Jeff_S

Thanks everyone. I had meant to post something earlier but have been busy the last couple of days. Tony didn't get a picture of his own plane...too bad because it is sweet looking as well...but hey, it's a Mooney! Its definitely true that Saturday's race was about staying low for power and speed, especially since there wasn't supposed to be any meaningful wind. It turned out there actually was a tail wind for a few legs of the course, which helped a touch. Mostly it was about turn technique especially around the hairpin. I feel Tony's pain, because last year I overshot that turn horribly and it cost me some time. I learned and practiced! I raced at 2550 RPM, WOT which that day was 28.1", and FF about 25-26 GPH to keep my top CHT about 370. So I've still got a bit of juice left if I wanted to kick it up a notch. Don't even get me started about race tape! I looked through the results for the year and there was a Rocket which went a bit faster in one race, and a Meyers 200 went faster in another. (One might argue that a Rocket isn't REALLY a "Production" class airplane, but I won't fight that point!) And every race day brings its own conditions so it's hard to compare a single time against others. But still, I'm pretty happy with a 219 MPH average. I really enjoy this race...we need to get more of them in the Southeast area!

But one other thing...the moderator said you got 600+ attendees, which is really a big number. I've done a lot of webinars in my career and usually it's good to get about 100 or so. Hope you sold a lot of books!

Hi Nate. I attended the webinar so it was good to hear your talk. I realize in that format for just an hour it's hard to cover all the topics in much detail. I'm hoping you'll be able to make it to the Mooney Summit next year as you mentioned, so we can dive a bit more deeply (pun somewhat intended) into the techniques for training. Cheers! Jeff

Dave (OP), did you go with Bill R for the local CFI? I gave your son his contact info via PM.

Well, the government fiscal year does start October 1, but what's a year between friends? Sound great, and yet another reason the Mooney Summit keeps gaining in prominence. Looking forward to it!

Looked like a fun group...sorry I couldn't make it. I had a dead battery to contend with...in my tug, no less. I can get the plane out of the hangar without help, but pushing it back up the threshold requires assistance. So I had to deal with that yesterday. For want of a nail...!

My Ovation has a 5 degree nose up attitude on the ground. This might be slightly more than average for the type, possibly because of the constant weight of the A/C unit in the hat rack. Carusoam, curious what your attitude is on the ground...your PLANE'S attitude, that is!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have progress again. After releasing and then withdrawing SB M20-305A, Mooney has today released SB M20-305B which will hopefully be the final answer for getting our S-TEC and GFC700 non-WAAS planes up to full WAAS capability. Well, not quite "full" capability for the S-TEC folks as the A/P won't couple vertically with the glide path on WAAS approaches, but at least it will give us WAAS guidance so we can fly LPVs to our heart's content. A/P coupling is promised to come later. No word on price yet, but you can call your favorite MSC and see what they quote you. I'm guessing it's going to be in the $21K range. Here's the SB. Let's start spending money! But save some for the ADS-B upgrade, and the S-TEC final solution. M20_305B.pdf

I guess it's a matter of trust, but I've never once hesitated to leave the logs with the A/P during an annual. I figure they need the information. And I have only ever used guys that I personally know and have had good experience with. I did notice that after my last annual, the logs weren't in the plane like they usually are (it's in a locked hangar) so I called my guy up and asked him about it. His response was "I usually don't return the logs until I've been paid" to which I said "Dude, when was the last time I didn't pay you?" He brought them over immediately...I think it was just a brain fart on his part.

I'll be there if I can. Just name the time and place.

Y'all need to catch up on your internet practical jokes. That one was called "getting Rick-rolled." It was my first thought when I saw the OP's subject line, that he might be playing a joke on us. Oh well, just thought I'd have some fun!

This is what you get when you loan your plane to someone else: catastrophe We'll see how many of you get that!

Ha! And hope he doesn't read Mooneyspace! But I'm in the camp that says some things just shouldn't be shared. If you're not comfortable with it just be honest and say so. A real friend will understand.

