aviatoreb

Quote: orangemtl But isn't the survivability with the parachute still only like 50/50? Is there any control of the parachute or does it plop you wherever it takes you be it power lines, lake, or edge of a cliff?

Quote: eldeano AMEN: They do not know airplanes, so they fall for the sex appeal!!!!!! Marketing!!!!! The well educated pilot that has owned other planes, and flown multiple types knows better. I have flown DA 40 180s!! step above a 172, but not as rugged for training, all kinds of maintenance issues. Not a high performance airplane. I would rather own a 172. SR20s Not bad for a low performance airplane but horrible at high altitude! Not near the performance of a Mooney with the same HP. SR22s, add HP to try and make up for poor airframe performance. Crazy maintenance costs, insurance costs, and not great performance. They are comfy and filled with gadgets, but at a cost with weight and performance. Columbia's are sweet. They have a very tight push pull rod system, that is solid. A ttx corvalis would be awesome. I delivered a Caravan to Cessna for a tks conversion. I asked about the fiki vs inadvertant ice system for the ttx and was told Cessna will never call it FIKI for liability reasons. Cessna is currently being sued for icing issued in other airplanes, despite favorable NTSB reports. Bottom line the current state of GA, you can get some pretty awesome used airplanes for the price of a new LSA. Not to mention the price of a Cirrus sr-22 GT3.

Quote: KSMooniac Oh my! Beautiful. That reminds me of a story in Flying back in the 80s when they decided to do a joint feature with Road and Track (or similar) and take two new $1xx,000 machines and race from somewhere in So Cal to Arizona or Nevada (can't remember). It was a Ferrari vs. a 201, leaving from a residence and arriving at a hotel so that the pilot needed to account for the ground time at each end. The Ferrari had a team where the non-driver worked the binoculars and CB radio so that it could be a max speed run without going to jail. Of course the Mooney driver won!

Quote: sreid Have you flown much in early Cirrus's? I don't know anyone else who would say their interior is remotely close to "Lexus". More comparable to a late '80s Ford. And I'd expect the maintenance costs to be considerably higher than a comparable Mooney.

Quote: allsmiles Don't smoke in the cockpit!

Quote: Seth Due to the information on other threads about water in the tanks, I did not want to hijack another thread, so I created this one: I usually sump first before doing anything else (sump then check oil) during preflight because that way the wing is not stirred around and water won't move away from the sump. Once oil and fuel suping (and visuall checking fuel levels) are completed, I then finish the preflight, or pull the plane out of the T-hanger and then finish the preflight. After fueling up, either a truck filling up or at a self serve pump, I do not sump, as the fuel has stirred everything around, and there is no real point to, or at least that is what instructors have told me time and time again (though that may not be correct - hence one of the questions below). If the truck fills up my plane at my hanger, I always sump before the truck arrives when the fuel and hopefully any potential water, has settled to the sump. If I go flying right then, I'll not sump. if I put the aircraft back in the hanger, I'll sump during the next pre-flight. Every time I start the engine, I sump both the right and left feeds from the center pull up ring inside the cabin on the floor, regardless if I just landed a short while ago and it's a hot start or not. I have never found water in the Mooney tanks, but if I did, I would sump an extra two or three fuel testers worth and then gently rock the wing and check again. i have found dirt/debris in the past while sumping, but that was rarely. Questions for Mooney pilots: 1. When do you sump during your pre-flight? 2. Do you sump after new fuel has been added? 3. Does rocking the wing actually do anything, or will water collect regardless at the sump location? 4. Has anyone found water in their tanks after leaving their aircraft in a hanger (maybe hard IFR flight or bad fuel - or bad hanger roof!!)? 5. Does anyone reuse fuel that they sump? Do you use a filteter device and place it back in the wing or put it into a generator or other motor device for actual fuel use? Not trying to stir the pot, just seeing what others do to enhance my own standard operating procedures. Take care, -Seth

Quote: xftrplt

Quote: AlexR Don't know if it is true, but according to Aviation Consumer...there is really only one grade of Oxygen which is low humidity. I all come from the same sources in the same tanker trucks. Per Aviation Consumer, medical oxygen is humidified at the hospital by passing the oxygen through water. They say welders, aviation, and medical are all the same and can be used....for what its worth.

I learned something interesting regarding the difference between welders oxygen, medical oxygen and aviation oxygen yesterday. I take my portable 22CF bottle to a gas supply outlet for a large regional company. The outlet store has mostly welding equipment in the store front but it is part of a larger company that distributes all sorts of gas in metal cylinders. They have medical O2 and welders O2 at the store there and they ship my bottle to Syracuse to the company center where they have an aviation O2 filler. Typically the medical stores and hospitals well either receive a filler medical cylinder from this company, or otherwise they will receive bottles to fill. So I am lucky that this outlet store is maybe 10 mi from my house. I had a discussion with them as to the difference between the various grades. They said primarily aviation O2 has a much lower water (humidity) content whereas medical O2 is specifically mixed to have a certain amount of humity in it for more comfort. The reason for low humity in aviation O2 is to prevent freezing of the O2 in the lines. The reason is that there is only one grade of aviation O2. The guy says that they even get shipments of many very very large O2 bottles from Burlington from the airlines. What that means is when a 727 wants to fill its bottles which may be stored in a cargo area, and that airplane may fly up at say FL43 in the winter, at say -60C up there, well you need a carefully regulated allowable water content in the O2 to prevent freezing in those lines. But since there is only one aviation standard, maybe we do not need that in our Moonys flying at FL20, especially if your bottle is sitting in the cabin with you behind your seat. I do live in a cold climate and ground level temps can go down to -35C on record setting nights (not this year!) but the fact is I do not typically go flying below say -20C since it is just too unpleasant the process of pulling the airplane out of the hangar and preflighting when it is much colder. So call the lowest OAT I will likely see to be ~-40C. Furthermore, the bottle sits in the cabin with me and I have excellent cabin heating with the rocket conversion, so cabin temps are much much warmer. So, I went ahead and had them fill with medical O2. I figure that besides the convenience that they would fill right there while I waited 5 min instead of shipping it out and having to come back in a week, that the extra moisture is good for the soft tissue in the nose, and the lungs, etc. I do think that I will pay attention to not leaving my bottle in the airplane overnight before a flight in case it is an extra frigid night before a flight. I usually check the airplane and runway conditions the evening before a flight in the winter anyway, so now besides ensuring the engine is plugged in, retrieving my headset to warm it up, I will retrieve my bottle.

Quote: KSMooniac ChrisH posted a report of a Rocket accident likely due to flutter above, which I had not previously known about. I recall reading about a J that broke apart during a night IMC t'storm penetration in East Texas several years ago. Those are the only known breakups to me, but I haven't done an extensive search either. Both of those incidents started with bad pilot decisions and were not the fault of an airframe weakness IMO. Few airplanes are built to survive every conceivable speed and atmospheric Wx condition. I read about an account in a K (I think) somewhere around the Denver area that had a loss of control incident that resulted in a dive and a high-G pullup, but the pilot was able to land safely. Afterwards the upper wing skins were observed to have been wrinkled and the insurance company scrapped the plane. That damage was simple overload, and not flutter. It appeared on ebay sometime later after getting "fixed" in Kentucky. (draw your own conclusions here) It is safe to say without reservation that there is no widespread problem with structural integrity or flutter with any Mooney airframe.

Quote: KSMooniac My Encore Conversion has different counterweights than the original 252 (And Mooney charges a pretty good amount for them). But the Rocket has the same counterweights as the original 252, if my understanding of the Rocket conversion is correct.

Quote: jetdriven Because the M20TN flutter limit was raised higher than a M20K. As far as his article goes, an RV-4 is an RV-4 is an RV-4.

Quote: jetdriven I think flutter margins can be increased with increasing the mass balance of the control surfaces. There is a limit to everything, however. I bet the Acclaim is getting pretty close.

Quote: jetdriven Thats not chrome, its polished Alclad. I always had a special fondness for those 1947-1950s bonanzas. We saw a 1947 at OSH same as yours. He did 150 knots on 11 GPH, about the same as the Mooney 201 that came 30 years later.

Quote: GEE-BEE I bought a 1950 Bonaza with 1468 tt, pulled the motor and cylinders all good she is still perfect Location and proper maintenance is the key... GB

Quote: dsimes I had these 2 models made on a 3D printer and gave one to my very surprised partner in PXG for Christmas. If you haven't seen one of these things in action, go on youtube and search 3D printer. Its blinking amazing. I found a local guy with the software and the printer and sent him the specs and pictures from the POH. I also sent him quite a few photos. Each of these take seveal hours to print, and he had to do it in several pieces each due to the size. I can post more pics, including the 3D software prints, which are all silver with no relief. Amazing.

Quote: fantom Sometimes a tip is called for.... or....

Quote: 201er Looks and sounds like a gem to me if it's all true. I guessed the price was over 100-120 so I got a little suspicious when I saw 86. Could be a lemon or could be a great deal. I'll let the experts analyze deeper for you.

Quote: ELT Hi Guys, I want to thank you for your input. I am most likely going the IRAN route. Aero Engines at this time looks like the top of the list for tear down and inspection. I like Triad but Othman told me I should expect a $25-$26K overhaul. Too rich for my blood and at the price the top ranked engine shops. Ross, I may want to pose some questions to you after I research engine shops more. More to come. Thanks, Eddie

Quote: KSMooniac I'm very happy with my Precise Flight system that has one of their mechanical conserver stations, plus 3 regular stations for use with a canula or mask. The mechanical conserver is a GREAT addition to really save the O2, and functions like the Mountain High O2D2, except it doesn't need batteries. I would recommend going with one or the other... and of course use the pulse oximeter and adjust your flow as needed so that you don't waste it. I don't use it enough for the self-fill route, but wouldn't hesitate to set up such a rig if I were climbing up high frequently (ie with a turbo). Instead, I've got a standing Rx from my AME to get refills at the local home health care outlet and it costs me only $15 or $20. That might be an option for you as well.

Quote: jetdriven You can mix 4 bottles of different oil. Plus marvel mystery and STP. Just fly it every day !

Quote: jlunseth LThere was an earlier thread on speedbrakes and Don Kaye went out and did some tests of the speedbrakes for landing. He explained his results and how he uses the brakes in this thread: http://www.mooneyspace.com/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=1&threadid=1360 Personally, I do not deploy them often in my 231. I prefer to make my descent without the brakes whenever possible, don't want to burn up that precious energy created during the climb to altitude. They are not necessary when given enough time and distance. But that is the problem, getting down from FL210 can take 35-40 minutes at 500 fpm, and with a big time tailwind that can be 125 nm. Sometimes ATC won't let you have that much space and/or time. So generally, I use the brakes only if ATC wants me to expedite descent for some important reason, or if they have left me high on the approach and I need to do something other than just pulling back the power to get my speed down to Vle. I have not ever used them during a landing but should give it a try sometime. There was the one time though when we had to do an emergency descent from 19K, with a 75 knot tailwind, to an airport only 20 miles a way. I was sure glad to have the "crutch" to slow the plane and stay safely below Vne. I have posted this before: I understand from Willmar that the later model Mooneys, particularly the Acclaim and Acclaim S, really need the brakes. The airframe is so slippery it will readily exceed Vne if you tip the nose over to start a descent from the Flight Levels. Don't have an Acclaim myself, so really can't say.

Quote: garytex ghovey: 22 cubic feet about right? 17000 ft IFR Rockies O2 failure? Did you know when it failed, or notice you were passing out? None of that for me, please.

Quote: omega708 My RAM Mount for the iPad2 came in today. I opted for the yoke mount attachment and I'm hoping that it doesn't get in the way of things. I'll send some pictures after I get it installed. If it doesn't work out like I've hoped, I'll probably get a glare shield mount.

Quote: davidsguerra My name is David and I live in Sebring, Florida. I have recently purchased a 1983 Mooney Rocket. any tips guys? are there any Mooney Fyins in Fl coming up? thanks.