74657

That was my plane. Preliminary NTSB report is published.

http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Surveillance-video-captures-twin-engine-plane-falling-from-the-sky-198846181.html 2 failed attempts to land....

The weather here yesterday was severe clear. The runway is 8500 feet long. Something was seriously wrong with the plane for it to NOT be able to land. From what I can tell the plane made left traffic for a go-around and stalled out, rolled and landed right side up. One or both of the engines were still running after it crashed.

Info is still coming in. Looks like the plane touched down and went airborne and crashed near the airport. Apparently the pilot radioed ahead and said there were electrical problems.... http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Breaking-News-Plane-crash-near-airport-198693261.html

Thats great. Hang on to that one! Kids dont stay small long.

Check the plugs. Mine would stumble really bad at low power settings unless we leaned it back. We had to do that to get the fuel flows up high enough at takeoff. I know another day or 2 of fine tuning would have eliminated the need to lean back but we were happy with how it flew and left it alone. I'd rather have too much fuel in the pattern than not enough at takeoff..... Plugs and check for too rich at low power and also your fuel pressure when it does that. Mine ran really high for aforementioned reason up top. The fuel pump on that engine has 3 adjustments. Low/High/Idle. If you adjust 1 the other 2 change. It is a balancing act..... Also look at your exhaust for cracks or burned out gaskets. Get ready to bend over if you ever have to replace the muffler from Rocket! I think they wanted 3500 or 4K. We had ours "remanufactured" with a yellow tag by a shop in FL that reused one of the flanges which I guess was enough to call the part a reman. With no cowl flaps there is a lot of heat in that engine and I don't care what Rocket says about how cool everything stays. You have to know how to fly the plane to keep the engine happy. I could climb at 1500 fpm in the winter time but a 90F day in June ~600-700 was all it would take even with 28 gph on takeoff. The EDM 830 you have is the best investment you could make for your engine.

They are amazing airplanes. I had one for 2 years and bought it as it fit my mission profile perfectly and was about 45k cheaper than Ovations at the time. They are easily 1000 mile nonstop planes if you can handle 5 hour stretches. We had no real maintenance issues to speak of and loved the performance. 175 kts all day long on 15 GPS at altitude and 185 on 17 gph under 8000 if you want to push it a little harder. We'd consistently see 1200 fpm climbs year round and 1500 in temps under 40f. Shoot me a pm and ill give you my number if you want to chat more. I'm sure Seth will chime in shortly.

The shop I stored my Mooney and now store the Malibu in has done 3 or 4 Mooneys over the past 3 years. Estimated time in man hours to do a full strip/repaint with a white and 2 accent color scheme is around 14-15K from memory. There is approx. 300 hours in labor that goes into a paint job. How people do these things for 8K in unbelievable but I can't say that I've ever seen an 8K paint job on a Mooney before. Between paint and stripper alone there is close to 3K in cost...... A Cherokee 140 runs about 250 hours while a Cessna 340 runs closer to 700. Lots of exposed rivets!

The kids aren't. The luggage and misc. stuff that goes with them is. Like I said, this idea wasn't kicked around until a month or so ago. I had my sights set on a new Garmin audio panel with bluetooth for the Mooney. This deal came together and given the nature of what the current administration has in mind for the next 4 years I thought it was best to live a little and make the jump.

The fallback plan would be to pickup an IPad Mini and install an ADS-B receiver. I'm really really going to miss my Missile. It is a fantastic plane. Things came together at the right time for the new one and I had to jump on it. We just got back from Florida. 870 miles in 5 1/2 hours with near constant 25kt headwinds. It truly is an amazing machine that I will dearly miss. I thought it would take me more than 2 years to outgrow. I didn't realize 2 years ago how quickly kids grow up!

Do you know if the Baron system needs its own XM subscription or would it work with the signal fed to the GTN750?

Pic of new panel.

