WilliamR

Big engine, low horsepower. Looks a lot like a Fleet but with a rounded tail. William

Summary: I think your cost modeling is pretty dead on. I track my costs very, very closely after 20+yrs of Mooney ownership. Good luck on hangar space in ATL metro. $6,000/yr is maybe a little light. I didn't think LZU had any hangar space avail. and tie downs were thin, but that's a quick call to see avail and rates. Isn't Harbour Air something in the $550+ range for a hangar? Annual (inspection only) is a bit heavy. Probably $2,750 on average. However, $4,000 probably is well loaded for one time items plus routine maintenance costs. I split out annual cost (about $2,750) from other routine maint. like 500/hr mag inspections, vacuum pumps, etc that have short lives and then use the accrual method to derive an hourly cost of those things. Oil analysis is likely a little high. Should be about $35-50/oil change. My XM subscription is about $75/month using the boat subscription (same functionality as the aviator subscription), but honestly, I can't figure out what subscription they are charging me for (nor can they it seems). As noted, assume about $450-$550/yr for GPS subscription. Annual taxes for a $100,000 plane will run you about $2,000/yr. I think my bill is closer to $2,800/yr for an '86 252 in Chamblee/Dekalb County. Hope this helps. William

Except if you want a daily driver with near equal performance, lower bills, or want to win at Le Mans (yes, I'm aware Ferrari just won, but Porsche has more wins and the most consecutive wins). Btw, anyone who compares a Lancair 4PT to a Columbia or even an ES should really understand the wildly different airframe features. William

Matt, since you're at PDK, first I would suggest getting on the hangar and tie down wait list. The hangars are not expensive for the location, but the wait list is long (many years). Tie downs are likely still on a waitlist. No matter what plane you get, you will want that. Second, buy your last plane first. While a turbo Mooney is a large transition from say an 172/Archer, it's a big jump, but not insurmountable. There are people who jump from their PPL training right into an Acclaim. Training and commitment is key here. Cruising in the flight levels is both easier and harder just like instrument flying. Third, even jumping from a J to a K or an M, insurance will ask for training when stepping up. At your flight time, with no retract time, insurance will want at least 25 hours of retract and make specific training out of the gate. Living that dream with a new owner now with a J on the NW ramp. Do consider operating costs. A Bravo all in (maintenance accrual, fuel, ins, hangar, etc.) will be a little north of $300/hr. My 252 costs all in about $270/hr to fly. There's a thread floating around here of operating costs where I think I posted my financial model. Try and find that. I'm on the NE ramp with a 252 and live very close. I do a fair amount of checkouts/instruction including Mooneys on the field. Feel free to shoot me a PM. You're asking the right questions. Never hurts to be thinking two or three steps ahead. Happy to answer any questions or show you a few Mooneys. William

Correct, getting a full route amendment right after departure can happen, but why not stack the odds in your favor? I mainly fly up and down the east coast of the US and northern Caribbean and instrument rated since 1991. I fully admit I have not seen it all. Picking up a clearance in the air (assuming VFR/VMC) is fine if that's what one wants to do. It's just not my preference. William

I remember that run to the plane after getting the clearance by pay phone; passengers already loaded. Thanks for the ground lesson. I will look for the bill in the mail. I've never been a big fan of picking up an IFR clearance on departure, especially single pilot. Copying a full route clearance is a lot of heads down time in a VFR environ. Throw in some turbulence and hands are full, but that's me. William

That makes sense, thanks. I missed the advise intentions time...clearance void at 18:30z advise by 18:35z. That's clearly a 91.123(a) violation; "When an ATC clearance has been obtained, no pilot in command may deviate from that clearance unless an amended clearance is obtained...". I assumed no one would take off squawking a void code. W

Did the OP actually break any CFRs? Assuming it was VMC and the OP departed maintaining VFR cloud clearance while staying out of controlled airspace, departing and checking in after the clearance void time just means you are flying under VFR, correct? Couldn't approach just say once radar contact is established, "you are cleared as previously cleared"? How would that be different than just departing VFR and picking up the clearance in the air other than contacting Clearance/Approach twice? If one called at or after the void time from the ground to re-protect the airspace, the "sin" of unnecessarily protecting the airspace from 1830Z to 1835Z had already been committed. I see no crime here for being 6 min. late. Now, if the airspace was IMC/IFR or entering controlled airspace, way different story. I don't even think what the OP did was bad form. What am I missing? William

Awesome, thanks. I think they are original as my interior is original and has pop rivets. It was just a little hard for me to determine where they went through (really hoping they didn't go through the top of the fuselage).

Question on the rivets. The rivets secure the headliner plastic to the roof of the plane such that you are drilling through the top of the fuselage, correct? Thanks William

Advanced Aircraft Refinishers in Griffin, GA is very good. My plane was painted by them almost 20 years ago and has held up very, very well (still can't believe I haven't abraded the paint off the leading edges flying through rain over the years). Yes, that was along time ago, but Tony has been painting aircraft for a much longer time. There were some small touches they did that I thought was nice. He's not as cheap as what you would get in Carrolton, GA, but the product is way better. I think there are some recent pics of my plane in my profile. I know some RVs have been recently painted there and they show very well. I've never heard a bad word about him. I don't mind paying a premium for a premium product. William

