exM20K

I'd be lying if I said i haven't or am not considering the LX-7 conversion of the Lancair 4p. It appears to be a very well engineered and crafted plane, though insurance remains a challenge. Lancair 4P fatal rate is 10:100,000 hours vs 1:100,000 across GA. The company that does the LX-7 will not ferry donor airframes; they disassemble and truck them to Oregon. Columbia 400 wing area 141 sqft Lancair 4P wing area 98 sqft. There is a piston LX7 on controller if you have a spare $900,000 lying around :-) -dan

Congratulations and welcome to the Mooney family. You chose well, in my not-unbiased opinion -dan

The company is being paid by the county to do work the county has presumably concluded it cannot do as cheaply. “Skimming” in a bookkeeping context is fraud. Bribes paid to decision-makers by red light camera vendors, which were many here in Chicagoland, on the other hand….. -dan

These sort of fee collection systems are important to airport funding in many cases. At our small Florida strip, there are landing and parking fees due, yet many don’t pay. someone from the HOA has to note the landing/parking tail number. Often, that won’t happen because people have jobs with other duties. If the tail number is not blocked, yes, you can find the landing on a flight tracking system. Then, someone from the HOA has to track down the tail number and mail out a bill, hoping the owner pays. If the tail number is blocked, here is no good way to discover the landing or to whom to send the bill. being charged a landing fee at the home drone is a separate issue. This is merely the collection mechanism, and in many cases, it is more efficient and effective than having a human being do the tasks manually. -dan

More importantly, in Chicagoland, the red light cameras feed the business of Chicagoland politicians: graft. -dan

Holy cow! That's a hard luck aircraft. My bad, though. I assumed a wire strike was curtains for a plane. That flight looks like a lot of work / stress -dan

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2021/02/mooney-m20l-pfm-n63mp-incident-occurred.html "Aircraft struck powerlines on final approach." Lucky to be alive and unhurt, I'd say, though I really don't know what the mechanism of such a mishap looks like. Does the plane pull the powerlines off the pole, or part the lines, or get trapped like Maverick snagging a 3 wire, only with a 30' fall? Probably all of the above and more are possible. -dan

I’m a fan of the B-kool device, but it won’t cool a heat-soaked plane. We left the plane in the sun one summer out west for 3-4 hours with sun shades, and trying to pre-cool the cabin with a 20# bag of ice didn’t work. The 20 minute trip from SLC or Ogden to Provo really, really sucked. it was only slightly better than the evaporative vests sold for motorcycling. They work well enough (subject to humidity) but when they’re done, they’re done, and now you’re wearing a vest. -dan

Ha. It’s not hot until you can’t tell if the grill is on. -dan

Mine is straight enough that I don’t notice having to exert rudder pressure. Where is your rudder trim during taxi? -dan

Regarding Infinity: I have a friend up there who has used them for years and not dissatisfied. Shoreline Aviation in Marshfield put the TKS on my 231 25 years ago, and I had quite a bit of dealing with them when i sold Diamond Aircraft. Ed Novak there always has been square biz in my experience. -dan

Chris Koppel did a video in this. He observed a 2 KIAS increase in landing configuration stall speed when using the speed brakes. I’d be careful here. It may be that your landings are better with the speed brakes out because you are closer to stall speed. I don’t use them in before touchdown but do on the rollout at my short home field. They probably don’t do much, but at least I don’t look as ridiculous as my neighbor who holds open the door on his Cirrus. 1.2 - 1.3 x Vso works very well for me. I have confirmed stall warning and stall speed for various weights and configurations. -dan

So there I was….. Immediately prior to my wedding in the mid 90’s, for some reason (rehearsal dinner IIRC)I had to fly my best man from Caldwell, NJ to the Cape. Needing to get back quickly (and being dumb), I had him hop out at HYA with the engine running. No limbs were lost, butI also I passed up the opportunity to pee. on the return flight, my tonsils started to float. Somewhere over the Hudson, crossing into NJ, I simply had to go. The only vessel available was a paper sick sack, and I hoped (never a good strategy) it was coated and wouldn’t leak. It wasn’t, and it did. Slowed to 130 KIAS or whatever the window was placarded for, and gave a nitrogen boost to somebody’s yard below. this was in a 231. The soggy bag never came close to the tail. I made the dinner and we celebrated our 27th anniversary last year, so all’s well that ends well. -dan

I was pondering that very question yesterday. I plan on seeing how the G1000 GFC700 handle that on a cross country this week. RIP for those lost in this crash. -dan

You need an SD card in the top slot on the MFD and a reasonably current G1000 update. Data logs won’t be written to some internal memory.

