N9453V

I'd suggest Hayward (KHWD) or Oakland (KOAK). Both are towered airports with runways > 5000ft long with full service FBOs and easy access to rental cars and BART. OAK is going to be more expensive, but the quickest to get to the city by BART and the easiest for IFR clearances. Although there is airline service, it won't be in your way since runway 29 is used by the air carriers and 27L and 27R by GA. I used to frequently fly over to OAK at night for touch and go's and was often the only aircraft in the pattern. I used to be based at San Carlos (KSQL), but wouldn't consider it the best option for transient aircraft. IFR clearances are a huge pain (I've waited > 20 minutes for a release) and the FBO is small with few services. If you have time, I'd suggest doing a bay tour and flying over the golden gate bridge. Norcal approach is very accommodating. -Andrew

I fly a G model and am currently based at HOU (Houston Hobby) so I frequently get this request. The G cruises at about 135 KTAS, Vle is 104 KIAS and Vfe is 108 KIAS so keeping the speed up with Southwest and getting slowed down (when coming in on 4 or 12R they ask me to make the first turnoff roughly 2500-3000ft down a 7000ft runway) can sometimes be a challenge. If it's VMC or I'll break out at or above 700ft, I'll keep 125 KIAS till about a 1 mile final then power idle, drop the gear at 104 KIAS and add flaps 15 about 200ft. If the ceiling is below 700ft, I advise Houston Approach I'll need a final of 100 kts and I lower the gear at glideslope intercept. This has generally worked well, I've only had to go around once (Approach messes up spacing before a handoff to tower) and Southwest has only had to go around once because of me (Approach asked me to slow down early then Tower asked Southwest to follow me, but they couldn't see me and had to go around). -Andrew

A Mooney has no life-limited airframe components. There are, however, some things to look for that can be expensive: Was Service Bulletin 208 complied with (if manufactured before 01/01/1976 to check for corrosion)? http://www.mooney.com/images/pdfs/sb-pdf/sbm20-208b.pdf When were the landing gear shock discs last replaced (and are they the new style if manufactured before 1966)? When was the landing gear actuator last serviced (if not manual gear)? Some landing gear actuators recommend replacement of a spring every 1500 hours, so check if this is required and if it was done. When were the fuel tanks last re-sealed? If longer than 10 years, they may need to be re-sealed again. -Andrew

I needed a crew car at DWH for a few hours and Gill aviation was happy to accommodate me when I called ahead. Also, I've found Galaxy FBO at CXO to be great and not very busy, so they may be a good option too. -Andrew

Really tragic to hear about this crash. I don't have any personal knowledge about it, but from the FlightAware data, he was definitely on an IFR flight plan (FlightAware almost never picks up VFR flights unless a controller puts VFR flight following in as an IFR flight plan to share between Centers). The WX at F44 at 0935 was 02007KT 3SM BR OVC005 14/13 A3012 which was below the GPS 17 and 35 LNAV minimums (no LPV) and at KTRL at 0953 it was 02010KT 10SM OVC006 12/09 A3016 which indicates it was well above the GPS 17 and 35 LPV minimums and still slightly above the LNAV minimums. From the FAA data, it looks like he was issued his last airmen certificate on 08/12/11 (Private Pilot - ASEL, Instrument Airplane) and had a current Third Class medical. I don't want to speculate, but it looks like a doable flight for a current and proficient instrument rated pilot, so perhaps there was a mechanical problem... if it was just low ceilings, DAL or RBD would have probably been a better option than TRL for a diversion. -Andrew

Antares, I believe you ordered the correct one, but they put the baggage door patch in the wrong place and maybe the incorrect rear strap. I have almost the same cover (without the sloped windshield mod) for my G model. A picture of how it fits is below. I've had it for 2 years and no issues with it. -Andrew

I have an unusual problem with the Garmin 430W and wondering if anyone else has experienced the same. Since Garmin replaced the COM board last year, I've occasionally had the COM radio not transmit (although I can receive fine and it displays a TX indication) and at the same time, it displays a NAV flag on the HSI (although the HSI still appears to be receiving a NAV signal) then sometime later, it magically recovers. This has only happened about 3 times and each of those times were a cold, wet morning departure when the plane has spent the night outside (most recently out of AGC in the fog/rain). Any ideas? My avionics guy has never heard of it before, but is going to check with Garmin. Thanks, -Andrew

