Earl

Now that is taking a thread into an entirely new direction! I suspect they had all sorts of projects lined up at home while on furlough and then suddenly had to come to work..

I'm not an attorney either but I suspect you are right that a good lawyer could pretty easily pierce the corporate veil if the LLC is not really a functioning business. You have to be very careful with corporate governance to make sure you maintain the veil, such as it is. One thing to remember is there are two sources of liability, the owner and the PIC. You can have all the LLC's in the world but if you are PIC you will have liability regardless of ownership. That is why I do not take fellow employees in the plane because the liability risk is too high.

Start with a disclaimer that I am not an attorney or tax accountant but I own a number of businesses, including the LLC that owns my Mooney. If you own an LLC and it has a taxpayer ID number (FEIN or the state equivalent) you will need to submit state and federal tax returns each year. Depending on how it is structured (most are treated as a partnership for tax purposes) any losses or gains will be reported as taxable income (or loss) to the shareholders (or members) per their ownership percentage (called a K-1). The issue is whether the LLC is a sham corporation because there is no income and it is not really a business. If I recall there is a finite number of years that you can report a business with no income but with business expenses which you want to deduct and generate a loss for tax purposes. Expenses in a legitimate business like this include things like maintenance, fuel, insurance, depreciation, hangar/tie down, equipment upgrades (which may be capitalized), etc. My thinking is that if the LLC will never generate any income then I do not think its worth it. If however, you want to pay an hourly rate to the LLC for using the airplane then at least you may have the income side sorted out. I think AOPA has some resources about this issue that you may want to explore.

I too read this article with great interest as I have had a similar event happen with my Mooney. I got a call from the FBO letting me know that while putting the plane away they rubbed a wingtip (actually the plastic around the strobe) and there was a blemish with zero damage. In this case I just happened to have my A&P go over and look at it before I flew it again but that was unintentional. I would not have given a second thought to flying the airplane after they notified me of the blemish and would have been in the same boat. On the face of it this seems absurd to the maximum but ever since the death of common sense in this country this type of situation happens all too often. Wouldn't it be nice if the FAA, apparently legally correct, could have shown some judgment in this case.

Mine is owned by an LLC for a variety of reasons. First of all, I use the airplane almost exclusively for business so there are definite tax advantages to being in an LLC. Second, while you can never escape the liability of being the pilot, the LLC does provide a liability speed bump for the owner, especially if they are not the PIC. You will hear any number of opinions on the wisdom of an LLC from "you're nuts not to do it" all the way to "it is a complete waste of time and money". As with any decision like this, you will have to weigh the options, costs and benefits and make your own decision. I will say that if you are just going to use the plane for recreational use an LLC is probably not going to be worth the extra cost and hassle. Having said all that, the LLC comes with some additional costs and complications. You have to deal with the issues of owning a corporation (registration, business license, insurance, bank account, etc.), an additional state and federal tax return, etc. What is involved is very state dependent and the best thing to do is use one of those on-line companies that set up LLCs, unless you have an attorney friend that can help you.

I usually set mine for 65% power and at 11 gph in that altitude you will see around 165 kts TAS. As for the comment about flying in the 9.5 to 11.5 range, I do that fairly often to avoid the hassle of O2. But the 252 really earns its keep in the mid teens and at 75%-80% power setting you will easily see 180-190 kts but you will be burning a lot of fuel as you will need to run at 100 degF ROP or you will kill the engine.

I usually fly into KSAT. Landmark is very good.

When I am preflighting the airplane I leave the key in the lock to the baggage door so I will remember to lock it (mine has an emergency release inside the airplane). Only problem I have had is the couple of times I got into the airplane with the key hanging in the baggage door......grumble, grumble....climb back out......lock the door.........but no harm done. As for the HSI, I also point it to the intended departure runway before I taxi but I also set the heading bug to the heading I am cleared to after take off. So if I am departing runway 27 the yellow HSI pointer is set to 270. If I am instructed to fly heading 360 after departure I will put the heading bug there before I take the active. On arrival I will set up an instrument approach for landing runway on my 430 (whether its a ILS, localizer, GPS, etc.) even in visual conditions. I imagine I have lots of others......

As one who got my IR with the 10-day PIC course I will say this is definitely on target. I went that route because I needed my Mooney to be a productive business travel tool sooner rather than later and I would have taken forever otherwise. But having said that, I had pretty conservative personal minimums for the exact reasons posted above. You only experience IMC in one season and it is vastly different in other seasons. It is possible to get no actual IMC in the 10-day training period depending on the weather....or to get a lot if you are lucky. My early IFR trips were easy IFR and as I stated above even in CAVU I file IFR to gain more experience in the system which was immensely helpful. But you will have gaps in your experience when you are minted, of that there is no doubt.

