Becca

Agreed on iPad. Also, since you are just buying in now, its probably worth considering the iPad mini. Though we don't like to admit how cramped a Mooney cockpit is, its cramped, and a smaller device, especially for on your lap, would really be nice. I'm not planning on spening the money to switch from an iPad to a mini, but if you were making an initial purchase, its a good option.

By the way, Byron used to be a towel dry sort of guy, it took repeated prodding to point out that for just as much time you could take a nice little flight and get the plane just as dry

Yes, dearest Byron won't admit that my USS Sedona landings were flawless despite his right seat nagging. When it was his turn to fly (we were coming back from a Grand Canyon overflight and I wanted to take photos) - he panicked that 4000' runway just wouldn't be long enough and his mental picture of our beloved Mooney going over the mesa was too much for him, and he went into 747-mode assuming our plane had anti-skid, slammed on the brakes to make the turnoff at 2000' and, thump thump thump. Then he widely disemminated the picture of the flat tire with the caption "don't let your wife fly". We found a local mechanic who replaced the tire for like $50 though, which is pretty much the best deal in aviation ever. He absolutely does owe a trip report for the whole trip - we took some great pictures of grand canyon and monument valley - and to post them here not on the beech forum. That said, the beech forum's trip report section is quite a bit more extensive than ours, we should work on that..

Ah, how'd I miss that a year ago!

(I can't believe I saw this video on the Beech forum, but there you have it..)

Try Trenton Mercer - there might be some public transit options from there. Or PNE - its probably a reasonably priced cab ride away from the city, its pretty close to Center City.

As a further "safety" thought, given their frequency of failure, running it for takeoff means you have just cycled in one more time to a failure that could occur when you need it (maybe later in the flight in an emergency). I recognize that you are accepting some small risk not running it for takeoff and landing, so when I review my takeoff and landing check list, I always remind myself of the fuel pump, so if there's even a hiccup, switching it on will be my first action.

And, little known fact, I am the swimmer and diver, Byron is TERRIFIED of fish. Even little minnows he worries will "bite him" so he basically never swims in open water if he can avoid it. And he wants to do this.

Byron is considering this trip alone, so he will definitely be lonely. I am ok with the Bahamas - short hop, on radar the whole time, etc. Definitely going to do that over Christmas (Staniel Cay, anyone been there? Other advice is welcome!) I am not ok with over Gulf. Call me irrational (yes, we also fly over forests and mountains), but that's where I draw my line. Not to mention, round trip tickets from IAH-Cancun are about $250, direct, 2 hr flight, the Mooney just isn't idael for that mission nor is it an adventure I want. Byron thinks because he bought a life raft that was last packed and tested in 1994, we're good. Oh, and because he flies 747's over the north atlantic (I remind him that has four engines). Just saying.

So we're based at LVJ (Pearland) and I Am looking at where it says "Objectionable" and as far as I can tell, there is no airport there and there has never been one. Also this rev of the sectional is the first time I've ever seen that there. That's really weird. I found this on google: http://expertaviator...onable-airport/ Maybe someone attempted to carve a strip into their backyard? I am going to look for it next time I fly.

I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt here since you look like a new member and you aren't just stirring the pot with our ever favorite LOP/ROP debates! This is one of the most widely discussed topics on this forum. Go use the search function, read up, then come back here and post any questions rather than asking people to rehash what they've also posted. Also, consider reading the Van's Forum for RV's, many have the same engine we do, and they have a running topic on LOP advice forum too. Also, before any one begins to give you any advice, they are going to need to know a few things - do you have a multi point engine monitor? GAMI injectors? what's your GAMI spread?

