i could sell it for but I have several years to enjoy it. I only wish I had've went with the new digital transponder, oh well, I'll have to suffer with the knob twisting. The funny thing about all of this is I found a rocket forsale right after my work was done but I am a new IFR pilot have about 500 hrs and I havent "needed" more than 880 will give. Until I grow as a pilot I will hang on to her, hard to beat her for just two people.

I've been waiting for Garmin to offer training/sim units, at a modest price of course. Lol

I have Saitek stuff http://www.maingear.com/saitek/

I used Redbird at the flightschool for IFR training and bought enough stuff to set up a flight sim at home. It helps me I can plan the flight and fly the plan befre I go to become familiar with the flight. I have a cheaper setup at home, Microsoft X which I feel is good enough to get a preview of the flight. I do think its important to get the instruments, radios, yoke, pedals and throttle quad. Peckin on keyboard to manipulate the sim will not help much. so get all the hardware you can. Goflight makes about anything you would want but its pricey Saitek makes cheaper stuff but it does work.

I agree, partly, however I am not advocating flying the approach by memory and without a plate open and on the board, just that you should know the intended approach, then if you need to divert you arent trying to read the missed approach proceedure while flipping to the alternate plate and making all the changes to the plan. I am saying EVERYTHING that can be done to prepare outside of the airplane, before take-off will only reduce the workload even if you do have to go to the alternate. And the sim? Well, like them or not, for me, if I can fly the approach, in realtime weather or weather of my choosing, practice system failures, or almost any scenario you could face all without risk. Anyhow there are many choices out there for training and.....the most important thing IMHO is to choose an instructor that IS a teacher. That was the point I wanted to get across, dont let the dollar or time decide for you, get a good one.

I have been flying since 1996 took a very long time to get my PPL and this was largely do to my lack of funds and a wife which had more important things for me to do on all my days off and after worktime. In 1999 I got rid of her and got my PPL, took me 4 CfI's. Instructors, there are instructors that have a rating and there are those that are actually teachers, I have been through 5 instructors over the last 17 years and I have to say the last one taught me there is a HUGE difference. John, my last one, he is mid to late 60's, has flown all his life in south Florida then in the Navy. Flew off of carriers and over southeast Asia, from there he was instructor for the Navy. He knows how to teach. After he got out of the Navy he went to work for Eastern Airlines, this guy is the real deal, he is a hard ass too. When I finished my instrument checkride the DPE told me that was a very good check ride. So to make a long story short, choose an instructor wisely, there is a difference, and imerse yourself in the material. Soon as you are ready for the written get it out of the way. Try to be ready for the check ride with in a month or two after the written. If you wait too long between you'll forget some of the material when check ride come around. I took my training in a C172 because things happen fast in the Mooney and also at the time I didnt have really good equipment in my bird and John has good equipment. Simulators, John is a BIG believer in them he makes less money when they are used but I have seen what a difference they make, when you are in a SIM and something comes up we hit the pause button and talk about it. You cant hit pause in the plane. I really cant imagine learning something so important from anyone else, I would really scrutinize my next CFI if I ever had to choose a new one. John is so different, everything is...checklist, proceedure, by the book. After preflight and run up he teaches to do the IFR preflight using the "walk across the audio panel" method, I had never heard this before. I wish I had learned my primary instruction from him. Another thing I did, I bought a flight sim for home. I can plan a flight, fly the plan and shoot the approaches. I have done this before taking trips and I did it before my IFR checkride. I have the yoke, radio panel, throttle quadrant, rudder pedals, and instrument panel. This for me is very valuable because you retain the frequencies (some of them) and IMHO if you dont almost know the frequencies and altitudes for the approach before you fly it? You wont have time to look at the chart and fly the plane, especially a Mooney, things happen fast. a Flight SIM at home will help you here. After you get your ticket you can use the SIM to fly the trips before you actually go, I even printed out the flight plan and took it with me on the actual flight. I have rambled on enough I guess I just cant say enough about the importance of the instructor, a good one will prepare you a bad one will give you a license to go out and get you and or your family and friends killed.

When might this adventure take place?

Isnt a Cirrus a Plymouth?? Or was it a Dodge? Wait my bad its a Chrysler.....