Sharknado!

Vegas is a bit far from Atlanta for a weekend, but on the other hand, if it's a "strip" hotel I could be persuaded...as long as Marauder's favorite photo subjects aren't the strippers!

Yes, Dirk has been here at the Summit and I can confirm the news about the latest SB and the timing for the coupled approach. I didn't get the same info about the cost for that follow up SB as $8K. That's probably still fluid. As to ADS-B there will be a few options, but I don't think you can think about that as bundled with the WAAS issue directly. That s money you'd have to spend anyway, and there are options there as well. This will continue to clarify over time.

Jerry, thanks for that observation about the behavior of switching batteries without engine activation. It makes sense. I caused me to go back to the POH because I thought the POH included a step to switch between batteries prior to start, to choose the one that had the highest voltage. However, it actually says to switch the batteries during the "pre-takeoff" checks (aka runup) which, based on your notes, should not lead to any sort of avionics restart. However, there is a step in the pre-start that says (paraphrased) "If Battery 1 won't start the engine, switch to Battery 2" which presumably would be done without turning off the Master. Either way, I will continue to refrain from switching batteries in-flight, if for no other reason than "if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it at 15,000 feet!"

I wasn't going to say anything along these lines, because at times past I have been accused on this forum of not respecting other people's budgets. So I do respect that you've got a budget to maintain. That said, I have always found that it's better to buy absolutely the best plane you can possibly afford if your goal it is to "buy it and fly it." There are folks who enjoy the "project" and the upgrade process and Lord knows the 40-50 year fleet needs these folks. They are the ones who create the planes that the rest of us can come in and buy later. But if you enjoy flying rather than upgrading/maintaining, I would encourage you to stretch your budgetary ideas and see just how much you can afford, then look for the best plane possible in that bracket. Then look at one or two that are maybe just a tad higher. If you're taking out a loan, the $10-$20K difference over 20 years isn't going to change your payment that much, but you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of the plane immediately. Just a thought...

This is a note to Buddy, who seems to be new to the dual-battery Mooneys. It is generally recommended to NOT switch batteries in flight. While there is no prohibition against this in the POH, industry experience has shown that it can wear out the relay and cost as much as 0.5 AMUs to get it fixed. Some people say they do it all the time, others say they've learned the hard way. So you can operate as you please...I just wanted you to be aware of the opinions. I personally do not switch in flight, after one disconcerting episode while on the ground. I was just on battery power (no engine) and was switching batteries to test something (can't even remember what) but this caused the G1000 to reset, and start poorly with all sorts of error messages. A simple cold reboot solved the problem, but I wouldn't want to be doing that in flight. Your mileage may vary...

My first thought when I saw that listing was that he showed an engine TT but not an airframe. That time seemed low for that airframe, although admittedly it's probably a "since TBO" time. But as others have said, that's why you invest your money up front, so when you finally get the plane you want you can fly it instead of investing a lot more later.

Yes, N1077G. I got that when I still had the J, and now I just keep it to remember that fine bird. Plus, as noted above, they charge money for changing those things out!

It will be the first race without Hannes Arch. So sad...

While there are a few "geniuses" on the planet who seem to be able to master a skill almost instantly, most humans have to learn by progression. You start at A, move to B, then C, etc. And unless you really are a genius, the problem with trying to start at "D" is that you haven't formed the fundamentals required at A, B and C. You might actually become okay at some of the skill sets that D requires, but that lack of fundamentals will sneak up on you. And in flying, you don't want anything sneaking up on you. That's how we get 777s that crash on the visual approach to San Francisco because the pilots only know how to fly an ILS. I used to teach karate, and there is an expression there that fits: "When the student is ready, the master will teach." Besides, learning to fly should be fun, and it's going to be a lot more fun to learn in a slow, forgiving airplane that will tolerate mistakes.

Sorry, that's just the mental image I have of my Pop wearing his cool dress uniform. (To be clear, the dude above is NOT my father!)

Yes, admittedly this is unfortunate. But I was thinking more of this: