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Eb, In the beetle it was less critical to wear a seatbelt, you were not expected to survive any impact. The floor would buckle releasing the seats and the occupants. With the Mooney's roll cage and overall strength you need the seatbelt as a final touch... Shoulder belts really put the finishing touch on the safety. The beetle didn't have those either. Amsafe plug anyone? -a-

I used to work under the approach path to one of the runways at red bird. If you have a rental car in your plan, RBD was easy in easy out compared to Dallas Love. Best regards, -a-

Parker, I think you have made sense out of the distinction. M20T will very often take part in the flight levels. M20P, not so much. Best regards, -a-

Don, Unknowingly I bought the 64G last year. Not really knowing how big the iPad nav revolution was going to be. I have not filled 16G yet. If you plan on storing movies and a lifetime supply of pictures for inflight entertainment, things could change. WingX uses less than 2G for an entire country of low enroute, VFR and IAPs. I also got the 3G option just to have the convenience of the internal GPS. I do not actually use a data plan. I think you can safely use a 16G iPad, load it with all your apps including email and have plenty left over. Be careful, once you own an iPad you will find many ways to use it that you did not consider prior. Trade-ins and refurbs are options... Best regards, -a-

Cabana, If they say tree, I say tree. Got this around Philly this week. Runway would be tree six Altitude one one thousand, not eleven thousand. -a-

Phonetically M20P, egotistically append Ovation after /G Best regards, -a-

Hank, Whether you missed something in the stats or not... You have brought forth a really good point. There are two factors involved. The first being the unavoidable failure. The second is can we succesfully navigate to the ground after the failure. My home drome has a wheat field at one end, and buildings at the other... I prefer wheat before wood... Best regards, -a-

You might look to the Type Certificate information for some of the major parts, weight and station.... http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_library/rgMakeModel.nsf/0/60107bc8954c93a686256c24005b5075/$FILE/2A3.pdf Best regards, -a-

Nice advice 64 E. When self diagnosing, as 64 E has pointed out, I connected long leads (wire) into the cockpit, so I could start the engine and read voltages safely from inside the cockpit. Modern regulators (if you have one) may also have LED troubleshooting indicator lights. You may need someone outside to look while you are operating the engine controls. Best regards, -a-

Somewhere there was a 5 seat option for ovations. Bench seat maybe? I have not seen any pictures of one. Best regards, -a- Update: now I have seen pictures of the bench seat and additional shoulder harness for the fifth passenger. Thanks Cris.

When you need "book" number performance, follow the "book" configuration. When the runway is long enough that you don't need a calculator to do the math...Weight, temp, wind and altitude...you are free to experiment, but do so at longer runways until you know how well your ship works. 3,000' is usually long enough for east coast comfort. Decision making at halfway allows you to continue or stop in the remaining length. There is not much difference between no flaps and t/o flaps, in terms of performance. There is real advantage in lowering the stall speed though. What is the advantage of not using T/O flaps? Now you have two take off procedures with two sets of data and no decision tree on when to use which procedure. In my M20C, I never used t/o flaps, but I never went into fields where distance was in question. In the R, I want to follow the one procedure with the full data set that accompanies it. That's my logic, YMMV... Best regards, -a-

74657, Adding to what JimR says...... (1) You may need to update your iTunes to the most recent version (2) then plug your iPad into your computer with the updated itunes (3) sync and upgrade will be much easier... I learned this the hard way. Io5.0.1 has been worth the effort. Best regards, -a-

Jeev, Some things to consider.... At a minimum, make sure the proper hardware is firmly seated all the way up into the receiving threaded holes. The tie down is strong enough to hold the tail down through strong winds, mildly pulling a plane by it should be OK. I would be more concerned with an accident while pulling on the tail, what will cause the damage. The tie down is designed for stresses up and down, both as a tie-down and as a tail skid. Pulling on it laterally is probably not it's primary function. This goes back to the question of weighing down the tail during annuals. The tie down is strong, but the sheet metal that it is mounted to is next in line to receive the stress. It is still a better idea to use a tug on the landing gear. Best regards, -a-

Curt, Most likely it is the browser that you are using. If you are using an iPad, you will need to move up to ios5. Try something different if you can. Good luck, -a-

Can't find the secret button.... How did you update to IOS 5.0.1 wirelessly? Do indeed the iCloud on? Never mind.... Answered my own question. Upon clearing my mind, saying ohhhhm a few times, it came to me.... The magic button can be found under settings, software update. Now I really understand why there are such ardent followers of Apple. It nearly makes sense to everyone. Best regards, -a-

Thank you guys, To recap... We left 12 hours after I launched this request. We considered X04 briefly. We were unable to find a rental car. The AOPA data had a dead phone number to the only FBO mentioning cars. I like simple non-towered airports. Easy in easy out.... We used KORL. Orlando executive. They set us up with a rental car at Showalter (FBO). They were open pretty late when I made the reservation. Great service. They make you feel like you fly a brand new Mooney. We visited KISM. Kissimmee. They have a small museum that is worth giving a look to if you can alter your amusement park schedule. we watched a P51 with counter rotating 3-blade props depart. Jet fast and up close. Name on the P51 "precious metal" Thanks for all your input. We had a great time. It was made easier by knowing what to expect at the FBOs. Best regards, -a-

I am planning to down load later tonight. I justed used WingX to navigate Orlando, FL to Central Jersey. I still have 45% power left in the battery.... Continuous use, no additional charging, no Icloud, just real ones.... Just one point of data."... Best regards, -a-

Duats also has cloud heights. They are always taller than I usually jump. Look for radar, winter weather and cloud heights. They are different ways of looking at the same important data. Nothing beats a pirep. Best regards, -a-

Thanks again. Be safe, -a-

I saw a modified P51 today with a pair of counter rotating props. The filler plates were cracked and stop drilled. Best regards, -a-

There are several people who may admit, early in their mooney careers, they have departed with T/O flaps set. After wheels up, and cruising, why is this ship so slow today? Flaps are still down.... No bent or over stressed hardware from this type of incident? There are several good ways to slow the plane down without needing to interpret what the factory means by flap extend speed. Is there a good reason to enter into a gray zone of bent and stressed metal? Best regards, -a-

Legally you need the "owners manual" for your plane since they did not have POHs back in the day.... For wealth of data that applies to your plane, consider getting the most updated POH available for your plane. I purchased both for my 1965 M20C. The owners manual is a hoot. Best regards, -a-

Consider getting the 1976 POH. It is appropriate for most M20Cs. It will list your SN on the first ref page. I bought mine from the factory years ago. Start there to support your factory, then try the manual repro people... Best regards, -a-

Dan, I can assure you what you see outside the plane while it is parked is not exactly the same while it is flying. The yoke pressure of the Ovation is very heavy while at rest, but quickly neutralizes when moving. Yes, the geometry changes while the trim is operated on the ground. The electric rudder trim is somewhat of a gimmick. I don't have long climbs to tire my rudder pedals. It is a nice to have. The A/P takes care of the roll axis trim. The most important thing is that the plane is basically in good rig to begin with. As far as the tail being on backwards, ours are on straight. It's the other guys that have made a small miscalculation... Best regards, -a-

Expect that the test should light all. I am not aware of any logic that would allow for the lights to be absent when their conditions are met. Best regards, -a-