Dale

I don't believe I said it was bad to hose down your Mooney, I simply prefer not to do it. Since I hangar my plane, it is easier to simply take a wet terry cloth and wipe it down. Prior to owning this m20k I owned an m20e. I found that when hosing down the plane water would gather in the gas tank caps. We always had a problem with the o rings in those caps and they tended to leak. This was more of a problem when we were not hangering the plane. Consequently, i got use to not hosing the plane down and simply wiping it down with a wet cloth. Obviously, water did not tend to gather in the caps or other places when the plane was flying. Planes are made to take a decent amount of exposure to the elements. However, keeping a plane constantly exposed to the elements seems to coincide with increased maintenance costs and wear on the paint and interior. Hosing or dry washing your plane is simply a personal preference, not a requirement.

I don't like to hose the plane down. To much chance of water getting where I don't want it. I wet a good terry cloth, wring out the water and wipe the entire plane down first to knock off any loose grit or grime on the plane. I then use wash n wax, which is as close to a dry wash as you can get. I spray down small sections with wash n wax at a time and use a slightly damp clean terry cloth to work it in to do the final cleaning and put down a layer of wax. I then take a completely dry terry cloth to buff it out to a nice shine. I found this product by searching here on Mooneyspace by other Mooney pilots who highly recommended it. I also saw people around my airport using wash n wax and I liked the nice shine it gave their airplanes. I have been using it since I got my Mooney and I have been very happy with it. It is easy to use, does a great job cleaning the plane and leaves a wonderful shine. I also tried their leather cleaner and protector and I was shocked at how clean it got my leather interior. It was unbelievable. Wash n Wax is a wonderful product which is specially formulated for airplanes. They also have many other products for your plane such as the leather cleaner and belly wash. I hope this helps. Good luck..

Call Ray Bysiewicz Premier Aircraft Services, Inc. At (954) 334-2393 Located at FXE in Fort Lauderdale

I used Premier for the purchase of my Mooney and for the pre-buy. I highly recommend them. They did everything to make my purchase a real pleasure. They went above and beyond my expectations and worked to fix each and every squak on my airplane. Ray Bysiewicz was a really good service manager and he will be missed. However Premier is a real class operation and I am sure they will replace Ray with another top notch service manager. Premier really knows Mooneys and I feel very confident having them work on my Mooney.

I use Phillips XC with camguard. I have read the reports and it appears to have a beneficial effect in reducing rust in the engine. I don't fly as often as I would like, so for me the addition of camguard is beneficial. My oil analysis reports have all been good. So unless something better comes along, I intend to stick with Phillips XC and camguard.

I also use a robotow on my m20k. The first time I tried to push my Mooney into the hangar I knew I needed something to help move the plane as getting it up the incline and over the door frame would be just to difficult for one person. It has worked great. I have had mine for almost 2 years and it was one of the best purchases I have made for my plane. I got my robotow at sporty's pilot shop and got a pretty good deal on it. They specifically list the Mooney on the site when you are purchasing the robotow. You just need to make sure you purchase the one made for the Mooney as the others attach a little differently for other aircraft. The robotow makes moving my mooney in and out of the hangar a breeze as opposed to a real tough ordeal. I woudn't be without one if you have a hangar with an incline.

It is just the way it is there. I hate KBCT and wouldn't land there unless I had an emergency. I flew in there a couple of times, just to pick up my cousin for a couple of flights. I shut down the engine long enough to get him in my Mooney and a lineman came out and told me to shut down so I could pay the $30 landing fee. I shut down, went inside and told them I was just picking up someone, I wasn't even in their ramp area and the still charged my $30. Ridiculous. This has got to be one of the worst airports and worst FBO's I have ever run into. There is literally no where to land and stop to pick up someone without paying $30 to $40 for the privilege of landing at KBCT. I do not like anything about this airport or the FBO's. I will NEVER go back there. Just my opinion of the place.