My engine (O-360-A1D) was originally run on straight W100 before I bought it, then an MSC advised me to switch to W100 Plus so I did. Now that I've looked into it further, I'm switching to W100 with Camguard based on my mechanic's recommendation (he's toured Camguard's facility and was impressed) and Mike Busch's. Mike Busch has a very good webinar (thanks to Byron for sending me the link): http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=1149666747001 To summarize, he uses W100 with CamGuard and recommends W100 if operating in a warm climate and Phillips 20W50 if operating a colder climate (for part of the year). He specifically recommends against 15W50 due to the high percentage of synthetic oil. -Andrew

Yep, I had a COM board failure only 4 months out of warranty (lots of fun going NORDO when departing Dallas in IMC) and got a lovely $900 repair bill from Garmin. -Andrew

Thanks for the replies. So, is there any drawback to switching to Phillips 20W50 with CamGuard? What are the pros/cons of using a single grade vs. a multigrade? -Andrew

My O-360-A1D had been run on W100 for the first 1400 hours since reman in 2004. I switched to W100 Plus at the recommendation of an MSC in California and have been using it for the past 300 hours, changing the oil every 50 hours (which averages 4 months with my usage). Now, I'm wondering if there's any advantage to using CamGuard along with W100 Plus or if I should consider switching to another type of oil? This Aviation Consumer response (scroll down) seems to indicate it may be redundant: http://www.aviationconsumer.com/letters/Wing-Deicing-and-Icing-Conditions.html -Andrew

SFO charges landing fees based on weight, but the minimum landing fee for all fixed-wing aircraft is $205 (http://www.flysfo.com/assets/investor/SummaryChargesFY1213.pdf). -Andrew

I use Prist: http://www.pristaerospace.com/cleaner/index.html It's $6.50 a can on Aircraft Spruce: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/FBprist3.php -Andrew

I've been dealing with Cliff at Falcon since I bought my G model in 2010 and he has always been great to deal with. When I renewed in July, my premium was under $1100 for $50k hull value, $1M liability and no deductible. Cliff was able to reduce the premium due to my getting my Commercial certificate even though I had a claim for hail damage on the ailerons. -Andrew

MSY is pretty slow for a class B airport and has great controllers, you shouldn't have any trouble getting in or out. I used Atlantic, they waived the ramp fee with 10 or 15 gallons at $8/gallon. Parking was fairly reasonable at $17/night. I don't remember the ramp fee with no fuel purchase, but as of May, I think it was like $40 or something. They are happy to drive you to/from the terminal provided you arrive before 10pm. If you land on 10 or 28, you just take the turnoff halfway down the runway to the GA ramp, Atlantic is on one side and Signature is on the other. When leaving you can do an intersection departure at Charlie and have about 5000ft remaining on 10 or 28. -Andrew

I believe it's the Fort Worth ACO that oversees Mooney's type certificates and DERs and they have a bit of a reputation... The previous owner of my plane was working on an STC with the Fort Worth ACO and it took him almost a year and a ridiculous amount of effort to get approval just to install on one plane. Also, I heard from folks at Eclipse that they changed ACO's because they were having a lot of issues with Fort Worth. -Andrew

Avoid: - CYTZ (Toronto Island / Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, ON): $25 ramp fee if not over night, otherwise $35/night, no discount with fuel purchase ($1.90/L + HST). Line service was helpful, but customer service not so much (mixed up fuel orders and over-fueled aircraft, requiring offloading fuel for weight and balance and didn't even apologize). Would recommend CYKZ (Buttonville) instead. - KOPL (Opelousas, LA): Saying the runways are in "fair" condition is pretty generous (the grass next to it may be a better option). Also, no taxiway lights or reflectors... taxiing off at night is somewhat interesting. -Andrew

I did my Commercial in my M-20G, it likely made the power-off 180's and short field landings more challenging than in a 172RG or PA28R, but otherwise it was a non-issue and I think my familiarity with the plane allowed me to focus more on learning the maneuvers. That being said, the Accelerated Stall was only introduced in the revision of the PTS that took effect in June, so I never had to do them. My only concern would be to ensure that the airplane is not cross-controlled when entering the stall since that could cause it to enter a spin and do the stalls no lower than 5000ft AGL. Don Kaye has a helpful article on this: http://www.donkaye.c...n_a_Mooney.html -Andrew

