gsengle

Really picky pet peeve. You'll sound more professional on the radio if you call up and ask for 'advisories' or 'radar advisories' not 'flight following'. Flight following is an informal slang term, not the real term. I believe there was something called flight following, but that was something just in Alaska - someone else may recall. "November zero romeo delta, just departed Northamton out of nine hundred feet requesting advisories direct Providence" g

Quote: Piloto I don't think it causes any added wear on the lifters. But it tells me that the Exxon oil is not there when you need it most during the crancking process. If there is no oil residue on the lifters neither will be on the bearings, rings, valves guides and other engine parts. Because oil is not circulated inmediately you need the residue to lubricate and reduce wear during the first crancking revolutions. I have confirmed with two other engines that the problem is unique to Exxon oil of the same grade as the Aero Shell 20W-50. The problem is most noticeable during summer and after more than a week between starts. Jose

I can't figure out why this would be, but the last 3 oil changes, it seems the first start after the oil change is very difficult. Anyone else have this happen? Any theories? Greg

Quote: MATTS875 Thanks , I do have a garmin 430w and looked in the book about the VNAV feature on the Nav page.I think this should do the trick.Will take me a little time to get use to it but looks pretty basic.Thanks

Quote: rob ASO, Barnstormers and EBay are all places I'd look. I'm sure others will warn you to stay away from eBay, but it's a great place to advertise, so there are frequently planes there. At a minimum, it might help you get a feel for the market.

Quote: orangemtl Good question. No; not really. It costs fuel to gain altitude; I hate the idea, unless I really need to, of wasting the increased airspeed gained from sustained descent. I will sometimes deploy them to drop from, say 3000 to 2000 when I'm settling into the pattern at home (pattern alt of 1700). I don't spend much time with them deployed, however. Fiddled around with flap retraction vs speed brakes over the last few weeks. So long as I'm not dealing with nasty crosswinds or other distracting factors in a landing, I've found that I like to do BOTH: namely, flap retraction and speed brakes just before touchdown. I wouldn't necessarily do in a circumstance in which I might need to abort and take off again; shedding the maximal amount of lift has made for glass smooth (for me, at least) landings. Since the flaps are electric and the speed brakes on the yoke, it only requires a brief motion with either hand to achieve both.

Quote: Piloto Are you tired of MAPA or AOPA. Maybe you should consider joining NGPA.org. At 66 I thought I have seen everything. Any NGPA members here? José

Quote: Hank Could you post pictures of the LASAR and Rosen visors? I'm curious as to how different they are from my own, apparently non-stock visors installed by a previous owner. For the price, they should be the cat's meow.

Quote: jbreda I have a pair from a 2009 Ovation I might sell. Please e-mail me at johnabreda@yahoo.com Thanks, John Breda

Quote: borealone Night, water and landing...those words together in the same sentence scare the #!!# out of me. I fly a Lake amphib in addition to a Mooney. The Lake community lost both a pilot and a plane last week to a botched landing in twilight conditions near La Tuque, Quebec. The consensus among float-rated pilots is that the odds against a successful night landing even with power and good glassy-water techique are stacked against - and without power, they become astronomical. Those folks in Fla were lucky beyond measure.

Here are some faves:

I'm not sure anyone pointed out the obvious. In a slip, there is much more drag. This is useful if you are fast, transition to the slip earlier. But if you have good speed control, this is drag you do not want. Personally I transition from crab (less drag) to slip, over the fence. Any sooner isn't necessary. Any later and I don't have time to get nice and stabilized before I have to flare. I don't think crab and kick has any place in a mooney. Too much danger of side loads on the gear. A slip is just the stabilized version of the same thing. Do note that the slip method isn't generally practiced in big jets. 1) the engines out on the wing are a limitation, and 2) the gear is built to straighten the jet on touchdown. Unlike our gear. There are some awesome youtube videos showing this. Finally, I've never seen the nose wheel linked to the rudder to be an issue. You seem to naturally transition to steering the nosewheel at the point the nosewheel drops down. Note - the nosewheel is still in the air as the mains touch... right? g

Quote: orangemtl I don't think the failure rate is a substantial concern; as posted, getting them out there isn't the problem. Strictly for my own use, I don't put them out until I'm over the numbers: retracting the half flaps has been noted as potentially a better method, and I can't dispute the point. It's not so much a method to ENABLE landing (all planes eventually land...); rather, simply a means by which to make it a bit cleaner, minus the 'hop'. For most people, flap retraction (or, just being a more experienced pilot) is probably a more palatable method. In a circumstance where you need a relatively rapid descent in final, perhaps the speed brakes would be more useful (e.g. the 'airstrip in a bowl' that we occasionally see here in the western US, and no doubt in Europe as well).

Quote: jetdriven Are the brakes approved by Mooney to use during landing? Prohibited? I think aerodynamically speaking they have to raise thr stall speed somewhat, you are effectivey reducing the area of your wing by a feq sqft with them up.

Quote: jetdriven Dont brakes raise the stall speed a couple knots? I think the best prevention of stalls is pilot awareness and training.

