29-0363

I checked and yes, they do use a hotmail account.

Really great! Can you share with us how you attached the camera to the fin and the belly?

Doesn't seem right. Have you checked if the globe illuminating the window is still working?

Google is your friend..... http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=scale+model+mooney+airplane

Keep the Mooney and sell one of the children?

Could the previous owner could enlighten you?

Through (my own) inadequate pre-flight checking I had the baggage door open at about 45 KTS while accelerating for take-off. Instinctively I closed the throttle, but what happened next was a lesson I wasn't expecting. The rudder trim set for take-off is fine as long as you're barrelling down the runway at full power, but the instant that power comes off everything is reversed and the yaw generated from the rudder setting almost sent me off into the rough. Now it's instinctive to put the boot into the rudder when you do a touch and go, but I was not prepared for the opposite. The previous (and only) time I aborted a take-off was while training in 1977 in a Grumman AA-1B with only a fraction of the horsepower. That incident certainly made me more respectful of the relationship between the rudder and the power settings, and as well as being ready to put the boot in on take-off, one of my pre-landing checks is to trim the rudder mid-position (from top of descent), with both feet firmly on the rudder for balance as required.

I have an Australian approval to mount a Tachyon XD camera to the hoist point, and am applying for the GoPro approval at the same point right now. You need to talk to your mechanic for a start as to whether he can sign off an installation. The FAA would not be as hard as our Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) in getting an approval. I have not found the need for isolating vibrations, but I have found that the strobes can occasionally cause flicker on the image. The GoPro adhesive backing has been left in place without peeling off the protecting layer, so in effect it does have a dampened connection. I would not use the suction mount, because once you get to altitude the reduction in atmospheric pressure means there is less differential force to hold it in place. I have a suction mount inside the cockpit that I can almost guarantee will fall off at 8,500'. Apart from the loss of the GoPro, imagine if it fell off over a populated area, hurt somebody and was traced back to the owner from the video content (assuming the SD card was undamaged).

How was the one you lost mounted? How was the one you didn't lose mounted?

In answer to earlier questions and comments: The WiFi works for both the under wing and wing tip locations. I've used both the GoPro remote and the Android WiFi App. I'm not familiar with the GoPro Black (yet).. And some questions: How was it mounted? What speed were you at when it separated?

. Same setup on the wingtip.. http://youtu.be/dGNvYwKWVHQ

I loaded a picture into my gallery (29-0363) showing my Tachyon camera mount, and I'm in the process of having a GoPro approved by our Australian regulators. This is what it will look like. http://youtu.be/r2RXjmVfxxY.

Thanks for the compliments. The scene shortly after take-off is the Mount Lofty Ranges, which is the backdrop for the City of Adelaide,plus there had been rain recently, hence the greenery. There are a lot of forestry, horticultural and viticulture activities in that area. The landscape in the Mount Lofty Ranges (especially the further North you go) is very much like the Napa Valley CA.

The one other great joy I get out of flying is conducting an Angel Flight. I fimed this on the day I flew to Mount Gambier in South Australia to collect a young lad and his mother for a specialist appointment at the Adelaide Children's Hospital, following his recovery from an almost fatal respiratory infection. http://youtu.be/fFxDqLMYB8E

