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I've been meaning to make one of these spreadsheets for a couple of years now. Any chance you have an example to share?

If your plane is like mine, you may need to clean the seat rails. They can collect some gunk over the years. A bit of time with a scrub brush, some WD-40, and then some brake cleaner got them looking shiny and new and the seats moving much smoother. I don't believe I lubed them after the cleaning. If I did I would probably use Tri-Flow and wipe off all the excess. But I agree with the others that the rollers would be the better place to lube.

I stopped in BBG for lunch about a month ago. Good experience - would recommend Hook and Ladder Pizza. Was able to get a Lyft ride into town with only about a 15 minute wait for pickup, so you might be able to skip a rental car if you don't otherwise need one. It has commercial airline service too as a backup plan. Didn't need any maintenance, but it doesn't look like there is any on AirNav or Garmin Pilot. I'd also recommend visiting the Branson Landing for dinner and a walk along the river at least one night. No experience with PLK myself. Hope you have a nice trip.

Seems odd that the alternator would give out if they didn't work on it and the plane wasn't running. Have they double-checked the grounds on the regulators, and any other wiring that was disturbed during the panel work? Maybe they swapped the regulators but kept the same faulty ground or power wire in place. Just a thought.

You've had better luck than I. Dead or weak batteries and flat tires can happen anywhere. Minor inconvenience on a field with services. Major problem at an unattended field with cheap self-serve on a weekend. I do love finding off-the-beaten path airports and going there, and supporting them. I just don't use them as fuel stops on a long cross-country any more.

One recent data point - just got the plane back from swapping its 430W for a GTN650Xi and adding a SmartGlide button. Waited just over 12 months for a slot at the avionics shop. They are great and did the rest of the panel for us. I pay them quickly and are very grateful they will work us in. They have more work than they know what to do with. The plane just in front of ours was a King Air getting a full $200k+ panel redo. Our "simple" navigator swap took two months. There was a delay related to the King Air that pushed us back, then one of their techs had an injury. Totally understandable, and that's just the reality of things at the moment. I can't imagine even asking them to supervise an owner install. They did tell me that this year, some of their customers are canceling their orders when they call to say their slot is up, which is new. Reasons given include deciding to just sell the plane instead. First signs of a slowdown? Maybe there's some relief on the horizon for this problem.

When I first started flying long cross countries, I picked airports with the cheapest fuel for fuel stops. After a few issues, I now choose airports with 1) maintenance facilities, 2) commercial airline service, and 3) nearby restaurants, hotels, and Uber/Lyft service. It's insurance for both aircraft maintenance issues and weather. Being stuck on the ground on a Sunday in the middle of nowhere with nobody staffing the FBO can really interrupt your trip. And I've had to use the airlines to get home once. For where you're going, fuel stops that meet those requirements would include Garden City, KS (KGCK), Liberal, KS (KLBL), Tulsa, OK (KTUL), Springfield, Missouri (KSGF), Little Rock, AR (KLIT), Montgomery, AL (KMGM), Tallahassee, FL (KTLH). I'd try to pick my way from one of those to another based on the weather that day, and be flexible about it. Any of them also makes a pretty good overnight stop if you need or want to break it into two days. Florida's airspace around Miami and Tampa is always a challenge. It's very busy and the controllers don't like dealing with slow piston aircraft. Their preferred method of dealing with you is to route you 20 NM offshore at 4,000 feet, which feels uncomfortable in a single engine. You will want to either stay VFR and outside the class Bravo as long as possible, or file IFR and try your very best to sound like a professional airline pilot on the radio and hope they work you in. It helps if you file an arrival procedure in your flight plan, in my experience. They'll usually give it to you and let you fly it. Good luck and have fun.

