kortopates

If just the standard Chicago lock on doors that Mooney installed and bendix type ignition lock, sure you can get them duplicated anywhere. Nothing special about them. But if you have a secure lock, like the Medeco lock i use, then the registered owner of the keys will have to go back to the locksmith that made them and create you some more.

Bob, review you planes service manual for the K - see figure 8-1 on Charlie Weight installation or attached. If your CG is that far forward you're experiencing degraded cruise performance and a unusually heavy nose during the landing flare as you pull back on the yoke - even with full up trim. If so, installing the appropriate Charlie weight will rectify this for you and move the CG back to where it should be.

There is no hours requirement for the flight portion of wings credit. You pick 3 activities. A current pilot can demonstrate all of the required procedures from the 3 activities in one hours if you are both organized and current. Its an excellent way to satisfy the BFR requirements - and the only way I've been doing them for sometime. Also both cheaper (no ground instruction by instructor) and better for the candidate (more options for you).

There shouldn't be an issue installing a kevlar tank in the Mooney K model. The Mooney IPC oxygen section includes for example a 115.7 cu/ft tank option. Installing a kevlar 115.7 cu/ft tank, say from Aerox, only need a logbook entry from your A&P, eventhough the IPC doesn't spec a kevlar bottle - a minor mod. The DOT, not FAA, specifies testing requirements, services life and manufacturing protocol. So you want to make sure its DOT approved by seeing its stamp - but frankly that's not a concern buying through any aviation source. http://aerox.com is very popular, also there is mountain high http://mhoxygen.com/ . I use the kevlar tank, have too since I use the large size and our K models are so very weight limited-every pound counts! I personally wouldn't want to replace the regulator though due to its expense, just conitnue to get it serviced periodically - like evey other hyrdo.

There are many options in the Colorado front range area. In particular, the MAPA Safety Foundation provides Mooney specific training over an intensive 3 days at several places around the country; typically including the Front Range every summer. When held there, they offer both the traditional Pilot Proficiency Program class and a mountain flying course drawing on local mountain flying instructors that know Mooneys. They get some very good mountain instructors for the students that choose the mountain program. If you can travel there and the timing works for you that would be a nice option. If you haven’t yet taken the traditional PPP or gotten good Mooney specific training yet, I’d suggest to do a PPP first. However, if you go to their website http://www.mapasafety.com you'll see they don't have a PPP scheduled in the Front Range area for 2013 - at least not yet. If MAPA isn’t an option this year, I’d suggest starting with the Colorado Pilots Association http://coloradopilots.org/mtnfly_class.asp - the MAPA Mountain PPP follows their syllabus of ground school and their mountain cross-county flight which usually includes landing at Leadville. They currently show June and Aug offerings.

You piqued my curiosity enough to check. The TR-67 is the standard 90 degree valve used in our nose wheels, but the TR-87 (that I originally assumed was a typo) is a 90 degree valve with a short stem - presumably the one that LASAR was recommending for their hub caps/wheel covers to Bob above and I presume what Jim must be using with the same hub caps. You can see them here at Dresser: http://www.desser.com/store/quicksearch.php?type=tube&size=500-5&ply= As best as I can tell the A in 67A is unique to the Michelin Airstop. Looking for some detailed differenced I came across this site, with pictures showing the difference between the TR67 and TR87 (30mm) valve may help (from aircraft glider suppy site) http://www.wingsandwheels.com/page33.htm Bob, if you really did mean what you said originally, that a new TR87 was longer than your original tube - then all bets are off. But I am betting your new tube with larger stem is a TR67???

Unless you really want to change the tire to put the short valve tube in, it seems it would be much easier to drill a hole for the stem on the hub cap - which would make it like the factory wheel cover. But aren't the LASAR wheel covers plastic? a bit trickier drilling plastic - just have to be very careful. Otherwise the the Dresser butyl tubes are just as good as the Michelin Airstop butyl tubes - just make sure stay with butyl - I use the Dresser tubes in my Goodyear Custom III's.tires.

Dave, have you tried: 1) Salvage yards for serviceable replacement 2) Motor repair facility - for example http://www.bigwoodselectric.com/ these folks recently got FAA approval to repair our BendixKing AP servo motors which are similiar to the little cowl motor and their web site says they repair all kinds of servo and dc motors - I'd check with them.

Your wheel covers sound different from minem but my factory aluminium nose wheel cover has a drilled hole for the valve stem and uses a Butyl TR-67 (90 degree angle) valve on the tube to come staight out of the rim and protrudes through the wheel cover a bit. My mains uses a TR-20 valve (straight) and the stems stay entiely behind the wheel covers.

Always, always, always push the CWS button before engaging the autopilot to set the pitch or altitude where you want it; i.e. whether in ALt hold mode or not! Otherwise the the plane will dive or climb for the pitch or altitude the flight director last had - which could have been what you tested it with back on the ground - not necessarily what you are expecting. Rainman is correct, but no need to turn off the FD, just push the CWS button with the plane at the desired pitch or altitude.

