Jeff_S

Nice video and well-written script. Looked like that first landing was a greaser! Although a technical and scientific question: can you actually fly THROUGH a rainbow? I believe the rainbow sort of goes away as you get closer and the refractive patterns of the light change, doesn't it? Of course, other people can see you fly through a rainbow...that would be an awesome pic to have!

I figure we can decide on Friday night about further activities, based on who actually shows up. We're planning on a pretty relaxing stay, haven't even rented a vehicle at this point, so will probably be dining at the Club. Sunday Brunch, as delicious as that sounds, may be a bit more problematical for us as my wife is still a bit of a nervous flyer and typically doesn't each much before getting in the plane. But she's getting better so we'll see!

Hello Everyone, I just spoke with Patty at the Jekyll Island Club and we decided that the best place to get together on Friday evening would be The Pub. It sounds like a nice, casual place, pilots generally like pubs, and it opens to a courtyard so there's plenty of room. So they will be expecting a group of Mooney Pilots at 5:30pm at The Pub on Friday, August 13. I'll send out a note to the SE Mooniacs group and posting it on that Facebook page as well. If I'm really on the ball I'll even try to get some nametags so we could look official! I look forward to meeting everyone there. Jeff

So, I tested on my work PC and had no trouble uploading an image into my Gallery. Hmm...still would like to know if anybody using a Mac has been able to upload images.

I can't seem to upload any images into my photo gallery. I select a few pics and then click on Upload and nothing happens. I'm running on Mac with Safari 5.0....are there any known issues here?

Quote: ILXLR8 I drove past OSH yesterday evening. I saw the water, then my focus went to the flags, markings and cones. I smiled and felt the power and excitement. Some storms during the week. I hope these pics help....Just come prepaired. IT IS GOING TO BE GREAT!!!

Quote: RJBrown The black on your cloth is not gunk. It is aluminum oxide. Bare aluminum will continue to oxidise. Once polished it should be sealed. I have never needed to polish my spinner as it has a clear coat on it so I have no suggestion as to how to seal it.

Quote: scottfromiowa Heed Mitch's statement on taxi off of taxi-way hardball to grass. A prop strike happened to a fellow Mooney driver another year (I was attending the MAPA Mooney Maint. class)...The drops can appear slight, but taken with anything but a creep can ruin your day...Be slow and deliberate and have fun...I'd rather get stuck (going slow...lot's of help available) than have a prop strike and related nightmare...Don't forget those grass tie-down's too...note to get mine out as they are needed in Appleton too.

I use Flitz on my spinner and don't even bother with a power polisher. That would probably work better, but I just use elbow grease and it works fine with a noticeable improvement. The cloth gets really black, so it's taking off a lot of gunk. As to the amount, I divide the spinner up in thirds and use a glob about the width of a quarter and 1/2" high for each section and that seems to work.

All this talk of Breitlings led me to their website. Awesome footage of the Reno air races. And I fell in love with the Professional Aerospace in Red Gold with the black rubber bracelet. Then I checked the price and decided for $2500+ I'd rather get new shock discs, fix my muffler shroud, fix up my placards, etc., etc., etc. It sure it a beauty, though.

Just made reservations today so we're looking forward to the short vacation. My wife made one comment: "I hope the weather's okay, like, you know, no hurricanes or anything." Doh! I'd plumb forgotten that's right in the middle of hurricane season. But we'll take our chances...there's enough warning these days, and a Mooney can outrun any old hurricane! Also, I sent a note to the SE-Mooney mailing list, but we should at least try to get together for cocktails either Friday or Saturday night. That shouldn't be too hard to arrange. I'm happy to organize that if other people are interested.

Timex Ironman of some sort...there are too many to fully ID. But it has a stopwatch AND countdown timer, is backlighted for night, and it even has a compass in case my three GPSs, two moving maps, alternator and battery all crap out and the vertical card compass falls off the center post. Oh, it tells time, too.

I don't want to be alarmist, but in Jerry Manthey's class last week he said that if metal shows up in the filter of a Lyc engine, it has about 20 hours before it will fail. But as noted above, hopefully what you found will not be as dramatic. Good luck!

I used the Air Charts atlas system for quite awhile and it was very good. I had the eastern US in Sectionals and the whole country in Low IFR. When I made my trip out west I supplemented this with a few WAC charts which, in combination with the Flight Cheetah FL190 I had at the time was all I needed. And I printed the IAPs I thought I would need with, again, the FL190 having the entire country loaded. Now, with the iPad running ForeFlight, I don't use paper at all. I do still have my older Air Charts atlases in the plane, but the iPad has all the sectionals, low enroute and IAPs and it's quite easy to find exactly what you want. And of course, now I have my course line and location painted on the sectional or low enroute as added situational awareness. Goodbye, paper.

