Mooneymite

>>>>a faulty prop governor cable....<<<<< I agree. This sounds like inconsistent linkage position to me. Let us know what you find.

Joe, if you have an old point file left over from when you did points and condenser in your cars, use it to clean the points in the SOS box. Your intermittent condition might get better. If so, the fix is clear.

An interesting aspect was the loss of "command" in the cockpit. Without the captain, neither pilot ever took the lead....when the captain finally arrived, there was no sense that he'd assumed command. A totally egalitarian cockpit....to the end. CRM gone amok. John Lauber was just beginning his proselitzing when I was out at NAS Moffatt. I doubt he ever foresaw such a mis-application of his principles.

Congrats! Well done. An important rating.

The shower of sparks box is a simple device. If it's buzzing, but not producing sparks, it is probably burned points, the capacitor, or both. These simple parts are pretty cheap (try Aviall) and easy to install.

Pardon me if this has been posted already: http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2014/10/air-france-flight-447-crash Business October 2014 The Human Factor Airline pilots were once the heroes of the skies. Today, in the quest for safety, airplanes are meant to largely fly themselves. Which is why the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447, which killed 228 people, remains so perplexing and significant. William Langewiesche explores how a series of small errors turned a state-of-the-art cockpit into a death trap......

Then it was a good idea to post the links. I gathered that the links were in support of the idea that there is something "extra dangerous" about TnG's, but you make a good point. Learning from the experiences of others is generally a less expensive way to go. :-)

???????? N601RX, I'm not sure what your point in posting these threads is. If it is to prove that accidents occurr during TnG's, why not post all the threads about runway LOC, takeoffs and landings? A lot more examples of those.... In each of these cases, the problem is not that the maneuver was inherently dangerous, or difficult. If anything, accidents while doing TnG's, point to the fact that the pilot obviously did not maintain proficiency in the maneuver! There are lots of maneuvers that are fraught with "bad statisitcs". Takeoff and Landing are two that come to mind. So.....? Should we avoid those maneuvers....? Never takeoff, or never land? That's a terrific way to lower our accident rate! However, the more reasonable approach is to practice and become proficient. If one is not proficient in TnG's, find an instructor who is and review them. If you analyze the TnG maneuver, it is just a combination of other maneuvers we do every day. Obviously, there are situations, locations, conditions where TnG's are not appropriate, just as there are situations where takeoff , or landing is not appropriate. We must always exercise good judgement in such things. TnG is a maneuver! I believe that any Mooney pilot who is the master of his craft should be proficient at them and not afraid of them.

The problem, is that as tax revenues grow, counties/cities have tasted the fruits of granting monopolies to the big boys and refuse to "go back". They no longer see airports as necessary to attract new businesses/industries, but as profit centers in and of themselves and aircraft owners as "easy targets". We ARE easy targets because without a network of airports, our aircraft become ever more useless. We have to have them. But they need us, too. Our efforts (and AOPA's) should be to shift costs back toward the commercial operators and away from the individual operators. For the most part, today's individual operators are tomorrow's commercial operators. Killing off general aviation is short sighted and self defeating.

What I'm sensing is that due to revenues drying up during the great recession, counties were no longer willing to subsidize, or take a loss on the local airports. There was just too much competition for the shrinking revenues. During this period, the county governments got in bed with the FBO's to show airports as "revenue positive". The FBO's liked this arrangement and the county commissioners like the cash. At one city with a monopoly FBO, I talked to the FBO manager about the huge increase in fees and he blamed it all on the "greedy county" that demanded the airport be revenue positive. He eneumerated the various ways that the county (through the airport authority) demanded payment. After awhile, I actually felt sorry for the FBO trying to make money being squeezed by the airport authority on one side and the cheap pilots on the other. The major problem with the "Big Four" is that they are spreading their jet costs to the little guys. Even though I don't use coffee, papers, ice, catering, three sets of chocks, pretty girls in little black dresses, Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and a large area of ramp space, I get charged because all these things are available to me. I don't like the fact I have to pay for the single access security systems, but the big FBO's need it for the jets. More and more, I just don't go where the jets go. However, in some cities, there is no choice.

The problem with these threads about FBO charges is that, ultimately, no one seems to agree about "what is reasonable", or even "who should be paying". On the one hand are the folk who figure it's a free market and FBO's that charge too much will eventually go out of business. On the other hand are the folk who don't want to pay anything, anywhere, for any reason....most of us are somewhere in the middle, but it's a wide middle. I tend toward the free market side. However, it really does look like there's a concerted effort by the big four to squeeze small pistons off their ramps and perhaps the whole issue of leaded fuel plays into their dislike for us. With just a few big FBO's taking over so many airports, there does seem to be an anti-competitive monster rising. As far as AOPA not doing enough....we are AOPA. What are WE going to do?

