RJBrown

I would suspect that Skybound's K is a 79. 80 and newer had oxygen as standard equiptment. Any oxygen in 1979 planes was added later. You would have to find out what is installed. This instal is obviously not a retrofit with later parts. A retrofit with later parts may only need a sign off and not an STC or single approval. More weight further back may allow less weight in the tail. Most Ks have bob weights in the tail to help with balance.

My Ipad1 and my Garmin 395 always agree. I see little difference between the two. The Garmin has a antennae on the glareshield and the Ipad is usually on the pass seat or my knee. Altitudes agree with each other but not always the Altimeter. Sometimes high or low but never more than 400'. I always figured that would be the altimeter setting.

My airport is at 5880'. There is a digital Density Altitude sign where you enter 17L. I have seen 8880' on that sign. With 10,000' of runway leaning is not a big distraction rolling. That said: The knob is out about an inch all the time. If it were all the way in the plugs would foul. My egt is calibrated in Centigrade. I dont like to run full power and set the mixture standing still. Too much dirt through the prop. So 675c/1247f is what I look for initially. Any thing 650 to700 is safe to take off. Once cleaned up in the climb set as needed.

Because of onerous certification requirements we are guaranteed poor equipment and/or high prices. In an attempt to protect the airways the FAA makes them less safe through the ridiculously high cost to use new technology. The FAA makes it too expensive to use things that can make for a safer flight. If I wanted to put a used Cadillac IR camera system in a RV10 it would be legal. The same system in a certified plane is 10 times the costs.

I had to get my BFR/ICP while the Mooney was getting the engine done. Rent on a 172 from Aspen ranged from 99 to 144 with 99 being an avionics free beater to a recent and loaded glass panel plane at 144. Around $200 wet is my guess. If I could rent a 201 for $115 it would be WAY cheaper than owning. Flying 100hrs ayear costs me about $140 per hour to operate. No capital cost included, plane is paid for.

Two episodes: I rented a C-172 to fly around Maui and over to the big island. While making the flight the door popped open multiple times. Not a preflight issue but a worn out old POS beater. No affect on flight at all just an annoyance. Fortunately it was my side and not my new wives. Heading SW out of Denver the air was smooth until about Salida. As we closed on the continental divide we ran into a sharp jolt of turbulence. All of a sudden there was a rythmic thumping sound on the right ride. The leather belt that ties around my wives coat had been sucked out and was beating on my new paint job. She could not pull it in and had to open the door to pull in the belt and stop the noise. Low airspeed and a slip allowed us to close the door. Air sucks out at the door bottom so if anything gets closed in the door it just keeps moving outward with each flex of the airplane. She is has been careful to not close the door on her clothing ever since.

When something disrupts the routine any mistake can happen. I try to configure so the gear is what gives me the decent. 14"-15" and 90 knots wont come down without gear. In the pattern Abeam the numbers I am already configured to land except for gear and flaps. I drop gear and put flaps to takeoff position. Now the plane descends. Or on an approach as I reach the glideslope I drop gear and flaps. Any unusual approach calls for special awareness of gear. Gumps at the point I drop gear. Gumps at turn to final/inner marker and gumps at 50 '. Touch the gear handle, scan the dash indicator and check the floor at each of 3 gumps. If you have to forget 9 times it makes it hard to land gear up. If the birdy on your shoulder says something is wrong check the gear first. That uneasy feeling of "what did I forget" gets me another gear check. Forgetting to switch tanks, forgetting to set mixture, forgetting to push in prop knob even forgetting to drop flaps will not be a big deal. The Only Big Deal is the gear. If you feel rushed Check the gear. IF ANYTHING FEELS ODD CHECK THE GEAR. There are many procedural mistakes we can make that might not bite us. Gear will bite every time. The absolute worst thing for me would be to put down the gear and for some reason put it up again. Then in my mind I already put it down and doing it a second time would make it easier to forget.

You really can't go wrong no matter your choice. I have a Ipad 1 16g w/gps. No service so it only connects with wifi, at home or any FBO. Have a Garmin on the yoke so no need for a smaller pad. It is great to have the current charts and plates all the time. This is as simple as it gets to have Forflight on board. A freind of mine is one of the type that always has to have the latest and greatest. He uses the new mini with a bluetooth gps and a Iphone5 for back up. He upgrades continually just to have the latest. I don't see the point. My investment was a $200 I Pad + $75 yr for Foreflight. I have the solid basics. You can spend over $2000 a year to be like my buddy but is it really that much better?

There was an attempt about 15 years ago to re engine the whole fleet and turn it into a dependable plane. Kind of like what was attempted with the Porsche airframes. It appears that the attempt was dropped . I assume because of cost and lack of cooperation across the entire fleet of originally 36 aircraft. The cost to develop a STC to put in a TSIO-550 was too great without a confirmed market.

My 1980 did not come with a fan. It tapped cooling air off the right side vent allowing water in. We added one when we discovered wet radios. By memory it was not a big $$ deal, under $250 total 18 years ago. When I get a chance to check it I will and report. This week has been in the mid 50s but the weekend looks bad. They are talking about the Broncos/Ravens game being the coldest Bronco home game ever. High in the teens. Looks like Spruce has 10 different units from $117 and up. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/search/search.php?s=AVIONICS+FAN&x=0&y=0 Thanks for the info Randy

A normally aspirated engine is down to about 50% at 12,500'. At that point the normally aspirated 300hp engine burns about 12-13 gph. Above about 10,000 the 252 would start to pull away. At 17 the missile would be slower but a 252 pulled back to the same speed would burn about the same fuel. Fuel burned equals horsepower generated. Both airframes are the same size so with equal fuel flow you would expect equal airspeed at the same altitudes. The 252 would go faster and burn more fuel and generate more power up high. The reason for the turbo is altitude. The 252 (or Encore) is probably the most efficient high flier out there.

There was a push 10-15 years ago to re engine the M22 fleet to get rid of the gear reduction engine. I don't think it ever happened. And yes really a fringe airplane.

There was a screaming sound from behind the panel when we landed Sunday. Did not take time to trouble shoot at that time. Tuesday my son and I went out for a joy ride. On startup the noise returned. Pulled the circuit breaker for the cooling fan and the noise quit. Where is it? Underneath or below the glare shield. Where to get one? Hard to change?

I don't know. All I know is what flying wrote in last month mag. It was a real question. By the time it was a cover story on Flying I thought Beech pilots might know something more than I.

New hoped for King Air.

According to Flying they are in bankrupcy. No more jets! "Plans call for a newly restructured company to reemerge under the Beechcraft name sometime next year. The bankruptcy will allow Beechcraft to walk away from more than $2.5 billion in debt. Boisture also confirmed that the company will no longer honor Hawker 4000 and Premier warranties, a policy that will affect about 150 customers, he said."

There are planes like the Grumman AA5 that have a castering nose wheel. They need brakes to steer on the ground. Our Mooneys do not need that technique. Reminds me of the time I sold my Mooney to a Grumman pilot. He was flying left seat and it was his first Mooney landing. Pretty good cross wind. I thought he was doing OK till at about 50 feet he called out "Your plane" He stepped off the rudders and I had to recover. Landed a little bit sideways and he stabbed the brakes to steer. Burned a new tire down to the cords. I could feel the flat spot as we taxied. I had to show him cords before we walked off. He tried to blame me till I showed him he was the only one with brakes. Brakes are not to controll direction in this manner too hard on the equiptment and not a lot of help.

"No such thing as a 6 seat rocket"...... My point exactly, calling a A36tc a Rocket is an overstatement. The closest thing to a 6 seat Rocket is the Piper Matrix though at $900,000 it still can't keep up.. "Never saw tiptanks on a rocket either." Why would you want tip tanks on a Rocket internal fuel gives over 1000 mile range. "there is more to a mission than simply speed , unless it is a race...." WRONG!!! Speed is the name of the game for transportation always has been always will be. That line reeks of sour grapes. Time/speed/distance/payload is why we fly. There are price points for every level of speed clear up to the 60 Million Dollar Gulfstreams. The Mooney is the ultimate 4 seat piston airplane ever made. Too bad they were better at engineering than marketing. Plastic crap sells while Mooney dies, sad state of affairs. PS what IS happening at Beech right now?

At 20,000' a 193 knot a36tc at 79% burns 17.4 at the same alt and fuel burn the Rocket is about 20 knots faster and with additional power will go even faster. A Rocket at 20k and 75% burns 20 gph and goes about 30 knots faster. I dont know where you get your stats but at just about any identical alt and fuel flow the Rocket is 20 knots faster than the Bonanza. The Rocket has a higher critical altitude of 24k so it can maintain power higher where it is even faster. If run at 20 gph instead of 17.5 the speed advantage goes up to 30 knots. I would flight plan the Rocket at 200 knots and 20 gal per hour to be conservative (101 usable). Going above 12 I would always do better. That is 1000 knots of range. Further if you want to slow down and stretch the fuel. Slowed down to 200kts@20k,000' and 15gph the range steps out to 1200 kts. Pick your apples to apples comparison the Rocket is 20 knots or more faster. Top speed without considering fuel flow the rocket is 40 knots faster at 24k. Apples to apples same alt same fuel flow the slower you go the bigger the speed advantage gets. Don't call a Bonanza a 6 seat Rocket cause it just ain't so.

A little overstated. To get a A36 to 200 is pushing it like a Rocket at 238. An A 36 is a nice plane and fills a popular niche. But it will never keep up with a Rocket. Apples to Apples the Bonanza is also one of our slower friends.

252 and Missile are not usually compared directly. Generally a buyer will consider if a turbo fits them or not. Turbos perform better over 12,000' and are capable of climbing well into the flight levels. The certified ceiling of a 252 is 28,000'. Normaly aspirated aircraft do their best work under 10,000' and rarely get over 16,000'. There are 2 basic non turbo Mooneys. 4 cylinder and 6. The 4s are Lycomings. Models A through J with constant improvement over the years. The 6s are 300 hp Continentals. The missile is a J that had the 200hp engine replaced with a 300hp one. The turbos come in 2 sizes also. Ks have 360ci engines. The large version started with Lycoming 540s and later got 550 ci Continentals. The Rocket is a K that had its 360 ci engine replaced with a 520 ci one. Missiles are usually compared with Ovations. The 252 uses less fuel but has higher power plant costs. They are both great planes but they fill different mission requirements.

This has to be a typo "295knots" a saraslowgo could not hit 295 in a vertical dive.

Kids grow up. Your current plane will be perfect in a few years. If you really want to carry more check usefull on some "6" seaters they are not really 6 seaters after all. A Missile or a Rocket will have close to 1100 usefull and 4 seats. I used to throw 3 kids in the back and go 1000 miles in the Rocket when they were small enough. (1,8 &11) (as long as the 2 littlest weigh less than 170 total it is legal) Now we only have one left at home to worry about. By the time the little one was too big the oldest no longer lived with us. Once they learn to drive they are no longer interested in flying anyway. My youngest is 13 and he still goes but the almost 20 year old stayed home last weekend. She is home for Christmas break and would rather spend it with freinds than visit Grandma and Granpa. The oldest 4 are on their own and #5 is in college. With a wife, 6 kids, 3 son in laws and 6 grandkids I can no longer afford a family plane. Soon enough it will be just you and your wife. Thats Life. Here is a real usefull bunch of airplane specs in one place: http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/aircraft/specifications.html

This weekend I flew to SLC and back and then yesterday just for fun. The plane sure loves those single digit temps. Better climbs and faster speed. I am breaking in a new engine so yesterdays flight at 7000-8000' ,knobs forward leaned to 50*C rich, around the area showed the highest TAS and ground speeds in no wind I have ever seen in this bird.

For all I know an IFR check on the altimiter may have been the fix. Testing the static system might have been what it took. I can see how a few inches of vaccum line could be replaced "just because" on an IFR check without a note. Good info to think about thanks.