cliffy

If that is a flap gap seal, probably not. But, it is an easy fix for any A&P.

YA, dodos are fun to catch and eat REAL GOOD! Came back from KERV (Kerrville) to KPGA (N AZ) last flight. Stopped at E11 for gas, get some lunch and to walk around, only 1.6 hrs but we like to stretch and they always have a low fuel price. From there to E98 near ABQ for fuel and a walk (OK we're older and need a break :-)and then KPGA. All done at 12,500, smooth air, cool 57 degrees compared to near 100 on ground. Average 8.8 GPH in cruise at 137 kts TAS. Older D/C but we love it. BTW, most of the way with only the Xponder on, no radio noise. I guess I had too many years listening to NYC and LAX Cener all day long!

As said, probably steering horn wear but could also be low tire pressure. Check tire pressure if it's correct you'll need to find an A&P and jack it up. Hope all turns out well. There are only a few things for him to check. The vertical steering pivot bolt (the big one) needs to be torqued every 100 hrs according to a SB. Other than the remote possibility of other hardware being loose, wheel bearings and steering horn are all that is left.

You didn't say if you were holding ailerons in a slight turn to hold straight and level. What happens when you are in cruise and you are hands off of the wheel? Will it hold straight and level? If it doesn't you have a rigging problem. Start by having your mechanic go through the rigging procedure in the MM to get everything "near" correct. Then fly and see what happens. I had to do several flights with small movements of the flap stops and rudder trim tab to get things done. Then I looked at the ailerons and they were both up some. I then shortened the control rods equally on them until they were in perfect trail with the flaps AND the counter balance horn being perfectly lined up fair with the wing (IN FLIGHT)and the plane flew hands off level and straight.

I agree with you that your mission may be different. I was only showing my rational for my missions in my Mooney. My GPS 155TSO IS a cetified IFR Approach GPS, only it's a non-precision approach unit not WAAS, I have a 430 WAAS in my Twin Comanche. I like WAAS approaches even better than ILS approaches. A good autopilot and a 430 WAAS may be all you need (unless you can't stay away from glass on the panel :-)

One thing to check on a KFC 200 is to check and clean all the electrical grounds around the system. Servos, boxes, any where there is a ground wire, its connection to the airframe needs to be removed, cleaned and reattached. Solves many issues.

Now that is a cool way to wash your Mooney!! :-) :-)

With your stated mission profile a J would do fine at a lot less entry and operating cost. Time differential from a J to something with more HP ain't all that much to even worry about with your mission. With your budget you can get a lot more airplane in a more powerful Mooney but at a higher operating cost. Your choice. Lots of very good, up to date instrument panel, good autopilot Js are available. It all depends on how much entry cost you want to accept. The flexibility of a turbo for going over the High Sierras makes them worthwhile IF you have occasion to do it more often. They also have a somewhat higher entry and operating cost. Without doubt you need a modern autopilot and a WAAS Approach certified coupled GPS. Glass panels can be found and should be considered. You may have to look around for a while but they are out there. You are far better off buying one set up the way you want it rather than trying to modify one the way you want. You'll be money way ahead. As always- YOU NEED TO FIND A GOOD MOONEY SHOP FOR A PREBUY. Preferably an Mooney Service Center (you have a good one nearby in Stockton with Top Gun). Lots of help here but having your own Mooney expert to help you pick a good one is invaluable. Much of the sifting out of the chaff can be done online or buy snail mail long before you decide to go look at one. If you have never bought an airplane before you need to educate yourself before you look. Never buy the first airplane you look at! There will always be another maybe better one around. It's not like buying a car. It's very much like buying an RV motor home- trust no one selling an airplane-verify everything! Get a title search done period! EVERY airplane. no matter how well maintained (or professed to be) has some issues. It's your job to find them. A low time/not flown much airplane is not necessarily a bargain! Part of the fun of owning your first plane is finding the right one. Enjoy the search, ask good questions and stay in touch here and many will help you. You might consider hiring a buyers agent/broker that knows the market and airplanes. Most jets are bought with the help of buyers agents. Too much to lose if things are missed. Same with Mooneys from Js up. You will save their cost easily by them finding a good one for you. I've known one for over 30 years and he is as honest as the day is long and I have no financial interest with him. I dealt with him on the purchase of a Citation and know how valuable he was (he may not work on small a/c anymore like he did years ago). It's just another option to save yourself some grief on making mistakes. Good luck you are on the correct path.

A shameless plug here- In the next "The Mooney Flyer" emagazine I have an article of my visit last week at Mooney in Kerrville. Hope all who read it enjoy it.

1963 renting new C150 IFR for $10/hr wet in $100 blocks and borrowing a friends 182 and bitched when 100/130 went to 60 cents a gallon!

Wing skins are made of 2024 aluminum, It's not weldable due to the copper content. Because the skins are the structural strength of the wing, welding would compromise the skin strength.

Ward knows what he's talking about. In Boeings I taught the 10-20-30- mile rule on thunderstorms. If it was a red cell, 10 miles is too close, twenty about right, 30 probably too wide. It worked for 40 years. Went to Archie Trammel's Radar school many, many years ago. He was the best there was. Radar can lie unless you know how to work it. Flew TB700 with only Stormscope but gave all clusters WIDE berth. If you have a Stormscope, you need to know how to work it, combined with XM you can avoid the bad stuff but do you really want to be out there in that stuff in our Mooneys? Even with active Radar (I love active radar on board) we always avoided by a wide margin. I like visual outside in my Mooney. I've done lots of dodging and weaving in visual conditions. Still do but I don't want imbedded cells in solid IFR conditions. But then again, I've had all the challenges I ever want. I've been to the edge a couple of times and don't ever want to go there again and I caution all whom I know that they really don't want to see the edge either. It ain't worth it! My rule today? In the summer time, if I wait 24 hrs chances are 95% I'll have clear skies. It just ain't worth it! Thunder storms will kill you! There's no second chance if you screw up! My caution to all new pilots I help train? You're not safe unless you've been tempered and you're not tempered until you've done something in an airplane that scared the living crap out of you and YOU know you were the one who did it! It gives you a whole new perspective on flying. Just this last month we had two 500 hr pilots crash near/at our airport. In one they all walked away, in the other two died. All related to inexperience and being in weather conditions they were not capable of handling. As they used to say on "Hill Street Blues" - "You all be careful out there"