Quote: carusoam Thoughts on speed brake deployment... The part I find missing in brake deployment is there is no tactile way to feel whether they are deployed or stowed. With the gear switch, it is in an up or down position (J-Bar is up or down), flap switch is down or way down (Hydraulic: two pumps or four), Brakes are push the button or push the button (and observe, did they both activate?). Since it is part of my check list to know whether they are deployed or not, I end up looking out the window at them a few times. A two position rocker switch with a feel of up or down would be nice....? Higher than usual sink rate on final is a less than subtle hint that they are not stowed like you think.... Best regards, -a-

Quote: Bennett I don't advocate that anyone should follow my methodology, but I use my speed brakes extensively on my 1983 M20J. In cruise whenever I want to drop altitude quickly without excessive speed buildup, and in the pattern, and on final, with some landings made with the speed brakes out. I have a yoke switch that I rest a finger on lightly so I can retract them without effort or time lag. They are obviously much more effective at cruise speed, but still quite noticeable at pattern and final approach speeds. At my home airport, San Carlos, CA almost all the various pathways of normal approach from the west, south and north keep you above the pattern altitude of 800 feet until you are virtually at the airport itself. Typically you will hear something like "Maintain 1200 feet or above until crossing the runway..." Speed brakes allow you to stay above the very noise sensitive homes, plus hotels and a hospital, that surround the airport to the west and north east (but still staying below the Class B San Francisco airspace), and drop down to pattern altitude within a short distance and short time. I use the speedbrakes to then slow down to gear, if not out earlier, and flap speeds, and generally still have them out on final to continue to lose speed, and to maintain the attitude and flight path I desire. I may pull them in and out several times on final. In stronger crosswinds I use half (or no flaps) and speedbrakes. Go-arounds are not a problem in that I retract them at first notice. This past week a new tower controller screwed up his spacings twice with Cessna 150s (students) in front of me, and a Malibu in trail, and twice I was instructed to do a go-around. No big deal. Speedbrakes back in, flaps up, full power (with lots of trim adjustments). The last time I was at less than 100 feet, and the pilot of the 150 taxied along the entire length of the runway after landing in the first one third of our 2,500 foot runway, surprising the controller, and me. The point being that it is not at all difficult to do a go-around when you use speed brakes on final. I always half expect, and mentally plan for a go-around, so I am prepared for the usual "unusual" situation. This is my second Mooney with speed brakes, and personally, I wouldn't want to own a Mooney without them.

Quote: M016576 wouldn't recommend using your speed brakes during landing in a light GA aircraft. Too much potential to forget ot put them back in in the event of a go around.... Some older jets I flew landed with speed brakes deployed, but that was to keep the low bypass turbo jets from spooling down too low during landing (they had painfully long spool up times that could lead to some serious settles in close...). No real advantage to popping the boards in a NA piston motor, as you've got pretty much instantaneous power available.

Quote: AustinChurch I have speed brakes as well and use them for decent only and stow them when I put the gear down at 130 kias. I set my MP at 16" and fly 100 kias down wind by adding a 3 second count on flaps, 90 on base by adding 3 more seconds count on flaps, 80 on final by adding the rest of the flaps and 75 across the numbers by reducing MP a little. On each of the legs of the pattern, I'm triming for said speeds. I also use trim to aid in the pull back for the round out/flare. Once flared, I slowly reduce the power to idle and she settles on the runway very softly. With this technique, I makes it very smooth, stable and easy to control the speeds in all segments. If I adhere to these techniques, it's easy to squeek it on without speed brakes. My Missile speeds/weights are similar to the Ovation so they should work for you.

Quote: Mitch Any pictures of your Rosens installed? Are they curved?

Quote: mooniac58 I really like my Rosen visors.

Quote: carusoam Search on what Mitch put in his M20R. Quite the upgrade over original and probably still available. Best regards, -a-

Or does anyone have a spare original part?

My A&P accidently broke one of my M20R sunvisors (gust of wind caught it in the door) and is going to replace it, but has been told by Mooney - no parts available. So, I may have to 'upgrade' to Rosen or Lasar visors. Anyone have an opinion on which to get? Does one fit better than the other? The Lasar ones look like they fit well, and are cheaper. But Rosen is the one everyone talks about as being really great. Need votes and opinions! thanks, Greg

Hi! Greg here. Going on 600 hr private pilot, instrument rated, based in Northampton, MA. I dreamed about Mooney ever since reading about the 'personal airliner' back during my primary training back in the early 90s. Moved to NYC, gave up flying for a bit, until one day I realized, I'm all grown up now, have a real job, and wow, I could actually afford to fly again. I bought an Arrow IV to get my instrument rating in, and thought that would be enough airplane for a long time. But then I started traveling with the plane, and well, 137 knots? 'nuff said... Now I'm the very proud owner of a '96 Ovation, FIKI (I'm in New England, remember) Skywatch, 430w, etc. etc... Wow, these aircraft are amazing. Only about 8 months of ownership and I bet I've logged well over 100 hours. Florida, Gulf Coast, Oshkosh, and for some strange reason, Ohio quite a bit. Amazing. Great meeting you all! Greg