Ned Gravel

My logbook has 4.5 hours on it. And I missed one of the earlier sessions that Yves was able to attend. Sent from my iPad

Looks like I am going to follow Brett on the ADS-B choice too. I already have Foreflight - so the Stratus 2 it is. Not really worried about traffic. What I really need is a tool to warn me about stuff when I am already in the soup.

Yves, myself and another Mooney driver from Kingston Ontario. Today we practiced three-ship formation and changeovers. Apparently some of us are getting better without all the bobbing. Making much less use of aileron (supposed to be none) and practiced the overhead break. This photo was taken by the instructor in our friend's Mooney (they were number 2) as they are switching from starboard to port of the formation. Yves is leading and I am number 3.

Oscar: One of our members (Piloto) has done quite a bit of that. See if he chimes in here.

Back at the training!! Yay!! Here are a couple of pics. And Yves posted a short vid to YouTube here

...you can't be a square peg trying to fit into a round hole... +1 Sent from my iPad

Apparently they are moving to Kerrville from San Antonio. Sent from my iPad

+1 for Brightline. The older version. And for me, I can carry my Halos in it and not have to leave them in the Mooney. Sent from my iPad

Fantom: As in SEAD Wild Weasel? Was that you in previous life? Now there's pucker factor.

I am a lucky man. My girl loves to fly with me. She is generally asleep within the first 10 minutes after take off and wakes up 20 to 30 minutes later. The more bumps the better. She took the pinch hitter course when I was flying welded-gear Cherokees and Cessnas 20 years ago, but she is now less comfortable trying to do things from the right seat of a manual gear Mooney. When we go on long cross countries I pull out the emergency checklist that has her doing the work because the pilot is now "incapacitated." We will then practice the procedures and we have come to the decision that if I am out, she will not need to worry about the gear. I have even got her to do it all until quarter mile final. With a little more encouragement she should be able to learn how to do that part to. Just not right now. When that day comes, she will practice with one of the best instructors I know, the Chief Flight Instructor of our club. And she will do fine. She does not really want a licence, but she does want to share the experience with me - a la Richard Bach. I really like that.

I was one of 11 owners in an Arrow and when that came to an end (whole story in itself), I decided to find an RG where the gear was some sort of manual arrangement (also part of the other story). What kind of aircraft has a manually retractable gear, huh? Found it! Never thought I would be lucky enough to own a Mooney. It gives a pilot bragging rights. So here are some of the mysteries of a Mooney one can play up: - Hard to land (myth) - They don't like to go down or slow down (partly true until you learn how) - You gotta really stay ahead of the airplane or bad things will happen (I like this one cause it is true = our aircraft demand competence) - 150 kts on 10 gph (bragging rights associated with this one) - rock steady through conditions that will make a Cessna bounce up and down (only serious aircraft are stable IFR platforms) - 2 hours and 30 minutes between our national capitals (except for the stop for CBP of course) I had already "settled" for less once. Not so now.

Yeah: Here I am stuck in DC and these guys get to practice for the Mooney Caravan without me. Fortunately the two instructors are pretty good. Yves hasn't mentioned it but they are two of a three-generation Pitts aerobatic demonstration team. The elder isn't interested in instructing, but his son (#2) and grandson (#3) are both pretty good at it. I recommence training the week after next.

Ouch. Endangered species there.

Mine too! Although he was a bit of a redneck. But a great author. Sent from my iPad

I do not have any evidence available about how long they last, but I do trust my AME (ya'll call them A&P) and he recommended the Plane Power alternator conversion for my E model (convert from generator to alternator). It is what I have now and I like it.

Flying with Yves today

I have a friend who works at Transport Canada that owned a Trauma-Hawk for many years. He finally bought something a bit larger, but when he and I flew together, his comment was that the only difference in flight characteristics between his aircraft an mine was the cruise speed. His needed agressive pitch down to get out of a spin before anything else. We never tried it in mine, and I nave never gone beyond the actual stall break although I did drop a wing once. But if it ever happens, I know to push hard on the yoke and keep it there until the rudder responds. In the meantime, I try to fly not too close to the edge of the envelope that includes spins.

Cancelled lots of flights to fly commercial instead. While I would like to think that my Mooney is also my best business travel machine (fun as well as cheaper within the first 5 hours) I have often had to recognize that the weather conditions for my intended flight were beyond the capabilities of this pilot/aircraft combo. I generally end up cancelling between 4 and 6 business flights per year. We recently came to the decision that Ned Air flights from Ottawa, Canada to most points in North America between 15 Nov and 1 Apr has about a 60% chance of being scrubbed and rescheduled on commercial aviation. So that will save us a bundle of "last minute fare hikes" and keep the business travel more within budget. The complexity and cost of flying a turbo and FIKI aircraft currently outweigh (significantly) the hassle of having to fly commercially during that period or any other time that flights have to be scrubbed because of weather.

I had to practice them under the hood during my IFR training. Good wakeup call. Helped me better understand the flight envelope for my bird.

Cyril: I don't think we have any Mooneyspace members from Toronto. You might try talking to the folks at Tri-City in Waterloo. Clarence looks after four or five local Mooneys and another four or five from Toronto (Burlington, Buttonville and Brampton). I don't think there are any at City Centre (Toronto Island) - but I could be wrong.

Yves: Thanks for that one. I was wrong, obviously for that part of Canada. Do you know if we have a similar one in the NCR?

Aviatoreb: For uncontrolled airports, we don't normally open on the ground and I do not believe there are dedicated phone numbers for that purpose. Normally, it is an automatic open at a specified time. Then you are in the system. I have heard of one instance or two where you get to open on the ground, but I do not know where that was. If you filed IFR, you can open with the closest tower/terminal/centre frequency specified for your instrument departure If you are departing from an airport with control facilities, some will require you to speak to clearance delivery even if VFR. Once airborne, the tower opens the plan. Hope this helps. The numbers Yves gave you are for filing, not opening, the flight plan.

+1 Sent from my iPad

My favourite is the SR-71 in the Mooney museum. "Birds of a feather......" and all that. Just sayin'.....

Just watching this one and not interested in spending the money on an Ovation, but all the "caveat emptor" comments notwithstanding, these two will probably find someone gullible enough to buy it within their conditions. Sad.