He's doing well considering his age. A lot better than most would be. He didn't sign my test flight off but knew who did and he remembered the guy that signed off the AW in 64. Still lives in Kerrville and does receive guests who call ahead. I didn't stay too long as I didn't want to over stay my welcome or tire him out. He had a couple of good stories about the infamous flight with no bearings in the tail hinge and what his favorite early airframe was. Absolutely an A, Number One, person.

I figure my C is a "low dollar traveling machine". If I wanted all the bells and whistles I'd go 201 or up. As a low dollar scheme, I don't want to go upside down on radios. I also looked at my flying profile. I've done all the 600 RVR Auto-lands I'll ever do. Done all the 200 & 1/2 in blowing snow I ever want to do. I don't have a need to PLAN a flight with a landing in those conditions anymore. I do want to be able to "occasionally" go cross-country (with high ceilings) direct, on top. I do want to be able to shoot non-precision GPS approaches "occasionally"! Where I live and fly, winter always means ice when IFR so, if I can't do it VFR I don't go. I do need to do an occasional ILS and marine layer climb out so IFR capability is needed. With all that in mind, I have a King 155 Nav-Com and a Garmin 155 TSO GPS with a Britain Accu-Trac auotopilot for straight and level flight. I use an iFly 700 on my control wheel to track the flight and approaches. I know if everything goes bad I can do an approach on just the iFly 700 if I absolutely had to in an emergency just like I used to practice CAT III 50 ft approaches (in good weather) by hand flying (CAT III for those not familiar is A/P Auto-land only). This fills my flying profile to a "T". I'd never get my money out of a C with top dollar radios. I'll never get top dollar for even a good C model (the market just isn't there). So, I fly cheap, I keep it in good shape and I enjoy relaxing and flying (sometimes without any radios on except the Xponder) for hours at a time. When it comes time to sell, it will sell for what it is worth and I'll have had 20 to 25 years of cheap flying.

I did a 2 year college course in 1967, went to work the next Monday for Continental Airlines. We have a local guy doing the "experience" route and the PMI for the 135 company he's working for has him doing a log book for every hour he spends in the shop doing his 1800 hrs for the test. Has to log times and what he did. approved by the Director of Maintenance

From point A to point B in my 64C I get 16 to 18 nautical miles per gallon. I like MPG as a cost planner. I typically use WOT and 2500 RPM and lean to just shy of peak EGT. Just did 5 hrs today at 12,500' and trued 137 kts. Had a conversation with Bill Wheat 3days ago and he agreed 135 to 140 kts is about right for a stock C model. If I'm just tooling around the lake sightseeing it's 2500 and what ever MP gives me the speed I want, leaned to 100 short of peak just in case I need to add power in a hurry ( usually DAs of 7500 to 9000).

His blood chemistry is different either from genetics or adapting to high altitude over time. He probably has much more hemoglobin than any of us.

If the airframes are the same (J-K-M-etc), the flat plate drag figure is the same (we're talking generalities here) therefore speed is directly proportional to energy expended at the prop for thrust. BUT you can't double the fuel and get double the speed. Drag is a logarithmic function. If you want to go fast(er) you gotta burn the fuel at what ever altitude you are comparing at. How fast and at what cost is up to you. As an example, on a 727-200 I'd do .78-.79 MACH at 9,000 lbs/hr. If I wanted to do .88 it was 12,000 lbs/hr. a 33% increase for 13% more speed. A 737 is even worse above best speed/fuel.

Didn't know him but hope he has a strong recovery. Best Wishes to him and his family.

Round inlets like a LoPresti- Hmmmmmm Nice!

Unfortunately I'm way up in Page! or I'd be glad to help you out with my 64 C model. Any chance you're coming up here in the near future?

Well yes and no. It doesn't draw it flat dead and it does get recharged the proper way instead of just with the alternator. All battery manufacturers recommend a capacity check as part of a Continuing Airworthiness requirement.

Just a thought- Any time a lead/acid battery is completely discharged it losses some "capacity". The amount of loss is related to how long it was flat and how many times it has happened AND how old the battery is. The next time you fly and have to depend on that battery for radios (alternator failure!) you may not have much battery power available until things go quiet and dark. Your battery is your last line of defense if you loss your alt. It pays to keep it perfect. It may save your life! If you fly IFR with one alt/gen and one battery you might want to have a battery capacity check done after a discharge event to see how much is really left in your battery if you need it. You also might want to do this if your battery is 3 years old or older. Here's a question to ponder- When was the last time you had to change your battery because it failed? You probably found out it was bad when you came put to fly and the engine wouldn't turn over-right? Starting uses very little of the total capacity of a good battery. If it won't start the engine there was very little of it left anyway. What would have happened if on your last flight before you changed it you were IFR or night and lost your alternator? How much help do you think THAT battery would have been then? Lights? Radios? Instruments? GEAR?

So when you retire-What's your hurry???? :-) :-) Slow down and smell the roses! Enjoy the trips while you can. My wife and I decided to do just that and stayed with our C model!

I remember reading the quarter issue somewhere long ago but had forgotten all about it. GREAT rehash of the way to do it!