M20F

If it is feathered it won't be windmilling and you will need to engage the starter and hope it has enough oomph to spin the prop around in the air. One shouldn't assume that just because the starter has the juice to pop it out of feather on the ground that it is going to have the same juice to do it in the air where there is a lot of drag on that prop to where the starter may not be able to overcome and spin it fast enough to start. Personally I would be a bit leery of feathering a single in the air for any reason the same way I am a bit leery of turning the engine off to practice engine outs.

On a twin engine set up (the missile and rocket use an engine from a twin) the propeller is constantly trying to go into feather through counterweights (Hartzell) or springs (Mcauley). The oil from the govenor pushes against these two things to keep the engine out of feather. When you lose all oil pressure the engine goes to feather. This is a safety feature as on a twin if one engine goes you have another to carry you along and a windmilling prop is about -150 FPM of drag. When you turn the engine off obviously you lose oil pressure and having the prop fly into feather every shutdown isn't desireable. To counteract that, there are pins that when the prop is spinning above @700 rpm are pushed out by centrifugal force. Pull the prop to feather above 700 rpm and the oil runs out of it and it goes to feather. Below 700rpm there is not enough centrifugal force to hold the pins out so they slide in and prevent the counterweights/spring from putting the prop all the way to feather.

Definitely a turbo/long range tank mission. The fastest speed mod out there is long range tanks, definitely want them with your requirement. Good luck in your search!

The prop won't feather above the RPM threshold which is usually around 700RPM. So when you cycle you just go through pitch change and circulate the oil out of the governor (and make sure it is working). Feathering the prop puts the blades flat so that their is no drag from windmilling and minimal drag from the prop itself. Useful in a twin, not so much in a single.

Not not to start controversy but would be curious on why you chose bladders versus a reseal? Interested in Kris's opinion here and not the whole bladder versus wet wing debat.

A 231 is going to be a lot more in maintenance in general and if you need to overhaul figure double what doing a J motor would cost. Turbo's are great but they really only fit a very specific mission and if that isn't your mission you are going to end up paying a lot for unrealized potential.

I I looked at 252/231 in my search and quickly shifted to a normalized E/F (preferably an F which is what I ended up with). For the few times a year the winds favor going high I can get 160-170kts in the low FL's and 26/26 till about FL180. I agree it works great for avoiding CB's in the summer as well. For me though I just don't take enough 4+hr trips a year to where a full time turbo was worth it (or the winds don't support the altitude like one I just took that was 4+hours). Most of my trips are local or 2-3hrs where 8000-9000ft works great. In the end I get the functionality of a turbo to get around weather, faster than a J in ideal circumstances, low operating cost, and for the short trips I am going to be within ten minutes of anything from a A to an S. All for about half what a nice K will cost you. If you are doing a lot of long distance trips than 252/231 with long range tanks is a dream machine. Buying one though for hitting +12000 ft a couple of times a year is a really expensive proposition both in purchase price and on going maintainence. This is merely the logical side, for the most part all plane purchases are illogical money pits so enjoy whatever you choose.

Good comparison of J versus K http://www.mooneypilots.com/mapalog/M20K231%20Eval%20Files/M20K231_Eval.htm

Condition is a given. I wanted a 1967 F (like the roomier interior) which was last year with flush rivets, manual gear, etc and a Rayjay. I just looked till I found something that had those two things (Rayjay and 67) and was a good value. It took about a year to find the right combo. TBO, radios, etc are all just pricing considerations. It's the things you really want that are key then you just hope you can get the right price.

He appears to be a Packers fan, hope you pushed him out at 8000ft.

Singles and twin prop/governors operate backwards of each other as a general rule. Singles use oil pressure to increase pitch while twins work opposite the oil pressure decreases pitch and it is the spring which increase pitch (big spring in the nose of the prop on a twin which you don't see on singles). Pins come out at an RPM threshold so it doesn't feather when you cut the power. End result is loss of oil pressure in a single means it goes to low pitch and in a twin it goes high pitch into feather which is what you want in both cases, thus the reverse design. I would think it would be reasonable/easy enough to adjust the pins so that the propellor couldn't feather in a single engine installation at loss of oil pressure. Somebody more mechanically inclined then me would have to comment though. I can definitely attest though that low/no oil pressure above RPM threshold will put a twin engine into feather having seen it first hand on a T-Bone with some intermittent oil pressure issues.

Send Dave on vacation!

Anyone replace their ignition key with magneto switches and a start button? I have nice Medco locks on the door/baggage and would really like to ditch the ignition key.

A tool box with a lot of stuff, spark plug, safety wire, tire, tube, and small jack plus some other misc stuff. If it is just me I usually toss in the generator as well. 1000+ useful load is nice. Only been stuck once and a rubber mallet to the starte got us going :-)

I am an S-Tec fan personally. They are fairly simple to use, generally bullet proof, and comparably cheap. The King auto-pilots especially the ones the feed a flight director seem to break a lot from reading these forums and are in general expensive.

My experience has been that there those who change their oil and those who never will. Mechanics price for the later because they know they can get it. If you have a filter and a quick drain it is about the fastest and easiest thing you can do on your own plane. If you don't want to, expect to pay accordingly. All good either way in my book.

They lost main power and couldn't loop the storm and got caught in it.

I forget the size of the hole but the best thing is to drill holes in the inspection panels and use the 90 degree bend to insert and spray. Much easier than removing a million inspection plates and also makes it fog better because of the enclosed environment. The Corrison X sprayer while a little pricey is still very cheap and it does a great job. Couple hundred bucks now versus a lot if you have a corrosion issue later.

Lots of places to fasten a spare key(s) to the airframe safely as well for future needs.

Just to clarify to the original poster (as I know what you are dying Midlife). If VFR you MUST hear those magic words before penetrating the B, it is a required implicit clearance. If they give you a heading towards the B and you don't hear those words don't enter it till you hear them.

I I personally like the idea of having both vacuum and electric. While I prefer electric if for whatever reason the main bus fried everything electrical having a couple vacuum gauges is reassuring.

One thing to add is watch the cylinder temps on climb out. If you got it a bit too lean they will heat up fairly rapidly, good cross check.

Not going to delve into the politics but his mom is dead so fairly certain he didn't bring her.

Have the Yahama version as well and reccomend it.

If ever there was a need for LOP ;-)