robert7467

Thanks, just looking at it, it looks like it will have everything I need.

Basically I dont want to invest in a $70k glass panel, when its not going to help bring up the value of the plane. I am at the point, do I replace the VOR, or do i make a slight upgrade in place of the VOR.

$9,789.00 GTN 650 from Sarasota Avionics "install only"....

I am just looking at all the options, as I dont want to dump a fortune into avionics in this plane.

mark, as far as the ice was concerned, it was just a little building up on the windshield, and we decended and it instantly blew right off. And like I said he was an instrument rated 8,000, CFII, with ATP and Helicopter ratings. I can understand the non IFR punching through a small cloud issue, I get it. But as a student, how the hell am I going to call the CFI with 45 years of exp an idiot? Or, being low time student pilot, how am I going to identify if he is an idiot? Oh, and BTW the weather said the ceilings were at 3700' with no precipitation. I guess you dont get it, I was a low time pilot, this all happened prior to solo, before I even hit the books for the written. I didn't know about weather planning, aeromedical factors, about carb ice, aerodynamics or any of the rules and regs. I was with an instructor that was giving me my first few lessons, how the hell was I susposed to know? Now, fast forward. I passed my written, I went through a 7 1/2 checkride, it would be a lot different if I did any of this after the fact. I do know one thing for a fact.. You dont know me. If you had just met me, and we decided to take a flight somewhere you would be impressed with my preflight action, use of checklist, knowlege of my plane, flying ability. (I did make a bad decision, learned from it) On a forum, I look like that guy that scud runs under thunderstorms, macho, its not going to happen to me, lets go have some fun and puch through clouds, fly bys, one beer wont hurt etc... That is entirely not the case.

Do you know what the most affordable IFR WAAS GPS is? If it has a screen bigger than a radio stack, then I will need to get a GPS navcomm, otherwise something like the 155 will fir perfectly in the available slot.

Agreed, some people say an IFR rating is a legal way to kill yourself. Also I need to work on more aeromedical factors such as all the illusions. For a PPL as far as illusions are concerned, they don’t teach you much, but yet there are so many different types that I need to learn to recognize. When you get a PPL it’s easy to think as extensive as it is, you have all the information to keep you safe, which as I learned that is not the case. On a more positive note, even though I was shaken up on this, I am glad that I learned early on as it will help in all aspects of my flying, and the advice and encouragement that you all have given me has been valuable.

ha

Thats what I am looking to replace with the VOR with Glidescope, I will still have the old navcomm unit... Or maybe I can get it repaired and replace the vor wiithout the glidescope.

I am looking at this for instrument rating purposes only, this is IFR certified, and we do have the HSI as well. As far as everything else we have a 496 with weather, and ipad. Its either I replace or repair the VOR, or replace it with the 155. How is the 155? Is it a signifcant upgrade to a VOR? Is the checklist any good on it? Will it really take 30 hrs to install if there is no cutting on the panel?

I have a garmin 155 that came out of a buddies plane "free", anyone ever use this? Will it work if I add an autopilot? My VOR with the glidescope is reading about 4 degrees off, and I was thinking about replacing it with the 155. The avionics guy quoted me 30 hrs to install this, and looking at the simplicity of the wiring harness, the 30 hrs seems a little off. As far as an autopilot with alt hold, I was quoted $18,000. Does this sound right? As far as the airplane goes, the book on it is around $52k. We are real strict when it comes to maintnence, but I am kindof at this theory that I dont see alot of m20c's for sale over the $50k mark (even with a good panel, fresh paint, fresh interior) and I am thinking that I might not get a good ROI by painting, and investing a whole lot into avionics into this plane. I can send the 155 into garmin, and I think its around $600 to get it checked out.

Good write up. It like my instructor always telling me to pull the power back to 25/26 on climb to "save our only engine". We babied the airplane as far as power settings were concerned, and one of my spark plugs started flowling. With a newley rebuilt engine, the rings did not seat properly on that one cylinder. Told the mechanic how I was running it, and he said to run the hell out of that engine, and climb full power. Upon further research, he was right. I started doing full power, and running it 25/26 and the rings seated and she runs smooth now, and now we are using regular oil.

No its very real. What you guys have seen was an emotional roller coaster. First scared shitless, then maybe never fly again, then the thought process of what I am going to do, then coming to terms that I want to continue on with additional training, thats all.... You guys have seen this entire process unfold, and thats it. I am just going to take it one step at a time, and it will be a long time before I ever take my family back up. I am sure anyone who has ever been through this can chime in. Oh, and btw I like to write..