I am getting into a new plane and my beloved Garmin 496 is staying in N888DF. I have grown to love the yoke mounted 496 since I started flying in 2008. The XM weather and AOPA directory have been wonderful to have in the cockpit. The plane I am moving into has a G500 w/ synthetic vision and a GTN750 in it. While I can get the weather displayed on the GTN I think I am going to miss having all of the weather data "at my fingertips". I currently fly with an IPad 1 w/ Foreflight HD which I use mainly for approach plates only. I have been looking at getting an Aera 560 and have also looked at the 796. I don't know if I want to get away from XM yet and jump to an ADS-B system for weather. In a perfect world, someone would have a Foreflight type system that could bluetooth XM weather onto a new IPAD mini...... I don't stay on top of avionics except when I change planes. I'm about 2 years behind the curve! I learned how to fly IFR using NACO charts and would prefer to keep using them. I am having a hard time justifying the 500 bucks a year for Garmin supplied charts for the G500 and 796. Thanks, Brandon

Taking the next step up. 1992 Missile MSE - IO-550A 130 SMOH - Lawson Aviation / Nickel Carbide cylinders / New crank from Continental 130 SNEW Prop Minor incident - documented on Mooneyspace back in Feb 2011 led to new prop and overhaul. BRAND NEW CRANK - not incident related. Basic King panel KAP 150 430W EDM 830 Plane is better now than it was when I bought it! Business owned, price depends on when it is sold. Tax issues! Looking to make someone a good deal so I can get into a new plane before the end of the year. 180 KTS TAS / 15 GPH / 11K ft. Vref is in the low 160's. Will sell below that. Can sell as is or with new paint job of your choosing. Plane is scheduled for complete strip/repaint @ Flying Colors in Benton Harbor. Original paint is in good condition (doesn't need to be repainted but buddy owns the paint shop). Interior is original and in good condition as well. No tears/rips on leather and no cracked plastic. Always hangared. Annual was in Sept. 2012 Pics in my gallery.

Mechanic friend was flying. I was with my kids trick-or-treating at the zoo. I wish I could afford a turbine. Hard to stall a plane and put it in a spin @ 130 kts at the end of a 6,000 ft. runway. That being said, you'll never catch me doing that. Stuff happens.

The plane payment would be 200 bucks more. Insurance is about 4K more a year. Fuel will run about the same as my Missile. I'm looking at planes that can be acquired at a price point between 250-300K. I have the hangar/maintenance deal covered just like I do with 8DF. No worries in that aspect other than the "unknown" maintenance issues the fleet has and the costs associated with the parts. Unfortunately there isn't a good online resource / discussion forum for these planes.

Guys, I have had my Missile for a touch over 2 years now and still love/adore my plane but I'm considering the jump into a Malibu or Malibu Mirage. Reasons: Room - There is no way I will be able to comfortably fly my family long distance once the kids get out of car seats. No leg room for them as my seat is almost all the way back. A cabin class plane will have oodles more space Pressurized - The thought of flying high without supplemental oxygen is of value to me. Nothing wrong with 11K feet for where I fly but when flying over open water (Lake Michigan) I will have an extra level of safety. I don't like the idea of supplemental O2 for the family. De-Ice - Not that I am interested in getting myself into trouble, I will get more utility out of the plane especially in the Great Lakes region for our seemingly long icy weather season. Speed - I'll get more speed at altitude with the turbocharged engine. At this point, I'm not interested in flying any slower than my Missile which for the money I feel is the best bang for the buck plane out there. Range - I will still be able to fly non-stop 1000 miles and the kids/wife will arrive in better moods when they have more room. I've ruled out at this point anything w/o pressure and think that P210's are ugly as sin and would never get into one of those after owning a Mooney. I'm not thrilled with the looks of the Malibu in comparison the the Mooney but they do have nice ramp presence. Thoughts? Also, How do you guys feel Vref and real world pricing work these days? I was told by one dealer who wanted to buy my Missile that Vref is high and was told by a broker representing Malibus that Vref is stupid low. hahaha. Anyways, I'm thinking that if I can land into something for at or below Vref than I will be happy. Business is good and interest rates are down. For 200 bucks more a month I can move out of my plane and into a Malibu. Does anyone have any experience with these planes? Any insight or thoughts are appreciated. Even if I sell I'm not leaving this place! Kind of hard thinking about parting with 888DF when you get shots like this emailed to you:

