Ned Gravel

Quote: jetdriven Is there a website that shows fuel prices for Canada?

I think it is a safety thing. Prop going around in circles and no one at the controls = Recipe for disaster. There is a reason it is in the regs somewhere. This actually happened at my former home drome about six years ago. When the court cases were all settled (damage only - no injuries) the owner of the idling (and vacated) aircraft lost their license and the owner of the damaged aircraft spent two years not flying.

Three days ago on Sunday. Beautiful weather. Took a friend and his girl out for a fam flight. She sat in the front seat and got to fly a little and get the itch for the formal training leading to a license. I love watching that happen. Land. Put gas in the aircraft. Say goodbye to friend. Put my girl in the right seat and headed north to the Georgian Bay lakeshore and the community of Collingwood. 6000' X 100' runway and a pristine little restaurant in the main FOB terminal. Turns out it was also a BBQ day / fly in for the Canadian Recreational Aircraft Association (RAA). Had lunch. Talked to pilots. Flew home with girl. Aaahhhh. Life is good......

I agree with Richard. I had 5 pre-buys done before the one that resulted in the purchase of C-FSWR. Each cost me about $500 and each saved me about $50,000 in mistakes. Three were US aircraft and were done at reputable MSCs. The money you spend on that level of knowledge and expertise will save you a bucket load of trouble and cost later on. As for the electric actuators, I think the good ones are the slower ones (40:1) because of the lower stress on the system caused by a longer cycle time. But I am not an expert in that area. I own a manual gear Mooney.

I second lahso's advice to get it inspected by someone who knows Mooney's. Most mechanics find them to be "knuckle busters" and are generally frustrated by how their construction restricts access to components that are normally easier to access in Pipers and Cessnas. These are some of the things I have learned that are specific to E models. Mooney SB 208 is about examining the steel cage for corrosion that may be caused by water leaking onto this frame, especially on the port side of the frame. Being parked outside increases the chances of that and you have to pull the seats and the side panels out to inspect the steel members. The ram air duct is notorious for having holes in it and letting crap get into your fuel mixture. If the your 69 E model has a doghouse (old style baffling) around the engine, it has probably worn through in one or two places. The amount of play in the tail is a telltale sign for any mechanic who actually knows Mooneys. It is easy to check. The aircraft will fly rock-solid straight and level, hands off, in any conditions that are not turbulent. If it does not, then there may be something out of rig. Properly rigging a Mooney generally takes more than one flight. If yours is not a Johnson bar manual gear aircraft, you should determine which actuator is actually installed. There is a difference in reliability of the 40:1 system when compared to the 20:1 systems. This one topic took 25 minutes of Jerry Manthey's class when he was still teaching it. Hope this helps.

Quote: HopePilot I think ELT nailed it. He has never touched anything in the past, so seeing us with an anemic rate of climb he resorted to his previous memory.

Quote: N6719N ....The only way you can be sure what you've got is to over prime the engine. That's right, prime it good, and then prime it some more. Then, push in the throttle to full open, and pull the mixture all the way back to fuel cutoff. Now, with one hand ready on the throttle, start cranking the engine. As lots of air comes into the engine without any additional fuel, the fuel/air mixture with go from too rich to more lean, until the engine gets to the exact right fuel/air mixture and begins to fire. When it starts to fire, let off of the starter, pull back the throttle to idle, and quickly push the mixture in to full rich.... ..... I am not saying it is right, just sharing what has worked for many years on many different aircraft, including many Mooneys. Good luck!