Last year i purchased a 38 quart Arctic Air for my Mooney. I live in south Florida and the heat was getting very intense in the early afternoons, especially for passengers. The Arctic Air is absolutely perfect for cooling the cabin down to about 75 degrees on a 95 degree day. I used it by filling it with a couple of bags of crushed ice and it worked very well. I found that the crushed ice melted a little to fast, especially when I was using it for over an hour or two while I was flying at low altitude. I have frozen some block ice in some tupperware containers the block ice lasts longer than the crushed ice before melting. I have recently been trying techni ice, which is like blue ice, but allegedly can be chilled substantially colder than ice and according to the manufacturer, it can be frozen even colder than dry ice, if you have a blast type freezer. I am experimenting with it and will let everyone know on this forum if it works better than block ice. In any event, last year I purchased the 12 volt model and hooked it up to a portable 12 volt battery pack which supplies more than enough power for a few hours of operation. I turned on the Arctic Air prior to my preflight and shut the cabin door. By the time I was ready to go the cabin was very cool and in the 75 degree range on a horribly hot 95 degree afternoon. I was able to do my complete runup with the cabin door shut in a very refreshing cabin temperature. My passengers were very, very pleased with the interior cabin temperature on such a hot day outside. I have used the Arctic Air on my flights down to Marathon, Florida, where it is really, really hot. The Arctic Air was a really welcome relief compared to prior trips I have made to Marathon without it. I put the cover on the plane when I arrived and the plane sat on the hot tarmac for most of the afternoon. The FBO at Marathon had an ice maker right there and gave me a few more pounds of ice to add to the Arctic Air prior to my preflight. Once again by the time I finished my preflight the cabin interior was comfortable. It was not as cool as turning on the Arctic Air while the plane was in the hangar, but it nevertheless reduced the interior cabin temperature to a comfortable temperature even with the outside temperature at Marathon hitting over a 100 degrees. It is easy to remove the water from the unit with the pump out line and refill the unit with additional ice. If anyone is thinking about getting one of these units for their Mooney, the Arctic Air works really well and it operates as advertised.

Chilling video. The turn back to the airport after an engine failure is normally impossible unless certain very specific conditions prevail. Altitude and load in the aircraft are two key components. With enough altitude and a light aircraft the conditions "may" allow for a return to the airport although not a return to the runway. It would require a split second decision. It seems more pilots make the decision to attempt the turn because of unsuitable terrain in the vicinity of the airport. I know at my airport, it is completely surrounded by homes. You would need to try and make it to the nearest highway for a reasonable chance to get the plane down without serious injury. My airport does have parallel runways which could allow for a turn to the parallel runway after an engine failure on takeoff but the circumstances would have to be almost perfect (sufficient altitude, light aircraft, split second decision). Years ago there were plenty of open fields around the airport to put the plane down. Those have all given way to housing developments now.

Quote: jwilkins Many years aago with my M20C I was on a XC flight from NY to CA. We took off from a high altitude and hot airport after a fuel stop. I leaned the engine on the ground to keep it running smoothly. Contributed by a few distractions including a plane on approach with no radio calls, I forgot to put the mixture rich on take off until I actually smelled the overheating. I burned up one exhaust valve. This is one example of pilot induced failure. It was not a total engine failure but if I had not noiced the hot smell and continued the climb with it leaned out it would have progressed beyond one burnt valve. Subsequently I learned to lean so agressively on the ground that the engine will not allow take off until you enrichen the mixture, just as a backup to the checklist, of course. Whether you choose to ROP or LOP if done improperly with insufficient engine monitoring equipment, you can do the same, although probably not as quickly! I don't think the reference was intended to be specific to pilots who study their choice of technique and apply careful management practices to the process. It was probably a reference to idiots like me who do stupid things.

This is an invaluable forum. I have learned more here than I could imagine. I just sent in my contribution through Paypal. Craig, thanks again for the wonderful site and thanks to all the Mooney pilots that contribute their knowledge and time to the discussions on this site.