...or an induction leak. An easy way to troubleshoot would be: Fuel setup: slowly lean at idle; you should get 50ish rpm rise as you lean. If not, get someone with the right gauges and fittings to set up your fuel injection system. Induction leak: Won't idle at the POH-specified RPM at all w/o quitting: pressurize the induction system with the outflow side of a shop vac. I don't remember the induction side of the M20k, but on the acclaim, there is a big scat hose that goes from the air filter to the turbo. That is a good place to shove the vacuum (pressure) hose. Then hit the whole induction tubing with soapy water from a spray bottle and look for bubbles. BTDT plenty of times. -dan

Confirmed. That’s what they got me for in March. -dan

Amen! I had a Chicago-> Vegas trip two years ago in January. The WX was a little challenging for the Mooney, so I booked a coach seat in the germ tube. After lamenting tales of the mask-resistant toddler one row ahead and the babushka and her daughter using their outdoor voices for the whole flight to a fellow Acclaim owner, he set me right. There I was, ready to pay for a 12 hour round trip in the mooney but skimping on the germ tube back in steerage. First class isn’t just for upgrades…. -dan

Yes. There are sliders to bias the speed and fuel burn. 29x2500 is about the same as 30.5x2400. Anyway, when LOP, power == f(FF). These planning numbers work out to the gallon most times for me on my 735NM 90% trip. Winds aloft forecasting seems to be very, very good now, and that is the most significant reason for the flight plan numbers not validating (WX & airspace deviations notwithstanding). It is really quite astonishing that I can flight plan a 3:35 trip with 25 gallons onboard at landing and land with 25 gallons onboard. -dan

Do you have TKS? the POH tables are not great, and that's what FF built off of. Mine is an "S," but the engine is the same. the 30.5 x 2400 fuel flow at 50* LOP and 12,000 is reported as 17.6 (I fly mostly at 2400). In my experience, that is a lot more gas than I am putting through the engine at that setting. Peak is usually 18.2, and 65* LOP is 16.2- 16.5. Were I to run at 17.6 GPH, I'd be about ~30* LOP in TIT and less than that on the richest cylinder. It takes some patience to really identify peak TIT/EGT. My solution in my FIKI "S" is to degrade TAS and FF by about 5%, and that is usually about spot on. -dan

Like this? http://www.fly2lunch.com/

Take Me To Your Leader. FL210 16.1 GPH/LOP 215 KTAS Life is good. -dan

Be aware: it is generally illegal to disturb an active nest (eggs or brooding young) of native species. Invasive species(sparrows and starlings) have at it. I’ve seen robins build nests in some pretty stupid places. My favorite was atop the rear wheel of a Chevy Tahoe/ burban at the Springfield IL airport. That SUV was a mess for sure. -dan

This, and is there any accompanying degradation of performance, such as W&B or runway performance. There is a Service Instruction document SIM20-133 with new limits for flying as heavy as 3873#. It is interesting to note the expanded GC envelope limits: 2 fat boys in front and full full fuel will never work. the current 3200# MLW means that with PAX and bags, I don’t want to land with more than 20-25 gallons, which is fine, but it requires careful fuel planning. Being able to fill the seats is a “nice-to-have” rather than a “need-to-have” for me. Were it not, I would have bought a different plane. I suspect than many LB owners are in a similar spot. However, better load carrying would open up the LB for consideration by the many buyers that “must have” the ability to carry four. I’d pay $50,000 tomorrow for another 200# UL. -dan

This is the problem, right here. It’s tough for the buyer, impossible for the title company, and not the fault of the entity filing the lien. This sort of bureaucratically induced latency raises costs and risk for all parties and is entirely at the feet of OKC. -dan