Mammoth is one of our most favorite destinations; even keep a car there. However this wasn't a nice day to make the journey with high winds and precipitation earlier in the day. It really a mystery why the Mooney continued past Mammoth Pass for Yosemite Valley when Mammoth pass directly to the south offered a direct shot into the Mammoth airport with the best chances for staying under the 13K to 14K ceilings reported that day. However high winds and turbulence were likely a major issue for the flight. Which begs the questions why the pilot didn't choose instead to fly over to Mohave and then up the Owens Valley to avoid the higher terrain given the high winds and ceilings. I hope they find him soon.

I am looking to head down after the holidays myself. Costa Rica has 4 international airports, 2 of which are logistically feasible to clear and get fuel from, Liberia and Pavas. Pavas (MRPV) is the preferred GA airport that is the most efficient for us to clear and is right next to San Jose/Cocos (MROC). (However, it has no approaches, but is so close to Cocos that you can use an approach into Cocos to get below a reasonably high ceiling to cancel and then VFR over the less than 5 miles to MRPV). However, the really big problem in Costa Rica right now is parking fees. All of international airports charge huge parking fees after the first free 90 minutes. I recently calculated approx $175 per 24 hrs at Liberia the cheapest with others going to $225+ a day ! So the only way to make it work is to fly into one of the international airports and then immediately fly into a national airport and park there. Another option I haven't seriously looked at is to call FBO's and discuss their hangar fees etc rather than park in transient. Costa Rica has a very large network of national airports. Most are all 800-1000 m x 10 m and uncontrolled without any services. Not large by any means, but many are serviced by one of the commuter national airlines like Nature Air. You can download their airport info from their DGAC site in English here http://www.dgac.go.c.../aip/index.html. I am sure you're in disbelief regarding the parking, so you can verify the fees for the different airports on BajaBush or even call one using the phone numbers from the AIP you’ll download. Apparently Greg had a bad experience in Mexico as I don’t get his comments. I’ve flown all over Mexico – mainland and Baja – and have never even considered a handler, nor have ever felt extorted. Mexico is as easy as it gets. Coming back into the US is much bigger challenge! Just be prepared and know what to expect. It also helps to be able to speak a bit of Spanish. I don’t, but my pilot wife does and it has proven helpful at times but not necessary.

Accurate through what range though? If it was just same at 98 or 99% that's not saying much. Some of the cheap ones have been reported to never go below 90 when their SP02 was actually in the 80's. Drop the unit and it should be re-checked.

Indeed, that picture you found was taken the very same day of the accident! (on his leg out to furnance creek). It sure seems he came down pretty fast given the number of G's its takes to brake a wing spar, so you're probably right about it being more like a 100 or more.

Regarding the survivability question, I can’t believe the NTSB omitted whether the pilot was equipped and wearing a shoulder harness. There was no mention of seat belt at all that I could find. Anybody see anything to the contrary? Being a ’78 J, there is good chance it didn’t have shoulder belts – although I thought everyone had long since retrofitted them and was surprised to see that's not true from at least one post above. From looking at the debris diagram and picture though, I agree with Byron in that it looks like the plane came in too fast to make much difference. But It also appears the pilot wasn’t committed to flying the plane through the landing sequence by doing everything he could to put the plane down as slow as possible (and into the wind if there was any). The report indicated the engine controls will all still forward (engine was making partial power) the flaps were up along with the gear and it supposedly came in with both the left wing and nose low. But I think I too would have kept the gear up once I realized the roughness of the terrain. But coming in with a low left wing (and nose) appears to have likely sealed his fate causing the plane to roll sideways by about midway along his 160’ debris field. I’d like to think it could have been survivable if the pilot had been able to fly it through the accident sequence by stalling it in with full flaps, wings level. Obviously we can’t really know for sure, but with the nearly a 5 kt lower stall speed advantage with full flaps – (although that’s also with the gear down and the POH doesn’t tell us exactly how much with the gear kept up); that’s got to help quite a bit. Its certainly possible hitting a flap could have twisted the plane around too, but if he had be able to hold it off till going slower at slightly above 50kts with wings stalled it seems it would have been much less likely to turn out like it did. In addition to shoulder belts, I am sure more altitude would have really helped this pilot too, but given the accident occurred only 7 miles away I suspect he may not have gotten than more than 3000K feet of altitude at best even if he had full power to climb the first 5 miles. Thus really very little time for him to respond and commit to the landing as I mentioned above – maybe way too little time for pilot with 20hrs in the last 6 months if he wasn’t feeling totally comfortable in his Mooney. I suspect the whole flight was only a few minutes long. Incidentally, the report clearly states the proper hardware to secure the magneto had been used to comply with Lycoming SI-1508B . Its concludes the “magneto clamps were not securely fastened to the mount, which led to a partial loss of engine power and a subsequent forced landing on unsuitable terrain”. It had only been about ~10hrs since its annual.

I don't recall what year Mooney abandoned the squat switch on the gear in favor of the pressure switch activated by pitot pressure, but it was by the time the mid-bodys were in production if not sooner.