If I understand it right, the extra 10 HP of the TSIO-360-SB engine in the Encore is only used for takeoff and climb with its extra 3" of manifold pressure over the MB in the 252. At the same cruise power settings it is producing the same power. The same engine block and pistons can be converted from one configuration to the other. I'm not aware of any reason an Encore would cruise faster. As to why some planes cruise faster than others - I think it has a lot to do with instrumentation variation. When we went from the factory airspeed indicator and engine gauges to new glass, everything changed. At the same recommended MP, RPM, and leaning settings, peak TIT went up 25-50 degrees, pushing the redline of 1650 and even creeping over it sometimes if you don't watch it. As a result, I now fly around with 1 inch lower MP and flow about another 1 gallon of fuel per hour in cruise to keep TIT a little lower. Ground speed is about the same, maybe 5 knots slower. The engine didn't change. I suspect, if the new modern gauges and probes are accurate, we were running the engine slightly harder and hotter than everyone says is a good idea for years, and getting better speed and fuel flows that way. Had one of the faster reported planes in the fleet then, one of the slower ones now, and nothing changed but the gauges. I can still get the 5 KTAS back, and pull another 0.5-1 GPH out of the mixture, but don't like the temps it causes. Also, I think it's possible that some people like to exaggerate their numbers on the internet.

The Mooney is also going to have a final approach speed near 80 knots. Maybe 75 knots. 1,000 NM of real world range is only going to be possible with tailwinds, or maybe at significantly reduced power settings, like 55%, and matching reduced airspeeds. Mooneys are great planes, just trying to set your real world expectations. You will gain some performance over a Cirrus, due to retractable gear, narrower cabin, and not carrying a parachute, but the planes are in the same class and do roughly the same things. I'm not sure a plane exists that can land a lot slower than 80 knots, but also take off and fly 1,000 NM at reasonable speeds. The laws of physics and aerodynamics start to get in the way. Good luck with your search.

After throwing away an old leaky tent after the last time I flew to OSH, I saw some threads here or on Beechtalk and everyone seemed to recommend the Cabella's Alaskan Guide, so I saved it: https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-alaskan-guide-model-geodesic-8-person-tent Have since been to OSH again, but in an RV so no tent required. But I would buy one of those if I were flying in again. Even if going solo, I would get the larger 8-person tent. It gives you enough space to keep your stuff dry and inside, and even set up a folding chair inside to wait out a rain shower or storm.

I've had to use my tie down ropes several times the last few years. It's been at places you wouldn't really expect. Once in Sedona, Arizona, a very busy ramp. I think I parked in the only spot that was missing its chains or ropes - but it was one of the few spots available, which may have been why nobody was parked there. Same thing in Knoxville, TN. Got one of the last open spots, but its ropes had gone missing. No problem since I had my own. Gunnison, CO had hooks set into the asphalt, but no ropes. The hooks were full of hard frozen ice so I couldn't use them anyways, but the FBO was nice enough to triple chock the plane. The Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas ramp has cable running across it for tying down, but I didn't see any ropes or chains to hook it to. I didn't stay, but if I did, I would have had to use my ropes. It's a campground so maybe that's to be expected. I keep the ropes in a soft camera bag that zips closed, so they take up very little space or weight.

Love the speed, altitude performance, and folding split folding rear seats in the 1982 K. Very rarely seem to use the back seats for people, but nice to have the option. Sometimes miss the simplicity and short field performance of the 1968 C. It just had a different feel. More like hopping into the trusty 172 trainer for a local scenic flight. It's not a 172, lots more performance, just closer to one than the K. They're great planes. May have more to do with me doing more training in the C. Lately I'm flying more like an airline - 400+ NM, dodging weather, on autopilot a lot, mission driven. The K can also just go fly laps, but I don't seem to have time. I'm using all the capability it has and wouldn't want to give it up. Going farther up the line to a Bravo, 300 HP Ovation, or Acclaim would add some performance in every category except range. Not sure about the Ovation without the turbo. I'd be hard pressed to ever go back to NA. But all at a big cost increase. And at that point you're knocking on the door of getting into a larger twin or even single engine turboprop for the same acquisition cost.

On the internet, speed goes up and fuel burn goes down every time a pilot reports their plane's numbers.