Tex, you got them mixed up. I have the fly anything CFI, that I later realized, he isn't such a good instructor after all. He us a good pilot, and stick and rudder kind of guy, but now looking back a shitty instructor. As far as instrument, I already have acquired one that is not a time builder in a structured environment. As far as ordering materials, even if I didn't have an instructor, what is wrong with obtaining them and reviewing the materials to get a head start on knowledge? Also as far as recommending that I fly a Cessna for training, why would I not fly the plane that I am comfortable with, and that I own? I am very confident and comfortable with the mooney, and remember in my situation it wasn't the plane, it was the pilot. I have heard a lot of good advice on here, but I don't feel this bit is good. Sell my plane, because I made a pilot error that had nothing to do with the plane, and jump into a Cessna with a 3000 hr engine that sits outside on the ramp. I know the history of my plane, it sits in the hangar, I know that it's well maintained with love. Why would I want to jump in a piece of shit 152 with the paint faded, where you have to pump the breaks and maintenance is questionable. My plane I have done owner assisted annuals, I know how to properly preflight it as a result. I am going to stay in my plane, it's what I am comfortable with. I will take the advice of others, get proper training, and focus on the many issues I need help with. I will also make others aware of the dangers of flying into IMC when they are not properly trained for it. I am starting to think God put me in this situation to help others.

Luckily the maintenance that has been done has been top notch, the electrical issue was a broken brush in the alternator which caused it to mess up intermittently, so when we replaced the voltage regulator, it started working properly then after a couple hrs it failed, when the brushes were the culprit the whole time. This year we had the cowling painted, new tires and breaks, wheel bearings repacked, and a bunch if other little things. The landing light issue was in a different plane. We had the vors serviced and one is off 4 degrees so I am at the vor/ GPS upgrade crossroad. I am trying to determine whether I want to dump a ton of money in adding GPS, Glass, and autopilot with altitude hold, or just buy another plane with all the options I want. Otherwise she has a rebuilt engine and brand new prop, and she us good in that sense.

Thanks Oscar. I did what I could in the best if my ability, I wish while I was up there I could have called my instructor, or opened my textbook but that was not the case. On the ground, I can thank God that I am alive, and think about this with a clear head, and fir the rest if my life I can think about what I could have done to avoid this situation in the first place. As far as the shock cooling issue, that is one example if why textbook is not always right.

You have to admit, that was a lot if shit that was going on. 1st, oh no I am about to hit a wall if clouds, I am going to die if I do that. 2nd, there is a nice hole, I can make that with no problem. Carb heat out, prop forward, mixture rich, pull power to 15 inches. 3rd, oh no, I can't make that hole, so I am going to keep a close eye on vne, but I can do it! 4th, whew I made it, time to start slowing her down to get set up for the pattern. 5th, got 3 or 5 miles, wife look outside and look for towers, I will glance at iPad to make sure no obstructions. 6th, visibility is getting worse, but I can still see. 7th, visibility is getting worse with swirls, time to make a decision. 8th, no visibility is nothing, full power, pitch up towards hole and maintain 120, and don't look out window, look at instruments, trust instruments, don't look out window. 9th after 5 minutes start seeing blue. Start heading north call flight watch. 10th call flight watch no answer. Try 2nd frequency no answer, third time is a charm. 11th told flight watch my position and was assured that southbound was clear, and just an illusion. 12 call tower, notified to report right base for 22. 13th report right base for 22 and cleared to land. 14th cirrus reported 2 mile final and cleared to land. 15th told ATC that I was going to make 360 and follow cirrus in. I then landed, thankful to be alive. I then became terrified and let it work up my mind, to the point where I was questioning whether I was going to fly again. After a few days and some words of encouragement from the aviation community, I decided that as I pilot, I don't know shit, and if I continue, I will need alot more training. Spill the beans on a veteran pilot that taught me what I needed to survive. Then the tension starts rising on this board, and I get into defense posture. To be continued.....

You are likely right. Like I said I can only go by what I was taught, and I didn't want to lose the engine and have to deal with no power, into imc into the boot hills if MO.