Byron, I presume you're more comfortable with a lengthy over water crossing just from acquiring all the oceanic experience you have from your day job. Its not knew to you by any stretch. And I imagine you have access to resources not available to the GA crowd. So where would you go to get decent weather products covering the gulf? Would you be able to call up one of your company dispatcher friends and get more reliable weather products covering a route like this? I don’t see anything beyond satellite and analysis charts covering the oceanic area, but no experience there either.

Yves, PM sent

Baja is great fun and San Felipe is the most popular Mexican AOE for US pilots clearing headed south from CA. San Felipe is actually a privately held airport and because of it, it has its own associated pro's and con’s. The only con is slightly higher fees for fuel. The pro's are that they have literally an assembly line of staffed officials (DGAC, Customs, Immigration) to walk you through the paperwork process and get you your (multi-)entry form, declaration, visa's, flight plan and on your way very quickly. They are also very popular. Thus during the winter whale season lines can form. Since I have the range, I more often than not clear further south in Loreto. I would not personally recommend San Felipe as a destination and instead would encourage you to go further south. Even If your available time is short, you can enjoy a truly memorable experience petting the California Grey Whales in their winter habitat at Laguna San Ignacio - if visiting with these remarkable creatures appeals to you. My wife and I go pretty much every year end of Feb/early March for 3 day weekend and usually with other Mooney's from the CA/AZ area (including some on Mooneyspace). We usually stay on the baja side in Mulege for the hotel and fly over to San Ignacio for the day of Whale watching. Nothing wrong with San Felipe by itself and there are a number of hotels on the beach not far from the airport. Its just that Baja gets much more interesting or adventuresome further south. Although at the very south, Cabo is an entirely different experience from the rest of baja and fascinating in its own way. If you'd feel more comfortable going down with a group, check out Baja Bush's web site for organized trips down there, including whale watching - they walk you through the entire process. Or you're welcome to join us for whale watching if the timing works out. If you want to keep to a destination like San Felipe, also check out Rocky Point (south of Yuma) and Guymas (on mainland side). But BajaBush is the better website for Mexico information.

Thanks - Now I see what you mean - google map's runway picture really changes my perspective. In fact, re-looking at the video its really appears at ~7 sec, the plane is on the asphalt before the painted numbers and I was mistaking being anywhere on the asphalt for being on the ruway - despite your clear comments about the 400' displaced threshold. I understand the student trained out of that airport, if so, he had to very familiar. Still it will be very interesting to see read the NTSB's report.

Amazing to me how we all can look at the same video and draw entirely different conclusions. To my eyes the real fault goes to the driver and the pilot was fine, the plane had cleared the fence and then it really looks like we see the nose and left main gear of the aircraft come down on black asphalt. That wouldn’t happen if the plane was going to land short since the impact would further shorten its approach path. Although that's a bit challenging to say with certainty due to some camera shake occurring, but it really appears there was no doubt it didn't and wasn't going to land short. Does anyone have any factual data to the contrary? Lets also not forget that the telephoto view through the camera gives the illusion of things appearing much closer than they are. Sure, he could have/should have been a bit higher, but all he had to do was clear that fence. The car was suppose to stop and wait, which we clearly saw didn’t happen. Although the very poor marking on the surface will no doubt prove to be a major issue. It’ll be interesting to hear what the NTSB comes up with in addition to the obvious lack of real stop signs. Grateful nobody got hurt, but saddened the student pilot is throwing the towel in. Any way you look at it, GA suffers.

I've been to Isla Mujeres too (to swim with the whale sharks - nothing like fantoms pictures) and I am pretty sure Dave was only kidding since its not an International Airport or airport of entry. Of course Byron is welcome to fly over to MMIM after clearing customs and filling up elsewhere to enjoy the quiet island - a huge contrast from Cancun/Cozumel. But be careful for the intense Nordo traffic in the pattern; Flocks of Flamingo's that is! Yves, every Mexican airport has some contingent of military stationed at it that lives on the airport 24x7, towered or not. They were placed there to combat drug trafficking and will greet you on arrival to see your Mexican flight plan and at departure again. They actually do help reduce crime in the area. But nobody is interested in your Mooney down there. They want C210 and C206, but have been known to take a C182 as a prize of last resort when they couldn’t get their intended target.

Hawthorne has many advantages - they even used to have a Jag for a crew car! However, IFR service in and out of there got very bad since they lost their LOA with SOCAL - they no longer own the airspace for their loc approach. So if you go IFR be prepared for other options if you hear you could be delayed due to LAX traffic; especially if less than VFR wx. Or better yet, call the SOCAL Tracon at 800-448-3724 and ask a controller what you can expect - they are very helpful. As jkenny said, for sure you'll enter socal at LHS on V459. If you don't fle that way, be ready to copy as you approach. My guess is you'll probably get V459 - V186 - V394 to the HHR Loc for 25 since the Loc-D isn't approved to start at SLI coming south on V459. Enjoy your trip!

or http://www.swta.net/monthlyspecial.html which has them for $90 each with full set of 11 or $990.

JPI's display upgrade cost is $1200. But from Spruce its only $1065 http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/inpages/jpi730830upgrade.php?clickkey=4571 Do you expect JPI to beat that?