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For you Mooniac parrotheads out there, here are my parrots flying a Mooney up and down the Hudson: And if you like parrots or NYC, here is some sightseeing with the famous parrots (cool night flying shot at the end of the first one):

The written and oral are the hardest part because for the most part they have nothing to do with the actual process of flying IFR. I was shocked at how unprepared I was for actual IFR flying from the process after I got my ticket. Yet the simulated instrument flight training was very beneficial. It's hard to remember how to enter a hold or how to fly a no gyros VOR approach cause it's something you never really end up doing (hopefully). I don't remember the last time I flew a non ILS/LPV approach that wasn't for practice. Good luck. All the fun is still to come. All the scariness too.

Unfortunately not true. If you have a mechanical engine failure and manage to land back at the airport in one piece, it's your problem but if you bang it up, then it's theirs.

The problem is that the people behind you will have so much room, they won't know what to do with it! :lol:

We had fun. Don, his date (that hairy guy who's name I'm sorry I don't remember), Anthony, Lloyd, Al and myself were in attendance. Dennis had better things to do (girlfriend) and Brett was too chicken to come with one of his brakes not working. Sorry Brett, I'd think with your expertise you'd be able to land short enough to stop with half the braking power

Hey guys, I was wondering if you go mixture full forward after start and then back to a taxi setting. Or do you go straight to lean taxi setting once it fires? I'm in the habit of advancing to full rich after it fires and then backing it off. Never considered the other way but willing to learn. I guess I was just following the manual's starting procedure prior to leaning for warm up/taxi.

What seems to work pretty well for me is boost pump on for a second, then off. Mixture says idle cutoff. I start cranking, advance throttle to full for a couple settings until activity starts to occur, then bring it back to around the 1000-1200RPM area, then take my hand off throttle and wait on mixture to advance. Seems that going to full throttle for a little while expedites the fuel clear out and helps reduce a bit of cranking, but bringing it back before start, allows me to be prepared on the mixture and not keep fiddling the throttle.

Thank you.

New Jersey Mooney Pilots will be hosting a lunch fly-in from 12-2 at Chester County KMQS. Mooney pilots and GA pilots welcome.

Is someone willing to go prove that? Not I.

Friends, please learn from this and buy an angle of attack indicator. My plane has one and it has saved me on short takeoffs of this sort. When I was close to a departure stall (but at what seemed to be a good indicated airspeed) from a short field at high weight on a hot day, I saw the AOA indicated too slow and I put the nose down to improve climb performance (which is counter-intuitive) and that made her climb. Patrick was not experienced at flying heavy. He did virtually all his flying solo or at most one other person. And even though on paper his gross weight was higher than an older J, his plane was heavier and had no reason to climb any better. Book gross weight isn't enough. You need to evaluate your weight capabilities based on the conditions on a case by case basis. The elevation of that airport is 1729 but the DA was probably closer to 3000ft that day. Even the extra 200ft may not have made a difference. Yet on a cold winter day, he would have probably made it off from that intersection just fine.

I recently completed my first airplane pilot logbook. I've also on my second logbook for gliders as well. How many logbooks have you gone through? Do you still keep paper or just online?

YEAH! Or else I may put a dent in his bird

Hey guys, for those of you who've been following my parrot stuff, just wanted to let you know I've had enough and shot polly dead:

Even though we tend to pay a lot of attention to inadvertent flight into IMC (as intermediate to advanced pilots, this plays a greater role in our circle for non-instrument rated pilots), when compared to loss of control due to inadequate stick and rudder skills, it is a minor issue. Teaching guys how to safely make it around the pattern and telling them to stay away from clouds is far more practical for their first 100-500 hours of flying experience than overloading them with all of the instrument requirements when they haven't even mastered the basic flying. If you're talking about an instrument rating being a "graduation" requirement for getting a Private Pilot rating, that would mean at least 100 hours to get a rating at all!!!! Between the required time for private, required time for instrument, required xcountry time... And even then, at 100 hours the graduating pilot would be less experienced than a 100 hour VFR pilot who got the rating in 70 hours and got 30 hours of private flying in the system. I do agree that an instrument rating is very important for airplane pilots, particularly pilots of fast airplanes that can go far. However, I don't see how mandating thousands of VFR only weekend pilots who've barely ever flown further than a hundred dollar hamburger every other weekend to get instrument ratings would greatly improve safety. Virtually every (actually I'd say every) VFR flight into IMC that I've read about, the conditions were forecast as such, the pilot was flying cross country, and the pilot knowingly chose to violate FARs and proceed into actual instrument conditions. I don't recall any innocent cases where the pilot was doing everything by the book, got a briefing, flew in proper conditions, and unexpectedly they closed around him and that led to his demise. Every case I've read, the VFR pilot CHOSE to be there and CHOSE to continue! With that kind of attitude, an instrument rating is no savior. Just instead of the killer being IMC, it'll be icing or thunderstorms.

Thank you! Excellent advice! One that I learned like this was to check the emergency gear override is fully locked or it won't let the gear come up. I had a takeoff where the climb was unusually anemic and it took me a while before I realized the gear wasn't actually up. I also realized that on a short field obstacle takeoff, this could be fatal.

