glbtrottr

I own a Mite. I own cessna singles. Mooneys, Comanches, and twins…I don’t own a jet anymore as I found it too frivolously rich for my blood. My field is uncontrolled- literally adjacent to the final of 4 runways on a very busy class B airport. Rumor has it Sling Pilot Academy lost their business license at their home drone- so they pollute each adjacent airport with 5 planes in the pattern anywhere they can fit them. 35 slings looking for places to saturate is quite a fleet. Since I’m often in the system I sometimes get dumped on a straight in final for the RIGHT runway at my uncontrolled field. There’s always an uppity CFI who has zero issue polluting the airways chatting it up with their pals, but is all too eager to provide an unsolicited, unpaid flight lesson where they authoritatively state that you can’t fly straight into an uncontrolled field. Everyone at my home field keeps saying it’s a matter of time before Sling has a midair or creates an incident at our untowered airport. Charging 90k per student to go from zero to commercial makes them feel pretty proud to write up their own regs without care for the normal unwashed pilot.

Sorry Alan - had dibs on it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Paint? Why? Plane looks perfectly serviceable! Take it from a paint shop owner - i have airplanes that come in with the paint hanging on by its fingernails grabbing for dear life. Yours is fine. One of these days I’ll find some awlgrip and grab a wing or something so I could paint it with Imron, JetGlo, PPG, Akzo, Awlgrip and a couple of the cheap fleet pains some shops use. The factory painted my K model with JetGlo - it’s embarrassing. I already know the answer as I’ve painted airplanes and have owned a number of different paint jobs for years - but seeing it first hand, people can make their own conclusions. Nothing outlasts Imron….including the careless painter that paints it without a mask. Imron lasts foreeeeever - but it is superbly toxic to shoot.

- Burn on the glass from stripper. - No detailing / careless preparation around tape lines. - Overspray from poor taping - Orange peeled paint from too heavy an application - Dry spots from not enough paint - Too thin an application showing thru to the primer - Runs from heavy application - Failing to cover steel parts during strip causing oxidation and damage in places like expensive bearings - Painting the airplane while instead of painting the airplane with the cowling off. - . Heavy sanding of the airframe never feathered, showing sanding lines through the paint - unpainted or incomplete jambs if paid for - landing gear wells take a lot of time and are greasy - check for quality of paint and finish - dirt , contamination - fisheye on the paint or solvent pop - removal of navigational lights and other plexi for paint as cheap can leave tell tales I cheated on creating the list - I own an airplane paint shop Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bring me the sheepskin and the plane and I’ll sew the covers at the airport. Southern California. La. I just don’t have mooney patterns for every plane. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It keeps referring to 2550but nothing called out as static RPM on takeoff. What do people generally see when their mite is on the ground, full throttle, ready to take off? What RPM on average? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm looking for a copy of a Mite POH / Flight Manual. I found the "unofficial one" typed on the Mooneymite.org site, but I don't know if anyone has a copy of an original I can review. Specifically I am looking for the static RPM on the Lycoming O145....

I was simply going to match the code and I don’t full rattle cans….

I can mix paint for you in imron if you’d like Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes and no. Imron has a more reduced number of PT toners that are used on a number of product lines beyond imron. Beyond the Imron codes on their chip cards, Axalta sells an updated set of 2 spectramaster color books with a greater number of colors that can be mixed. Even spectramaster is limited in their shades and colors. The cameras which are made by the same manufacturers for various paint brands - and the chromatically they read are matched against the pigment databases the manufacturers provide. When they match a color code, you’re often given a number of color match choices and codes with a percentage of accuracy. You have to calibrate the camera oftenish to get the right options. I mix all of our own colors in my shop. Since we also paint cars on occasion, I have a full complement of Spies Hecker waterborne, challenger solvent, and other paints - so paint mixing and paint matching is something that we do often.

Bring me the sheepskin and I can sew them for you.

TSO’d or PMA’d? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Under ten bucks per station. A simple soldering iron does the trick. Make your life easy and mark each wire for headphone and mic as they’re wired differently. Remember that PTT also involves wiring two additional wires to your 3 terminals for a total of 5. Use heat shrink wrap to protect your soldering. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I bought a K model while working in IT….30 years ago I was looking for a J model, and a guy I later became friends with named Jim Cardella was brokering a K whose price continued to drop due to it being on probate. Oh well…it was too much plane for me…so I thought. I flew that airplane all over the Midwest, in rain, snow, over the mountains, over freezing rain, threading the needle between storms after spending oodles in Garmin Candy to help my autopilot. That’s where my hatred for Garmin price gouging began After needing to paint two of my planes and being outraged at the high cost of some shops, I decided to paint my own planes. While I was at it, I decided to consolidate, and an E model seemed the right choice. My consolidation efforts failed miserably. Today, I own 13/14 airplanes and counting. My K model is still with me for now, and so is a for-pleasure, entirely on principle purchase of a mooney mite whose annual I’m about to finish. Sorry, no space in the back seat for any kids…I own a paint, upholstery and avionics shop, so I get the pleasure of bringing some airplanes back to life and bringing some of these beauties back to their previous glory. If only I had more time On paint: One of the airplanes I see come by my shop that has phenomenal corrosion durability is the piper comanche for parking outdoors. The factory chose in their wisdom to zinc chromate the airframe inside and out - I’ve seen planes come in with barely a memory of paint hanging on by its fingernails, and once stripped, not an ounce of corrosion…proper preparation and proper primer use is essential for durability. Nothing lasts longer than Axalta Imron if you’re parking your plane outside. If all the steel parts aren’t properly treated right after stripping, and primed in short order, premature rust will show up on your paint job a few months after you’ve paid. Some shops use cheaper brands and types of paint for stripes to save themselves cash. Guess what the first thing to chalk up or peel is, requiring a new paint job? On upholstery: We love the look of double stitching. We also love to use basting tape to protect the stitch. Perforated leathers get destroyed by sun and knees, and some people love memory foam. Plenty of outstanding aviation leather brands out there. If you’re using vinyl, there’s cheap and outstanding versions. The amount of glue used makes a difference. On avionics: many many shops charge a percentage of hardware sale cost to back into installing hardware and will run away from repairs, troubleshooting or less lucrative jobs in favor for the keeping-up-with the joneses-85k-panel-redo’s with G600 autopilots. Whatever. Take a look at their completed harness work, and don’t get gouged. Some will harmlessly offer a seemingly low hourly rate and then surprise you with “oh my gawd we found thiiiis raaaaats nest behind your panel” doubling your cost. Don’t do it. Get a not to exceed price quote and get a timeframe guarantee.

I get that - my comment was aimed at a lack of a built in display, provided only by the 375…for a cool $9k. Sure, you get GPS approaches also…. The NGT 9000 is $6300 MSRP. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk