bradp

Keep in mind that many of those flying These turboprops have fewer hrs / xwind experience than many on this side. Agree with Shadrach that a couple of them are executed pretty well.

I was on the opposite side of the equation. I purchased my aircraft in 2012, 7 years after a gear up that occurred at a Kerrville factory visit fly-in. It had a conversion from a 360-A3B6D to a A3B6 during overhaul, had flown 500 odd hours and had a new prop. All the repairs / reskin had been done by Dugosh. I passed up many planes with a less stellar maintenance record and no damage history because this damaged bird had a number of pluses.

I flew a 182 and a piper arrow before the Mooney. Mooney is far superior in a crosswind. I tend to find the upwind wing wants to lift a lot more in the high wing and there is more of a mushy tendency with a given control input at low speed in a piper with a Hershey bar wing. Even at my 4th and 5th landing in the Mooney (I think I did like 3 during transition training), I was into crosswinds (15-20) that I wouldn't have ever attempted in those other models because the plane is that much more capable (good rudder, low, laminar wing).** It's hard to perfect but not hard to land satisfactorily. For the uninitiated lurkers, the one caveat is that you can respect the numbers and land where you want or not respect the numbers and land where she wants- that's okay too. But if you don't respect the numbers and try to land where you want she'll bite you. ** My first trip in the M20J was FCH-LDS-EDC-MKL-AVL-LYH-N07-OWD.

I was curious if anyone knows whether it was sold or parted out? Hopefully it was sold and has a happy home Also how did the foundation fly the heavily modified aircraft? Apparently under an experimental type certificate...?

Tail looks a lot like a lancair 360 tail with the Mooney signature design. The 360 suffered from poor rudder authority until they came out with a modified design. I like the large spinner. It looks like they incorporated CAFE foundation M20E spinner almost. (Not to drift too far but does anyone know what happened to that CAFE m20E and how they got an experimental certificate for a production aircraft?... I'll start a new topic for that one). On paper the Pipstrel Panthera is hard to beat. Missing for the world market is a turbo diesel variant, however. But man that is a hot ride. Good looking, super efficient (they claim 198ktas on 10gph at least with the IO-390), trailing link gear, and better useful load than my M20J by almost 200lbs. Plus that CAPS thing. I'd love to fly one of those things as it takes the idea that we all like about our efficient Moonies and brings it into the 21st century. For most of us, I think we'd be most interested in a true 4-place rather than a half hearted 5-place or an expanded 3-place trainer. We all want something that goes fast, sips gas... and looks good.

There is a method to trick the computer to get the route you want. My flight instructor used this method routinely to avoid the eastern PA / southern NY tour when flying from DC to Boston. He would file an intermediate airport as the destination and his preferred destination as the alternate (only doable when an alternate is not actually required). He would then ask the controller for his alternate en route and negotiate directly. He would almost often get the original route he wanted but the computer rejected. Just info no personal endorsement and YMMV. Alternatively, he he, you could file up V23 towards PMD if you are just concerned about costal weather and can accept higher MVAs in the desert. It adds about 112 mm to the trip but it may keep you out of the ice and from having to drive 6hrs.

George curious as to whether the skew-t charts reflected the temperature inversion you encountered? Brad

Which exit is Pittsburgh? That's just after the New Brunswick one right?

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum. I'd add that a digital engine monitor of some sort is probably the most valuable piece of panel you can put in your plane. Lycoming 4-bangers run LOP easily and an engine monitor will pay for itself year over year in 100LL and hopefully in detecting engine health issues before they become major. You'll also want at least a single axis autopilot regardless of the level of avionics you find/ install. Altitude hold is nice but not necessary as the Mooney is rock steady trimmed in the vertical axis. Keep in mind that most on the market (at least that I've looked at recently) are not ADS-B ready and you'll probably need to plan for the cost of compliance. Have fun in your search. Look closely at any plane you consider and make detailed notes... In person if possible but you can ask for pictures if you can't lay eyes on it (engine, empennage, tail assy, spar caps, etc). I'd recommend that plus a review of the logs as a first pass and then obtain a pre buy with a MSC different than the one that has been maintaining it if the plane was maintained at an MSC. Feel free to post a 'what do you think about this one?' thread for any you're interested in. A lot of us like pretend shopping with other people's money.

