kortopates

Good point, I do practice with students at safe altitude to determine what their altitude loss is doing a power off 360 turn at a 45 degree bank. We wait till 5K AGL pull power and then count for 4-5 seconds to allow for the startle effect, But instruct them climb out at Vy to Vy+10 to 15 kts. Never Vx, I think its real clear that you don't have 4-5 seconds to push at Vx since at Vy 4-5 seconds is on the edge (hence why using 5000 agl to practice this). Then we double the pilots altitude loss and add another 50% . After practicing this 3 times, with typically each try improving, we usually arrive at 800-900' minimum altitude. Then we'll test it out, climbing out into the wind, wait to the minimum altitude, retard the power, count 4-5 sec and start the turn. Almost always its successful with a little wind. A lot of wind the challenge flips to getting down without building up excessive speed, so I encourage slipping at best glide (min of 85+ kts) and adding drag once the pavement is guaranteed. We discuss landing gear up if we don't have adequate room to rollout to a stop or landing on a rough surface that we don't expect to be able to control direction and safely rollout.

Thanks for reminding us all that the most important step is the first step to brief the emergency plan, such as if you don't have enough speed before the halfway point to continue (vs run off the end) and if you should loose the engine what you'll do and at what min altitude. Its not having any plan that often leads to things going very bad including a stall spin. We all have to be mentally prepared to do what's necessary. Many fields don't have any good options, but nothing is worse than stall spinning in from not pushing at the loss of engine power.

When the factory shipped brand new Acclaims over to China only the tail was removed and then re-assembled at Mooney in China. It’s really not a big deal at all. Mooney’s are recovered that way on flat bed trucks all the time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@redbaron1982 did you happen look up the winds at the time of the incident? That worked out extremely well. i am guessing he had over 10kts of headwind on takeoff providing a good tailwind on return to pull this off with just over 600 agl. I’ve done the emergency turn back a number of times in different Mooney’s and wouldn’t attempt it at that altitude with calm winds but with winds over 20 kts you’d still be struggling to get it down in time without a long runway as apparently this pilot did. good job! Unfortunate it got some damage but in the end all we really care about is the occupants. Great to see such a good outcome. Just a couple days ago we lost 5 people in a Baron departing from Catalina in the dark Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think the question comes from the second picture where the light appears like it might be on the ground. But I think it’s an illusion created by the Avionics shelf and the light is actually in the belly, not on the ground. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i’d be most concerned about the JPI harness if it showing any signs of chaffing - now is the time to easily replace it and route away from interference. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for sharing, if i was going to make any changes i’d try their recommended high altitude harness first. But i’ve been free of any high altitude miss yet i know some gap their plugs at the maximum width for the Surefly which isn’t helping. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Never seen high altitude miss with a surefly or on any EIS yet, so not concerned. Leaking wires is a different scenario. I would fear pumping moisture into the Surefly to pressurize the cap would merely serve to reduce its reliability by promoting much faster corrosion. That’s one of the main reason our pressurized mags don’t last as long as unpressurized mags. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The one piece belly doesn’t go beyond the rear seats - not too avionics bay and battery area. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know, isn’t that nuts! We’re grounded when a beacon or strobe goes out yet the government can spend months repairing a critical piece of infrastructure. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t know, those of us that fly a lot prefer untranslated metar and taf’s. Plain language adds so much clutter it’s much harder to scan them whereas in abbreviated form i am looking at one line metars and i can immediately see whatever is important whether it be winds or ceilings. Same with TAF’s. Iam all for standardizing on ICAO so when out of the US i don’t need to figure out any obscure abbreviations- they will be mostly the same no matter where i am. ( different countries use different features so they are never identical) Sure i’ll need to adjust to some changes but i don’t thinks it going to be any harder than prior changes to ICAO that we’ve gone through in the past. Flights service does a reasonable job of categorizing NOTAMs so i know where to skip (obstructions and UAS) and pay attention to airport, runway, navigation, communication’s etc don’t get me wrong, there is still lots of room for improvement (like obstructions that shouldn’t matter to fixed wing aircraft) but only plain language for all isn’t the answer imho. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There still important to fly any VOR approaches. Not legal if it’s not operational and we are required to monitor them flying a VOR approach using RNAV. Not to mention they still make up our backup MON. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MT props no longer have to go back to MT in FL for maintenance, there are many prop shops now that work on them including my favorite prop shop in CA, American Propeller. they don’t give a choice of leading edge on the J&K props, just stainless. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Better climb and no cruise loss. it’s normally several months to get it, but i still had to wait for them to get the de-ice boots and install them. the first shipment from germany got lost! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine is installed directly straight in front. As a HUD its not blocking anything and allows me to focus on the runway during the final approach. I too was concerned about it being an impediment and considered installing it off to one side but listened to the vendor and glad I did. After takeoff and in cruise I have it pulled down out of view.

