FloridaMan

I've flown into F45 and PBI probably at least 50 times. Both are expensive. I prefer KLNA for extended trips, but if you're at risk of having to reposition, I'd just go for PBI. I don't think Signature at F45 is worth it and I've heard rumors that they've overcharged a couple people dramatically.

29kts with full flaps.

Also, I have flown in and out of grass strips a number of times, and I've landed my Mooney in an overgrown runoff field when my engine quit on takeoff. The M20F performs very well as an offroad vehicle. I touched at probably 90mph, dropped a number of terraces; the field was covered in 4ft weeds that were higher than the wings and the landing gear held.

Yes, except the engine monitor never forgets to record your data and that, depending on your rules, you might want to log some of your taxi time as well.

Fixed costs are <$10,000 yr (usually) for me, and that includes $6,000 for hangar rent. Before buying my Mooney, I'd spend $800/mo renting an airplane to see how it felt. When I was comfortable with that expense, I bought a plane. Just make sure to inspect the spar and get a decent prepurchase inspection.

So here's an update. I canceled (for the brits in the thread, we spell it with one "L" over here) the procedure. I'm in there every four months for a cleaning anyways. I'll have them keep the wax molds so that if/when this bonding comes off, we can do it then. This is 100% a cosmetic procedure and as far as I'm concerned, they look fine as they are. Another pilot friend brought up a good point the other day: he mentioned that a Dentist friend explained to him that people are taking much better care of their teeth these days so that to keep the same sort of revenue coming in as in decades past where the WW2 and earlier generations were getting mouthfuls of crowns, there's a bit of a drive to up-sell other types of procedures/treatments.

Tell Peter I'm getting a Dynon D10.

I've written a piece of software that converts JPI data to logbook data. It computes the departure and arrival airport, whether the flight was cross country, the number of landings and the amount of time that was night flight (after sunset) and the number of night landings (landings occurring between 1 hour after sunset and 1 hour before sunrise). I'll probably automate and charge for it in the future, but if anyone wants me to run their data through it to help me test it and to produce logs for them, I'd be happy to do it for my fellow MooneySpace members.

There's a witty comment about a brit and teeth being fine to be made here, but you're along the lines of my thinking. So you're saying one of your parents was the guy in Breast Men?

For the "too long; didn't read" crowd: dentist talked me into making an appointment for veneers. I don't see the need and am having second thoughts. For those of you with more time and I appreciate the consideration. This certainly a first world problem akin to deciding whether it's worth painting in Imron or not. I've got a bit of a dilemma. My teeth are fine and I have a competent dentist that I've been going to off and on for 15+ years. Somewhere in-between I managed to get unlucky from another dentist and end up with a bit of lingual nerve damage, supposedly it was from a local anesthetic that people don't use anymore. My two upper central incisors came in a bit spotted and discolored and I had some bonding put on them 20+ years ago. One tooth had it come off while I was still in high school about 18 years ago, the other is original, but stops about 0.5mm from the gum line. I'm absolutely fine with how my teeth look. My own girlfriend didn't even notice. My dentist has been pushing me to get veneers on those two ever since I started seeing him and I finally caved this last visit. I paid them to take molds, they showed me the wax mock-ups today and they added on an "occlusal adjustment" to the visit where they're going to pull the bonding off. I've got some anxiety about the procedure and am having second thoughts, possibly related to the occlusal adjustment, possibly related to being completely comfortable with how they look as it is, possibly concerned that I'll spend all this money and end up with teeth that make me look like Sarah Jessica Parker or Mister Ed. One of the selling points I've been given is "well that bonding will come off and you don't want it to happen when you're out of town." The way I look at it, what's there has stood up to my lifestyle for decades. I grind on rare occasion, and am aware of having done some grinding after getting a filling that left my bite a bit uneven (I also have to ask how much I should trust a guy who makes a filling that leaves a bite uneven to make an occlusal adjustment). I have some concern that I could chip a veneer where the bonding has held up. I'm in there 3x a year for cleaning and the occasional whitening anyways. As for now, it sure feels like I'm being sold something that I don't need by a competent, capable dentist who, much like a body builder, tattoo artist, or a stripper, has an idea of exactly how things should look that 99% of the rest of the world doesn't even notice. It sure seems like the right thing to do is to postpone the procedure until the bonding fails, or, at the very least, until I feel a bit more enthusiastic about it.