I'm guessing the OP has a KI256 AI. Assuming so, the "switch" is really a pressure bot located off the suction line for the 256. On the pot there's an adjustment screw. They can sometimes cause a false annun. If the vacuum gauge showed 5 and the instruments functioned well, it's likely the pressure pot needs adjustment (1/4 turn of the screw is probably more than needed). I've had them vibrate a little and cause a false annun. Make sure when your mechanic adjusts the pot to not adjust it so the annun. never comes on. The standby vacuum probably needs some adjustment, too. Assuming the standby is electric, when testing in preflight as required by most POHs does the standby go off scale high? If so, that can probably be easily adjusted by a mechanic. I won't get into how wrong it is for a mechanic to condemn a vacuum pump by just looking at the outside when the gauge shows full vacuum and instruments are working fine (they were working, right?). William

Most banks have about 50% +/-10% of their deposits by $ as insured by the FDIC. FDIC insurance limit is by entity, by bank, and by account category (joint, trust, etc). It is not by account. Keeping deposits to less than $250,000 is just not manageable for a large company who regularly disburses/collects $50MM or more in a day.

Fair enough and agree. I see my writing made it look like the stock sale was something that was a last minute sale which it was not. However, optically, still not great. Of course, the selling parties have to rep as to not having any MNPI back in Jan. SVB stock trades are the least of that former bank's problems, however. Tough to be a regional lender right now. Btw, look at the bank bond market...not as disrupted as the equity market. Fed funds futures don't seem bad either. Those are the markets that signaled the last recession (not that any one economic slowdown is like the other). Soft landing here we come. William

Or it could have been caused by SVB announcing they have no more available for sales securities along with the CEO cashing out $3+MM in stock. SVB was a long time coming with poor liquidity management and lack of understanding their assets and liabilities. SVB did this to themselves just like Signature. Oh and Silvergate that was also crypto heavy. A couple facts worth noting: Banks with assets <$250 Bn are no longer required to be stress tested (Large banks are still stress tested and are passing albeit with more put to reserves for some banks. Ask JPM, Wells, and BofA) Bank stock trading was halted only for an hour or two (I get its fun to note if you're a "doomsdayer") save maybe First Repub. Inflation has been coming down for some months and QT has been in effect since July '22 William

Well, the seats are hot, but that's probably not what you meant. Ha!

I live a couple miles north of downtown Decatur. LZU would definitely be your best bet other than PDK, of course. Decatur to RYY is a long ride. CVC wouldn't be too bad a drive, but I have no idea what their space availability is. Hope that helps.

@Pinecone, CPI and Core Inflation are two different things. CPI also called headline inflation very much does include food and energy. The previously linked calculator looks like it uses CPI based on its use of the most recent TTM 6.41% published rate which includes fuel and food. The Core Inflation rate (ex-food and fuel) was 5.6% last month (btw, up from the previous month versus the slightly lower CPI). Note, the weighting of the individual CPI categories change regularly. William

Agree that first you need to determine what part of town you may live. The list at PDK for hangars is back to being 10+ years. Tie downs are also on a wait list but shorter. You may be able to get something in a group hangar at Epps for the right amount of money and other attached strings. FTY is running a wait list and frankly has the least amount of available hangars; group or otherwise. Tiedowns are equally tough. LZU has some tiedowns available and the wait list for hangars isn't crazy. RYY I think still has some room in one of their group hangars. If not, the list shouldn't be too bad. The rest of the airports listed above are north of an hour drive outside ATL city limits.

An airport way out in the country in GA did something similar. Spent $1MM or so doing research and changing the name form Peachtree City Falcon Field to Atlanta Regional Falcon Field. Part of that $1MM was spent flying "consultants" around different airports in GA interviewing airport managers that were near other metro areas. Oh, and the renaming of Swissair had to do with that fantastically and poorly managed insolvency. Not because someone had a whim. William

I've been in a similar market for an upgrade for some time. Although, I don't need 5-6 like the OP. Really, I need 4 and won't upgrade unless pressurized. Here's where I come out on planes less than $500,000 in order of interest. All-In Costs ("AIC") assume about 125-150 hrs/yr. and insurance normalized after a year or two. Costs were determined after talking to actual owners. 1. PA-46 (preferably a Conti powered version for slightly better range and payload) - AIC somewhere between $350-$400/hr. 2. Aerostar 601P/602P/700- AIC ~$700/hr 3. C340 - AIC ~$600-$700/hr 4. MU-2 - AIC ~$800/hr. 5. King Air 90 - AIC ~$900-$1000/hr Can any of these planes be operated slightly less than above? Yes. Could I? Not likely. 5-6 people in a BE-58/A-36/Toga will be cramped over time even if three are kids (what with all the kid accoutrement). Frankly, 6 in a PA-46 or even an Aerostar is a bit tight. William

CDC does not own that Gulfstream. Phoenix Air does. Entities contract with Phoenix Air for specialized transportation.

Dan Gryder

Some companies are also worried about reputation risk. That was a big part of the reason for the prohibition at the last company I worked. We had already been called out by Congress for "excesses".

Few options: 1. check micro-switch on throttle is not adjusted to go off too high although even with the micro switch correctly adjusted, I have this problem on Cs and Es 2. with power set for alarm not to go off, dip a little below intended altitude then slowly climb back up to intended altitude reducing speed to below Vle (assumes VFR with ample altitude) 3. assuming gear is manual, reach into gear down block/socket and press microswitch silencing alarm until Vle 4. buy different airplane that isn't so hard to slow down below Vle (not recommended) William