Immelman

As with so many things it depends... My home airport, if I fly the approach to minimums/the missed approach point, requires circling and that is very common due to the nature of the local marine stratus. I've done it so many times it is second nature. Now going to an unfamiliar area... terrain? Obstacles? At night? Yikes... In a transport!!? Those factors complicate things immensely. In the B1900 they did train us to circle using the VOR-13 into JFK (lead in lights) which was kind of bogus, but it "checked the box". Doing it for real in the airplane was a real challenge. And that was a very pilot-friendly airplane. In a larger jet transport with high maneuvering and approach speeds, where things go really well if you're where you need to be, and not so well if you're more than a little off... no thanks.

Pirep from returning to the line and a trip that spanned west coast, latin America, east coast, over the western Atlantic a bit, over the western Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico: This is still predominantly in eastern continental U.S. phenomenon. And is pretty annoying. Had to violate the regs and turn off guard at times in order to maintain good communications with ATC and the other pilot.....

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the garbage bag trick. Loosen the filter until before it leaks, place garbage bag around, spin off, pray, and then either celebrate or cuss. 80% of the time it works great!

Let us do some unicorn math. Two people buy airplanes with mid-time engines (lets say, pre covid math), $50K each. The two owners each fly the airplanes for 10 years and put 1000 hours on them. Owner 1 does an owner-assist annual at a shop like the one in this thread, $2K of shop labor each year. To be clear, the "annual" is more like $1500, but there is some labor to fix defects squawks requiring professional attention and repair here and there. Just a ballpark average Owner 2 believes that this is bad juju, unicorns don't exist, and pays top-dollar for a $5K (or more) of labor for annual each year. After 10 years where does each owner and airplane stand? Are we buying airplanes to preserve in pristine condition "forever", or inspecting them and repairing as required to keep them in a safe condition to fly? I've had my plane for 14 years now. My annuals have been like the example in the beginning of this thread. I bet I could have easily dropped the entire purchase price of the airplane into expensive annuals in that time. Even if my airplane ends up scrapped to "the reaper" from some catastrophic defect next year (i.e. corrosion in a bad place) I've come out ahead. To be clear I believe my airplane is still airworthy and safe to fly. But it is 55 years old... and will only last so long. And I'm okay with that.

One other thing to point out, the rod end bearings (2 on each side) are wear items where the fastener passes through them. Periodically these need to be lubed/inspected for play/replaced.... there are quite a few in a Mooney, nose to tail. I would imagine uneven wear L/R could cause a slight flap asymmetry.

Personally I would suggest doing the ride in a rental and then going on from there. I am not a DPE and only an inactive CFI, though. I did my CFI initial ride in the right seat (no brakes) of my Mooney without any issues. Examiner and I swapped control as needed....different ball of wax.

My first 121 job... a flying frat house, turboprops getting paid peanuts.... did some interesting and juvenile things ON COMPANY FREQ, never on guard....A good fun culture. Here is my suggestion to any of us in how to minimize it: Do not respond, ever. The "yer on guard" police only egg these people on. Its like responding to a troll on the internet. Respond on guard only if someone needs help and you can render aid that ATC cannot.

As I say it (and this was my flying pre-pandemic, pre "Brandon") was heavily concentrated east of the Mississippi. Further west and the shenanigans faded. I bring this up because doing transcons you really got a sense of where it was happening more. Southwest's recent events (rolling coal, that PA, and some other things) are also revealing something about their culture...

Prior to the pandemic my 121 flying took me across the continent on a regular basis. I have been off the line since the beginning of the pandemic, only GA flying in my Mooney, and will return soon. Before the pandemic the guard nonsense had a strong geographic component to it. From what I have read, that is still occurring.... flying the Mooney here in CA it is safe to monitor guard. Once in a while a person makes a genuine mistake with their flip-flop or mic selector and that's it. None of the bullshit. Based on this my educated guess is that most of it likely comes from one or possibly two regional airlines operating in that region, primarily east of the Mississippi. This is a localized set of bad behaviors that have been allowed to fester in a lousy culture. Most likely not a Mooney pilot....

I guess I'm just crazy. I install the filter with my hands (dry, and I have a decent grip). Safety it. Run up, leak check, done.. Never had a leak, and they are always somewhat difficult to remove.

Looking at my Aircraft Spruce order history, the smaller ducts (to rear seat feet and windscreen defrost) were 1 1/4 inch diameter. I ordered 1 12-foot and 1 4-foot piece and had some left over. I also ordered 3 feet each of 2-inch and 2 1/2 inch diameter. I probably only used one of these, sorry I can't remember which size. That was for the larger tube between the two foot well airboxes. The large intake duct (part 24) was larger. Perhaps 3 inch, but I don't remember and cannot find that invoice. That one is very short.

Thanks for the pireps! Sounds like its worth giving them a try. I still use an aging Bose X for my Mooney flying. For GA flying this new set would be to augment that for flying with my daughter. When she's on board she gets the X, I use an old lightspeed. At work I just went B737 (former A320) and will need something with ANR that is comfortable for longer flights.

