201er

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.

I wonder how they got it there in the first place!?

Yes actually.

Speakin of parrots, check out the Doritos commercial:

Trip summary: KLDJ KEYW MZBZ SKSP TNCA TNCC TNCB SVMG TTPP TVSV TLPL TFFF TDPD MBGT MYNN KFPR KLDJ Linden, Key West, Belize, San Andres Island Colombia, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Margarita Island Venezuela, Trinidad, St Vincent, St Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Caicos, Nassau Bahamas, Fort Pierce, Linden Over 5888nm flown in about 45 hours in the span of two weeks.

They didnt notice all the skittles still lodged up my ass.

I thought they just check your fingerprints. My paws are clean. In the US at least. And whats more American than flying an American made airplane and demanding the freedom to fly it some more?

Seth, perhaps I will take you up on that. Maybe we can mooneypool a few guys out forthat and make a mooney event out of it. But how long does it take? Also, once you get it, do you need to renew/maintain?

Today was the first and only day with no flying. We trekked around the island of Dominica and hiked to see the water fall and local birds. You guys can laugh all you want about the pants but there really is no point in putting on clean ones cause they'd get dirty immediately. Poor plane is taking a toll inside and out as well. Not too worried about the inside but it is way too cold back home to give her a bath before spring.

Nah, I've nailed every landing.

All the different animals they eat on Martinique Putting on the plane's pajamas on the island of Dominica. Delivering the baggage On the island of Martinique, they don't speak English, don't take US dollars, and all restaurants are closed around dinner time. It's a pretty odd place, especially compared to the rest of the Caribbean. It's not a wonder there's no Americans there and they are pretty shocked to come upon us. It's a little French haven with French air traffic controllers and french bread. They measure gas in liters and take payment only in Euros. They only way to get there from the US (other than by Mooney) is via Paris or Haiti. No wonder there aren't any Americans there. Still it was a fun place to visit. The VFR departure and flight to the next island of Dominica was pretty uneventful except for the landing. The airport is at the end of a valley facing the airport. You are forced between the choice of landing with a 10G20 knot tailwind uphill with no go around option or coming across mountains and dropping into the downhill strip stopping before the Ocean. I was opting for the uphill tailwind but the controller warned me of gusty winds so I went for the downhill headwind. That was tough. First of all coming across the mountains I could barely see the terrain because of the glare. Then I had to drop very quickly and as we all know a Mooney (ahem, without airbrakes) doesn't want to come down. Even full slip wasn't helping me lose the 1000ft I held coming over the mountainous terrain. I had to alternate slips in different directions to get down before runway ran out. Still I stopped midfield and barely had to taxi. Quite the landing, hang on for the video when I get back.

Luggage transport 1st class. I kid you not. I asked if they'd bring over one of those conveyor thingies as well. Flew right between two volcanoes Skittles "Pushback" Liters/Euros, ugh. Doesn't even speak English. Like 10 bucks a gallon on Martinique.

Flew through a rainbow. Been shitting Skittles ever since.

Lol, I dont really know. Just file a flight plan, talk to controllers, and stay away from clouds. Around here theres nobody to hit except the mountains.

St. Vincent Departure VFR Dodging rain showers Wet arrival This was the first VFR flight of the trip. What started out as VFR to shorten things up on the 40nm flight turned into a battle of weather avoidance. As we headed away from the island, we ran into a big line of rain showers that you could not see through. The only choice was to go around and that was a big trip. On the other hand, going IFR would have required a climb to 5,000 or 7,000 feet prior to on course since they don't have radar and it would have taken me through all that turbulent weather. Thus weather dodging VFR was the way to go. Finding St Lucia wasn't so difficult once away from the rain because of the steep mountains. However, finding the airport was a different story as it was enveloped in rain. As I landed, the runway was dry on one side and visibility near nill on the other. We got soaked as we unloaded and then the sun was out ten minutes later. Figures.