Many C172’s have only the two servo install. It’s very annoying since anytime you either change airspeed/power or want to change altitude the AP starts annunciating TRIM UP or TRIM DOWN. You become the third servo and you’ll be called on a lot more than you would likely expect. Okay for a trainer that spends most its time in the pattern but quite annoying for an owner flown xctry airplane. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Plus i assume you’ll need the prop de-ice added (although you did mention polished prop). You’ll notice much improved climb including a steeper pitch attitude at Vx. i had to make “boots” to fit over the 2 of the blades. I used silicone baffling material. The boots protect the prop when i am R&Ring the lower cowling. i don’t yet have that job down to a one person operation like i had with the old 2 blade prop. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i believe you have to remove the starter adapter to read the part # on the gear- which is a bit more involved. But the engine doesn’t have to be disassembled to replace the gear. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But only after complying with all their SB’s. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, speed brakes aren’t an issue. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very true, as the guy that's not only paying the bills but doing all the work, after repairing most of connecting rods in my gear doors, all with enlarged openings (mine has 3 gear doors per side). I have since reduced my gear down speed to 110-120 kts from 140. Occasionally If I am getting slam dunked I may exceed 120, but my norm is 110-120. That's going to be challenge for a new Mooney pilot but it doesn't take that long to be able to get it slowed down without the gear and then the gear will thank you for it.

This is most misinterpreted limitation in the POH. In order to have a higher limit for partial flaps, don't you think they would specify a an amount of flaps and a higher airspeed? See the J models - the only Mooney's that have an approved higher partial flaps air speed limitation and its only for a small range of serial numbers, which are not even the last ones produced. After 34-3078, with the introduction of the 28V J's they went right back to single flap speed limitation. You won't find any such higher partial flaps speed in any other Mooney including the R, they all look like your R:

As Scott indicated. There is actually two, one for gear down and one for gear up. The gear down is furthest aft and will be obvious if looking at it with gear down.

17,000’ with 94% saturation without supplemental O2 sounds super human to me! But congratulations on getting your Ovation. Don’t worry, landings will get easier as you get better in trimming the aircraft to approach speed. Properly trimmed the flare/round out comes very easily. its only work when it’s not trimmed for the final approach speed. Enjoy! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They used too. The majority of that talent is gone now with factory operating on a skeleton crew. As has been mentioned. The factory is still making parts. I’ve never waited more than 3-4 weeks for parts despite initially hearing 3 months multiple times. It sucks to be AOG when something Mooney specific breaks. But more often than not, it’s not a Mooney specific airframe part that needs to be sourced but a standard part like a gear limit switch or a relay or a switch. Or a Mooney part that can be repaired like an electric cowl flap motor, or voltage regulator. Things you really never want to pay $ for a new replacement part when they can be repaired. Being a Mooney owner is more about learning how to source and repair parts than worrying about factory parts availability. As long as they still remain in business i am not overly concerned. Besides no matter what concerned discussions we have here, the factory will continue to do their best to survive as they see fit. That even includes a few unsuccessful people that have tried to invest serious amount of money to see the factory tackle projects without response.