hansel

That's one less Subway footlong per month! Gotta love a monopoly-- the ugliness of the XM/Sirius merger is starting to emerge. Maybe someday Garmin will absorb both Aspen and Avidyne so we can really be screwed.

Cheese curds-- woo-hoo! Can't wait. We're flying to see family in St. Louis, but should be able to spend a couple of nights in Oshkosh, probably later in the week. I'll touch base with you and Mitch.

We'll be there! (first timers! )

I think our Craig (forum Administrator "Mooniac58") installed one on his J. You may want to send him a PM.

I flew piperpainter to Artcraft to pick up his m20C after painting last weekend. Not only did it gave me a chance to meet some great Mooney owners (and what a terrific group they are!), but also to verify that all the Artcraft postings on this site were not hoopla. So the owner met us after hours and gave a tour of the facility-- I was able to see a handful of Mooneys in different stages of the painting process, including two finished Mooneys (Mitch's Ovation and Brian's C) and a few other non-Moonies (btw, even non-moonies are worth looking at from time to time, e.g., for research purposes). Indeed, they run a terrific operation at Artcraft-- all that you'd expect from a first rate shop (separate stripping/painting areas, detailed removal of all controll surfaces, warranty, LOTS of attention to detail, etc.). Bottom line: these planes are beautiful. Artcraft is certainly on my shortlist. As you know, painting an airplane is a big investment and I think you're asking the right questions. Good luck, and keep us posted! P.S. (and at the risk of thread drift) It's great to see so many military folks flying Mooney airplanes. Awesome! To know that you guys and gals proudly serve our country in some of the most sophisticated and advanced flying machines during the week, then choose to spend your personal time in a Mooney is comforting. What an honor to be flying these airplanes with you. And thanks as always for your service!

I'm in the process of making one from a lark scooter I found on Craig's list ($100). I've never seen this done, but the scooter has a lot of useful parts for cheap (motor, batteries, electronic charging system, even a friggin back-up horn , so we'll pull out the mig welder and see what happens. If you don't hear about this again in the next six months you'll know it didn't quite work out as planned.

The site looks great! Nice work. Thanks for posting. Looking forward to the fly-ins.

Maybe a more important question is "why was the J converted to a three-blader in the first place?" This often occurs after a gear-up or a prop strike... not always, but you should be extra diligent with your review of the logs. My understanding of the 2 v. 3 blade for Js is that it's basically a wash. The IO-360 is not a powerful engine, so you might gain a little in climb and looks department, then lose a little at cruise. Wouldn't be a deal breaker either way for me as long as the plane's history looks good. Good luck, and welcome to the wonderful world of Moonies!

Wow-- a great day indeed! Thanks to Mitch and Jolie for the warm welcome (and a warm day it was too... 60 deg F on the central coast; always a beautiful stop). As for Artcraft, I echo all of Mitch and Jolies' comments. They truly are tops. A full army working on every detail of the plane-- and at a competitive price too. I'm sure Bryan is proud.

We're all pretty excited to see how this one turns out... no pressure, ARTCRAFT !

This is unfortunate, and I would guess it happens quite a bit with VFR traffic (IFR traffic is likely protected in the rules by the last issued clearance). I agree that it looks as if the ATC folks didn’t follow the guidance of section 2-1-16( in the ATC controller manual, which is probably why they conceded in not pushing a violation. But with respect to pilot deviations, I wouldn’t rely on ATC’s controller manual, but rather the Laws/Rules (and their interpretations) intended for airmen as the final word (and I think the FAA/courts would rely on them as well). The ATC controller manual supports this by also stating: “NOTE- Pilots are required to abide by CFRs or other applicable regulations regardless of the application of any procedure or minima in this order.” So, sadly, I think it’s soley the pilots responsibility to follow FAR 91.129[1], which now makes me upset. Filing IFR sometimes makes life easier i guess.

Obviously my dog loves the Mooney. We just put her on a dog bed in the back seat and she falls asleep somewhere around 5000 feet. Never had a problem with elevation, BUT she does need to where her Mutt Muffs (dog ear muffs). They once fell off her head and the noise started to bother her (lots of nervous shaking). We fitted them again and all was well.

