Becca

Oh, how I love debunking myths. http://www.avweb.com/news/airman/184274-1.html Just test out your theory - make sure to control all the variables (use the same altitude, heading for each on the same day, makes sure you close your cowl flaps at the same time for each, or just leave them open for the purposes of this trial). Have a passenger record altitude, groundspeed and TAS at 10 second intervals during the entire process (pre-prepare a table) and then at 1 minute intervals for the following 10 minutes after you level out: 1. Attempt flying in the step, including reducing your power/mixture as soon as you reach your cruise altitude to cruise settings. Descend at least 2000' and then try the second option. 2. Climb and level off the correct way. Climb to 3500' exactly. While at full power, mixture, level off and allow yourself to accelerate. Once the acceleration is complete, then reduce your power/mixture to the same cruise settings you used in your first trial. Average your TAS and Groundspeed for each trial, and I suspect you will find they are exactly the same.

Flying a wider pattern is one of the things I am still getting used to, and I have over 300 hours in my aircraft. The mantra about staying close to the field was drilled into me by my PPL and Instr. instructors, but I think it is a mistake in a Mooney. In fact, I will go so far as to say it is a major mistake, because it puts you in the position of making steep turns at low speeds and altitudes. The Mooney's glide ratio is way better than the Skyhawks or Warriors, you don't need to be right on top of the runway on downwind to be able to glide in, in the event of an engine failure. And engine failures on landing are far less common than stall/spin accidents.

Duplicate post.

Quote: rbridges Jetdriven, I don't mind selling for half. I do see your point. I've put a few bucks into the prebuy (not a lot since I'm friends with mechanic), repairing the audio panel and did a few minor touch ups cosmetically. The previous owner flew it down since I was only 100 miles away, so I didn't have to invest in a ferry pilot or a ton of fuel. It would be nice to split the fixed costs such as the hangar, insurance and taxes since the plane sits in the hangar 99% of its life. I do have a lien on it, and his half would nearly take care of that. It has crossed my mind about what to do when it falls apart. How do you handle his half? Buy it back? If so, at what value? In this regards, George's idea about a lease/share option may be a good answer.

Quote: Greg_D Greg, where are you getting your information from? You are saying it with such certainty.

I understand I am in the minority as a female Mooney pilot, but I have begun to get a little fed up with all the "for the ladies" info on the Mooney homecoming. I would love to get a pedicure during a long weekend in Kerrville, or do other activities my darling jetdriven wouldn't normally want to participate in due to his Y chromosome, don't get me wrong, but I don't want to do it while he is off learning better flying techniques for our Mooney. I know there are a few other lady Mooney pilots on this board and was wondering if maybe we could put our heads together to make this a better event for the "ladies" who sit in the left seat of their airplane rather than the right... A couple of thoughts I had was: 1. A lady Mooney pilot happy hour (after the seminars are over)? I am always up for some appletinis, red wine, no men, AND talking about my airplane all in one event! 2. They've been advertising a "pinch hitter" course for female copilots in the crowd (though I wish they'd go gender neutral on this and call it flying companions - having dated a number of non-flying men before, I think they would appreciate it or teenage or adult children who don't fly, etc.). I am wondering if maybe we could organize a women's lunch flyout where we take some of the spouses/wives/partners for a girls flying day, leaving all the men behind. I am willing to offer the three seats up in my Mooney for this. I've found this can be a lot more helpful for women to realize what aviation can offer than the usual experiences they might get. Any other thoughts, any other takers? Any opinions from your spouse / significant other / partner?

Quote: N6784N there is not alot of hanger space i think a 3 year waiting at some airports. if you will be in dc probably best bet is college park and potomac airfield so you will have to jump through the frz hoops and get your secret spy squak code (pin) the good thing is most services at those airports are cheap since nobody wants to parked there. the only mcs i know of close by is freeway they are good but not fast so keep that in mind. i pay 80 per month for tiedown and could have gotten a really ratty hanger for 330 per month in gaithersburg but didnt want it falling on my plane so i didnt take it. i know va will charge you i think its 6% of aircraft value after you have your plane there more then 3 months i think but not quite sure. maryland i dont know about i just paid the 6%. i think va charges anually while maryland only charges a 1 time 6% sales tax but again you need to ask the pros. btw i sure hope you will be making a minimum o f 50k more then where you are coming from since you will have to deal with lots of driving hassle as well as ga hassle getting in and out of the dc area

Quote: Greg_D There was a small window of time when the new data was being uploaded and some folks were able to download Canadian data into version 4.0. To get the NavCanada data now, you need to have version 4.1 installed. Those few who got it during the overlap will not be able to update that Canadian data.

So one observation I made at my old aero club... we had all our planes in tie downs when Hurricane Ike hit here in Houston. One of the hangers a plane used was empty (as the plane had been evacuated), and they moved one of the tie downs from the ramp to the hanger. It seemed to make sense as the likelihood of hail is high, falling debris, etc etc. All the planes in the tie downs were fine (good rope can withstand some pretty strong wind) but many MANY hangers collapsed and destroyed many planes. My take is evacuate for the hurricane in your airplane. I spent 6 hrs just crossing Houston during the Hurricane Rita evacuation. Next time I can't wait to head far far away from the coastal zones in the comfort of my Mooney. Only downside is you can only bring limited cargo with you, so find a neighbor or something who is willing to take some of your family photo albums or other things with you. Also, randomly, I noticed a line in my insurance provisions that they will give you up to $500 toward expenses associated with evacuating your plane for a hurricane. Not sure its worth making a claim on this and what the associated eventual rate increase would be.

Quote: Parker_Woodruff

Duplicate post.

