jelswick

Impressive!

Now that's funny! Have a good night there BluSky!

Very nice! I keep wanting to step out of the Mooney to do that, but something tells me not to!

AOPA's home page and in the February issue of AOPA Pilot has a nice review of the E model at the link below. The only thing I took a little issue with was Ian's video statement that the Mooneys are a tight fit for a 6' person or for full family. We fly all four of us to the beach every year in complete comfort and I'm 6'2". I guess if your used to feeling like you're flying the living room around (how I feel in Cessna products), the Mooney might feel a little different, but still overall a nice assessment and complimentary of our Mooney speed and efficiency. http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2012/february/f_mooney.html

Thank you Mitch! It does feel like a small thing to do, but if each of many of us do these small things, we then make a valuable large contribution. And it's easy and fun to do! I feel incredibly blessed and the more we can do to help others understand and if so inclined also get this blessing to be able to fly, we've made a valuable contribution IMHO to many.

Done and posted it to Facebook account. Thanks for sharing this!

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The day I have to do something like is being suggested in order to have fun in my Mooney is the day I put it up for sale. I hate the idea of having to read about anyone in this forum in an NTSB entry. These are wonderful machines for what they're intended, not toys and you can easily kill yourself trying to do inappropriate things in them. Please as others suggested, get a suitable aircraft to do those kinds of maneuvers.

Love it, Brett! Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays whichever fits all of you best!

Wanted to fly since about 6-7 years old. I've had my current '81 J for almost 5 years (3/2007) and I picked up my first, a '65 C December 23rd, 2002 and owned it for 4.5 years. I had 12.5 hours dual in my logbook and flew out with my instructor to Fargo, ND to pick up the C. Our wives told us that with the 12/23 return flight, if we didn't make it back for Christmas, just forget it and get ourselves an apartment together somewhere on the way back! Love/Loved them both and their pics are below.

Quote: GeorgePerry Who's the underwriter and what's the coverage? Full flight or ground and taxi only?

In this one and one of the others I noticed the FlightAware tracks getting slower and slower before the accidents. Very sad and I think KS Mooniac's nailed it. We (particularly me) were very frustrated driving to my parents home for Thanksgiving under beautiful skies because of uncertain weather predicted for the day coming home. It turned out very flyable for the return day, so a little frustration for that drive back to, but I know the older pilots we sold aircraft for always said if you want to retire from flying eventually, fly conservatively. It at least keeps my wife's confidence up in flying with me and she constantly quizzes me on "would you fly today?" and expects the why part to be answered. Better to be down here wishing we were up there than up there wishing we were down here. Fly safe and happy holidays all!

Good grief. Can we cut Allsmiles some slack? I read through this thread and what he posted was his opinion based on feedback he'd received from I assume a reputable shop. If I hear information from a mechanic or shop that I reasonably believe might help someone on here, I'd share it and no, there's no guarantee that it is accurate, it's just sharing information we've received. The tone he was jumped on with looks inappropriate to the tone he was using and just makes what is an otherwise very entertaining and helpful site very frustrating. We get enough discord elsewhere without people bringing that here. Feel and share some cheer for the holidays people, please.

Great Ned! This brings us to five and I'm anticipating we'll get 4-5 slots, hoping for 5. For anyone else interested, it doesn't hurt to have backups in case anyones schedule changes and even if not in the display, there will be plenty of space for fly-in parking at the air show as there was last year. I'll post updates as I receive them. Thanks all.

Excellent Hank! We'll look forward to having you there! I'm anticipating we're going to get slots for 4-5 aircraft in the display and we already have four positive responses in less than an hour of posting this. Never hurts to have backups as well in case of maintenance or weather issues for anyone (there were horrible storms north of the show last year that precluded one of our attendees and always better safe than sorry). So far, this makes you, me, Peter Wei and Cruiser (TomK). They had a really great turnout last year despite some challenging weather and rain. Getting excited about it already!

