Mooneymite

There SHOULD be an exclusive section for those that need to be excluded! I think it's a great idea.

Here's what you need instead of that high-tech stuff....something simple that works: A Johnson airspeed indicator.....It will fit neatly on your Mooney N struts.

Welcome aboard..... Rhumbline I like that moniker: A rhumb line appears as a straight line on a Mercator projection map. Glad to have you back in the sky.

Bingo! This is the sad truth. When I started flying for an airline, kids always wanted to come to the cockpit and look around; by the time I retired, I couldn't remember the last time a young person wanted to see the cockpit, or ask a question about the airplane! Our life-blood is new blood and now, young people far prefer technology via screen to ho-hum airplanes. Add in the cost difference between "screen" technology and getting a private license and you have a pretty daunting up-hill battle for attracting young people. I now refer to them as "screen-agers". Those are the kids who used to be attracted to flying. Since retiring from the airline I've been flying biz-jets. Not a single young person has evinced any interest in aviation what-so-ever. All they want to do is take a seat in the back and play on their iPad/gameboy/DS, etc. The only aircraft capability they care about is, "Do you have wi-fi on board?" Aviation needs passionate people to keep it from becoming "just another job". Certainly there are still young individuals who have the bug, but it is not widespread. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm not optimistic. I suspect that U.S. aviation will look a lot like European aviation by the time we hang up our headsets.

Hmmmmm. Not to burst any bubbles, but.....The Citation I fly uses approach speeds of 109/115 kts for 90% of the landings and we typically slow to about 200 kts at the marker and then slow to 125 kts until close in. Even though I love to think of Mooneys as fast, I find it hard to believe any of them have to SLOW behind a Citation unless it is just to get the tower a little spacing to squeeze out a departure. Maybe it was a Slow-tation?

Hmmmm. My POH is probably older than yours and includes a "required equipment list" for VFR and IFR ops. Strange that yours does not. The minimum equipment list is almost always part of modern aircraft POH's. Perhaps it is listed elsewhere?

Caution! Thread creep..... Prior to waxing, I have found nothing works better for the belly/nasty areas than Crazy Clean. http://www.drugstore.com/popups/largerphoto/default.asp?pid=215543&catid=184274&size=500&trx=29888&trxp1=215543&trxp2=1 Spray it on, wipe all the mess off....it's that quick.

Check your POH. It is not listed as "Required Equipment" in my POH. However, it depends on what the POH specific to your aircraft says.

Without an AOA, airspeed indicator works fine. Without a stormscope, on-board radar is the only substitute for "real time" storm info. I'm not "dissing" your love affair with an AOA, but I fly planes with AOA and indexer lights and rarely refer to it except during stall practice in the sim. Just not that vitally important for routine ops. However, a stormscope will answer that all important question: "Can I safely go into this cloud?" AOA, or stormscope? Stormscope first, everytime. .

Two additional causes I can think of: .Running the engine (CHT's) too hot, glazed the cylinders and the rings no longer seal properly. Remove the cylinders, have them honed, reinstall, and sin no more. Your engine guy will tell you if the rings will need to be replaced as well. .Rust has formed on the cylinder walls and ruined the ring seal. You see this phenomenon (dramatic loss of compression) on engines stored (not run for extended period of time) without proper preservation measures. Since both low cylinders are the same side I'd suspect a baffling issue caused an over-heat. -

All thoughtful replies. To me, a huge factor is the involvement of "someone else" in flight ops and maintenance decisions. It makes the pilot view each situation as others see it, not just his own view which may be skewed by personal factors like "get-home-itis". The presence of another pilot, dispatcher, weather guru, a maintenance coordinator goes beyond the expertise they have. It makes the decision making process more formal and rational.

I had a Mooneymite (A-65) with Chrome cylinders....used a quart every 4 hours and there was always oily residue on the right side of the fuselage. I now have a Hatz (O-320) with chrome cylinders and, as far as I can tell, it uses 1 qt every 10-11 hours. Lore is that chrome is great if the break-in is just right, otherwise plan on high consumption. The two different O-360 engines I've had in my C model with original Lyc steel cylinders have had identical consumption...about 10 hrs/qt.

I use the fltplan.com wt/bal app on my andoid device. Don't they also have an iPad version? It's free and it works great on my C model once I got the pre-sets done. A nice feature is that it's available on any FBO Internet computer even if I don't have my tablet with me.

Tire wear? What's that? More than half my landings are on grass, so my sidewalls dry-rot before the tread wears out! Same brake pucks for 15 years.....but they are getting a little thin. :-)

Complex question. If you decide you are going to keep the plane forever and let your heirs sell it, the actual condition of the plane is paramount and history is not particularly important except as it affects how the plane flies. However, most of us know we'll be sellers "someday". Even though age of the aircraft, time since repair, type of repair, etc all are factors, you just can't get away from the market reality that damage history is important. While there are no hard guidelines to quantify damage history, ultimately you have to ask yourself how much you will be willing to discount your selling price for that damage history when that time comes.

When I had problems with my Bendix shower of sparks box, it turned out to be a (very inexpensive) capacitor that was bad and kept causing the points to burn. It was a headache to track down, but the fix was simple/easy/cheap. Additional info here: http://www.donmaxwell.com/publications/MAPA_TEXT/Shower%20of%20Sparks/Shower%20of%20Sparks.htm

Generally, one does not tip a professional. Tipping a mechanic would be appropriate if he did you a personal favor, but not for professional services rendered (and billed for).

My POH is prerty clear. Barring any exciting new scientific information, that's what I do. Has anyone seen the video on "shock-cleaning" a fouled plug? Apparently the technique has been around for a long time, but it was news to me. -

One ramp check in 42 years of aviating.....Harrisburg, PA. KMDT. Inspector checked documents and Jepp currency. A non-event.

Since the stain is at the wing root, chances are good it is not a tank sealant issue.

Hmmmm. While I agree that there is "some" weight sharing, the downward force on the tail must be significant at rotation and the empenage is engineered for this. I find it hard to believe that Al Mooney didn't "over-engineer" the Mooney empenage for this since there haven't been many metal Mooney tails flying off. I can agree that tying the tail down will put stress on the empenage, but I have a hard time believing that such will damage a short-body Mooney. As has been suggested before, I'd like to see the "history of damage" from tying the tail down and find out if such damage might not have had "other factors" involved. Anyone know of documented damage on a short-body specifically attributed to tying the tail during jacking?

Question.... When you rotate your Mooney for a short field takeoff, doesn't the downward force on the tail approximate the same load as jacking the plane with the tail tied down? Maybe we should have canards that lift the nose at rotation? Just wondering since I would never tie the tail down using that "frail-tail". .

When it comes to Mooney prices, the devil is in the details. The details are: hours on the engine, avionics, general condition (paint and interior) and history. After that, there's other equipment installed and how well a particular airplane suits you. It's not uncommon to see the same basic model priced many thousands of dollars apart...and for good reason. In my opinion, money-wise, you're best off to wait and find exactly the plane you want than to buy one and then up-date/modify to suit. However, some folk would rather customize an aircraft to their taste. Generally Controller's prices are "on the high end". I suspect actual selling prices are significantly less, but there's no way to know and track that sort of info. Personally, I like to follow the listings on Barnstormers.com.

Question for the OSH campers....what do you do for meals?