Bartman

I bought my J in 2007 as a first plane after my PPL and I fell in love at first sight, so in ignorance I ignored the gas smell in the cabin because it smelled like the Cessna and Piper trainers I had flown. I soon realized she needed a strip and reseal on the fuel tanks, but other than some planned upgrades and an autopilot service I have been blessed with no significant issues in 12 years. Have her checked out with a good pre purchase inspection and enjoy. Plenty of room and useful load for small children and parents, but with an average 975 pounds of useful load only you will know how long the J will serve your family. BTW I’ve had 4 adults and 50 lbs luggage and enough fuel for 2 hour hops and total 6 hour flights in a day many times. Still under my max 980 useful load.

Shout out and special thank you to @Cody Stallings for some great advice today. Mooneyspace is blessed to have him and I know where I will be sending my prop for service in the near future !

My trim indicator is not accurate enough to rely on for indicating exact trim settings. I almost always land full flaps and of course reset them before shutdown, but leave trim where it is. I found that if I give it 4-5 full strokes of down trim on my trim wheel this gets me in the ballpark for takeoff. I did that a couple of times before shutdown but then couldn’t remember if I had done it and then gave more nose down trim which was quickly realized on takeoff. It is now part of my pre-takeoff checklist. Full up elevator by the yoke may be indicated in certain situations but I don’t see any benefit to put in full up nose trim before taxi, and the OP has described a potential complication of doing so.

We have a taxiway at the 1000ft mark at my 5000ft home strip and if I am light can make that turn as long as I’m disciplined with speed at 70mph over the fence, not 80mph if short. Next turn is 2000ft and it’s never a problem. I’ve never been on grass but if I did I would remove the smaller inner gear doors and not think another thought about it. Being based on a grass strip one important consideration is parking. I would not want to park on grass for weeks or months on end. Something to consider.

A squirt bottle with isopropyl alcohol is safe for the painted surfaces, but of course not practical for the ramp area. I would not use the weed burner around it

I kinda took it as referring to instinct. When I step on the rudder I don’t even think about adding opposite aileron, it’s just like a leaned muscle memory kicks in and adjust for wind drift as required. Crosswinds often die out close to touchdown but when they don’t, then firmly planting that upwind main and being patient on the other main I still have to think about sometimes and saying it in my mind helps. I too like the escalator image

I had a small area like that on top of the cabin about 3 inches by 1 inch. I used the Scotch Brite and Alodine and found a rattle can that matched the base white. I could give you 30 minutes and bet money you can’t find it.

Considering an adventure from Kentucky to Orlando this weekend for the Citrus Bowl. If weather cooperates we plan on flying and can go either Saturday or Sunday, but if it’s raining I’m not going to sit in the rain and I don’t have to go at all because my big ass TV works really good and it’s close to the beer. Anyway, we have been into KISM a couple of times and Signature treated us well and it’s close to the theme parks too. We haven’t booked the room yet but plenty available and thinking about using KORL and Sheltair this time just for something different. I know Orlando Executive is closer to Camping World Stadium, but we really liked the Marriott Orlando World and it’s right by Gateway. Might even head to KEYW for a day or two if the Cats win Go BBN ! Any thoughts on Executive over Gateway ?

I had a similar issue last week and since it has been discussed here before I knew what it was right away. We had done a touch and go landing and the flaps would not retract from the fully extended position. No biggie we were climbing well so we the pattern anyway and I was already in landing configuration. After troubleshooting I made sure the switch was not in the up position so they would not retract at an unexpected time and landed normally. Of course the flaps retracted normally when I hit the switch after exiting the runway. Annual coming up next month so that's on the list for things to address.

Wonder if it was leaking around the Magneto gasket ???

Actually if you think about shutdown the injectors do not have a constant flow of fuel. When I shut down the fuel boils out of the lines and may leave the injector dry or nearly dry. I'd say this could contribute to that buildup of varnish and deposits.

Once I bought a pack of guitar strings. After removing the old ones and began putting the new ones on I realized that one string was missing. I could not reuse the old one because I cut them off with pliers. So what did I do, I put on 5 strings and did the best I could. Maybe he only had 5 strings ?

Hard to say how one would react with it happening in real time. One pilot did ask for a supervisor, but no follow thru. Might be best to just get on another frequency and tell Clearance, Tower, Approach there is a problem.

In year one of ownership my engagement lever engaged on its own once. It happened again in year two after a pitot static check. The crank moves really fast when the electric gear is engaged !!! Inspection revealed that the plastic kick panel by the left leg was not aligned properly and was touching the engagement lever in the disengaged detent over-center position. We figured my left foot put just enough pressure on the panel to move it and pushed the lever out of the over-center detent position causing it to move forward just enough that the spring moved it to the fully engaged position. We removed the plastic trim screws and slid the kick panel aft about 1/2 inch and problem solved. After reading this forum I cut a piece of small gauge safety wire a few inches long. I twisted a small loop on each end and covered with painters tape so there are no sharp ends and wrapped it such that the engagement lever is pulled toward the center post of the crank. The crank lever rotates freely when disengaged and I position it such that is covers the engagement lever knob too for added protection. The wire can be removed in seconds and painters tape covering the loops on the end makes it easy to find. Two twists and the safety wire is gone.

Once during IFR training my brain was overloaded and I forgot and left the flaps in takeoff position. After leveling off I noticed the airspeed was low. No icing was forecast and we had flown thru about a 2000 foot layer in actual IMC with temps below freezing and that was my first thought. When I looked at the leading edge it was clean, but the flaps were in takeoff position. Uuggghhhh !!! Anyway I figure we flew about 10 minutes with flaps in takeoff position and after retraction everything was back to normal. I told the IA after we landed and it was annual time anyway and he said he found no issues. That's my data point FWIW and that was nearly 10 years ago. I'm sure I am neither the first or last.