201er

What happened Brett? Too worked up about the name to post on NJMP group?

Video of first over ocean leg from Key West to Belize. Had to transition Cuban airspace and fly through a massive down pour. Terminates in a VOR approach into Belize.

Starting to get the video footage edited now that I got my plane-mount camera back. Here is day 1, Linden to Key West. 1072nm in 7.8 hours nonstop. VFR to Florida and IFR to Key West.

Cause Brett was on board! You shoulda seen the look on Brett's face when Chris ran over to take a final moments picture prior to the flight!

Just pull the mixture out

Jim you're right. But on the other hand a Mooney's no trainer. That's why I vote to rent for training and then buy Mooney for owning. Plus it's more fun that way, you get to fly in more different kinds of airplanes and build more experience. I've flown Cub, Aerobat, Commuter, Skyhawk, Cherokee, and Arrow prior to Mooney and all those experiences combined helped me do a better job flying my Mooney. Plus it was their tires/struts that took the abuse and not mine.

Can't find anything about not running a tank dry but my POH does say to use takeoff flaps!

Even when I take off from a 10,000 foot runway, I take off with flaps, get it off the ground! Then I push the nose back down and accelerate in ground effect (hey why not take that free drag reduction for a bit). And if there's no obstacles/factors and speed is good, I retract gear than flaps as I begin to climb. I get the best of both worlds then. I get off the ground ASAP, less wear on the tires and better visibility initially, but then I'm not losing much on drag because I get the flaps up soon. But best of all I have a good SOP that I can apply from the longest to the shortest field every time without thinking about it! Of course on a short field I delay retracting those things till past obstacles.

It's not a routine way to manage fuel because most flights I'm landing with enough fuel in the tanks that I would not be tapping into that critical reserve. However, once below 20 gallons and with more than 10 minutes flying time remaining or questionable conditions ahead, I want to use every drop from the low tank while in cruise rather than wish I had access to it on a 3rd missed approach. Another reason burning the tank dry is so important is because I time between when the red fuel low light comes on and when it burns out. This gives me a good ballpark of how much I will have left when the the 2nd fuel low light comes on. I think I have only once flown with both lights on and I was already landing. Under all normal circumstances I do not land with less than 0 in one tank and 15 in the other.

Never by accident. Always on purpose. It can take as long as 5-12 seconds to restart. The main gotcha I found is when flying LOP, the engine will not restart at that mixture with the prop windmilling. How's that for a seat wetter? However, at altitude throwing the mixture in can over enrich too and kick it out. So the secret is to swap tanks, throw the pump on, wait 10 seconds. If that doesn't help, leave the throttle and prop alone (full) and slowly enrich the mixture till it restarts. Whatever you do, don't panic and DON'T SWITCH BACK to the empty tank!

I've been away 2 weeks and this thread is still going on? I don't understand what there is to discuss!? You're supposed to and it's better to use flaps on every takeoff.

Sorry, what's SPIFR?

Here's my advice. Since you're never gonna use the darned thing except in an emergency, don't get anything fancy. The most important thing in my mind is the ability to take AA batteries. I have a Vertex handheld that goes unused for a year at a time. Then when I want it, turns out the rechargeable battery is dead. I had this happen where from disuse it killed the battery and it would not recharge any more. So when I bought a new rechargeable battery for it, I also bought a AA adapter. Now I keep those 10+ year Lithium AAs in that pack and I always have some kind of spare AAs around.

Wow! $500 a month for a hangar!? What a bargain compared to NY area!

Since I typically carry enough fuel to get to Florida or Texas if I have to, I don't worry about that as much from a safety perspective as a practical matter. Let's see, this airport is at minimums and so are all the others 300 miles around... if things get one bit worse, I'm gonna end up somewhere 500 miles away. With that kind of risk, how will this trip even be worth it?

Yeah. Half of mine fell out during the last trip. Pain

I wouldn't file at actual precision approach minimums cause that leaves no margin for it being slightly worse than forecast. Perhaps if the alternate is easy spotless VFR and the destination is just really socked in and it's a matter of trying for convenience... But if things are bad enough to be at minimums for an entire region, it's probably not a good day to be flying. But most of the airports I fly to have VOR or LNAV minimums so if there is a nearby alternate with ILS, filing close to minimums for those is less of a big deal.

Or flops twice.

I have never botched a landing either

How is IFR at night any more risky than IFR in day? I think it's safer.

I disagree. A lot of the old taildraggers like a J3 Piper cub are extremely simple. Take away the panel, gadgets, speed, and equipment and all you're left with is a wing to fly. I'm not saying it is EASIER to fly than a C150 but it certainly is less complex. But the learning you get flying one of those things sticks for life. You really learn to FLY the plane. Actually I'd recommend starting in Glider and getting Private Pilot Glider before even beginning airplane training in a J3 Cub. Really learn to fly before setting foot in a Mooney and then you can make the most out of it. Another reason not to buy an airplane prior to getting your rating is the fact that like half of the people who start flight training quit before they even make the checkride (or just after... like they met their bucket list goal and then move on). It's better to have an uncommitted rental to learn in until you are certain that you want to own long term.

$22,500 + $30,000 for overhaul = $52,500 and still without an annual!

I wouldn't wanna own the aircraft I trained in!

That's interesting. Leads me to conclude that night IFR must be damned safe then... if 260 of 263 accidents could have been prevented by flying IFR (or just having better situational awareness other than visual).

Are they? From the 2010 Nall report: 86% of airplane accidents happened in Day VMC. 14% remains for all night/IMC combinations. Pilot error contributes 74% while mechanical 15%. 13% of mechanical accidents were fatal while 17% of pilot accidents were. 67% of weather related accidents were VFR into IMC. Not a problem when you're already IFR! So that's actually one less issue to worry about. In terms of IFR technique, it certainly is important to keep current but only 4% of weather related accidents were due to poor IFR technique. And what difference does "night ops" make when you're already IMC? It's pretty much the same thing once you're in the system flying the instruments. Heck, sometimes it's easier to make out the runway lights on an approach at night. IFR/IMC flying may actually be substantially safer than VFR/VMC because we tend to use a lot of straight in/out approach/departures, no distraction with traffic avoidance, and most importantly no traffic pattern (the most likely place to get in some sort of accident). Also IFR tends to demand bigger airports/runways so there is less temptation of a departure stall takeoff or trying too hard to land short. Another issue I think is complacency. During a hard IFR flight, you will be checking everything and on top of your game. Things come to bite you when you treat a basic VFR flight as too easy and then fall into the trap. That's why most ATP pilot accidents seem to be in a piston in VFR rather than in a jet in hard IFR despite doing it for far more hours. The importance of personal minimums is more so to be able to keep your cool, confidence, and handle the airplane under the circumstances. Let's not kid ourselves that having 1000ft ceilings over inhospitable terrain is going to make much difference.