I'll second the AeroComfort recomendation. Hector has always provide quality service at a great price. As many of you know, Aero Comfort makes the original leather-wrapped yokes for the Mooney factory-- and you won't be able to find a cheaper price anywhere else (others just provide a surcharge and send the yokes to him).

Bryan- congrats on soon-to-be new paint. I used Terri for repainting my lower cowl-- great guy, easy to work with. Lincoln is also my home base so let me know if you need a lift back to WA or hanger space before your bird hits the booth.

Agree with all the comments above. I have a Garmin 530/396 combo. The approaches, autopilot communication, and battery back-up GPS (ie in event of electrical failure) are comforting on IFR flights. On a tight budget I would get the 530 first with a cheaper XM weather display (the 396s are going for a song nowadays). A 530 and 696 would be tops (assuming you're trying to avoid the huge cost of all glass retrofits).

I agree with jlunseth that you should have a working ammeter regardless of airworthiness concerns. If you're not ready to shell out the cost of a full blown engine monitor (which is a great investment btw), you could opt for a stand alone, STC'd, primary voltmeter/ammeter combo like this from Aerospace logic... http://www.200series.com/site/dbload.asp?PageId=PROD&Level=5&Inst=VA-100-K60 Fits in one of your 2.25" diameter displays to the left of your primary instruments (if you have the space). Also, installation of an ammeter should be a piece of cake for your mechanic since there's no complex probes/wiring that needs to be completed. Mine was less than $500 out the door (with instrument and labor).

I don't have experience with their Wheel Adapter/Yokes (good luck with that), but I did purchase their S-Tec replacement trim switch-- their service is tops. Highly recommended company.

Ken- Do you have one of Stan's lights? What do you think?

Even if you pay the annual fee to opt out of Flight Aware tracking, I'm not certain your flights would removed from every database. I believe the FAA has a program with the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) to prevent dissemination of flight data at the source. The original intent was to prevent company flights from being tracked by the public and its competitors. You'll need to submit a Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) to the NBAA, see: http://www.nbaa.org/ops/security/barr/ although I'm not exactly sure what criteria is used to qualify (e.g., the request needs to be made on company letterhead, but I couldn't find any other guidance). Maybe having your bird registered in an LLC will help. I'm also interested in what other members have to say about this.

I hate to be the one to bring this up... Why is MRS. Clause selling Santa's bird? (I hope he has a good attorney-- maybe our own mooneyspace member "docket" can step in and help out the jolly man).

Agree... Excellent range too. Only downfall is that it doesn't take Avgas. "Magic plant" is hard to find in our neck of the woods.

Welcome to the world of the four-banger Lycoming. This is par for the course and probably one of my only beefs about the 201. But given the efficiency of the plane and rock-solid reputation of the engine, I'm willing to accept a little vibration. If you fly your 201 for awhile then hop in say, a C210, you'll really notice the difference-- particularly at low rpm (startup/shut down or the "yellow zone") The biggie with the IO360 will be keeping up with possible oil leaks that develop from all the shaking. You'll want to become comfortable pulling off the cowling on a regular basis to monitor the engine and everything attached to it. Balancing the prop will help (every 500+ hours is a good idea), especially with a two-blade, but the bottom line is that the vibration will always be around. Don't worry, you'll be too in love with your Mooney to let it bother you. Good luck!

Very cool-- thanks for the tip. Practical suggestions are some of the great benifits of this forum. Now I have a good excuss to go to Home Depot tomorrow.

We had the ram closure kit on our '79 J at purchase but the cowling fiberglass work was never completed. The lower cowl had some unrelated heat damage develop over the years that we recently decided to fix, so it seemed like the right time to finally plug the blow hole. A pretty painless process overall (about $700). Pics attached. I'm expecting improved aerodynamics to add at least 10mph to my airspeed (j/k)

When was the last gov overhaul? It may be time, which will save you the expense at engine overhaul. Probably about 1-2K for the overhaul, or about 2.5K for a new one. Others on this forum may have more details.