I would think the quickest way to do this would be scanning through your own logs, assuming the airplane has been maintained according to the FARs. There should be a list of all the ADs applicable to your plane that most A&Ps and IAs have access to download and use during annual inspections. And if that's been done properly over time, there should be a record of when every required AD has been complied with, and any that are recurring should have the next implementation date noted.

Leadville altitude is definitely not above 14,000. It's an easy check on Airnav, but since I'm lazy I'll say it's around 9000' somewhere as it's in the valley between the Sawatch and Mosquito mountain ranges. God's country, no doubt about it. Wish I still lived there. And a J should have no trouble there. My buddy did a clinic up to Leadville in a puny little 1964 Cessna 172. Granted, he had half tanks and they flew in and out before 9am to take advantage of the cooler temps.

I had in the back of my head that the service ceiling for a J was bout 18,000 feet. But in Jerry Manthey's class last weekend he was telling a story where he had his J up to 19,500 one day out West, trying to get above and dodge some storms. And he said he thought it could have gone higher. So the plane likely can do more than the certification shows.

I've stayed out of this argument but enjoyed the speculation. As a new J owner I appreciate that many people see the same benefits that brought me to mine. And I feel pretty lucky that I found one in the price range I was willing to afford that was already outfitted with a great avionics package and full-featured A/P. Sure, I could go glass if I wanted to spend the dough, but my mission doesn't really need it. But looking at the market overall, I did glance at the $195K model All American has. It's priced competitively (according to the scale that THEY have set, but which does seem reasonable) and yet it's sat there since I started looking last October. And I know of another late-model J MSE ('97 or thereabouts) here in the Atlanta area that I also looked at. I've seen the price drop on that one by $20K since last Fall as well. So it begs the question of what is the more desirable plane for someone looking for a new-ish model in the $175-$225K range. There are a lot of SR22s that are starting to fit right in that segment of the market.

Thanks all. Very helpful, and nice to know my findings are similar to others. I think the best solution is to just fly as high as possible for cooler air, but on a 90 mile flight it doesn't make much sense to go too high. Jerry's class was very good, although as I feared it was very mechanically oriented so much of what he said just went right over my head. But the best parts came when he just started relating his personal experiences flying Mooneys and I did get some practical advice for generally watching out for my investment. It was definitely worth the time and money to attend. I will add that Jerry's opinion on ROP vs LOP was not related to a belief (or lack thereof) in the science itself. He was just questioning the logic of flying slowly in a fast airplane. He said "you bought a Mooney to fly fast! If you want to fly slow, buy a Piper." Of course he was joking a bit, but just making a point that he could keep his CHTs where he wanted them and get maximum speed and utility out of the Mooney by flying ROP. It seems more a matter of personal preference than any kind of preaching on "the best" way to fly.

Hey all, Flying my Mooney through my first blistering hot summer with it, and have some questions about how people maintain the best balance between power and CHT/EGTs. Since I got the plane in January, I've been flying it 2500 RPM and LOP at the GAMI-recommended levels based on altitude (generally 20-50 LOP or thereabouts). However, with the hot temps even at altitude lately, I've noticed it hard to keep CHTs below 380° without really giving up a lot of power and speed...down to about 145 KTAS at respectable temps. And yesterday in Jerry Manthey's Maintenance Class, he came down firmly on the ROP side of the camp so I started playing around with that. Seems like I can run at 100 ROP and get about 157 KTAS but the temps go up pretty quickly, unless I put the cowl flaps in trail and that keeps the temps down about 380 and speed at 154 or so. But that was at about 12 GPH. So for those folks who routinely operate a J or other normally-aspirated airplane in very high heat, I'd like to know what your secrets are for balancing power with heat mitigation. I'm sure there's no one right answer and every plane is probably a little different but this will help me experiment. Thanks.

I saw a demonstration at Sun n' Fun from the folks at Flitz. They showed how it can shine up a polished spinner, which was amazing. Then they took it to some cloudy plexiglass and the result was nothing short of miraculous. I immediately bought some and have used it on my spinner to great effect. I also used it on the only cloudy plexi on my plane, which is the wing sight fuel gauge. Did a good job there too. So for $5-$10 it's worth a try.

Dan and Mooney27239, I just sent you both PMs. Not sure where you are at this point. I came up from Atlanta earlier today to tryto beat the heat and avoid t-storms, although it looks at this point like they're not developing. Anyway, I've got a car and am staying at the Holiday Inn Express, so the PM has my cellphone number and feel free to call if you need to share a ride or something. FYI, the A/C in the FBO is on the fritz so they're making due with portables but it's hot! I'm told the class is in a different building which should not have this problem.

Quote: philipneeper i just wanna give a shout out to all the mooniacs to have a wonderful july 4th.... wish you and your families the best... see yall stateside.. keep the blue side up !

My understanding with wing root fairings is that they help primarily with low-speed handling rather than increased speed at cruise. I had them on my Warrior but they were installed prior to my purchase so I couldn't give a pre-post evaluation of handling.