Considering this headset primarily for work-use in turbojet aircraft where it is designed.... But I sure could use another decent set for GA flying. Has anyone flown with a Bose Proflight/Proflight 2 in their MOONEY and have their ears live to hear another day? Seriously, would these work for us? One big issue in our airplanes is now noisy they are.

If you hate Adel clamps now just wait until you hang the engine and want to get it back in the air again. Here is my Adel solution: Goto harbor freight and get a few pairs of assorted hemostats. Use a couple as you assemble the stack. Not my idea I saw it on some homebuilder's youtube. Bonus points, you will feel somewhat like a surgeon. Until one flies open and you're searching for the washer and nut.

Years ago I was curious and decided to try it out as Shadrach did. And felt completely ready to dead stick it in safely if needed. The data I gathered in my E confirmed the book #s for glide ratio prop windmilling and prop stopped. Prop windmilling in low RPM was slightly worse, but not much, than prop stopped. But if the engine fails in a spectacular fashion I would not count on the ability to control it with the governor.

If I am seeing things correctly the concern is a fastener that came off of the flap actuator (hydraulic slave cylinder). The good news about our Mooney flaps is that this failure mode should not cause flap asymmetry. I could see how that could be caused by a fastener backing out of one of the heim/rod ends on either side where the torque tube actuating both flaps is connected to each flap... there is a bearing there. But I would add a note of caution... let us assume that you're coming to land, full flaps, on approach speed, and are properly trimmed. Putting the flaps down generates an aircraft nose down pitching moment that we counteract with nose-up trim. Now let us imagine the flap actuator was suddenly disconnected. Air load will blow the flaps up quite quickly. Now you're slow with a very abrupt aircraft nose UP pitching force. This can be counteracted with elevator but is still substantial. An item for practice and some thought....

Out of curiosity, did you do firefighting concurrent with 121 or was that something that came along during covid leave? If I did not have a young child.... I probably would have applied during my leave. Must be fun. I don't see how it would work very well concurrent with 121 flying but I'm curious!

A320 FO until the pandemic hit, now winding down the days of extended leave... family time, more Mooney flying than in past years... gotta keep in the game! Will be back at work soon, and perhaps some new and very exciting things coming.

I find 130mph is a great cruise climb speed. Engine stays cool. You are moving along faster than spam can traffic at max cruise.... Climb rate not decreased that much at all. Decreasing slowly as performance drops off in hot/high/heavy.... approaching 10,000' for example. Adjust depending on winds aloft/turbulence, etc.

Richard who??? Sorry, don't agree.

Thanks for letting us know, but... May I suggest letting the NTSB know? Ref NTSB 830, required reports. I'm serious.... this is more than a support ticket for someone who does elect to drink the punch and remove their vaccum system, thinking two of these devcies provides sufficient redundancy for safe instrument flight https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/830.5 (9) A complete loss of information, excluding flickering, from more than 50 percent of an aircraft's cockpit displays known as: (i) Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) displays; (ii) Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System (EICAS) displays; (iii) Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor (ECAM) displays; or (iv) Other displays of this type, which generally include a primary flight display (PFD), primary navigation display (PND), and other integrated displays;

There are things done to prevent a flat or a blow out... like replacing when the tire is as pictured There are things done to make people feel good, such as replacing in pairs if the other is still good (assuming good tread depth, no flat spots, not old enough where the rubber is cracking on the sidewalls). When I see a tire like the above pic on an airliner, it gets changed right away. Does the one next to it get changed? Do the other 5 tires get changed? Nope! Do what you like, but there is absolutely no need to replace in pairs. We're not le mans racecars here needing equal tires for maximum cornering. And I have to echo what carusoam says about technique. If that happens, a mistake was made. Its ok we all do it. I tried a short field the other day, applied very light brakes going too fast, sqeee.... I caught it before any damage was done, but it was a reminder, no need to do that. Absolutely no need. And also a reminder to use proper foot positioning when landing. That is, the toes should be at the bottoms of the pedals, heels on the floor. The feet need to move up to brake. Reminds me of showing my mooney to a pilot friend, a big guy. I had him fly left seat. Hard to see where his feet were positioned during taxi. "Why do you need so much power to taxi this thing?" he asks. "Are your toes on the brakes?" I say. "No, I'm sure they aren't". Lightbulb moment right there... his toes were in fact on the brakes. I'm so glad we got that sorted out on the taxi out vs landing.

Change that tire. No need to do the other side.

Thanks Coyote.... maybe I'll order two and give your bends a shot. On my 66E the hold-open is mounted in a similar configuration as yours.

@PilotCoyote That looks awesome! How does this new hinge sit/fit between the baggage door and the frame? Any issues with the door being nudged slightly when closed with this hinge? Also looking at the photos, did you bend the hinge attached to the fuselage or did it come like that?