201er First the wings. Our aircraft have essentially the same wing. There was one year where a "twisted" wing was tried on the F model ('67 or '68 I believe) but that did not last. There was another year where the owners (Butler aviation I believe in the same era) tried saving on labour costs by not using flush skin rivets but that dissappeared to. By the time Roy LoPresti had made the changes which we now call the J or 201, most of the cost-cutting silliness was gone and replaced with well engineered speed mods. Next the airframe. Your aircraft has 10 more inches in length than mine. 5" of that is forward of the firewall and 5" of it is between the rear and front seats. Your aircraft weighs between 80 and 120 pounds more than mine depending on how much of the weightier junk we have each replaced with lighter weight versions (eg SkyTech starter). See http://www.pilotfriend.com/aircraft%20performance/Mooney/41.htm and http://www.pilotfriend.com/aircraft%20performance/Mooney/47.htm. We have the same engine, but you may have lower gear doors. I do not. Your engine intake is better designed than mine. Mine is a real study in aerodynamic innefficiency. I have a doghouse surrounding my engine so as to channel cooling air. You have baffles just like the rest of the world. My oil cooler is on the front of the cowl. Yours is behind number 4 cylinder. We both have one piece winshields, but yours is more sloped than mine. As a result of these differences, and using the same engine as I use, you are 20 mph or so faster than I am. This help?

Steve: There has already been some discussion on this at http://mooneyspace.net/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=1&threadid=143, Norman and Gretchen Howell have a completely tricked out J model and you can see what it looks likes in their photogallery at http://mooneyspace.net/index.cfm?action=gallery&userGallery=412. Norman goes into some detail on what is involved and even gives some idea of the improvement in performance, although I think he is referring to another test aircraft.

Dan: City Centre is a very nice airport. Almost like Meigs Field in Chicago, but with a ferry for the 50 yards between the island and the mainland. Its main FBO is Porter Airlines and you will find them OK. Not a lot of hanger space but tie downs are available. Cost is about $25.00 per night. Nice approaches over the water, but you should be aware of the noise restricted areas.

Got signed off by the club instructor on "station keeping" today. This is a cool skill set with one draw back. No watching the instruments or any gauges. Just watch the lead with a hand on the throttle. That's it. Lead the turns going in my direction and slow down to stay behind - count three after the lead turns in his direction and speed up to keep up. Taking off and getting to cruise altitude can be a little complicated with all the counting and joining up. It gets easier with practice but we were only two aircraft. It is going to be interesting for each flight of six. This is the first time I have flown my aircraft for so long without doing cockpit checks. Drove me so batty, I had the instructor checking the guages for me. This type of flying is done by sight and feel alone. Totally wierd for me. A lot of trust is involved. And that is the hard part. Keeping station requires such focus on the aircraft that is your reference to the exclusion of so much else, if he flies into the ground, he takes me with him. There's gotta be a way........ But I am now ready for the Caravan.

Dang Ned! That's a lot of money to pay after pre-purchase (unless you put it new avionics). My first Mooney had a pre-purchase and cost me about $7,000 in unexpected expenses, but my second one only cost me for the extras I added (MFD, WSI, JPI ED700, Garmin digital transformer, and GAMI injectors) and a couple of grand for autopilot repair. I was a lot luckier the second time around. Lew Powell '82 M20J N36CE Lew: You wouldn't believe what my hired shops found. Longerons rusted on one. Two prop strikes without the documentation that demonstrated correct tear down, inspection and repair on another. Holes in places where there should not be holes on a third. Top overhaul needed on a fourth. On the one I bought, the unduction tubes joints were sealed with some gunk (supposedly a lazy no-no). I still put $21,000 on mine when I bought it, but at least the issues were not airworthiness ones. And that was my criteria. They were all improvements, as opposed to repair.

I add one quart at 5 qts too. Lasts anywhere from 6 to 7 hours that way. Change it every 25 hours.

K First piece of advice is to invest in a good pre-purchase inspection. Heard two more horror stories from our local Mooney Service Centre today about pulling someone's bacon out of the fire because of the decisions they made before plunking the dough down. Lots of free advice to be had from all of us (like this piece too) about where to look, what the good deals are, and what options to buy - but not one lick of it will beat what a good MSC will tell you about the airplane, while it still belongs to someone else. in 2004, I put five Mooneys through pre-purchase inspection across North America for nearly $1,500 all totaled, and not one of them saved me less than $20,000 in heartache, including the one I eventually bought. Good hunting.