The more desireable a location thinks it is, the more it charges.... If you want cheap ramp fees, go where no one wants to go. However, if the airport has a Signature, a Landmark, or an Atlantic you're going to pay regardless of how undesireable the location. Location, location, location!

Oh, I know all about Clewiston. I've been there myself. The problem is that the big FBO's are forcing the little airplane owners to fly half way across the isthmus to refuel. They are, for all intents and purposes, locking us off the coast. I really just don't have that much business in Clewiston....except to buy gas.

I checked Airnav.com fuel prices in your PBI area http://www.airnav.com/fuel/local.html. Wow! Not much to cheer about in south FL. I see that Atlantic at PBI 100LL is over $9/gallon today. Compare this with an airport just south of ATL near me (KOPN) where fuel today is $4.95 (SS). That's over $4/gallon difference for 100LL. (I presume OPN is still making money at $4.95!) If it isn't an active plan to drive pistons away, it might as well be. Be glad you drive a Mooney and not a really thirsty plane.

Flyboy, that's a good question. I suspect the business model the big FBO's subscribe to is: raise the prices to squeeze out the low-end (that's us!). Just think how many Mooneys buying 10-20 gallons it would take to equal the one jet that comes in and buys 500 gallons of jet-juice. They really don't want that many spam cans on their ramp crowding the jets. I suspect they'd love to completely do away with Avgas and just sell Jet A. Making Avgas rediculously expensive is how they're doing it.

$99!!!!! What a rip-off. I'm not paying that. :-)

Since the FBO has your N#, I suspect the experience would be similar to refusing to pay a highway toll. Calling ahead and asking about fees works well, since you can still try to make a deal. Once you've taxied onto their ramp, they've pretty well got you....and they know it. Airnav comments were pretty effective in getting KROA Landmark to reduce some of it's more onerous fees once upon a time...most FBO's prefer "nice", but some obviously don't care and just block all Airnav comments.

Great/timely topic, Antares! AOPA may have defeated user fees for now, but the growing phenomenon of paracitic (in some cases) fees charged by FBO's may end up being more damaging to our wallets and general aviation! Seems like Landmark, Atlantic, and Signature are striking cozy deals with the airport boards to squeeze every penny possible from hapless travellers in return for monopoly status. If you think us poor prop guys are robbed, try flying a jet!!! A $600 ramp fee to drop a passenger is not unusual! Ramp fees, facility fees, handling fees, minimum fuel purchase of exhorbitant fuel, security fees, overnight fees....there's a new one everyday! Birmingham, AL used to have two competing FBO's. Not any more. Atlantic controls both locations now. Do you think economy of scale has been shared with the customers? Ha! More and more of the really nice non-chain FBO's are selling to the money grubbers. I hate it, but what can we do? I've written to several airport commissions to complain, but it's pretty obvious in the replies that the airport commission is in cahoots for the cash. Well....I'll just park my plane. That'll learn 'em.

Great review! Thanks. Sounds like you've got a winning combination!

Give her a break! You're wife just wants you to be able to boast you fly "heavy iron"!

Sigh..... We all know gas gauges can be accurate. We all further know that Mooney fuel gauges aren't. If you installed those John Deere senders, your fuel gauges might be dead-on accurate and therefore not in compliance with the STC. If you want fuel gauge accuracy, cross over to the dark side. Buy a nice experimental aircraft. :-)

>>>>Any comparisons from those that have used both would be appreciated. <<<> I think most fine wire to massive comparisons will be mostly subjective. I changed my massive's out for fine wires and the engine "seems" to run smoother. I can run the O-360 "a little" leaner, but I can't give you any hard numbers/facts. I changed plugs because my massives had about 400 hours on them and I was having trouble keeping them from lead-fouling. After I removed them, I found one that had a bad resistor, so the new plugs would have been an improvement regardless of type! The other change was I went from Champions to Tempest, so who knows what made the difference? However, I will tell you that after spending all that money on fine wires, I'm trying to convince myself "it was worth it"! YMMV.

The good thing about it is that most info stays on the form (in the database) until you change it. Once you've done it the first time, subsequent submissions are really quick, unless a lot of your personal information has changed. Caveat: If you enter something wrong, it will stay wrong until corrected and it may delay your doctor's submission to the FAA. (Ask me how I know!)

Just don't drop the plug after removal.....especially a fine wire!

It's a maneuver! Practice as needed. Use if/when appropriate. Just one tool in a big box of tools every pilot should have.