Jerry 5TJ

I did. Then I left again. Perhaps the scent of JetA called me home. A nice 310 sounds fine to me because I flew around with my uncle in his 310D in the 1960s. OK, I rode around; I was just a kid. Fond memories of that high-tech machine.

I looked carefully at EJ in 2017 and concluded that 2.5 x per mile is about right. It’s around twice as fast as an Ovation so say about 5 x per hour. Most EJ owners have “power by the hour” plans to cover all engine maintenance and eventually their overhaul. Last year those cost about $120 per hour per engine. That 2.5 x per mile figure does not include capital costs. But I didn’t count those costs in operating the Ovation either.

The Eclipse Jet is a twin upgrade option. A good one with iFMS 2.0x is much cheaper than a new Baron. Cruises around 330 knots & burns about 85 GPH average. Per mile about 2.5 x the cost of an Ovation. Easy entry/exit & good interior room. Plus it will fit in the Mooney’s hangar. And you can say, with just the right tone of insouciance, “Why, yes, I am a jet pilot.”

I went up and down the West coast for years in my C and E. Most of those years the planes were IFR equipped with dual nav com + ILS. Period. I got a LOT of utility out of a portable GPS with XM to “supplement” the panel mounted gear.

It is important to chose your ancestors carefully.

Why stop at all, Brad? KTTA — KOSH is only 666 nmi direct: A mere hop in a J model. No airspace issues along that great circle arc. Yes, you fly a 92 nmi leg over Lake Michigan but in late July the lake surface water is warm (well, warm enough).

The electric NoseDragger was great for the Ovation. It was struggling a bit with the heavier P46T so I found a used Air Caddy 4K. The Air Caddy has a cradle for the nose wheel so no fear of gear damage. Very powerful and it has smooth, precise speed control which helps ease the plane into a tight-fitting hangar. PM me if you want a NoseDragger.

Years ago I had a video (VHS, so probably about 1990) made by 3 guys who flew their F model from Detroit to Ireland and back. The video showed what they carried—raft, vests, food, rifle, axe, tent, sleeping bags etc. They also carried 10 gallons of gasoline in containers on one leg, which they added at a stop where no gasoline was available. They had HF Radio — a ham transceiver and a trailing wire antenna crafted using a fishing reel in the hat shelf. Nowhere did they mention weight. Their approach into BGBW was featured. It was overcast as they flew the back ADF approach (with no radar surveillance and ~25 degrees of magnetic variation) up the fjord. The pilot can be heard muttering “holy shit” several times. They made it, both ways. It was fun to watch.

I’m curious— Why not fly the C from the right seat and run the Johnson bar left handed? Assuming the copilot side has brakes everything else is in reach.

I’m partial to Baltimore & the mid-Atlantic region Along the route 95 corridor north of DC are several options: Completely outside of the SFRA is Martin State which has 40’ T hangars available at about $275. That’s 25 minutes from the south side of Baltimore where there’s significant growth & lots of 20-30 somethings have gathered. College Park has tie downs and is building new hangars, say the managers. It is inside the inner SFRA zone so you need the PIN clearance. Tipton in Laurel MD is an option if tie-down is acceptable. It’s in the SFRA outer ring so no PIN needed.

If you leave the GTX345 in the C you can sell it as ADS-B out (and in) compliant. That may not add a lot to the price but it may make it a lot easier to sell. The GTX327 is going to be seen as a liability by potential buyers.

Yes they offer 12v as well. Many vintage 12v Mooney electrical systems won’t have the power to run that AC, however.

Well, a 12,000 BTU/hour AC has equivalent cooling to a ton of ice changing to liquid in 24 hours. So about 80 pounds of ice melted in an hour is 12,000 BTU and will do a pretty good job cooling a hot Mooney cabin.

You might be better off starting with one of these. Cheaper and twice the cooling capacity. https://www.rigidhvac.com/store/products/151800-dv3220e-ac-24v-pro

There are 2 heat exchangers in an AIr Conditioning system of this type. One is the hot side that cools the just-compressed liquid refrigerant. The other heat exchanger absorbs heat from the expanded & thus cooled refrigerant. A fan blows cabin air across this heat exchanger and that’s the source of the cold air output. The cooler you can keep the “hot” heat exchanger the cooler the cold air in the cabin can be (ok, within limits of the refrigerant cycle pressure-temperature curve). If you can run outside ram air to the hot side heat exchanger and exhaust the flow outside in a low pressure spot that is as good as it gets. Meanwhile the cold side heat exchanger can recirculate cabin air across its fins. The two air streams across the two heat exchangers should be completely separate for best cooling efficiency.