N9201A

Yes I listened to one of these doofuses whine about masks, “it’s just a flu,” “it’s 1%, live your life,” “sheeple,” etc...and then complain how he would never get a vaccine because a shot received when he was a child made him a little nauseous. Poor baby! So, rational folks doing math not wanting to needlessly risk an ICU visit, lose their medical, or suffer long term effects are “sheeple” — but it’s OK for big brave braindead to shy away from a little pokey needle that wouldn’t scare most seven-year olds. We don’t need to turn on the TV anymore to watch world-class buffoonery, sadly.

We’ve had at least one Rocket/Missile in the Caravan at least for the last 15 years. The post-mass arrival long (very long) taxi makes it easier to avoid what happened to Seth, since you can watch a similar aircraft traverse the same ground before you do. The grounds do dry relatively quickly, but it seems the last couple years have been wetter. Maybe we will get a much-deserved break this year.

15-16” MP

Sounds like an expensive lesson!

A technique I picked up after a Citation stall/spun here trying to do a takeoff 180 to “save the door” because the crew missed the latch is to never leave the door closed but unlatched. So mine had two positions: All the way open, and closed and locked. Doesn’t mean I can’t still forget it, but I’m much less likely to miss a fully extended door.

Their marketing is addressed elsewhere, but to many of that cult’s adherents, it’s magic. And for when it stops, that’s why one needs the ‘chute. ‘Nuff said ‘bout that.

Seriously, the market confirms that the Plastic Fantastic must have some appeal, right? It’s like the whole F-150/Chevy/Ram debate...or the guys who hate 911s, Miatas or Corvettes. But the reality is they’re all good or they wouldn’t be around. So define your mission and fly what you like that fits it. I know fellow J owners who’ve gone to experimentals, Beeches, Cessna twins, Meridian/TBM and even a CJ3 jet. The only unhappiness (assuming prepurchase due diligence is done) is when the flying days are over. Fly what you like!

YES! Even such thoughts are blasphemous. Now, thou must seek forgiveness. Book of Laminar Flow, 3:35.

Paying forward the generosity and support of our B2Osh colleagues that enabled us to move to an all-form format, the Caravan supported both the Cherokees and Cirri mass arrivals by hosting them as elements within our mass flight. In 2015 we prepared and presented to Cirrus Lead the below commemorative plaque depicting their anticipated 2016 inaugural mass arrival.

Good of you to share this, Seth. Rotation speed, climb rate and speed during climb out, and all speed and configuration changes are integral part of any preflight brief. There are briefing card formats that walk through these and other issues to ensure they’re not overlooked. Use an interval takeoff instead of an element takeoff. This is common, especially between dissimilar aircraft types. A couple years ago the Caravan moved to this, although B2Osh still does element takeoffs. There has been enough written about the dangers of putting dissimilar aircraft close together, from the B-70 Valkyrie to recent highly-publicized fatal incidents. That said, Cirri, Beeches, our Mooneys generally match up well and can hold 100KTS/500 fpm climb, 120KTS cruise, and 90KTS approach/final. I’m sure there are some aboard here who’ve done air-to-air photography with dissimilar types. I’ve also flown my 201 alongside other types, including Cessna, Grumman, Nanchang, Yak and even a T6 and some twins. Believe it or not, our Mooneys’ slipperiness and relative lack of excess thrust can make them a little more challenging than a draggier aircraft with a bigger engine. But as has been pointed out, positioning aircraft next to each other in level flight and getting them off and on the ground are not the same thing. The plan must be briefed and understood in each case, and it’s often simpler/safer to join up once airborne. Even more than instrument flying, formation skills are highly perishable. Currency matters. All we do in all of our other flying (scanning the panel, verifying power settings, staying away from other planes) goes against what we do when flying form. That muscle memory is hard to overcome, but it must be, as our “normal” habits absolutely can cause a scary moment while form flying, or a final one. Above all, anyone contemplating a form flight should first get some practice with some qualified/credentialed folks who are expert in this, and don’t practice with anyone not similarly experienced/credentialed. Form flying is not intuitive and not something even the sharpest pilot will just figure out on the flight. Thanks again for sharing your experience, Seth. Anyone who is interested, come on out and fly with some of us Caravan formators sometime. It’s addictive, a team sport, and a great way to combine socializing and flying.

Look familiar? Yeah, three of us parked long enough to order so when we landed after formating we didn’t have to wait in line for our food. We also met Chad, a new M20F owner I hope makes it to our MS community. Waypoint is a fantastic restaurant, but the downside can be the crowds...”number 4 cleared to land behind the yellow gyroplane” is NOT what you want to hear when setting up your flight for a safe break to landing.

What, you think all that sunshine is FREE?