I would also fly the plane for a while before pulling the trigger. A new-to-you plane probably has some deferred maintenance items and you will find out quickly what they are. We replaced the panel when the old King autopilot and HSI failed at the same time. Went full Garmin 5 years ago and have no regrets. Just upgraded the 430W we kept with a GTN650 to add crossfill, VNAV, and Smartglide capability. You can lower the cost significantly in a full Garmin panel upgrade without decreasing much capability. I see no reason for a second G3X on the co-pilot side in a Mooney without co-pilot brakes. We kept the factory RPM and MP gauges as a backup, which I've had to use (even the new stuff fails eventually). We now have a GTN650 and a GNC355, which is a lot less money than the usual GTN750/650 stack but does all the same things, minus one nav radio I would never use. I would explore those options again before switching to Aspen, Dynon, or Avidyne as a compromise. No shame on those who just want two of the biggest and best of everything, but if you're feeling daunted by the cost quotes you're getting, consider whether you really need all of that stuff to get a functional and redundant setup. The main thing I like is that before there was always some old factory gauge or piece of avionics acting up, and now it all just works. In 5 years I've only had the one failure when the EIS module on the G500TXi went bad. Garmin said that was really rare and wanted it back so they could figure out what happened.

I think about this sometimes. I think there's a reason most private strips you see are short, like 2,500 feet or less. The cost to clear, flatten, and properly grade even a half a mile of runway can be huge. After you spend the money to build it, the job of maintaining it would wear me out pretty quick. If it's grass you have to mow it. If you spend what it takes to pave it, you still have to mow around it, paint the markers/numbers, seal it, sweep it. Fence it to keep the wildlife off. Lights to land at night. A fuel tank so you aren't always making short hops for fuel. Trees grow back, so you have to keep it cleared quite a ways, both on the approach ends and the sides. You would need a full-time maintenance person or two, unless you just want to spend all your time maintaining your strip instead of flying out of it. Every foot of runway length makes this problem worse. Then you've got a strip with no instrument approaches and no weather station. All of that makes the monthly hangar rent at a nearby municipal FBO seem like a real bargain, even though there are things to dislike about it.

There's a technique for tying down with ropes with no slack. You tie the front points first. Roll the plane backwards until they are both tight, and tied forward of the front wheels. Then go tie the tail tightly so it pulls the plane rearwards. You have preload without ratchet straps. Ratchet straps are fine but I don't really like them for this. Hooks bend and get rusty and may or may not fit in whatever system the ramp has built-in. If the hook slips loose somehow, the plane becomes unsecured. Extra weight for the metal parts not needed on most trips. Some line guy might move your plane, re-use your straps, and crank them tight enough to bend your tiedown points. The straps get frayed and damaged easier than rope. Kind of a solution looking for a problem compared to good old fashioned rope and knots. I keep a bag of straps in my truck and use them all the time. They have their place but for me it's not tying down planes.

I use a set of boat dock lines that I keep in a small bag in the plane: https://www.amazon.com/Dock-Lines-Ropes-Boat-Accessories/dp/B08CDWG6Y8/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2N81A3QSSMOVI&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1tROCSP2racoXpnDE_d0FpuUul5GW1rGKFreH4N30hP_A0o3pmF568v8C3HokssqMrM7RhngtAjxqA1DtD-JKFzClJLXXV_5rFhN-Lz6k8db66e35bz0b4FSnDIHP5KjkT_ucCC-hgJ4XWca2xRDs8kHr-OheQ1WWdGpbFy037kSlllonxPtfIqcvQj6kXumnN0ryQ03HBWW6UroQfZEDDuyAus94ujjz43P_pYXH7FFTOQ5Zw3K9Tew_7uxZ8-wmGAjR06pK-GH0JQ8-150zVBi_Z12NMVHqDrTQ27neq8.XE7NRC9VpSjwxwtTe-L7i4JdcucVSQqO9e85Vx8EQrg&dib_tag=se&keywords=boat%2Bropes%2Bfor%2Bdocking%2Bwith%2Bloop&qid=1715769807&sprefix=boat%2Bropes%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-5&th=1 They come with a loop in one end that will go around most tie-down setups on different ramps, or around the hoops in the plane. Use a knot on the other end. Very light weight and no metal hooks to worry about or scratch things up with. You never know if you'll land somewhere without chains or ropes on the ramp. For Oshkosh I got a "Claw" setup which seemed to work well on grass. Have only used it there.