My CFII once told me that the 2 most important things in INSTRUMENT flying are THE NEXT 2 THINGS. I think this is not only valid in IMC but also to truthful for any VFR flying. It may not seem like that much more to manage a HP plane with retractable gear and a constant speed prop but it's very similar to being a parent. Having 1 kid is like having a perfect house plant and having 2 is like running a classroom. The workload increases exponentially. Work hard and enjoy it. Come up with your own set of Magic Numbers but what works for me is this 90/80/70 on Downwind, base and final. Once I am at threshold I pull the power back the rest of the way and let the plane fly itself to the ground. I remember how many trips around the pattern it took me to learn how to SLOW DOWN. One thing I really learned while doing my IR training was how much easier flying a plane becomes when you use NUMBERS. We spent 2 hours of time in the air making a "Chart" for proper MP/RPM settings. We wrote them on a 4X6 card that is now plastered on my dash. PM me your email and I will share that Missile Specific info with you. It cost me $100 in instructor time and 150 in fuel, it's free to you!! Keep the nose up as long as you can. There is more weight over the nose and it will want to slam down everytime if you don't hold enough backpressure on the yoke! Congrats on the purchase of your Missile. You're going to love it. Last piece of advice, don't worry about how many hours it takes you to be "legal" in the plane. Being legal is one thing, being safe is another. It took me quite a while to feel comfortable in 888DF after having my license and flying regularly in my Grumman Tiger for 3 years. If all of your time is in a C172 and your're still a student you're in for a real surprise! Take your time. Be safe. Brandon

I called on that same Missile before I bought mine. Really nice guy but wants to get out of it what he thinks it's worth. I valued it at around the current asking price but that was back in Sept. 2010. I haven't kept up with aircraft values since I bought mine. George - I thought you were going to buy mine! It's getting a brand new paint job this winter. I hope you like Deep Impact Blue.

I've been "off the grid" out here for a while but haven't stopped flying. Business/Work/Family has been keeping me plenty busy. We took a trip up north for the weekend and I noticed something that I figured I would post up here.... When transitioning into my Mooney (fall 2010) I was taught the old "1000' AGL - square it up 25/2500." We noticed the engine would get hot and would have to either stairstep the climb or reduce the climb rate. That was before the engine was OH'ed. Since that time I picked up my IR and have been anal about engine/power management and have stepped away from the 25/2500 theory and left full power/rpm in all the way up. We flew VFR up (ended up in the clouds and picked up a clearance over Lake MI) and IFR home (wanted to get to 11K for safety flying over the lake) and both trips I made the climb to altitude at full power and the engine stayed cool. As soon as I leveled off I pulled RPM back to 2500 (down from 2650) and the oil temps shot up immediately. I noticed the spike and turned the rpm up to 2600 for a few minutes and gradually reduced it. Being that I have seen this more than once, what is the reason for such a quick spike in the oil temp? My experience has shown that if the oil is hot, the CHT's are not far behind, regardless of fuel flow. The Missile has its quirks (such as lack of cowl flaps) but I think I am close to having it figured out! The cowl flaps would be needed if one were to make power reductions in the climb (like I USED TO do) but not if you firewall it on the way up! FWIW my trips were within 2 minutes of each other, TAS 178kts / 15gph / 19.5" 2500 rpm / 11K ft. MKG approach slept on the handoff to SBN and I was 3 miles away from my airport and still at 6K ft. SBN said I was stil there because my "transponder wasn't working"........ So - Is the oil temp spike common or could it be a "false" reading based upon location of the probe? I am referencing my EDM-830 as I feel the readings are more accurate than the "certified" temperature gauges. Brandon

Flew out to Denver last Wednesday and flew back on Saturday. We had a wedding to attend on Friday up in Breck. The trip out was smooth, experiemented with LOP @ 8 and 10K. Had to deviate from KAPA due to weather and landed @ KBJC. The FBO was super nice and the outdoor balcony of the upstairs restaurant had gorgeous views of the Rockies and the airport. With weather we made the trip out in 5:35 and the ride back was 5:00. We were in near 0 wind conditions each way. I burned 70.1 gallons on the way out and 75 on the way back. Trip was just over 900 miles each way.

Flying Colors @ KBEH in SW MI. My mechanic/best friend is the owner. Turns out phenomenal work. He uses the Missile to fly guys back to Chicago to catch flights out of O'hare. PWK is a quick cab ride to ORD.