I've got a dilemma and am starting to get cold feet about some dental work I've got scheduled and could use a second opinion from someone who doesn't stand to make money on me.

Flying across New Mexico on my way to Las Vegas pushing 50kt headwinds, I experienced an "I'm done" moment myself. It's like a little kid grabbed my airplane and played with it for about 15 seconds. Absolutely terrifying.

It wasn't much. Maybe 1-2 oz after the taxi. That may have been enough to have been stuck to rivers. Paul did the tanks 7 years ago. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thinking about flying to the Bahamas for the weekend. Exuma looks wickedly expensive for hotels. I'd like to spend a couple days in an all-inclusive resort and I figure the Mooney gives better access than the standard cruises and there could be cheaper times to be had. Recommendations for hotels and islands?

Is your PC system still functional? I'd be concerned over doing partial panel with it on since in the event of a vacuum failure you'd lose your wing leveler. Also, having lost a couple pumps, the horizon sortof just rolls off and back.

In my case, the cap issue happened back in October, but it just broke, so they could easily deny that it was their fault. I've made maybe 20-30 flights since then, so that many cycles on the cap. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I drained about a quart of water out of my tank after that incident as well, followed by starting on the non-contaminated tank, hard S turns, draining more water, taking off, switching tanks and flying the shit out of my airplane over the field and then landing prior to carrying passengers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One of the tabs broke off of my fuel cap (thanks Signature) and I cannot locate it in my tank and am on the road. Are there finger-sized screens in the tanks of the 1967 m20f or am I at risk of contaminating the lines and will need to disassemble the tanks before departure?

I intend to start using blue painters tape over my fuel caps when I stop, with fueling instructions written on them. Last time in Key West, Signature didn't install my cap correctly and I ended up with nearly a quart of water in the tank. After sumping til I couldn't get any more water out, I started on the "good" tank, did a bunch of hard S-turns on the taxiway, sumped more water out of the tank. Left my passengers behind, took off, flew over the field, switched tanks and flew the airplane hard, switched back the good tank, landed, picked up my passengers, took off and headed home.

The good news is that now when Trump is in town you at least have an option. You can first land at a gateway airport, such as FLL or MCO, go through TSA screening. If you land at PBI, I believe you can depart from PBI if you go through TSA screening as well.

Spinner bulkhead for an M20F with a LoPresti cowl. $2000+ Though you get 40% more miles traveled for the same engine time, so there's that.

Every night your airplane that is parked outside will get covered with a layer of moisture that descends from the air. That moisture, especially along the coast, will pick up the salt in the air and deposit that into every exposed crack and crevice that moisture can start to penetrate. Granted, I've left my plane for days on the ramp in Key West, West Palm, et cetera, but even a few weeks out of the year is a tiny fraction of time compared to every day. I also like the peace of mind I get from having secure access to my airplane. Last trip to Key West, I drained a quart of water from my left wing due to the line guys not installing the fuel cap properly. After the initial draining, I started on my "good" tank, taxied hard with lots of S-turns, sumped the "bad" tank some more and got more water. Took off by myself on the "good" tank, flew to 3000ft above the field; flew the shit out of the airplane on the "bad" tank, switched and landed on the "good" one, sumped some more -- no water -- and then took my passengers home.

I'll probably be there for a day or two.

I had a surging with the ram air open years ago. Eventually it evolved into a hard miss on a takeoff roll that I then aborted. Turns out I had a clogged injector. No engine monitor back then so I can't say, but I'd be curious to see your EGTs when you had the miss and I would recommend diagnosing it before flying again.