Quote: BluSky I wouldn't let it discourage me. Look at Mooney's history they always re-emerge plus you have people like Lasar, Mooney Mart and the like that will always find ways to get/make parts. I don't think Mooney will be closed for very long especially with new overseas markets like China coming on strong since opening more and more of it's airspace for general aviation. China is going to have one huge demand.

Also, my main initial concern was that with the appendage sticking out of the bottom data port it might bet knocked off. But the iPad is so flexible, you can just turn the whole unit upside down and have the Bad Elf at the top and everything else works fine. It's just that your Home button is now on top instead of bottom.

I'll tell you why we picked the Bad Elf (maybe it wasn't super scientific). We were originally drawn to the XGPS150 because you could leave it on the dash and it would have a good look angle for gps regardless of where the iPad was located. However, we picked the Bad Elf because it uses the iPad for battery power rather than having its own internal battery that needs replacing/charging - frankly we have enough conversations that go like this "is that headset out of batteries again?" without adding the gps into that mix.

Quote: Greg_D Becca, I'm not sure how you got Canadian charts with version 4.0, becasue 4.1 is required to load the Canadian data plans. Could it have been that you saw the limited Canadian data that is provided by the FAA as part of the US data plan? The contract ForeFlight has with NavCAnada does not allow for anything other than annual subscriptions.

Quote: KLRDMD I want to get some fellow Southern / Gulf Coast US Mooney owners on the site to rendezvous some where so we can start putting faces with the avatars. One I’m thinking of is the End of Season Stearman fly-in at Jennings LA (3R7) Saturday October 1 and October 2 it starts on a Thursday if anyone is interested. This would be a short 2 hour trip for many from Houston, Dallas, TX Little Rock AK, Jackson, MS Mobile, AL Louisiana and even some of our far western Florida folks. Nothing truly organized just some of us saying they will go. If there are some gamblers among us there is Marksville, LA (MKV) and the casino will come over and pick you up you can eat the buffet and or gamble. The link below is a site with a bunch of fly-ins listed. I have nothing to do with the site I just like it to find places to fly to and talk with other aviators. http://www.laflyins.com/ There are other events in MS and AL that are equally good. I’m open to suggestions.

So, fastest I've ever gone in my 201 was the Lone Star Air Rally - results here (for proof): http://www.sportairrace.org/id405.html, 160 kts (184 mph), and I was WOT and full rich for cooling, so burning a ridiculous 18 gph. I think we typically cruise closer to 145 kts and 9.5 gph LOP.

Quote: Greg_D Not entirely true. If you have a US data plan, you will still see the Canadian data that is provided by the FAA. This is with version 4.0 or 4.1. Version 4.1 is required to load the new Canadian data plans. With those new Canadian data plans, you won't be able to see the aforementioned Canadian data that is provided by the FAA unless you have a Canadian and US plan. There are a couple of bug fxes in 4.1, and still more in 4.1.1m due out this week. But the major reason fro 4.1 is to get Canadian data.

Never flown a Mooney before, not even the one you already bought? I hope you had someone test fly it before you paid. I agree, a handheld radio would be good. A battery charger. A handheld GPS. We all like to think that if you spend enough money and have a good prebuy and the plane is in annual, its going to be turn key. From experienced airplane owners I've heard it takes three months of ownership or so to get all the major pre-purchased bugs worked out. Despite the fresh annual and the prebuy, we went through two fuel pumps, an alternator (we didn't learn until later that our "expert" Mooney prebuy mechanic didn't actually turn over the engine and start the plane until AFTER he called us to give us the thumbs up to buy it, when he did get around to starting it after we were the proud owners, he discovered a bad alternator, that, gee, we'd have to replace at his shop), and an alternator repair (turns out he didn't bother to tighten the bolts and it started arcing on the plane's first long cross country requiring repair again) in the first 15 hrs of flying our airplane. 75 hrs in, we're doing pretty good, had a completely uneventful 23 hr cross country trip in July. I would just be prepared for anything, so any extra equipment you have that can operate standalone from your plane would be useful just in case somethign stops working. We carry a small toolbox in our airplane - the basics of what you'd need to remove any of the access panels (e.g. screw drivers), replace a spark plug, change the oil or filter, lightbulds or make other minor fixes that you are allowed to do as a private pilot. Also if its going to be a long hot cross country back home, some road trip snack food, a cooler with some cold drinks in it, etc. to keep you going.

Quote: Barry

Quote: flyboy0681 I don't understand why all the fuss about insertion, they go in instantly and expand almost as fast.

Quote: fantom What's really amazing is that many of us, myself included, shell out a grand for a headset!

Quote: Cris Has anyone tried the new Sennheiser ANR's that are intro priced at $995 & are aimed directly at the Bose A20 & Zulu 11 market? The fact that the sound is user adjustable at differant engine setting is really interesting.

I tried both the Zulu II and Bose A20 at Osh side by side. The A20 is definitely better than my husbands A10, doesn't feel as flimsy. But the Zulu II was far and away a better unit. The ear muff was way more comfortable and it had better passive noise reduction when turned off (which I think is important given the frequency of batteries we've had run out on the bose), and just sounded way better even when turned on. I was sold on the unit immediately. (Of course both the A20 and Zulu II have jacks for music inputs, which is nice too). They were offering a $200 trade in on David Clark's, making a new pair $700. I almost bought one, but I restrained myself and kept it for gas money.

So, Foreflight JUST (i mean, JUST) introduced Canadian charts this month. The charts weren't available when we left for Osh in the middle of July and by the time we left Canada they were available. There's details here: http://www.foreflight.com/canada. The guy at the Osh foreflight booth said soon there will be a separate subscription service for them. The reason the charts Byron said we were looking at were slightly out of alignment is that they were the US charts, which overlap with the southern half of Canada. There is a big warning when you read AOPA's guide to flying that the US chart segments of Canada have historically been fairly error prone.