There were no Mooneys to race at GLS , but you have another chance, in Cleveland Texas next Saturday! Please, come be competition. I'd like to say I'll catch up to the racing Bonanzas, but probably not. But the record is there for the breaking - 192.45 mph. Or just come have fun and fly a long cross country. Let me know if you have any questions! http://www.sportairrace.org/id485.html

192.54 mph. New Mooney 201 record. Could have been a little faster, I nearly missed one of the 10 turns and ended up wide of it and a couple times wasn't perfect on my altitude control and ended up in a bit of a climb before noticing and thus losing speed. Flew most of the race at 800 feet, on our old engine, had to fly full rich to keep engine cool enough, however, this engine is definitely running cooler now, so did some leaning (as best power does involve a little leaning from full rich - I think best power is somewhere around 80-100 ROP) and got down to 15.5 gph (full rich is 18.0 gph) before I got to 370 CHT's, probably could have actually leaned more, but I think we did benefit from this additional power. Byron has promised to stop complaining about how slow our new engine is now. Also, you should know he's changed the mag timing 4 times since getting the plane, but I flew the race at the mag timing that the plane was shipped from the factory in. And Byron is getting really good at re-timing the mag.

Bump! Hope to see you there on Saturday.

Is this a matter of having $25k now or $50k in 5 years from now.. put $10k down on the loan, and then use the delta money you have available in cash to suppliment your loan payments on a more expensive plane on a 10 year loan, and then as you get more money you keep paying down the loan and you have a nice plane in between. Also a partnership + a shared loan can keep your budget low and allow you to buy more of an airplane than you can afford on your own, and planes like to be flown. Loans are cheap right now, just a few percent, and so are airplanes. Waiting with cash in the bank isn't already the right solution.

So its time to try out the new engine in an air race. We still hold the record for a Mooney 201 and the FAC3RG class at 187.78 mph. I don't think this engine is going to perform as well, but we'll see. However, this record is for the most part due to lack of competition - it can be beat! It can be beat by you! If you've never done an air race, you should come. I am going to reiterate my usual reassurance about what cool events these are: 1. They are just like flying a long cross country around some waypoints. Some people do it WOT, some at cruise speeds, you can just do it for fun. Though WOT is better. 2. They are totally safe - they sequence race starts with the fastest plane first and provide for good separation and clear radio calls at each turn point. Occasionally there is a very controlled pass, but most planes stay in the same sequence they started 3. Altitudes are safe per the FAR's. 4. Its a fun group with a very mixed demographic and all sorts of airplane types. 5. Lots of trophies are awarded. Come be my competition! Or if you want to just come out and watch the start, that can be fun too, but not as fun as racing. The Lone Star Air Rally was the first race I flew last year and it had me hooked at an instant. They have modified the course this year (I heard it called the "Texas Twister") with a lot of turns - usually an air race might have 4-5 turns, this race has 10! We'd love to see you there - let me know if you have any questions about air racing: http://lonestarairrally.blogspot.com/

Did you cross the Gulf in it or did you take it over on the intercoastal? (I seem to recall you also have a boat near us here in clear lake..)

We went last Christmas and also loved it - what a beautiful flight in a Mooney!! I saw from your photos you went sailing - where'd you charter the boat from? We are going to Florida again this Christmas (family in Boca) but trying out the Bahamas instead of Key West this year..

So I have to issue a reclama. I may have explained some math for the insurance agent and she just replied: Whew, huge relief. Also it pays to know how to do math. Take that NY Times guy that says high schools should do math any more because its "too hard" and not needed in the real world. http://www.nytimes.c...?pagewanted=all

So we finally got with our insurance to add the value of the new engine to the insured value of the aircraft. Just so you know if you are doing an overhaul, the terms of our policy, at least, is they will cover you for a 20% value increase temporarily (30 days) after a major modification before you have to report the new value to your company and pay a premium for a difference in insured value Anyway, our 20J was insured for $80k before the new engine. This was a bit overinsured for us, we had estimated the replacement value of the plane was about $70k-ish, but wanted to be free to go buy a new plane following a major totalling accident with minimum drama. After much discussion, we decided that with the new Lycoming overhaul we wanted to insured for $95k, which is probably still a bit over insured, but closer to the real value. Doing quick math, this represents an 18% increase in hull value. We just got the invoice from the insurance agent for the premium different: $1,618.00 New Hull Premium $1,118.00 Current Hull Premium Change = $ 500.00 $500.00 X .332 pro-rate Prorated amount due = $166.00 (Note that is not the total policy price, its nearly an additional $1000 for the liability portion of the policy, can't remember the exact value.) My math shows they are increasing the rate of our hull insurance by 44% ($500) to cover the 18% increase in hull value. I am a little appalled. Is this normal? We insure through Falcon - is this just a failure of my agent to negotiate with the insurance company? We are pretty locked into an insurance company because we have an open claim, and so all the other companies declined to quote this year - still we thought the rate we were paying was in family with what other people in our area was paying.