We've been invited to participate in the static display again this year at the 2012 Indianapolis Air Show. This was a great event for us last year featured in the MAPA Log and last year included the Blue Angels. This year they're featuring The Thunderbirds and the air show was just honored as the "2011 Air Show of the Year" at last week's International Council of Air Shows. I've requested confirmation of how many slots we will have available for us this year, but am anticipating we'll be given ramp space for 4-5 Mooneys. It is a large event, so it is a commitment of arriving Friday and leaving after the show Sunday because of difficulty in moving anything while the air show is underway. If you are interested in attending, please PM me with your contact information, location, Mooney information and number of people you'd anticipating coming in with you. Look forward to another good showing at this event this year!

Quote: allsmiles Before you know it you're going to be old and gray. I know when I get there I will never regret the things I did. Only what I didn't do! Amen and completely agree!

I wanted to fly since I was about 6 or 7 years old. I always told myself I'd do it when I became rich enough to afford it. Then I got old enough to realize you're never really rich enough to "afford" it if you're doing it for pleasure because there's just not a great financial justification for them for many of us. If you want it and can afford it, go do it before it's too late or you lose more time at it. Unfortunately that was at about 35 years old 10 yrs ago and I wish I'd come to that realization sooner. Most people finance their planes (I know that from brokering them for others for 7 years). Some don't and that's great if they don't have to. If that's not you (or me), make sure the payments are not a stretch for you and that you have enough reserved to never have to say no when your mechanic recommends a needed repair or update and go for it! You want to maximize the time you have in flying before you feel you have to retire from it and if that means financing it, and you can afford it, then do it now! BTW, I tell people when they ask if it's expensive, well, I don't golf or a number of other things. Everyone puts some of their money into enjoying life and this is where I put mine. Cheers and this is just my two cents, but it works for me!

Thank you! She was pretty before in her original paint, but was losing too much of it and I told my wife it would be cheaper to repaint than to address any resulting corrosion issues she might get without her protective paint! I also had to edit that post because I had refered to "Lightspeed" which is actually the maker of our wonderful Zulu's; I think Lightsquared was the company AOPA was referencing with the 4G signal issues; I didn't keep up with it enough to know if it's been resolved yet. Hope you and all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I have no idea whether it would have anything to do with it, but I'm remembering reading info on AOPA's site that the new Lightsquared or other 4G coverage could an issue for GPS navigation. Is that concern now obsolete or resolved? Just seems odd both independent units unless sharing the same antenna would lose position at the same time.

I'll add another vote for AeroComfort. They did mine when I purchased the J in 2007 and they still look like new! It seemed like a lot of money then, but wanted to do it just once and now am very happy I did. Pic of their work is below in 45T...

Seeing the few notes on the risk with new or newly overhauled engines on here is interesting in the timing of them. If you look at AOPA's Real Pilot Stories story they just added on their home page, it's someone that had engine issues/emergency on a recently overhauled engine while in IMC.

Wouldn't begin to make fun of you and can't say wrong or not. I know the version of night vision we had in the Army when I was in in the late '80s were great, but had a short coming of depth perception. There's an ad I'd seen that combined the SVT like we can get on the Aspens with some form of forward looking imaging that is camera generated, but I think if I remember correctly it was something at this point either available to or being developed for King Air class aircraft. If it's there today, hopefully it's only a few years from our Mooneys, but we'll see. Till then, I'll trust having God riding shotgun in the co-pilot seat and try to not to stretch his favors too thin by launching into dumb stuff at night or weather!

All of the discussion on here the last few days about ditching at night had me second guessing safety of flying at night, but this video was from a night flight last Sunday and I hadn't flown at night in a while. Wanted to get my currency back up. I was a little nervous about it, but as soon as the wheels left the ground I remembered why I love flying at night. Never more peaceful with the lights and smooth air and just beautiful. I don't think I'd feel as comfortable over water or long stretches of mountains at night although have done both, just getting more cautious as I get older I guess. If I can't see a field either, I guess the risk is there even in Ohio, but night flight is beautiful if not a little added risk. http://youtu.be/iOGMvdhzK_s

Would people feel any different about flying at night with synthetic vision onboard? I'm not sure if that would do it for me, but there's another version that includes a night vision from a camera, not infrared, but something similar that would show actual ground objects like buildings, etc. If they make that price make sense in Mooneys, that might up the comfort level for me. But, I won't rule out night flight without it either, just in my case have to have appropriate weather minimums, etc. to determine whether worth it for a given flight.