You find a hole down, you think you can descend clear if clouds. You start your decent, and realize oh shit I can't descend clear of clouds, but with all this going on you are barely within the structural tolerance of the airplane so you slowly start pulling up before you reach the cloud base. All I can say is this, is there is no way to properly explain my situation, because it happened so fast, and all I can do is fly the airplane, which I did. I did not have time for what I should done, what I could have done, what I will do in the future. I had one goal, and that was getting out of the shit, and to a better altitude, while remaining calm to get to a better place where I can asses the situation, which I did. Unfortunately it's easy to call someone a dumbass in the ground, but if this happened to you, and you survived, you, as well as others on the ground can can probably come up with 100 ways you screwed up. If this situation didn't bother me, and I didn't want to tell others about it, then maybe I shouldn't fly a plane. But instead, I am more than humbled by it, and I do want to tell others, and I will never make the same mistake again.

Oh and by the way I didn't plan on dive bombing into IMC, I did it because because my poor judgment told me I can drop down, and it wasn't the case, so I did what I had to do to avoid zero visibility getting below the cloud base.

Well if I lost my motor, then I wouldn't be able to get out if it. It's easy to analyze on the ground.

Thanks, I agree, this is wearing me out as well. On a more positive note I have ordered IFR training materials, and I start training next week. The hardest part of my ppl, is that most instructors around here are not qualified for mooney insurance, which is why I had to stay with my previous instructor. With IFR, since I am in pilot in command, I can be a little more selective, and if I feel like I am not receiving proper instruction, I can replace him. The way that I got this set up now, is there is a real ball buster instructor, and there is an old instructor that retired from FedEx a long time ago, who also trained his 2 sons who now work for FedEx as captains. I am going to utilize both. I will admit, after Sunday, I am a shitty pilot. Piloting goes far beyond flying an airplane, and like I said in the first post I have failed as a pilot. Like the rest of my training, I will keep you guys posted. Except for the basics, I am pretty much self taught "and it shows", but I did just recently pass a 7 1/2 hr checkride, and didn't miss anything. I have ridden dirt bikes for years and never had a broken bone. I have driven cars since I was 16 and never had an accident, and in the last 10 years never had a ticket. I own my own home, and kids attending private school. I excel at work and show up 2 hrs early every day. I am not bragging, but I want to drive home, that I am not just some dumbass that jumps in a plane that thinks he is macho, and smarter than everyone. Like I tell my employees, I am the farthest thing from perfect, and if I make a mistake, I will fix it. I don't always make the best parenting choices, but I give my kids my best. I obviously didn't make a good piloting decision last weekend, but I will either fix it, or stop flying all together ( at this point I am going to work on fixing it, as I worked too hard for my ticket).

Not saying its right, but the clouds were miles and miles apart, and you can see on both ends, plus we had flight following. He is now working on his instrument rating as well. He has some time working on his rating, many centuries ago. He generally follows the rules, does good preflights, and is real anal about weather. He just knew where I was lacking in training, and wanted to drill down on attitude recovery. Once again, I am not saying what we did was right, but I am able to type on this post as a result of it. Bottom line, I need training, and lots if it from a "qualified" instructor, and I need to take a serious, professional approach to it, and every time I get in that airplane I need to keep in the back of mind that something can go wrong, and be better prepared for it. And as far as rules are concerned, I planed my flight per the rules, and rules didn't keep me from danger, so not only do I have to follow the rules, I still have to be more vigilant. Here is a good rule, I am now licensed to fly at night, but does that mean I should without an instructor since I only meet minimums? Well even though I can legally do it, I still need more time with an instructor. Or, I need to stay 20 miles from a thunderstorm, does that mean I am going to fly with a thunderstorm 40 miles away? If course not.

Well, I had to throw a new twist since this thread was moving towards LOP ROP, and parrots. Like I said, I am humbled, and I realize I need a lot more training, and expierience. This whole thread is about me being extremely humbled, and realizing that I need training. I have already talked to 3 flight instructors, and my DPE and we are coming up with a game plan to work this out. I made the mistake, or series of mistakes that put my family in danger, and I take full accountability for it, and I realize I have a long way to go. I have decent stick and rudder skills, but poor decision making skills. A good pilot wouldn't have been in this mess to begin with. I have came to the conclusion that every pilot has made some poor choices in their flying career. It's life.

He wasn’t a 3,000 hr pilot, but a pilot that has been flying for over 30 years leisurely. And no it wasn’t the guy at the drop zone. Speaking of that guy in his super king air, he lands before the skydivers does.