Fly in at Sky Manor went great! In attendance were Cris, John, Alan, Don, Al, Bill, Anthony, and myself. Unfortunately we did not have a dentist or Falcon captain as their birds were in for annual! Great to see everyone again and let's plan another Mooney fly in soon!

I don't think I've ever seen engine manufacturers endorsing 50 ROP. They usually suggest peak or 100ROP for best economy and best power. However, a bunch of instructors have taken it upon themselves to just average the two out and suggest 50ROP to students with no idea what they are talking about. Then the students treat it as the word of God cause that's how they learned.

No offense, but this does not sound like good advice to me. First off, you can slow down a Mooney when flying approaches (or in trouble) to give yourself more time to think. You can fly a stable approach at 90 knots if you prepare for it and slow down ahead of time! But when it comes to not having time to look at the chart and requiring extensive approach preparation ahead of time, I can see this getting someone in trouble when things don't go as planned. Wx is bad or airport is closed after accident, need to divert to an airport 5 miles away, only 1 minute enroute to prepare for new approach, gotta get on it, not much fuel left, etc. I don't think it's a bad idea to play with the sim when you are learning and before you actually start doing the real stuff. But by the time you're doing the real stuff, you should be able to pull out an approach chart you've never seen before in your life and fly that approach right there and then! When I practice approaches to stay current, I'll fly back to back approaches at nearby airports. Some of them I may look at in advance while others I pick as I'm doing another. This helps me prepare for the unexpected. You don't always get to fly the approach you briefed or practiced for. Just my four half pennies. And as for mr dentist, are you nuts!? There are already a ton of guys who can't manage stick and rudder and crash in the pattern.... and you want to burden them with instrument flying first? You want to make it 3x times longer and harder to get PPL? Why put the cart before the horse? There are plenty of people who've flown exclusively VFR for many years without any problems. I agree that a healthier fear of IMC must be instilled in VFR pilots (and sometimes IFR pilots too!), but that doesn't mean you can't fly VFR and stay out of the soup just fine. Back when I was flying skyhawks, inadvertent flight into IMC was virtually impossible. I'd pick clear days and my "long" cross countries were only like 100 miles so the weather doesn't change any in that sort of distance. Since I've been flying the Mooney though, distances have drastically increased and it's not uncommon for me to fly through two or three different weather systems enroute. Just because it is prudent to be instrument rated in a Mooney (cirrus and other fast/complex planes for that matter), doesn't mean every piper cub and skyhawk beginner needs to prioritize that! Hope to see you at Sky Manor around noon today for lunch and friendly chat

First of all I think it's a good idea to get a bunch of VFR and VFR cross country experience before even attempting the instrument rating. It's hard enough flying the plane as it is, that's gotta be second nature when you're in the soup. Next, if I remember correctly, you're required to have 50 hours of cross country to even qualify for an instrument rating (and in reality I think 100-200 is a better amount). Lastly, this stuff is so hard, it just takes time to sink in. Sometimes you need a little time off and a break from it. To do it in a single week, or even month for that matter, is practically suicide. Really. Either you blow up from the pressure/difficulty doing it. Or you pass the rating but don't have the long term practice to really know what you're doing. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me. You need time to learn weather and flying first and then when you do attempt the instrument training, you need time to let it sink in. What's the point of rushing it?

NJMP will be meeting this Saturday for lunch at Sky Manor (N40) from Noon till 2PM. Bring your Mooney, bring your friends!

What's the big fricken deal? Encompassed in the term "small knives" are nail clippers, files, corkscrews, and a ton of other harmless little gadgets that people carry around with them. Let's not forget that they are already handing out knives to every passenger even in economy class with their meals now. It's ridiculous to prohibit people from taking small scissors or nail clippers and then be handing out knives onboard.

Sometimes towers are pretty useless. Common example at the less busy towered airports: Tower: "Mooney 123 report on downwind" Mooney: "Mooney 123 on downwind" Tower: "Cessna 345 you have a mooney on downwind report in sight" Cessna: "Cessna 345 has the mooney" Tower: "Mooney you have a cessna on final" Mooney: "Cessna in sight" Tower: "Mooney follow the cessna cleared to land #2" And at an uncontrolled field goes like this: Cessna: "Cessna turning final 36" Mooney: "Mooney left downwind 36, got the cessna on final will be landing #2" End of story. I have to laugh sometimes at the insane and unnecessary level of repetitiveness and frequency congestion that gets created at tower airports. And as for safety, I've had as many close calls with traffic in towered airspace (mainly class D) as at uncontrolled fields! So while I hate to see the govt meddle in aviation, I have yet to be convinced that towers are beneficial or make things safer at small GA fields that aren't that busy. Those kinds of tower convos make me think of this: I do admit that it terrifies me to fly in/out of an uncontrolled field with crossing runways on a calm weekend day!

Usually when you see a K and a J equally priced, that is because it is a pretty nice J and a terribly run down bottom end K that needs an engine and avionics. You get what you pay for...