To do justice to your question involves telling a little of my life story. I learnt to fly a long time ago (1977), but when I started up my business (fortunately successful) it kept me too busy to do anything much else. For many years I managed to keep my licence and medical current, but that was all. The situation changed when in 1996, two business associates that I admired passed away in quick succession - one from a heart attack at 52 and the other by his own hand. The shock of losing these friends compelled me to reevaluate my life, values and priorities, and I became determined to pay a lot more attention to people I cared about, do a lot more flying which meant buying my own aircraft, and set a plan to exit my business and retire within 5 years (managed to do all three!) Now I can talk about why I chose a Mooney. Most of my (320) hours were on Grumman Tigers, but I'd flow both the Mooney M20F and Rockwell 114 and liked both, and decided it had to be low wing, 4 seat, retractable and CS prop. I managed to locate a couple of likely aircraft for sale, and did a quick inspection of both. This is the best part: I was really concerned my wife would veto the idea, so I took her to see them both, got her to sit in them etc. and instead of asking could I, I asked her which one she preferred. Rather than saying we couldn't afford our own aircraft, she picked the Mooney (as I'd hoped she would) and I committed before she could change her mind. That was in 1996, and M20E 21-1165 was a great airplane that would TAS at 145 KTS 10 USGPH. The only downside - operating here in Australia the range was somewhat of a problem because of refuelling locations. Moving on, my wife was a very enthusiastic passenger, and after a few prosperous years in business I was able to convince her that an Ovation might be a good idea, and so in 2000 I went to Orlando FL and bought N60FW (29-0156) with about 60 TTIS (1200 TTIS when I sold it in 2006) from Showalter Flying Service, and it was flown to Australia via Hilo, Kiribati to Brisbane the Adelaide, where it became VH-OVN. At that time there were only 2 other Ovations on the Australian register - now there are 12 others. The Ovation would have to be the best engine/airframe combination ever produced, and while fuel use went up, so did the speed and effective range. It was easy to plan a flight of 900-1000 NM across the Australian Outback without the need for intermediate and remote area fuel stops where prices at say Birdsville in Queensland are above $3.00/litre - that's over $10.00 per USG. Another important thing is the IO-550G is normally aspirated meaning there is no turbo to worry about, but it still will reach FL200 without a lot of difficulty, in fact I managed FL220 on one occasion. Now I have 29-0363 (since 2006), having bought it through Richard Simile of Premier with 82 TTIS (now 705 TTIS). It was also flow across the Pacific in ferry configuration. Strangely, the feel of the controls in the newer Ovation are much lighter than the earlier one, not that I minded either, but initially I over controlled until I adjusted. I believe the Hartzell prop is an improvement on the McCauley fitted to the earlier versions. I am impressed with the Continental IO-550G for performance and reliability, and the only problem I've ever had since 2000 was a leaking exhaust valve needed to be re-seated. Would I buy another Ovation if MAC were still making them? Yes - in a heartbeat!

I have a 12v Avionics Products landing gear actuator kept as a spare when I had my M20E. I've moved up to a 24v M20R so It's now for sale. SBN M20-279 Rev B has been done with zero time since. I need a reasonable offer above $2,000.

Missing logbooks can mean a couple of things. (1) The airplane has a history that the seller does not want you to know about or, (2) They are genuinely lost/missing/destroyed. Either way the value is substantially diminished by the missing logs and the price must be adjusted for the risk you will be taking. You need to factor in the worst case scenario, even though it might seem to be good deal. Now imagine it's you trying to sell that same airplane in five years time. An well informed buyer will baulk at the lack of history and make a low-ball offer in the knowledge that it's a difficult airplane for you to sell. An airplane in good condition with complete logbook history is hard to sell at the best of times. Got the picture?

Needs to work with Australian registrations!

My reply is based on the assumption you have inner gear doors. On my previous Ovation, my mechanic, his sidekick and I spent 2 full days troubleshooting including bleeding multiple times, removing cylinders and replacing seals etc, until I actually got down and watched the movement of the caliper and found the cause (the problem appeared at the end of an Annual inspection). Has there been any recent maintenance on the U/C recently, particularly removal of the gear doors? It is possible to refit the inner gear door in a way that interferes with the disc caliper. The door pressure against the caliper will increase the clearance between the disk and the brake pads, requiring a number of applications to get the correct pedal "height". Check the gaps between the disc and brake pad - the clearance should be minimal either side of the disc, and if that's what you have, look elsewhere, but if you do see a gap on one side and no gap on the other, operate the brakes with an observer. With the brakes hard on, release and watch the brake pads relax. If a gap reappears, look to find out what is causing it - in my case it was the improperly fitted inner gear door.

The appearance of the cover looks really odd, as if there is no tension on the straps and no stretch in the bottom edge from front to back. What are you trying to show in the close up picture of the baggage door? I've bought two covers from Bruce's for my current and previous Ovations. The first time was in 2000 and was a perfect fit, and it's lasted 12 years without showing any signs of deterioration. The second one was in 2006 when they messed up on an antenna location but after brief correspondence it was resolved to my complete satisfaction. After a question earlier this year about cleaning and waterproofing, they sent me what I needed free of charge (to Australia) including postage. If the good service I've experienced is their benchmark, I would try once more to resolve any issues. Maybe you need to send the cover back with some additional measurements and ask them to re-make it.