Skywarrior

When I started on my Private license, I beat up my club's 152 very badly. I mean, I dropped the plane onto the pavement when landing a LOT of times. I was really slow at learning the finer points of controlling an airplane. Fifty or sixty hours of that, and I got it out of my system. Then, I went 21 years without any flying at all, except for GIB (Guy In Back) flying in the Navy. When I restarted, I immediately bought a Mooney and set out to pass a BFR. That took me a year. Sure, NOW I do just fine. I'm just saying it took me a lot of time, and I inflicted a lot of abuse on both the club's planes and my own plane. As enticing as your own aircraft can be, it can be a cruel master, too. If you have landing problems with a new-to-you Mooney, you may become discouraged, and stop flying regularly. Even if you don't have any problems, your insurance quotes are gonna be outrageous. I recommend you buy a used Piper, or even a 152, and pound the bejesus out of the runway pavement with that. THEN get yourself a nice little Mooney. Your emotions will push you to buy a nice Mooney first, but I believe that would be putting the cart before the horse. Looking at airplane ads is a lot of fun. One poster on here said his wife referred to airplane magazines as "Airplane Porn". She wasn't far off the mark. You may not believe me, but I'll say it anyway: You'll have the most fun in the simplest and slowest airplane. There - I said it. And I truly believe it. And there are a bunch of people, who are no longer with us, who tried to push their advancement along too quickly, due to feeling that time is flying by quickly, and there's no time to waste on learning flying incrementally. Please keep us posted on what you decide to do. We are all interested in new pilots' progress.

When you're free and clear of Falcon, call Josh Jabour at Aircraft Insurance Agency by Duncan, Waxahachie, TX. They can arrange insurance for about half what you're paying.

It was the sitting height in the seat. Perhaps I could have cranked the 210's seat down...

I am 6'4', long in torso, and I fit fine in a friend's "F". Mooney is easier to fit into than a 172. I cannot fit in a C210, but I fit fine in a Mooney. You can monkey around a lot with the seat back angle, and the distance from the panel. Get Halo earpieces - otherwise your headset will jam into the headliner. Chuck M. '91 Bravo

Master Sarge - Turn down the volume control on the little Hershey bar that is inline on your cord.

Put it on YouTube.

Quote: TLSDriver Not to change the topic but have you worked with Bruce before? I could use a 'tune-up.'

Do you mind telling us what it is?

Quote: 182flyer I was at Oshkosh to fit check but did not find an owner and airplane at the same time. I am 6'6" and would like to sit in one of these fine machines. I think the leg room will be fine but need to be sure I don't bang my head with a headset on.

Hypoxia at altitude, then a hard landing? There's gotta be a lot more to this story...

Quote: Jeff_S You know, while we're on the topic of less-than-perfect landings, let me open up to the group that lately I've had some real stinkers, and I seem to have gotten into a pattern that maybe somebody can break me of. When I first transitioned from the Warrior, my problem was that I was landing too flat...never nose-wheel first, but certainly three point landings. So I've consciously tried to keep the nose up higher to land mains first. Only now, when the mains touch down, often I'll get a sudden drop of the nose and a bit of a bounce on the front tire. Just one bounce, and never enough to suggest a go-around, but still...very unseemly. And at PDK, there's ALWAYS somebody watching you! So, perhaps I'm keeping the nose up too high? Or subconsciously releasing back pressure too early when the mains hit? I need to just go out and practice a few, surely, but I'm open to suggestions. I need to get that "greaser" feeling back in my hands!

Quote: jetdriven

My gut tells me roller tappets have to be less injurious to cam lobes than old-style. For example, if you have any valve float, the tappet could impact the lobe around halfway up the rise, rather than smoothly following the surface of the cam. IF that happened, the tappet would gouge the 'upward rising' side of the cam lobe. However, if a *roller* tappet ever hit the side of the lobe (vice rolling uphill smoothly), it would not gouge the lobe. The roller wheel would transfer the impact force into spinning itself on its 'axle'. The fact that astelmaszek's cam is nearly pristine except for just 1 lobe makes me think he did not have a corrosion problem. Corrosion is not that selective. Manufacturing flaw? Maybe. Oil distribution not homogeneous across the cam? Maybe. Heat problem? Maybe. A&P hamfistedness? Maybe. Cam heat-treated or quenched incorrectly at the factory? Maybe. Conclusion? I'm gonna try really hard to minimize possible ways my engine can lunch itself. The more knowledge we can gain about engine operation and failure modes, the better off we will all be.

A former airplane dealer I once spoke to warned me about coolant leaks also. That said, a Liquid Rocket owner once told me he'd never had any trouble with his. Oh well... my plain ol' Bravo is plenty fast enough, if I want it to be... :-)

Just a note. Reading this new thread is the first time I saw the mention of 'mph'. In the previous thread, I thought he was referring to knots IAS.

Yuri - Talk to Evanthe at Skybound Aviation at PDK. She may be a very good CFI for your wife.

Reading the news account, it sounds like his wheels clipped power lines near the fence, then pitched forward onto the runway. Looking at the satellite image of the field, I'd say he was approaching from the west. There is a power line running over top of the very end of the runway.

I don't know about the FAA paperwork side of this, but Mooney could send you the drawings and a local fiberglass shop could fabricate one for you.

You already checked with LASAR?

Quote: DrBill Interesting the N on the outside is 199Q yet the panel has 9218M Could it be an amalgamation of TWO "totaled" airplanes ? BILL

Just speaking for myself, I found Bruce Jaeger's help immensely beneficial when I returned to flying after a 21-year layoff. I, too, was trying to fly the Mooney like a 172. Doesn't work. The 172 has much more drag - partly because of a thicker wing cross-section - and the combination of the extra drag and a higher-lift wing gave me fits when learning to land a Mooney. So, I'd say landings in a Mooney are the main area where you'd benefit from an instructor who has a lot of Mooney experience. Another area is stalls. With a lower-drag wing, a Mooney tends to break into a more-pronounced stall when it does break. For ex., a few weeks ago, I was on final for landing, into a 25-kt headwind. The wind suddenly let up, so my airspeed dropped by 25 kts. The nose *immediately* dropped, and I had a windshield full of pine trees. Recovery was straightforward. But, I remember that there was no warning, no 'nibbling', no 'chatttering', no buffeting. Just "Dum-de-dum-dum... WHOA!!!" I would recommend to anyone starting to fly Mooneys to go with a Mooney-experienced CFI - definitely.

Stuck valve?

In the thread you referenced, the muddy instrument panel of the Uboat registered as N9218M appears.

Good catch, belittle. This is the Uboat that was chopped up, then put back together by a salvage operator. As soon as I saw it was in E. Tennessee, I thought of the guy there who keeps foisting rebuilt salvage planes. But I didn't remember that N number. Chuck M.

The replacement of turbos would indicate that the previous owner wasn't allowing the turbo to cool down before shut down. There are a lot of people who poo-poo that idea. Then again, maybe you're right. In any case, mine is always cooled down by the time I get to my hangar. I would bet that the more-significant reason is simply running the thing too hot inflight. If you're running high power at high altitude, you need to have your mixture around 200 ROP if you can't run LOP. Chuck M.