David Mazer

Oaky. THose last three Parker comments are mine. Sorry. I have read about this happeneing to others but I didn't notice it until after it happened.

I replaced both my landing lights with the Whelen Parmethius LED lights for about $210 each. I got the first at Sun N Fun and the second at OSH. They work great, never fail, use almost no power, create little heat, and I leave them on the entire flight as additional recognition lights. This is a no brainer. It is also easy enough to figure out which bulb. Just take out your current bulb and look at the back. It is only 3 screws. Putting in the LED has one secret. They have to go in a certain way. If the wires are backwards, it won't work and your current bulb may not be wired correctly since it isn't sensitive to the reverse polarity. Try it before you finish installing the LED to be sure it goes on with the switch. Otherwise you need to reverse the wires. No big deal and then you never have to do it again.

Quote: Toflyordie Fella's take a look at this and let me know you oppinions. http://www.aso.com/listings/spec/ViewAd.aspx?id=133263&listingType=true&IsInternal=True&dealerid=

Unfortunately, it looks like I won't make it tomorrow. I've had a major mechanical problem with my SeaRey and the mechanic is arriving at noon for the repairs (engine mount bolts broke in flight and the engine almost left the airplane!). I was really hoping to meet some of the other Florida Mooney guys. Sorry I will miss it.

I think the F or J is probably the right model for you, budget limitations being foremost. The F will be hard to find equiped the way you want and the J will be hard to find in the price range. Tough choices. If you are in the Orlando area, you can certainly take a peak at mine and maybe go for a couple laps around the pattern or something. I like an excuse to fly.

Ben, It would help if you could describe your typical and atypical flights and your flight experience. I got the family of 4 part but their age and size could make a difference. For example, 2 teenagers about to leave for school may be less relevant than 2 youngsters expected to grow up in the back seat. Being in CO, you might want a turbo model but the $75K figure would be hard to make. You have already heard someone say the J is the best Mooney ever made but there are those out there that claim the K is. Either way, to get the best low down, a little more info. Please.

Quote: KSMooniac (I think it is also why I seem to hear a disproportionately high number of Mooneys on ATC frequencies when traveling...many B, C and P owners are not flying as much!)

I'm hoping to be there. Not much of a flight from SFB but any flight is better than none.

I purchased my Rocket in 2006. Probably the height of the market. I can tell you that within a year, after several upgrades and repairs, the value on Vref had dropped over 15%. I think it is probably even further down now but it is hard to tell with the number of upgrades I have done since. I see planes listed for 30 - 40% less than I think they would have listed in 2006. I think the buyers perspective (price compared to Vref) is different than the sellers (price compared to cost). I still believe it is a buyer's market - big time.

The reserve for the F was $36/hr and I plan 135 kts at 10 gph from experience. That makes the equation ((10*5.25)+36)/135, or $0.65/nm. The reserve was calculated by the F's owner, not me, and even if I give it 140 kts, that still comes out to $0.63/nm. I have never managed 140 kts. Say 10% more at these gas prices. If a J is that much better, great. I've always felt a J was a great plane and if I wasn't planning on such long flights, the F or J would be a great plane for me. No question the acquisition is more but not as much more as it used to be. I, unfortunately, bought it when it was a lot more. If you are going farther, hotter, or higher, the turbo is nice to have. If gas prices ever get back to $2.77/gal (right), the cost difference/nm is zero.

I have an older version of the ArcticAir. I have modified it by increasing the bilge pump from 500 gpm to 800 gpm with a tiny increase in amperage, then I installed a 24 v to 12 v converter in the plane, installed a 12 v cigarette lighter power outlet under the instrument panel, and strung the power/control cable along the side of the cabin and velcroed it to the cabin just left of my knee. I took out the supplied, pump driven emptying tubing and fittings and now just siphon out the spent water with a much larger/faster tube that requires no power and allows me to put more ice in because the tubing doesn't stick into the cooler. Then I bought an old freezer to make blocks of ice that last much longer than cubed ice. That is when the fun began because the freezing process kept cracking the buckets I was using. I probably went through a couple dozen. I finally went out and had a custom aluminum bucket made and reinforced to make just the right size block. Since the blocks are so heavy and unwieldy, I put a small rope handle in the water as it is freezing. Not only does it give me better control but it keeps my fingers from freezing. It works great with at least a 20 degree drop in cabin temperature but I'm pretty sure I could have bought an entirely new plane with built in air conditioning for less than I spent on all my tinkering! Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration.