I looked at your flight in more detail to see what happened and it looks like since the FAA didn't enter an origin on your flight plan, our backend looked at your route which started at the MOQ VOR and there was a collision between the VOR with the identifier MOQ and FMMV airport in Madagascar which has an IATA code of MOQ. We've been making improvements to our code that interprets the feed from the FAA, but more are coming soon. If you run into any other issues with FlightAware, please let me know. Thanks, -Andrew (from FlightAware)

If you are willing to spend a few days in the hill country, I would highly recommend Ken Wittekiend at Promark Aviation (http://www.promarkaviation.net/) in Burnet, TX (KBMQ). He was the 2009 CFI of the Year for the Southwest Region. I did my Commercial with him and another CFI who works with him, Tres. -Andrew

Why did you apply carb heat at the top of the climb? Did you notice an unexpected drop in manifold pressure? I can't think of any other reason to apply it in that phase of flight. -Andrew

Glad you got it resolved! Things like that can be very annoying.

I've accepted a job with a company in Houston and will be traveling back and forth between Houston and Baton Rouge over the next few months and relocating to Houston in September so I would appreciate advice regarding the various airport options in Houston to base N9453V. The only airports I've used in Houston are HOU and DWH with HOU being possibly the best option as it's fairly close to the company's office in the Greenway area (near 610 and 59). From other people I've talked to it sounds like the other options within a reasonable distance are EFD, SGR and IWS. I'd be open to both tie-downs and hangars/t-hangars if something is available sub-$500. I also fly a fair bit of IFR, so an ILS and multiple approaches is a plus. I'm also lazy so reasonably priced full serve fuel is a plus too. Thanks, -Andrew