At the recent Mooney fly in we compared the PSA paddles on another aircraft with my incandescent bulbs (they were parked side by side). The paddles were notably brighter at all viewing angles including including at 90 and 120-degrees. But this is only with my eyes, which I guess is what are supposed to view these position lights in the first place. :-)

I had recently read his post about the trip to Florida with his son and thought how nice it would be to do something like that one day. So this is certainly sobering news. Hopefully we can learn something of this sad event; I'm sure with all his enthusiasm for aviating he would have wanted us to learn something.

This is great information. A question I've had but haven't seen the answer to in other threads is whether there is an upgrade path from 730/830 to 900 from JPI? Is it simply a firmware upgrade for the 730/830 head to now become a 900? If the probes can be cross referenced to the same part numbers, I'd think a significant about of labor/downtime could be saved by using the already-installed harness and existing probe installs (like Maurader) but seems silly to have to buy the entire kit if 50-80% of the required equipment is already there. Edit: I see now that there are some hardware differences between the 830/900. Would be nice to just be able to get the box and not have to sell redundant probes Take care -B

Santa violated the FRZ. :-)

Here's a video of me landing at S37 (visiting the paint shop). Note the big power adjustment on final for 28 as I thought there was a telephone wire as an obstruction. There isn't as the wire runs to the ground. Hopefully there won't be a lawnmower at this time of year. Runways a bit shorter than your average in NE but as you can see there's plenty of space for a Mooney.... And I'm no short field yoda. Have fun -B http://youtu.be/ihOGzBHRxV8

I had called Dan to price it new towers if I were to need them when I replaced biscuits this summer. This was for the mains only, but I think I have a folder with the quoted price. Threy had them in stock then. I'll see if I can dig up the part numbers and prices.

... Aviatoreb is the most interesting pilot in the world. (Well at least he has the most interesting sounding propeller in the world. ) (Aslo wouldn't you get them underhauled instead of overhauled?)

Looks a little like a Lancair with a properly oriented tail. Like.

Ours is named Dee Dee. It's an evolution from a remark about the 1970's era paint colors. Name stuck. Happy with it. Dee Dee has gotten us many places safely.

Pictreed out of curiosity what are you transitioning from? B

I remember one of my first student pilot cross country solos was to KRIC in a C150 behind a B752... I was very cautious about that potential and never caught any. I caught wake once from a G-V departing opposite direction in a C172 at KCHO. It was only for a brief time and a minor excursion but got my attention and I went around.

Yetti looks like you're practicing the expressway visual approach at La Guardia. Or this. http://youtu.be/pCEXaYsjSdw

Depending on size of the installation use of the tail skid may be appropriate as well.

Welcome to the forum. Is the need for a retractable step for camera mounting or some other purpose? Look on the video section of the forum and you'll see that there are plenty of methods to mount a camera. Personally I'd put the retractable step into "nice to have" instead of "must have" category. Otherwise it sounds like an E would suit your needs very well. You don't necessarily need the extra passenger space, there are a lot of modded Es out there, you're going far and planning to fly a lot, and the ability to go lean will save thousands per year. For your type of flying see if you can get at least a single axis autopilot, an IFR GPS and most importantly an engine monitor. Keep in mind the ADS-B BS upcoming. If your budget is mid 40's it's doubtful that your going to find a bird with fancy glass. However you should be able to find something with a decently low time engine. Good luck in your search.

He can abstract his typography from Mooneyspace to get a more accurate "real world" list of words. We'd see in large type LOP ROP Camguard CB Garmin Aspen There you go that's about it :-). Cool idea though ... -B

Second vote for Henry Weber. Not cheap but very honest and excellent work.