I have a little place near Sylva in Tuckasegee near 24a. I have been flying my Mooney up there a couple of times a year and landing at KAVL. I have only landed at 24A once a couple of years ago when I flew up there with my friend in his Mooney Bravo. He didn't have any problems but he had the final approach speed nailed and it was very calm outside. My wife flys with me when we go up there and she does not like the airport. She was up there once looking around the airport and a large gust of wind knocked her off her feet. Since then, she does not feel comfortable flying into 24A, so we just go to KAVL. I have made many other short field landings such as X01, Everglades City, in my M20K, where the runway is about 2400 feet, but you really have to nail your approach speed down. If you keep your approach speed down to 70 to 75 knots, with full flaps, it is not a problem. I just flew up to KAVL this past month to stay in our place up there and went out to 24A to see what planes were there. There were 2 Mooneys, both 201's, about a half dozen Cessna 150's, 172's and 182's, a Maule and Piper SuperCub, a Bonanza A36, a couple of twins, one looked like a Piper Seneca and there was one really low time pilot, maybe even a student pilot (he looked pretty young to me) in his 172 who had flown in and was stuck there when the weather got bad. Remember, no instrument approaches at 24A when arriving. I am probably going to fly down to the Macon Co. airport in Franklin, 1A5, a couple of other pilots in my development use that airport instead of 24A, as the runway is longer (about 5,000 feet) and the distance to Sylva area is much shorter than KAVL. They also like the airport personell and feel more comfortable there because I believe they said avionics and engine repair shops were on the field and the FBO personell are really nice. No FBO at 24A, self serve fuel and no one is usually around. Rental car would have to be dropped off through Enterprise or left there, same as 1A5, but with an FBO onsite and people around, it is usually easier to make sure you have transportation. Plus if I fly in 1A5 it will keep my wife happy and flying with me. Good luck.

I have wingxpro and had been using the internal gps on my ipad2 for about 9 months and got great reception. It always stayed locked, no problems at all. Last week I downloaded cloud ahoy and all of a sudden my internal gps would not stay locked. I deleted the app but I still could not get a steady gps lock anymore with the internal gps. I don't know what happened. A couple of questions: Has anyone else had a similar problem and were you able to fix it? If you use an external gps, which one do you use and why? Do you use the bad elf or the dual and why did you choose one over the other. Thanks.

I had a good client have an in flight break up of his Pilatus 2 years ago. Circumstances are eerily similar. Same altitude but a little better weather. Very sad.

I had two incidents in my M20E. First one was on a takeoff in Georgia. My passenger, unbeknownst to me, had opened the baggage door to get something out and didn't properly secure the baggage door. It opened just as I began to rotate the airplane for takeoff. It was not a big deal as I had a lot of runway and just set it back down. It was a bit disconcerting because for the first few seconds you hear a bang and see a lot of wind in the cockpit but don't know what it is from. The second incident was on a flight from Palm Beach to Gainesville. I had just switched fuel tanks a few minutes before and then the engine quit. Very scary when that engine is not running. My instructor always said first fly the airplane, however, my first move was to switch fuel tanks and turn on the boost pump. I had to have done this within seconds but it felt like it was forever and then the enginer came back on. I was almost right over Okechobee Airport and landed there without incident. I first thought I had some fuel contamination because this happened after I switched tanks. When I went to open the tank I could hear the sound of air rushing into the tank as a vacuum had formed. I immediately went and looked at the vent but couldn't see any problem. I took a think wire and poked it up inside the vent and found that a dirt dobbler (wasp) had clogged the vent with a small dirt nest inside the vent.

Quote: Dale I looked at the video and the left main was down. Wow, getting it down and not hitting any cars on that roadway is unbelievable. Doing it with gear down even tougher. A 1965 m20c appears to have around a 50 to 52 gallon capacity. I'm not sure if that is all useable. Trip is around 500 nm. Not sure what the fuel burn is in an m20c. I believe this has the 180 lycoming instead off the 200 lycoming and it is carbureted. It might be close depending on headwinds, useable fuel and if tanks were topped off on departure. I heard the 180 lycoming was a pretty good engine.