After many years away from flying I bought a Mooney, got current and shortly thereafter I took the 10-day PIC course to get my IR. With my business travel schedule I knew that was the only way for me to get it done and get the utility out of the Mooney that I was looking for when I bought it (i.e. replace airline travel within 500nm of Atlanta). I was very pleased with the PIC course and those that criticize it as a program to get your ticket have never taken the course. There is no doubt in my mind that my CFII had one goal in mind and that was for me to be a safe, competent instrument rated pilot and that if he accomplished that goal my check ride would not be a problem. So if business, family life, etc. are going to be a real burden then an accelerated course is the way to go. Having said all that, you will make certain sacrifices with this approach. First of all, you will only experience IFR flight in the season and with the weather that occurs during your training period. After 300 hours in the system I have learned a lot. To compensate for this I had very conservative personal minimums that I held myself to religiously. Second, even when the weather was CAVU I filed and flew in the IFR system to get more experience with managing all the challenges, dealing with routing changes, being held high as you approach your destination, etc. All these things were much easier to deal with in IMC because I experienced them in VFR conditions first. Third, find a good CFII to do regular tuneups to keep your scan relatively proficient and your skills up to snuff. One thing I will say for sure is that when I heard to expression that an IFR ticket is a license to learn I believed it but now after 300 hours I really believe it. It seems like on almost every flight I get something new to deal with and to learn about. So have at it with an accelerated course but with one final piece of advice. Forget the idea that you can do your training during the day and handle business, family, etc. at night. This is 10 days of intensive training and it is definitely drinking from a fire hose. You will reach a point of saturation at some period in your training where you think you have plateaued and won't be ready but if you have the energy and the focus you will make it through. But if you try to do too many things during the training it will be a bigger challenge than it needs to be.

I've been tracking the value of 252's out of morbid curiosity as I bought mine near the peak. Despite supposedly being a very popular model the prices to me seem flat and inventory is decent. I am holding onto mine even though I would like to upgrade. Just can't stomach the loss.

I agree that this is a low number to do a repair. Is he going to pull and reseal the screws? Over the summer I paid $1,500 for an MSC to do a repair on one side and it has worked out so far. Pretty much putting off the inevitable full reseal at Weep No More but I just didn't have the free cash for a complete job.

If I seem to recall, Hugo claimed to sniff sulfur at the UN and then proceeded to call Bush el Diabalo (the devil)........wonder if he is smelling sulfur now? For sure his family is celebrating inheriting a couple a billion dollars stolen from the poor in Venezuela.......

Geez, I am thinking of the flight I took on Sunday with my wife and daughter into Greensboro, NC. Forecast winds were 19G25 and a 90 deg crosswind at the airport I was originally planning to use. I changed to KGSO to get less xwind and a longer, wider runway. By myself no problem trying for my original destination thinking I will likely go around and head to a more favorable airport. With my family? Forget it. I cannot imagine departing from that airport in those wind conditions, with or without my family. I have my computer and cell phone and can work from pretty much anywhere. Nothing on my schedule would be that important. Sadly, I suspect his passengers totally trusted his judgment right up to the point where he stalled and they were staring at terra firma coming toward them at a high rate of speed. Indeed we are only as good as our last risk management decision......wow.....

Cowl flaps closed will make the engine run hotter as it reduces airflow. Hence, cowl flaps open on departure and climb, partially closed in cruise and closed on descent. I am betting a faulty probe or connection to the gauge.

I carry a basic ICOM nav/comm and always charge it the night before the flight. Use it to listen to ATIS and often to get my IFR clearance when it is warm and I don't need to heat up the plane. Never had to use it in flight as I have never had a comm failure. Would not need the VOR function as I would use my 696 or iPad instead for navigation. Have been looking at the Sporty's SP-400 for the ILS capability but haven't pulled the trigger as yet. By the way, I have never been able to get the adaptor plug to work well with my Bose headsets. I really need to work on that as I know what I pain it would be to use the thing without it.

I usually visit the shop 2-3 times during the annual and they have a complete annual checklist for a Mooney (they do a fair number of them every year) and the base shop charge is $975. All the panels are open for inspection, gear swung, etc. If I recall I asked the nearest MSC and his flat rate was only $1,100 for the annual plus all the extras.

As with the others I lean aggressively when I taxi. I also have an EDM-730 and am lean during my runup. Just look for the rise in temps when I check mags which is a much better diagnostic of mag performance than the RPM drop. Not only tells me if I have a mag problem but also can pinpoint blocked injectors, bad plugs, etc.

Actually the labor charge for the annual inspection was $975 and all the extras added up to the $3,700 total. But that is actually high in my five year's of Mooney ownership experience. But again, as I stated above I am diligent on maintenance and don't wait for annual inspections to fix problems. But if I spent over $10K on my annual inspections every year for 3 years I would really have to wonder. What could possibly come up each year that wasn't there the year before? Seems to me this is a plane that must have been neglected and you are paying to catch up. Then again, what am I saying? A simple fuel selector valve would have cost me over $3K if I bought it new.

When my fuel selector valve leak was discovered at my annual the A&P said I could surely smell fumes in the cabin, right? I told him, "My God man, if i got in my Mooney and couldn't smell fuel I would think I either have some serious medical condition affecting my sense of smell or someone has stolen all my fuel!!" Actually since I had my tanks partially resealed by an MSC I had not smelled fuel but did a bit and just chalked it up to the other side starting to leak as well. With the fix I am once again looking forward to getting into an odor free airplane.

I agree in this case the available equipment obviously didn't save this guy because he chose not to use it, not to listen to ATC, not to do a proper weather briefing, etc. My point was that if you think it can't happen to you because you would never do what he did you probably have a bit of what he had because I can assure you he didn't take off on this flight with the intent to kill himself and his daughters. He obviously had the hubris to think it could not happen to him right up until that moment when he popped clear of the clouds and by the it was too late. As for your point about taking off below landing minimums, I agree that it reduces backup safety factors to nil which is why that is one of my personal minimums. But would you not agree that what he did was not inherently dangerous until he got to the end of the flight and ran into IMC? Likewise, taking off into IMC below minimums is not inherently dangerous until you lose an engine on departure in IMC and can't get easily get back to the airport safely in a very high stress situation. Many experienced IFR pilots view that as a manageable risk but I am not there yet.

While I generally agree with you I would much rather have a pilot rely on all the tools available to them in such a circumstance rather than pridefully saying they won't use them because of how others may perceive them. Which is worse, admitting you got yourself in too deep and had to rely on the autopilot to save you and your passengers or ending your flight like this guy did? I think the answer is pretty obvious. It makes me wonder if the reason he didn't use that life saving tool is because he had that very same attitude or why he wouldn't listen to ATC. I'll bet that all changed when he popped out of the clouds at a 70 degree angle and knew this was his last flight and that he had killed his daughters. I for one will tell any pilot at any time to use whatever tools they have available to them to save their butts and would congratulate them for having the courage to do so rather than the false sense of pride that leads to their death.

I think this is probably true and what is doubly ironic is the airplane was more than capable of saving his life. Put on the autopilot, climb and call ATC for flight following to a VFR airport.

I just watched the video today and agree that his decision making was terrible. But this was an accident caused by a chain of bad decisions that to us in our wisdom of 20/20 hindsight led to its inevitable outcome. One has to wonder how many times he engaged in similar decision making and it worked out fine? I would bet over his 200+ hours flying in the midwest this was not his first experience scud running and not getting weather information. This time he ran out of options, let fear overcome judgment and likely got saturated and lost it. It made me think about my decision making, especially when I am tempted to violate a personal minimum. For example. one that is really hard for me is that I am not going to take off from an airport unless it is above instrument minimums. I have sat there watching single after single take off while I wait and wonder if I am being too conservative. But then I think that if I violate this once and it turns out OK it makes the next time easier and then pretty soon that personal minimum is gone. And then after having been successful ten times I climb into the soup, lose my engine, not get back into the airport because it is below minimums and am then the subject of a thread where everyone says stupid is as stupid does. Don't get me wrong, he was incredibly stupid and irresponsible. My point is that no one takes off thinking they are going to get into IMC and auger in and kill their children. But no doubt we are all prone to making bad decisions unless we are very, very disciplined......and most of us with any number of hours (I am soon to exit the killing zone with over 600 hours God willing!) can look back and say this flight or that flight could have turned out pretty bad. I know I can....... It didn't have anything to do with the plane he flew and the training he received would have prepared him for this kind of weather and had he followed that training he and his passengers would be alive today because he never would have taken off in the first place. But stories like this remind me that when you have an attitude that you would never make a series of mistakes that lead to an accident you have probably taken that first step to getting yourself into a pickle. I am a firm, 100% believer that it can happen to me and that makes me even more diligent. And BTW, I too am a wimp when it comes to decision making and at times have felt a little silly after the fact but have always been able to maintain my discipline by reminding myself about the what ifs. What if that streak of oil on the top of cowling was evidence of an oil leak instead of a careless line guy getting a little oil on access door when he added a quart? I felt kind of silly landing early to check it out until I told my CFII about it later and he said its better to be on the ground wishing you were flying than in the air wishing you were on the ground. These kind of stories ought to cause us to do a little soul searching along with the reasonable critique of the PIC.

Got my final bill for my annual. Had to replace my battery as well. Between that, the new fuel selector valve replacement, left and right magneto inspection and repair and having my O2 bottle hydro tested and recharged the total was $2,699 plus another $1,000 for the valve. By far the most expensive annual since I have had the Mooney.