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions on this thread... I wanted to follow up with a trip report for others interested in doing a similar trip. Due to time constraints, we opted just to visit Southern Ontario on this trip and saved Maine for a future trip. Day 1: KBTR (Baton Rouge, LA) - KMSL (Muscle Shoals, AL) - KDAY (Dayton, OH) - CYXU (London, ON) I field eAPIS the night before and got the permission to depart email. The route I filed was KDAY GEMNI CYXU which made it easy to calculate the point we would cross the border since GEMNI is right on the Ohio/Ontario border over Lake Erie (also minimized the time over water). We ended up leaving Baton Rouge slightly behind schedule, so I just called CBP at Dayton when we stopped in Alabama and updated our ETA. Muscle Shoals worked fine as a fuel stop, but self serve was fairly far away from the FBO and I ended up wishing we'd just done full serve. Also, they close fairly early (I think 6PM). We used Aviation Sales in Dayton and they were great. We'd asked for a quick turn and they had the fuel truck pulled up before we'd even shut down. They also went to the trouble to find a bowl to give water to our dog. Fuel was very reasonable for a class C airport. I called Canada Customs from Dayton just before departure to give our two hour notice and they only asked for tail number, passenger names and ETA (we are all Canadian Citizens). Every leg was IFR, so I was obviously on a squawk code and talking to Cleveland Center when we crossed the border. After we landed at London, tower told us to taxi to the FBO and line service asked called customs for us and they said they weren't going to come out and I should just call CANPASS (we had applied, but hadn't yet received our CANPASS documents). I called CANPASS and was given an arrival number. We used Executive Aviation (http://www.executiveaviation.ca/) in London and were very happy with them. They arranged a rental car with Discount at a very reasonable $40/day and we paid no overnight parking fees despite only taking on 10 gallons. If we'd stayed longer than 1 night, I believe a tie-down was only $10/night. Customs is available till midnight, so it makes it a very handy point of entry. For a hotel, we used the StationPark All Suites Hotel and were very happy with it. Day 2: CYXU (London, ON) - CYLS (Barrie, ON) This short trip was uneventful, but reminded me of the few minor differences of flying in Canada. First, our IFR clearance didn't include departure frequency (tower gives it to you with your takeoff clearance). Second, they wanted us to wait 3 minutes for wake turbuelnce when departing behind a DHC-8-100! They let us waive it, but another Mooney behind us, waited for the full 3 minutes to be up. Third, I almost forgot that tower doesn't tell you to contact departure, but expects you to once airborne. And finally, I had to remember that since CYLS is an uncontrolled aerodrome, it's expected that you enter the circuit upwind (http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/publications/tp14371-rac-4-0-5385.htm#rac-4-5-2). We used the only FBO (http://www.lakesimcoeairport.com/pilot-information/fbo) and it was quite nice. They arranged a rental car with Enterprise and fuel was the most reasonably priced we bought in Canada (around $7/gallon). They were fairly concerned with security and letting me drive the rental to the airplane, but that may have just been because the Canadian Forces Snowbirds were parked next to me. The first night's parking was waived and we paid $10 for the second night. We used the Holiday Inn in Barrie and it was decent (the best part being the Tim Hortons next door). Day 4: CYLS (Barrie, ON) - CYTZ (Toronto City Airport, ON) I was unable to reach Toronto Terminal on the ground and didn't want the hassle of having to call London Radio, so I departed VFR and picked up my IFR clearance to YTZ in the air. The trip was uneventful and got a nice view of the CN tower and Toronto skyline while landing on runway 26 (since it is the longest, it is generally used despite the ever present crosswind). I had fairly easy 70-80 degree crosswind of about 20 knots when landing. We used Porter FBO (https://www.flyporter.com/about/Porter-FBO?culture=en-CA) which was nice, but expensive and a bit of a walk from the ferry (they will drive you if you ask). Fuel was about $8.15/gallon and parking was $35/night. This is on top of the landing fees of $14.70 (http://www.torontoport.com/Airport/For-Pilots/Landing-Fees.aspx). We also had a bit of an issue where they got a fuel order from another U.S. registered aircraft mixed up with mine and they ended up overfueling us. Line service was very apologetic and got a hose and buckets and offloaded the fuel, but customer service didn't really seem to care about situation. Porter has a few rates with local hotels including the Raddison on the waterfront and the Delta Chelsea. We used the Delta and it was pretty good. While in Toronto, I took some family on a short VFR local flight to CYKZ (Buttonville, ON). ATC was very accomodating with my lack of local knowledge and Million Air at Buttonville didn't charge any ramp fees for a short stop. Day 7: CYTZ (Toronto, ON) - KDAY (Dayton, OH) - KMQY (Smyrna, TN) I had filed with eAPIS and called CBP in Dayton the previous day. Since we were coming in on the 4th of July, their office was closed so they told us an officer on call would respond. We had a few delays getting out of Toronto in the morning, first they gave me a route completely different than I'd filed and then we got stuck in a long line of Porter Dash 8's waiting to takeoff and once we were off, we had to immediately deviate around weather over Lake Erie and request a re-route, so we were looking to be arriving in Dayton about 15 minutes behind our scheduled ETA. Once we were close enough to Dayton, I was able to call Aviation Sales on the unicom and they responded that they'd been tracking us on FlightAware and had already called CBP to let them know about the delay (wow!). The CBP officer who responded was very nice. He came outside with line service as we taxied in, walked around with the geiger counter and suggested we all go inside (it was about 42 celsius). He quickly checked our passports and our dog's paperwork and welcomed us back to the US. He also said he was tracking our flight online as well and understood about the delay. All in all, it was extremely painless and uneventful. Our plan was to go back to Muscle Shoals and then Baton Rouge that same day, but a widespread line of storms over Alabama and Mississippi made it look like we weren't going to make to Baton Rouge at least until later in the day. Due to the limited hours and lack of services in Muscle Shoals, we opted to divert to Smyrna (near Nashville). We used CFM FBO and it honestly is probably one of the best FBO's I've ever been to. They are open 24 hours with great facilities, reasonable fuel and they were happy to drive us to restauraunts and a hotel once we opted to spend the night. Day 8: KMQY (Smyrna, TN) to KBTR (Baton Rouge, LA) Uneventful. The highlight was talking with the Memphis Center controller about dogs since when I fly with my dog I always put in the remaks section "1 DOG ON BOARD." Overall, this trip was a lot of fun and we are going to try to do it annually. eAPIS and CBP was really easy and basically no big deal. I used Foreflight along with the Fltplan iPad app for Canadian Charts, so all I needed to buy was a copy of the Canada Flight Supplement. I also upgraded my XM weather to the "Aviator" package and was glad I did as it includes Canadian Radar which helped avoid some nasty storms over Lake Erie. If anyone has any questions, please let me know! -Andrew