Um, joking... I’ve not installed VGs on my Mooney just because I’ve prioritized other things. But l have flown enough other high-performance aircraft to know VGs work, are absolutely worth the trade-offs (haven’t seen empirical, material top-end losses) and are the closest thing I’ve seen to “free performance” in aviation. And yes I’ve got some speed mods and the data supporting (or not) them. It’s self-evident that a VG-equipped wing will always outperform a “clean” wing in the slow flight regime, that’s aerodynamics. That said, l don’t wash ‘em, either, just fly ‘em. The only aircraft I wash doesn’t have them. Glad to hear they aren’t a burden...I will get a set eventually. Nice bird ...

Worked at a motorcycle dealership through college and we had a used Kawasaki GPz 750 Turbo that had been breathed on: More boost, intake/exhaust, etc. Stock, these bikes were for a time the quickest quarter-milers. That one was a streetable monster and I wish I’d just bought it instead of worrying about college and grad school. Priorities!

And make it REALLY hard to wash and wax your wings... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Most recently, Elizabeth Holmes... To be fair, Tesla has spearheaded a market and delivered remarkable technologies that have reshaped an industry. That said, many, many first-movers and innovators eventually have been ground into dust by the big players in their industries — or just been acquired. There is a lot of blocking and tackling that must be done, mundane but critical things that take discipline, engaged teams, and infinite resources. As any Mooniac knows firsthand, if having the technically “best” product automatically assured long-term market domination, we wouldn’t be exchanging nervous messages about whether we can get parts. Let’s see where we all are in two or three years...

Oooh....a fanboy! I’m not a Tesla-shorter, but Elon is not on any pedestal for me, either. Its going to be interesting to watch, let’s see what the market looks like in a year or two. Everyone who wants a $60,000 EV has one. EVs are still only a tiny percentage of the market. Let’s see how the lower-cost high volume market is penetrated. The CCS charging infrastructure is a needed component too. The best news is that with broad competition, we win! And our dollars will decide the companies that will be around a decade from now.

I saw my first GM all-electric car hum by in about 1997 or 1998. The oddly-named “Impact” (I guess “Crash” was taken, but didn’t they check on “NoVa”?). Sure, I’ll give Elon props for moving the ball (who would engine manufacturers want to abandon building engine-building?). That said, Tesla is about to find the downsides of being a business with hundreds of millions that requires billions. I wouldn’t readily dismiss Daimler, Ford and the other long-term market players. Eventually, even a sleeping giant does wake up...

Just to be clear, “the rumor” you “hope” is NOT “confirmed” is your suggestion: The website is down, so factory is “finally closed for good”? Five minutes ago, a very well-respected Mooney vendor well-known on this site quoted me a “from factory” price and delivery date for a part. They said the factory advised it was “between web hosts.” Looks like your “rumor,” which seems to me more like a hypothesis (but I’ll defer to those with a dog in the fight, this strikes me as a potato v. potahto skirmish) is stillborn.

No one ever mentions the 1986 tax reforms, which if l recall correctly eliminated the deductibility of interest on personal loans. I suspect not being able to deduct interest on an airplane loan kiboshed plane purchases for many buyers. Not enough people today have the business revenue to write off a new plane purchase, so it is a much more limited market.

Don’t know about this “canceling our past” stuff I keep keep hearing about (I feel like Jackie below), but if means we cancel celebrations of traitors who killed and maimed thousands of United States servicemembers (many of whom weren’t even citizens, but served) so that they could continue to enslave fellow human beings for their personal profit, yeah, America’s birthday seems a great day to say, I’ll quaff a Guinness to that!

Too many pilots never look at how much runway they’ll actually need. The result is often seen when they try to horse their bird into ground effect at the end of a runway or run off the end of the runway trying to stop, with predictable results. If one isn’t within 10-20% of what one has calculated, abort the takeoff and peek under the hood. I’ve had two occasions where an engine ran up fine but wasn’t producing full power, evidenced by using >120% of what it should have been.

Then there are these guys, the warning didn’t seem to matter.

Yes for sure it would be nice to hear such things instead of what we are hearing... I was perplexed by the stories about the carrier sailors who’d been positive, removed from duty, then cleared for and returned to cleared, then tested positive a second time. Haven’t seen a good explanation for that, last I saw there were more than a dozen such cases. Hard to believe there could be that many errors...even by the Navy.

Glad to hear you got it and it was a “nothingburger,” lucky for you. And they are now saying reinfection is unlikely for at least a few months, but perhaps they’re underestimating. I’m aware of numerous others who didn’t get over it so easily, including a few seemingly healthy younger folks (couple marathoners) who aren’t around to reassure us they’re OK. A friend declined a dinner invite in Orange County, reports are now 12 people at the restaurant that same evening are COVID+. Doubtless there were people at the restaurant who didn’t know an asymptomatic diner was infecting them. Let’s hope all of them —and everyone else infected by happy diners not observing sensible precautions—turn out as well as you!