Don - if you aren't up for posting on this, can you PM me with who you mean from "the top" and if you have a copy of the paper work where the "top" or the SAT FSDO has insisted on changing the language to "must" or whatever it is that makes an overhaul mandatory? I'd like to talk to someoen at AOPA about this and/or MAPA - I understand you said they already know, but as a long time member of these organizations, I'd like to know what they are doing to advocate against this - from your posts, I feel like this has been heading this way for a couple years now, yet this is the first I have heard about it, and I think I try to do a good job keeping track of aviation news. But I just don't feel like I have all the information to even understand what's happening.

I'd like to hear from AOPA on this topic. It sets a bad precendent. I'm going to contact them and see what they say, you should too. One member they might ignore, multiple members, maybe not. If this only effects Mooneys it will definitely devalue our planes in the eyes of some purchasers. Maybe post something on the red board too?

Had a great time at the convention this year. I thought it was a much better format with less seminars (though the ones they had were great), more social time, and lots of time to hang out at the airport and socialize around planes, and the Mooney factory tour (I have to say it, its kind of like Pompeii in there, but still really eye opening to see how my Mooney was made...) and the variety of activities around Fredericksburg! It felt much better to go from place to place - hotel, airport, vineyard, factory, etc, than being confined to one hotel for 3 days straight and "separated" from the planes (though we were separated from our plane by a 5 hr drive since the weather made us resort to ground transportion, boo hoo). I can even keep my sarcasm down (only slightly) about the relevance of the "ladies' lunch" special topic for me (at 33, I think it will be a while before I need a knee or hip replacement... and no one even bothered to ask the effect of such surgery on our aviation medical), but it was ok, because we had yummy Tex Mex food. Unrelated to the convention, we loved loved loved the Hangar Hotel, our only wish is that there had been more Mooney people there to relax with us in the O'club after the evenings activities finished.

Ha, I just posted on BCT on that other thread. We went there for the same reason, its just way closer to my family in Boca than any other option. If your mom is mobile enough, have her meet you at Pompano Exec., its worth it. BCT owes us a free ramp fee for my experience there last time, we don't plan on going back ESPECIALLY at a busy holidy time which is when we'd be flying to Boca (unless its to park our plane in a friends hangar there which would be free), so you're welcome to use my name and try to get your ramp fee waived Frankly "our kind" is not BCT's primary business any more and it shows. Though I have heard from others that if you are willing to pay the price, they treat even the lowliest Mooney driver like they arrived in G5 (so long as you pay their prices). Still, its a shame. I learned to fly there back in 97, when they had 10 C-152s and an active flight school. There was a big controversy about them putting in a tower because it was going to drive the little guys out and replace them with corporate jets, and it did. It really changed the character of all of Boca too, you can't sit on the east side of Boca without jets passing by at low altitude in a steady stream. I don't get it, if I had that kind of money, Boca wouldn't be my first stop (we also stayed at the high end Boca hotel too and if I had paid $700/night for a room there I would be livid at how horrible the place was - mainly due to the unwieldly crowds, luckily we were staying their on rewards points). But maybe growing up there familiarity leads to contempt?

We were at BCT last Christmas. They did indeed have a ramp fee and it was waived with a minimum fuel purchase. You incur the ramp fee as soon as you pull up to the ramp, they have a second tie down fee if you stay overnight. They are a public use airport and I don't think they have a landing fee, though I am not sure how accomadating the tower would be to touch and goes. I can't remember the dollar value of the ramp fee but what I do remember was the fuel price was so steep when we calculated the cost of flying to another airport to refuel + the ramp fee it was cheaper than paying the premium on the fuel. They are also not very smaller-than-corporate jet friendly. I have never seen such a sea of expensive corporate jets in my life than BCT at Christmas! This is sad to me, considering a decade ago BCT is where I learned to fly and they gave me a scholarship, at the time, it was very small plane friendly. We had a not great experience there over Christmas, but to give them credit, the head of the FBO called me personally after hearing about my experience and tried to make things right, and that helped.