If one were to be involved in an accident violent enough to slip/rotate the clamp and bend the attaching bolt to the point of breaking I would have very serious doubts that it would be a survivable impact. I would get written approval before drilling in,to any structural component. I don't like surprises.

Guys sometimes people are particular, yes some people are and some not so much. We all have our things we "nit pick" when I bought my plane it had a very nice A/P in it, everything about it works fine. Looks very new, buttons show no wear what so ever. One problem, couldnt find 337 for it, I tried the FAA CD, tried finding previous owner who had it installed, nothing. I couldve flown it like it was, with no paperwork, but my choice is to do things by the book. Thats my choice, so in this case I coughed up 1500 plus $ for an install kit from Cobham and paid an authorized dealer to inspect, test, blah blah blah and other nonsense. Didnt have to do it, doesnt make it fly any different but I know 100% EVERYTHING is documented and is RIGHT on my 48 year old airplane. I have more in it than i can sell it for yes, but I know everything is right and when I sell it, I'll tell the new owner "it is what it is". Thats also a lesson I learned about the prebuy and going through the logbooks. Live and Learn!

I heard once that medical O2 had more moisture in it than FAA certified O2, maybe wrong but if it did it could cause a valve problem in below freezing temps.

It gets signed off by the mechanic you trust so much to do that pre-buy....lol

I see the drones circling around Cedar Rapids !

Theoretically speaking, what if you bought an aircraft that had a mod or several for that matter and you didnt do your homework. Couldnt you end up on the ramp somewhere and get grounded if a "knowledgeable" FAA person were to see something that they happen to know isnt stock and they ask for paperwork (which you wouldnt have)? Wouldnt this ground the A/C till it was either returned to stock condition, had a field approval or paperwork was produced? Right? I can see where if you didnt really do your homework you could get into a real expensive mess.

I may be different than most people, but damage history isnt the issue to me, when you are looking at 40 or 50 year old machines if it doesnt have some kind of damage history it has been a setter and that isnt a good thing. IMHO what would concern me is improper repair methods not made in accordance to AC 43.13-1B or damage/repairs NOT documented. As they say here at work, " DOCUMENT DOCUMENT DOCUMENT" A well documented repair out in the open doesnt concern me, the hidden things are the nightmares. Mice damage, hidden tubing rust, spar corrosion, propstrike with no PSI, flood history, equipment with no 337 filled, repairs made using improper parts or materials, these are things I worry about when I am considering an aquisition. Something else that is amusing is how I hear "oh this guy" or "this company is hones"t or "this guy" or "this company is crooked", well its no different than a used car market and if you dont do you homework, do lots of digging and put the pieces together you are very likely to get screwed thats just the way it is. Take NOTHING for granted and take nobodys word for anything. If its a great price there is a trade off somewhere, maybe a major accident, maybe bad logs or something but it is there, otherwise it would have a premium price. You have to be certified to work on aircraft and fly them but you dont have to be certified to get educated so if you are in the market for a particular model/make learn about them and educate yourself, then you have the knowledge to make your own decisions. Take your mechanic sure but put YOUR eyes on it KNOW what you are looking at. That's how I feel about it.

The worst thing about these types of people is what they do to the rest of us that try to fly responsibly. The media ALWAYS sensationalizes the event and then you have people that over react like the principal who expelled a grade school boy for eating his pop tart into the shape of a gun.

Seems like the only time I ever use tiedowns is when I stop somewhere for a short duration, if I stay overnite somewhere I almost always have it put in a hangar. I always want to be in the back of our hangar so no one touches it, even if i have a Baron to move when I fly. Am I too over protective? If I trade up how will I ever get up the courage to leave it at a strange airport on trips????

Its not a J cowl, I have the J cowl mod and the air filter is on the engine baffling not on the outside of the lower cowl, the oil cooler is inside the cowl and fed air through scat hose, also you can see a row of fasteners going down the front side of the cowl and a J doesnt have them. I see the carb air inlet and think it improves the looks a lot. Its a shame that a small thing like that is out of reach for certified aircraft. A lower cowl closure and a cover over the landing light plus a carb air inlet mod makes so much difference in the appearance.

Piper, I'm curious to hear about La Paz I have always wanted to go hope we can hear about your trip. It looks like a great destination.