Skywarrior

I was once told by an airline pilot friend that it was not difficult to accidentally turn off the autothrottles in the model of airliner he flew at the time (twenty years ago). If the pilots were rubbernecking while the autothrottles were thought to be on, but were actually off, the plane would slow and descend until someone on the flight deck noticed and said "Oh, sh**!" and slammed the throttles forward, then pulled the nose up.

Try Steve Masters, former Mooney factory test pilot. stephenmasters1@me.com

27/24 @ 17,500 = 185 KTAS Don't remember the low altitude/low power TAS. Climb at 120 KIAS, 34 inches, full prop at first, then decrease prop angle just a bit as I go higher. No experience with icing yet. A Bravo can eat as much as fuel as you want to give it, or be as frugal as you want it to be. It's a choice of airspeed and engine heat.

High altitude, 27/24: 17.5 gph. Low altitude, 24/24: 14.5 gph. 100 ROP.

Many of us remember seeing the footage on TV. Amazing, indeed.

Yep, I've experienced this in my Bravo. It went away on its own, probably because the microswitch dried out. You may wish to keep a hair blow dryer at your hangar, to dry out the stall sensor area before flights. Some people have had their switch stick in the 'Up' position because they draggged a fuel hose across it, and they reset it by pushinjg down on the vane. If I had pushed on *my* stall vane, I wopuld have broken it! So, I believe that water intrusion is an alternate cause scenario.

"... I've had 55 hours pilot training over the last few years (plus 12 hours in the last month doing serious "shake the rust off" ground training..." Be sure you don't fool yourself into thinking that ground training is going to shake the rust off. Some people who really *want* to become pilots are actually uncomfortable in the air, at the controls. So, they will often rush to buy an aircraft, thinking that will get them over the hump, so to speak, psychologically. But, that is putting the cart before the horse. They eventually learn that it is much safer and wiser to take their time, get their PPL in hand, fly several different types of airplane, and *then* buy. It is *very* easy to become seduced by the endorphin 'high' associated with plane shopping. But, much like seduction by a member of the opposite sex, a huge unseen 'low' can be waiting around the corner... Good luck. You're young - you've got plenty of time - and the tax deduction will still be there next year.

Just curious... what sort of aviation-related business did you start?

Teach him to fly. Knowing you're in control helps a lot.

I would stick with non-inverted rolls until you get some experience with them.

I feel better seeing an AF pilot also getting frisked by CBP...

Also, the Class II exam has limits on the amount of heterophoria (cross-eye) between your eyes. Until I get surgery on one of my eyes to correct that, I have to stick with a Class III.

Hmmm... To summarize: 1. If you would like to use an AOA indicator, then buy one and use it. 2. If you do not wish to use an AOA indicator, then do not buy one nor use one. 3. ...never mind, there's no third option. <sheesh>

Do you have the requisite experience?

When I was young, I knew everything. As I got older, I would sometimes concede that there were a *few* things I wasn't a complete master of. Now, approaching 60, I don't know nuthin'. But, that makes it that much more fun to learn stuff. I no longer have that "you can't teach me anything" blinder on...

Just a note: I have read many people writing, "stall speed/likelihood increases as bank angle increases." Just so everybody is clear, 'bank angle', alone, does not cause this. It is the concomitant 'pull' on the yoke, required to keep the nose level, that causes the increase in AOA during a turn. There... I feel better.

Yes, the type of lubricant you use in your engine is often the culprit. The metal senses the difference, and tightens up accordingly.

On a very similar subject... Those of you who have rain flowing into (make that through) your T-hangar, how do you shore up the edges to make them watertight?

Hello, all - My bird is out of annual, and I would like to get the inspection done without flying it to an IA. (Our local mech says he does not know Mooneys well enough to feel comfortable doing it.) Does anyone know of an A&P/IA in the Atlanta area who would be willing to drive out to Villa Rica to do one in my T-hangar? I understand it would be three or four visits, but I can certainly assist.

I have dealt with similar difficulties re: an electronics repairman, years ago. He had severe mental problems. I would yank that plane out of there immediately. On a truck, if you have to.

Note to Self: Check your aircraft especially carefully after a visit to the paint shop, as well as after an Annual or engine work.

Interesting... my installation is non-FIKI, so I could not understand what people were talking about when they referred to laser-drilled, titanium stall strips on their TKS panels. Since my plane is non-FIKI TKS, it has plain old angled aluminum stall strips stuck onto the TKS panels. I learned something! "I feel weefweshed!" - Lily von Schtupp, Blazing Saddles

Just as an oil filter screwed onto my engine doesn't make my engine an oil filter, a stall strip bonded onto the surface of a TKS porous titanium strip doesn't make the TKS strip a Stall Strip.

Umm... stall strips.

I keep seeing people refer to TKS porous panels as 'Stall Strips'. They are NOT stall strips. They are deicing fluid delivery devices. A stall strip is that short piece of angled aluminum bonded to the leading edge of each wing, on most airplanes, that helps balance the stall characteristics of the wings. Sorry, it just bugs me that people who should know better seem not to... Chuck M.