I looked at the video and the left main was down. Wow, getting it down and not hitting any cars on that roadway is unbelievable. Doing it with gear down even tougher. A 1965 m20c appears to have around a 50 to 52 gallon capacity. I'm not sure if that is all useable. Trip is around 500 nm. Not sure what the fuel burn is in an m20c. I believe this has the 180 lycoming instead off the 200 lycoming and it is carbureted. It might be close depending on headwinds, useable fuel and if tanks were topped off on departure.

I was doing a little practice in the pattern at North Perry about an hour before this happened. The weather was getting really bad. Many of the planes had already come in. This guy did a great job putting it down where he did. Amazing. He kept the gear up, smart move.

I change my oil at 35 hours. This was recommended by my mechanic who felt that planes with a turbo should change the oil no later than 35 hours. I use Phillips with camguard, which was also recommended and I feel confident with that combination.

I use camguard. After my engine was overhauled the mechanics recommended camguard after my engine was broken in. I also read the aviation consumer study and tests and was convinced it would be beneficial for my engine. I like to fly a couple of times a week but this doesn't always happen and my plane has to sit for a week or two. I feel the camguard gives me the corrosion protection I need when I am not flying a lot.

I also had the p2 audio system installed in my m20k. It ran about $1700 installed. Best money I have spent on my plane. I also like the voice that says "the gear is down" when I hit 90 knots, as that gives me a chance to double check the gear. If the gear is not down at 90 knots an urgent female voice comes on and incessantly repeats "check gear." It also gives you an audible warning for overrspeed and gives a stall warning too, all through the headset. It does not do away with the warning horn when you retard the throttle, but is an additional redundant gear warning system for the plane. I truly believe that if the system is operational it would be incredibly difficult to forget to put the gear down unless you can take some woman screaming in your ears to check the damn gear over and over again. So far, I have only had to hear that annoying voice when I was working with my flight instructor and we were testing the system and doing the system test before takeoff. However, even with the system installed I still pull my checklist. I still don't want to get to the point where I need the system to remind me to put the gear down.

Double post.

I use force of habit and gumps, however, I also had a p2 audio advisory system put in the plane. My greatest fear is not the normal landing but when something happens that takes me out of my normal routine. The audio advisory system gives you an audible voice in the headset at 90 knots, basically telling you in a loud urgent female voice to check the gear if the gear is not down. If the gear is down then a calm male voice comes on and says the gear is down. Normally, my gear is down prior to hitting 90 knots, but again i am concerned about something that takes me out of my routine. The audio advisory is a last ditch opportunity for me to avoid a costly mistake. The gear warning horn still goes off if the gear is not down and the throttle has been pulled back but I cant really hear it with my headset on.

I will be there everyday. I am Really looking forward to it. Can't wait. Hope to see some of the mooneyspace crowd there.

Wow! An Alaska trip in my Mooney is definitely on my list. I am hoping to be able to do it in the next year or two. I really envy those of you who have already made the trip in your Mooney. A few years ago I was sharing some emails with a young doctor named Shaun Lunt, who spent his summers flying his Piper SuperCub throughout Alaska. He was an excellent photographer and he posted hundreds and hundreds of photos from the Alaska backcountry which are truly spectacular. If anyone wants to get excited about flying in beautiful Alaska, please take a moment to view these photos, they are really something. The site is: http://shaunlunt.typepad.com/ Unfortunately, Shaun was killed in 2008 when he stalled his Super Cub over a deserted beach in Alaska. Shaun's parents kept his website alive for people to see and experience some of Shaun's life in Alaska. He was a pretty extraordinary guy. On his website he wrote about his summers flying in Alaska with all the beautiful pictures. Once you see the pictures and read about Shaun, I think you will come away with a little different perspective. Alaska, definitely on top of my list of things I have to do. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures.