Bolter

I take a photo of the wing gauge with my phone, then zoom it in. Knowing the increments, you do not need to "read" the gauge as much as verify where the pointer is.

This was hashed in some other threads when it happened. I believe he did use the AP to level things, immediately. The long periods without response was because he did not relocate the headset when sliding over. Pressing the pax PTT opened a channel without a microphone. But it did give some "clicks" on the air. Obviously, he later corrected this, but Aviate before Communicate. The plane was just out of maintenance, and likely that was related.

Did they give a technical reason, such as retractable cost more to insure, or just BS like "they are hard to work on?"

Aren't the Snowbirds grounded right now?

PM sent.

Which insurance company? With Old Republic, I have never had to pay for the MAPA requested letter to indemnify them for the training flights. (several courses attended). Maybe @Parker_Woodruff can say when that is an added cost (such as not having a minimum coverage level)?

Congratulations on getting your J! Regardless of MAPA membership, you should note this site: https://mooneypilots.org/news/2021/2022-mapa-safety-foundation-ppp Next events are Oshkosh, WI and then Reading, PA. Are you near enough to either? (add some personal info to your profile, such as home area or airport) This is coordinated with MAPA, but you do not need to be a member to sign up. This is a training class on Mooney flying, ownership, and maintenance. It is worthwhile, especially if new to Mooneys. I have attended 3 or 4 of them. The material is updated over the years, and the class includes flight time that counts as a BFR and IPC. Not wanting to bash Jenn or anyone else in the community, but I have also had trouble getting in touch with them. -dan

That was part of my pre-landing check in the J, because I knew I would be either 1) taxi on ground or 2) making a go-round. Both best done with cowl flaps wide open. For some reason, some people have considered that be a controversial thing. -dan

On my J, the throttle was opened to just a millimeter or so past the "click" of the gear warning switch. This applied to cold starts and hot starts. At this opening, it is easy to modulate and keep the RPM's at a reasonable level without crazy antics. In my opinion, there is variability between our engines and planes, but I think that nearly 50% open is too much throttle for hot or cold starts -dan.

I have noticed latency in the form of "jumps" in traffic that is displayed. A few seconds of not moving, and then it is someplace else. This seems to happen more in rural areas where the ADS-B is possibly the radar's feed of direct reflection and not the target using ADS-B.

I hear this voice type in lots of videos and believe it is a computer that simulates what the Chinese think is proper English pronunciation.

I have 1 or 2 Tempest filters for my old J (A3B6D engine). That should be TEMPEST AA48103. Will sell singly at current retail plus shipping. -dan

I ordered a 6-pack from Spruce on 16-June, and I am still waiting for notification. I got impatient and I ordered filters from SkyGeek on 23-July as a backup, and they just posted as shipping (11-Aug). -dan

What are your thoughts on the cowl mouth enclosure and brake flipping? Relatively low cost speed mods that can be done by any A&P without a lot of time.

I also avoid Gill as Concorde lasts much longer in my Mooney. This includes the latest (as of 2016) Gill sealed battery type. It was worn out in 2 years Enough that I could hear the starter turning slower. I went back to Concorde. At 5 years, I could not detect any loss in performance, and most of its life it was on the ramp, so no maintenance charger option.

How old and what brand is the replacement battery? With recent alternator failure, if the battery was run down sufficiently, it may not recover. The proximity in time between battery issue and alternator is probably not a coincidence. Regarding voltage regulators as @shawnd brings up, I say if you have the original one in place, go get modern one just as a preventive maintenance item. The old one will fail, why wait for it to damage other things in the process? Easy to replace, and about $600 for the part. (https://zeftronics.com/shop/r15300/)

If you are picking it up at the engine shop, I think that 4 hours would not be enough time to get past constant searching for landing spots and eagle-eyeing the CHT's. Not to mention that you need to be low at and at high power for the break-in.

I washed them in the machine on the gentlest option, and used Kookaburra soap, which is meant for sheepskins. You can find that on Amazon. I think mine were Aerosheep.

I am late to this topic. @JohnB, glad you could tell the tale with less drama than @DanM20C with his CO story. Aside from opening vents to get the most air (hopefully clean) circulation, I think you can consider getting to lower power and aggressively LOP. I am rusty on combustion reactions, but I think as you get very lean, you get less CO production which will help reduce the source of the CO in the cockpit. You will slow down, but may have clean air. Someone smarter than me should weigh in on this. -dan

You must also consider value vs market appeal. For many people, TKS just means loss of useful load and would consider it an outright negative. Only some people will buy a plane with TKS, and within that group, some would only get a FIKI version (like me). Since that limits the pool of buyers, you must expect that the payback on the TKS will go down quite a bit. Perhaps the avionics model applies, in that you get a fraction of the install cost back on resale? -dan

Kevin Schiff at KWHP can do it all, but is very busy. Call and see what his openings are like. -dan

Making sure that @VinceCB saw this post:

My approach, when I have trust in the shop, is give him a cost overrun budget. For example, for annual, I tell him just fix things right, and no need to call me unless he is expecting to go 2000 over the estimate. We have a good history, and this does not get abused. And it is rare I ever say "no" on a repair for a "forever" plane. -dan

Now I feel old. When you say "old E6B" and I imagined the slide-rule type. The electronic E6B is modern!

I recommend filing IFR for all flights within this region. Among other things, this assures you are always talking to someone. I have had trouble when following all procedures, flying with ATC, then they forced me to squawk VFR and then try to get ATC that controls the SFRA. They do not always answer in a timely fashion. So go IFR.