My girl and I are flying from the home drome (CNC3 - Brampton) to a little one about 60 miles west of here (CNM4 - Stratford) to have a picnic lunch with the parents of our eldest son's fiancee. Her dad is looking to fly so I will spend a little time with him while the ladies prep the picnic. Although we are doing this on Saturday (Sunday is booked with the baptism of a grand niece) I consider this to be a Father's day gift to both of us (the fathers). Both of us get to fly. I will have the added pleasure of watching a 50 year-old man develop the look of wonder most often seen in little boys. Works for me.

I had a similar circumstance when I was buying too. I bought C-FSWR in 2005 with 1640 hours on it. Four years later we found a crack in my crankcase at 1960 hours, so I had to overhaul it then. Otherwise, I would have kept it going "on condition." You just have to listen real carefully to what your engine is telling you and take no chances. Clarence and I both feel that it would have gone longer if it had been better maintained before I got it. If the pre-purchase inspection shows OK, you will probably get another four years out of it. But it may not go beyond TBO. If the pre-purchase inspection shows any maintenance shortcuts or sloppiness, you will be lucky to go to TBO. That kind of maintenance usually results in some problem or other that may only appear with the 240 million cycles representing 2000 hours of operation (assuming 2000 rpm of course). Keep us posted on your options and your search. Good luck

Here's mine taken at rest during last year's Sloshkosh. Vintage Aircraft Camping. My avatar was taken while passing abeam of a C model with a photographer copilot while returning home to Ottawa last year as well.

Jason: When you log in, look at the top right of your screen. See attached. If the login name you see is not yours, the system has logged you in as someone else. Easy fix. Log out and then formally log back in as yourself.

Ron: My 65 E model already had an STEC 50 installed when I bought it and the attached photo should give you an idea of how they hooked up the AP and Alt buttons on the left handle of the pilot side yolk. My PTT is also on that side of the yolk. You can see the STEC 50 over the right side of the same yolk.

I feel for you guys. This would be tough for me too, but I am luckier than most. My best friend (mother of my children and wife of 32-plus years) falls asleep in the right seat all cozy under a blanket within 10 minutes of rotation. 20 minutes later she wakes up and spends the time looking at the wonders our flying can provide her. Bumps put her to sleep. Hard IMC is reason to read a book. Breaking out of clouds puts sparkle in her eyes. Makes my day.

Tony: My A&P installed one on my aircraft three years ago. I got another one from Spruce last year at Oshkosh to give to a friend (owner of a C model). Best place is probably Spruce. Cheapest on-the-ground cooling system I know.

Larry: I did the same thing. My girl and I spent a Saturday cutting and putting it up and along the sides. While I had everything out, we plumbed in the new 406 MHz ELT, re-installed the dome light and put in a cabin speaker (because the GMA 340 can actually power one) and replaced the broken overhead potentiometer for the shoulder lights. Funny thing about your post is I think Clarence also bought the same stuff last year and used it too. He is the one who told me about it in the first place. We got ours from the local Spruce shop (we actually have one in Canada). I got 5 rolled feet of it and we had about two square feet left over when it was done. Was yours the black stuff with the sticky backing too?

Clarence: I guess it got done when I wasn't looking. I hope to see the results next week when I am back. I will be looking for something similar when you do my 201 windshield in a couple of years.

Us too!! We hope to join the Caravan this year. We really liked the VAC area close to those restaurants on the field. Don't know if we will go to the North 40, but we are definitely going. Has anyone figured out a replacement for Trey and Lela's Orange Juice?

Brett: Your post is very appropriate. We often spend too much time worrying about the things not done correctly and not enough time thanking those that have done things correctly. Your words represent the opinion of a professional who considers himself lucky to be dealing with the folks he is commenting about. These are words worth reading. Know that, because of what you have written, I would be inclined to make use of the services of Aero Innovations should I ever need service on my aircraft while in that part of the USA. Thank you for that.