Sven

Oh, no. I missed it. I've got a constant speed prop, anyway. But for $10, that would have looked great on my desk.

Mitch, You're going to luck-out. The weather all summer here in Santa Rosa has been foggy all day intil 1 pm. The last few days it's been hot but the skies have been severe clear. Let me know if you want to see or have time to see the mythical fixed-gear Mooney. I've got her hangared at Santa Rosa if that's where you're flying into. Scott

It was on December 6, 1981 just a couple days before my 18th birthday. I had 8.2 hours and was absolutely not expecting to solo until my birthday when my instructor got out of the Traumahawk and sent me around pattern three times. Surprise! The air in Maple Lake, Minnesota was super cold and dense. I've never made three more perfect landings in a row in all my flying career. Shortly after that my instructor switched me over to a 152 which was much easier to fly. I asked him why we hadn't started in the 152? He told me that if I could solo in a Traumahawk, I could fly anything.

I love to look up N numbers of the different visitors we have at KSTS. So last night I went on iTunes and bought a program for $3.99. I just used it for the first time looking at the N number of the plane they were flying. It says, Cessna Aircraft Co. and lists it as a 2008 Cessna 172S. The program is called Plane Sight. It took me three seconds to get that info. It wasn't that hard and it could have prevented innocent citizens from having automatic weapons pointed at them and handcuffed. Holy crap people! This is getting out of control. Where did common sense go? We're not all terrorists just because we fly airplanes.

This is the second time I've wanted to attend a Mooney function at Tahoe (Taco?) but couldn't make it. I'm just a humble non-IFR rated private pilot and there was too much junk in the air between KTST and KTVL today for me to go. I also checked the winds and they were well out of my comfort zone. Maybe next year... Let us know how it went if you made it.

Our mechanic said something like the outer skin needing to be cut in order to install these. I have a D model (basically a C model) and I'm wondering if this is true or if he's thinking about another kind of belt. I'd love to add these to my plane.

None of the three partners are rolling in dough at the moment and by all rights should not be flying, let alone owning a plane. All three of us earned our private tickets out of high school and then life happened. None of us ever thought we'd ever get back in the air again, ever. But partner #1 came across a little $ and was able to get an amazing deal on this Mooney. He had it for a year when he lost his job and almost lost the plane. He was talking to the two of us and offered us a deal we knew we'd never see again and we became full partners. Partner #1 has a fantastic relationship with our A&P and since he was once in the Air Force as a mechanic we do a lot our own highly supervised maintenance wherever we can. We also have a great friend who is a senior airline pilot and trainer. He got us all recertified and keeps us current. He does this for small donations to his kids' travel accounts when they go overseas to do relief work. Where there's a will, there's a way! That said, we would love to authentically restore this aircraft to factory specs as much as possible. Right now it's a $ issue and we're using our hard-earned bucks just keeping her in the air and healthy. The paint and the interior will come someday when the annuals stop being so expensive. But we thing we've taken care of all the big ticket items and can start saving for paint. We might even strip it ourselves saving us some $. We spend the money to keep her in a hangar out of the elements. She sat outside in Hayward in the sun and salt air for 15 years. We figure right now the money on a hangar is the best maintenance we can do for her. It certainly helps. We will not be able to make it Tahoe this weekend since it's my 25th Anniversary week and we won't be around the plane. But I'm working on Sun River. And if you're ever in the area I'll gladly open the hangar for you and we'll take her out for a spin. Santa Rosa is a great airport when not fogged in and we have a very nice restaurant.

One of our partners took 3 months, FAA registry in hand, and carefully researched each M20D on the list. Some were salvage, most were long-since converted. He did this by email, snail mail and phone calls when he could. He wasn't out to prove rarity. We were looking with someone with some accurate documentation on the unconverted 20D that would benefit us. It was through Cris' work that he discovered how rare these unconverted birds are. But we never did find the old documentation we were looking for. Bummer. We still don't know the ceiling of this bird and just recently acquired an O2 system to find that upper limit. Ours is a constant speed prop. This was an option on the originals. It also has a couple of speed mods (wing root, tail, no hand-cranked step). It still has all the old steam gauges and original, though tired, interior. Our re$toration priority has been the essential things necessary to keep her flying safely. A new interior will have to wait a while. It has an authentic paint job from the factory. That, too, needs some help but she's rather close to what she looked like in 1963. We are not sure about upgrading the panel since we all learned to fly that way and really enjoy that kind of flying. There's no autopilot but we do carry a Garmin 196. We usually stick to flights of an hour or two and have not ventured further than Bakersfield, Columbia, and Redding. The overhauled engine only has about 250-300 hours on it. And we've taken care of all of the serious corrosion with only a few tiny cosmetic spots left. I'm sure there's another fixed gear out there in a hangar with an owner who's lost his/her medical and they just can't bear to part with it. But far as our research has shown, there are only 3 left unconverted.

