Dave Marten

Nice work Bob! Great .html file. Do you mind if I carve it up and adapt it for my K? It'll be on my list of rainy-day fun things to do! Thanks

1. Would you take advantage of it? Two words - HELL YES! 2. Why would you take advantage of it? Vast array of avionics combinations, electronic ignition, available to EAB now open to Non-Com. Safety gear - better autopilots, airbags, standby attitude info. 3. Do you think it would devalue your airplane being that it could not be used for a commercial purpose unless you converted it back to Standard Category? NO - especially the Vintage fleet. very small portion used for comm operations. Properly documented modifications/alternations do not frighten me. I've seen just as much garbage/shoddy practices from certified aircraft owners/mechanics as experimental category. 4. Do you think these changes would make aviation safer? More affordable? Better for GA? I'll go so far as to say that in the coming years/decades these changes could be VITAL to the continued utility of the legacy GA fleet (all our planes). As with the EAB aircraft a thriving 'after-market' supply chain could emerge. Just surf around all the kits/combos/mods available to the RV series builders (engines/ignitions/exhaust/avionics/airframe parts/etc). The ruling could open a whole market: Lets look at an example - I'll call it the "Mooney M20_-SX (Super X)". Company buys run out C/E/F/J's, mounts up LyCon 360s ported/polished/flowmatched/tuned exhaust with electronic ignition, LoPresti style cowlings, carve out the whole panel and ALL wiring, install a new kit panel complete with plug and play harnesess, install non-TSO MFDs (blue mountain/G6X/dynon/etc) driven by the nav/com suite of your choice. Diesel engine? Why the hell not. Its a lot easier to develop/market an engine for EAB. Aircraft is sold as Non-Comm. Its analogous to the classic car industry - a whole industry sprung up to support classic car restorations and MODIFICATIONS. Non-Comm could do a similar thing for GA. Affordable - definitely. Who pays for the TSO certification? WE DO, the customer. As the legacy GA fleet dwindles in the out years so will suppliers unless more flexibility and responsibility is allowed to be transferred to the owner/operator. Want to revitalize GA? Allow owners of certified aircraft some of the flexibility afforded to EAB. Choose not to and the legacy GA fleet will decline while pilots continue to shift to EAB aircraft.

I hate it when life gets in the way of flying! I won't jump in on a plane until you can free up a little time in your schedule, although aircraft ownership may add some imperative toward making time to fly. Figure out a way to either use the plane for your business or better yet - use a plane to get away from your business! My secret recipe is combining family time with airplane time. Thank God for the $100 hamburger, local pancake breakfasts, and a willing wife/co-pilot! Find a way to break free. You may be able to sneak in a quick flight between sunrise and 8am then drive over to the office to start the daily grind.

Critical Actions - I'm not talking solely about fires here rather correctly diagnosing the problem while flying the airplane is critical. WRT fires distinguishing between electric and engine is paramount. IE - an electrical fire does not automatically equate to an emergency descent Inflight fires demand quick response, but I'm raising the BS flag on the notion that you only have 120 seconds to live - BS! Open your MAPASafety hymnals to section 9 - Mooney in a wings level emergency descent will achieve a 2000 FPM descent using EITHER Vle (gear down flaps up) or Vne (clean). Pick your poison. Maneuver using G to increase descent rate (descending spiral), but taper with flight conditions. My plan for an emergency descent is Vle (gear down, flaps up). The configuration is far more stable and well suited for a night/IMC situation. Planning a Vne dive at night/IMC and hoping to drop out of the bottom of the WX with enough time to setup for a landing - NO WAY. When would I deviate from the Vle emergency descent choice? When I'm willing to trade in some VVI in order to cover a greater horizontal distance in which case I will use a low-pitch, gear-up descent at less then Vne to reach a suitable landing point. This is not a spiral dive but a snap the nose direct to-and-go (mash the nearest button on the box and GO - NOW)!

Great job by a couple of our fellow Mooney Pilots filling in where Uncle Sam could not: "Organizers of the annual Veterans Day parade in Pebble Creek, Litchfield Park AZ were dismayed when they were informed by Luke AFB that the annual flyover by the local F-16 unit would not happend due to the current government funding cutbacks. To the rescue was local resident Darwin “Hot Dog” Puls who organized a Mooney flyover with other Mooney Caravan formation qualified pilots, Ray “Nacho” Reher, and Chuck “Cowboy” Crinnian. The Arizona Caravan group flew several passes over the parade in a 3-ship “Vic”. Note the Red, White, and Blue symmetry. The efforts were well received by the crowd."