I have never taken my Rocket on to grass but I have taken a J on grass with no problem. In fact, the J is based at a grass strip. Further, my home base, KSFB, has some areas on the tarmac I won't use because they are so rough and I'm worried about a prop strike. Same goes for some taxiways at FXE. I'm not sure one is safe on blacktop and so the real issue is taking adequate precautions wherever.

Jetdriven, don't know if you are correct about the comparison between the Rocket and a J but, I have included a reserve and the difference is only a few pennies per mile between the Rocket and the F now that gas prices have risen so much. A couple years ago the comparison was a wash.

I really love the altitude preselect on my KFC 150. Set a rate of climb, an altitude, and pay attention to other things. It never seems to fail that just as I approach the assigned altitude, ATC gives me a string of instructions. No problem with the altitude preselect. Make sure it captures and go on with other tasks at hand. I have a two tube Aspen setup but it isn't in the loop with this as far as I can tell.

My comparison is a Rocket vs an F (as opposed to the J you are thinking about). The aquisition and maintenance cost of the Rocket is higher than the F, for sure, but the operating cost/mile is very close since the Rocket is so much faster. If you are flying into high or hot environments, I would look into the K with or without the Rocket conversion. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you can get and the piece of mind it might give. And, if you do consider a K, the 252 is considered substantialy better than the 231 by many reports. I can't really say, but those are the reports I've read.

I am working with Aveo on this problem right now. Here is the email I received from them today: Hi, David! I just rattled the engineering cage this morning on this potential project, via our VP of Sales in Europe. If anyone can smell a potential new product with a market, he can! Many countries go on vacation for the month of August, so I'm surprised that I haven't heard anything in that time. But now that it's September, my bet is that I'll get a response shortly. Thanks for checking in, Rick Lindstrom Aveo Engineering Southwest Can you wait?

If we should use 1% alcohol on a 100 gallon tank, that would be 1 gallon per tankfull at $25/half gal that is an additional $50/ fill up. That adds 10% to the cost of fuel at $5/gal. Seems steep.

My layovers are always indefinite and they last forever 15 min at a time. Having said that, I grew up in Dayton and I agree that Wright-Patterson is an awsome and under-rated museum. Everyone should go to it. Earlier this month I went to Evergreen, OR and saw the museum with the Spruce Goose. A very pleasant way to spend a few hours. If you fly there, there is an airport right across the street.

The plane had been in a hangar overnight and was taken out of the hangar a couple hours before I got there in -5 degree temps. Maybe I should have pre-heated it but I don't do frigid starts very often here in FL. I hope the one time didn't hurt and the engine has been overhauled since then so whatever it did is done and gone.

I was surprised that my cockpit remained comfortably warm and I was in shirt sleeves at -40. Ground operations were very cold and the FBO in OH pulled my plane out of the hangar hours earlier than I requested but it started and ran fine. Ignorant or stupid. Either way, I never thought about adding anything for the potential of fuel icing.

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 believe there is a small amount of water suspended in the fuel. I also believe you need to be very cold for it to be a problem. I have flown in -40 at altitude and not had a problem. So, by very cold, I mean substantially less than that. It seems unlikely you will encounter those temperatures even in upstate NY. Alaska might be another story.

Norman, If you were to catagorize CAFE scores into exceptional, good, average, and poor, where would the approximate breaks be? In other words, is anything above 10,000 excellent, 7,500-9,999 good, 5,000-7,499 average, etc?

Quote: jetdriven We used to rent a crappy Arrow for 150$ an hour. This plane is way faster and turns out cheaper as well.

That is a nice calculator but you need to remember to add things like subscriptions for Garmins and the dreaded other expenses that come up every year. PlaneQuest.com also has a calculator for the 201 and the 231. You might want to look there as well.