We saw that. It was on eBay last year and I'm not sure if it sold. It looks lke the price has come down. There are only three that we know of that have not been converted. The one on eBay is N6651U in Edgewood, MD. The other fixed-gear Mooney is N1916Y located in Princeton, New Jersey. We heard rumors of another on the West Coast and chased those rumors down. It turned out to be us.

Finally, after a four month annual we are back in the air. We overhauled all three gear including new shock disks. We rebuilt the steering horn and replaced some worn parts in the nose gear. We completely tore apart and rebuilt the left flap due to a corroded block. We rebuilt the flap pump and actuator. We tore out the floor to get at the wing box where we had a microscopic crack. We installed these fancy new brackets from Mooney via LASAR over the crack that reinforced the flap acctuator attachment. We installed new carpet, new tiny shock absorber thingys (sorry, forgot the name) to the entire instrument panel, and did some work to the throttle. She was signed-off this afternoon so we took her for a test flight this evening and the difference was immediately noticeable. The nose gear refurb completely fixed the wobble and shake we experienced over bumps and at high speeds. Thanks LASAR for the parts and advice! We immediately noticed the huge difference new shock disks made on landing. I was amazed there was that much of a difference. Our manual flaps now go down on the first pump which is a treat. And I remembered how to fly her after being out of the saddle for four months. That was the best part. Even with being a fixed gear the tower kept asking us to slow down in the pattern to make way for the 182 in front of us. It doesn't matter where they are or even if the gear is permanently down, Mooneys want to go fast. Captain Sven

I saw a box of TravelJohns at my local Kragen's Auto Parts for only $3.99.

Carusoam, I've got no idea what the plate was all about but we did think of scenarios for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy. http://picasaweb.google.com/yahyoubetcha.net/Oshkosh2010#

I'll let my partners know and we'll get it on the calendar.

Looks like the VMG Jackson fly-in isn't happening. Any details? -Sven

Dave, I found the same thing you did. I went to the Bose tent, the Lightspeed tent, then Aircraft Spruce to try them both and came to the same conclusion. Bose had a very slight edge noise wise but were not as comfortable. You are correct about the price. The Bose rep was at Aircraft Spruce and the Aircraft Spruce guy was recommending the Zulus. It was a bit awkward but he was right. Bose is too $ for the slight improvement. It was my first time trying ANR headsets and I could not believe how well they worked. Time to save some $ and turn in my old David Clarks. -Sven

It's called EAA locator and it's free. For those going to Airventure it looks like it will be a very valuable app. -Sven

Sven +2 Sat-Thu No Caravan BBQ-Yes @Camp Scholler in a rented pop-up camper out of the rain (hopefully)

conom06d, I have a fixed-gear mooney that's still in the shop. I tried hitching a flight but wasn't able to connect with a fellow Mooney driver from Santa Rosa so I drove. I left at 10am and Santa Rosa was still fogged in. It started to break up north of Cloverdale. I made it to LASAR by 11 since I took the winding shortcut. I would have won the prize for shortest flight there if I would have been able to fly. If it happens, we will be at the VMG gathering at Jackson.

Anyone know if the BBQ is open to non-caravan pilots? I'm a bit confused by the "donations" section. Is that above and beyond the BBQ ticket? How much for a ticket? Do we pay when we get there? So many questions, so much ignorance (on my part). It will be our first Oshkosh visit so please, be nice.

This was my first VMG event and I have to say I was very impressed. It was great to experience the family atmosphere and all the friendly folks who reched out to me (being by myself) and made me feel welcome. It was great to meet you, Jolie Lucas and Phil Corman. It was also great to talk with all the folks at LASAR, Top Gun, and even Don Maxwell. I think it was announced that over 45 Mooneys made it to celebrate the hard work of some very deserving people. The BBQ was top-rate, the entertainment was engaging and the friendship is something I'm looking forward to fostering. Thanks especially to Paul and Shery for their generous hospitality and to their staff for making us feel so welcome.

We thought we were going to get thru our annual without any problems that would affect bringing our fixed-gear rarity to LASAR but that's not the case. She's still at least a week away from being flyable. So, unless I can hitch a flight I'll be driving. At least I'm not that far away. LASAR has helped us tremendously with all kinds of great info, parts, and encouragement.

Ramona will know: http://www.skychickadventures.com/Display-articles.asp?ID=24

When I explain to friends "Why a Mooney?" I tell them that Mooney is to the GA world what Apple is to the PC world. Then they get it. -Sven

Anyone who made it to the Vintage Mooney Group gathering at Minden-Tahoe care to share your experiences and photos? We tried to make it last year but the weather turned us around. And this year a flap problem is extending our annual to next month. So I'd love to hear what you all did. -Sven