Lacee, KSMooniac has some great tips. Also, too few pilots take advantage of Wings, ASI online courses, AOPA and/or EAA webinars, etc. There is a world of info out there. Much of which you can access anytime on-line. Attending (and even participating in) local FAAST safety seminars is a great way to improve your game. Not one near you in the future? Call your FSDO and offer to host. They will probably take you up on it! Another good way to focus your learning is go for an additional rating. IE, do you have your commercial ticket? If not you can train in your plane and increase your skill set. Maybe a multi engine rating. Or for a bigger goal work toward your CFI- you may never want to use it in anger teaching new students, but it will greatly up your game. Upset recovery/spin training is a lot of fun and will payoff big in terms of pilot confidence. Being an Aviator has nothing at all to do with the equipment you fly and everything to do with the skillset you possess and your professional approach toward flying.

If I ran a flight school or a regional airline and chewed through rubber I'd use retreads too. However my own airplane will always get a fresh set of shoes rather than a discarded reworked carcus. For me the extra 40 bucks per tire for new is money well spent. Either way don't forget to install new tubes with your new (or retreaded carcus) tire.

My last plane was a '56 G35 Bonanza. I ran Michelin's on it and had no issues in the 3 yrs/450hrs I had that plane. Some advocate retreads. I do not. I'll spend afew extra bucks and buy new every time. Now if you want to save money install them yourself.

What? Be careful with dropping aerodynamic absolutes- IE, 'never stall a jet'. Not true. Instead try: Avoid prohibited maneuvers as published in the flight manual or other operational guidance. OK, if you're talking about during the course of routine flight operations you should avoid stalling the airplane...yes, good tip. BUT, we all should be comfortable performing both power on and power off stalls in our Mooneys. WIth a competent CFI if you're uncomfortable. Back to spins in the Mooney (or any other aircraft where intentional spins are prohibited). NEVER intentionally set out to go for a spin in your Mooney outside of an approved flight test program.

Know your critical actions. Failure to know/follow emergency procedures has a much higher potential to kill you then the actual fire! I will however throw the bullshit flag on what appears to a notion that with an inflight fire you have 90-120 seconds to land or death. There is no magic timer. Each situation is different. While only 1% of all GA accidents are inflight fires be prepared. Know your procedures practice emergency descents. You're entering arguement should not be to put yourself is such a corner as to PLAN on arriving at 300 AGL at Vne....really? Secure engine via POH procedures, Gear down, Vle, descending spiral (G to keep IAS on target), level it off at 500 AGL pick your crash site and fly it all the way in!

Hold on to the AWC! Surrendering the old registration card is OK ( In your case, I'd mail the old reg card back to OKC directly and inform the previous owner of such). AWC stays with the plane. Something sounds fishy about the previous owner's request for the AWC...NO!

Be Careful, Flying multiple aircraft types is THE classic setup for negative habit pattern transfer between aircraft types (wrong switch-wrong aircraft). Depending on what your hopping between there are significant variations on control locations and panel layouts which means there is no one-size fits all flow. I advocate for basic GUMPS checks, but beyond standard safety checks reference the checklist - especially moving between different aircraft types. Pet peave: Most GA pilots are in too much of a rush for absoluetly no reason. Let's just say at idle your burning 2 GPH @ $6 per gallon. Your ground idle time costs 20 cents per minute. Even if you take an entire 5 extra minutes to ensure you're ready to go (checklist, avionics, ipads, etc) you'd spend a whole dollar!

Just to clarify, I'm not advocating commuting to your local beach in your Mooney, but a known/charted landing area (Vargas Island) sounds like fun! www.bcflying.com/index.php/islands/details/3/19/islands-vargas-island and another video: http://vimeo.com/17232618

After you split the wheel you must also flip the tube so the valve stem is on the appropriate side. Re-use same tube, inspect, repowder, re-install - GO FLY. Nearly ALL Mooneys are bowlegged creatures so our outboard mains will wear first. Hence the flipping practice as required on condition (during the annual is a good chance while your repacking the bearings.