This has been my experience too, and with useful payload dropping to 300 lbs with full aux tanks, I don't do that very often. Usually I will "top the mains" which is supposed to be 75 gallons. That doesn't account for 1) the amount that doesn't go in because you (or the line guy) have to be patient and fill slowly to really top the tanks (minus), or 2) the amount that slowly flows out of the mains and up into the aux tanks during the fueling process (plus). I then fly around knowing roughly how much I have, within 10 gallons or so. The in-dash gauges are inaccurate until the aux tanks are empty, then they get pretty accurate again. They also disagree with the sight gauges in the wing, which also are inaccurate while there's fuel in the aux tanks, then pretty accurate for a while, but under 10 gallons or so just suddenly drop to zero. I just make sure I error on the side of too much fuel and don't push it. Usually I keep an hour of fuel in each main tank as my personal reserve minimum, and then "top the mains" or buy enough for the planned flight just prior to departure. If ever in doubt land and get more.

This is why there's a "multi-year" wait list. Most people on it have no plane or serious plan to get one and pass on the chance for a hangar when their turn comes up. Don't be too deterred by the length of the list. If you're serious about it, someone will find a way to provide your plane with a hangar and collect your rent.

Is there a STC to put rudder trim on a K? Never heard of that. I wouldn't let anyone install rudder trim unless all other efforts had failed. Just another system to manage and maintain that you shouldn't need. I'm sure there are shops closer than Florida that have done it before. Hope you get it figured out.

Looks good. My cowl required a whole bunch of different length fasteners to fit right. Most were 5's but quite a few 4's and 6's. Seems to be a lot of variation in our hand-built machines after a few decades of wear, tear, and repairs. I ordered extras of every length from Skybolt and now have spares in the hangar for when one goes missing.

+1 for the Lamar units available at Aircraft Spruce. Some of the OEM part numbers are now unobtainable anywhere. Some A&P's have been known to install tractor solenoids from the local auto parts store. Don't let them do that. The Lamar units are very high quality and cheap enough to keep spares on the shelf in the hangar or even on the hat rack in the plane.

This is a good way to describe it. I have a 2-bladed prop. At max gross, the takeoff roll is pretty slow, I need 3,000+ feet of runway to feel comfortable, even though the book says 2,500 or so is enough and it probably is. The plane kind of mushes up off the ground around 70 knots. If you yank too hard you'll hear the stall warning. You want to accelerate in ground effect. Once you get the gear and flaps up and hit 100 KIAS, it will do +500 FPM as high as you want to climb and becomes very comfortable. But until then it's a bit of a runway hog. The C model never felt that way at its max gross, although with its smaller tanks and back seat, max gross was harder to get to. I did this once taking off out of Telluride, 9,000 feet MSL, with 3 adults and 75 gallons (6 hours) of fuel on a 70 degree day. Altitude doesn't matter much. The plane will do it and it's amazingly capable. When you're flying light it leaps up off the runway. I would absolutely switch from a short body to the K again. Sometimes I do miss the C model, especially when the K is in the shop, but it's more I wish I still had one of each. Both are great planes, just different price points and capabilities.

I went from a M20C to a M20K with the TSIO-360-MB (252) engine. It is definitely better for back seat passengers. 3 adult males and go is no problem. 4 adults and go, you have to watch your W&B, and are generally limited to 2 hour legs, or else you'll be staring at the fuel gauge and worrying about headwinds, which isn't how I like to fly. If you're hauling 4 adults you will have to tell them to pack light, which is not always popular. It does not climb that great at max gross of 2900 until you're 100+ KIAS. I suspect the Encores or Encore conversions don't climb any better at their higher gross weight, but no Encore owner talks about that. It's a pretty good load hauler as long as you offload gas for cabin payload. At 12 GPH and 170-ish KTAS, it goes a long way on not a lot of gas. Maybe the best in the Mooney fleet for that. The maintenance cost has been more than on the C model, but in the grand scheme of owning a Mooney, it's a rounding error. The turbo has required a little bit, but not much. Dual alternators and voltage regulators have been more expensive. Speed brakes have to be maintained. Extended range tanks to have leaks patched in. Hot prop. Retractable step. Onboard oxygen (this has been expensive). More avionics than you'll usually have in a short body, but not necessarily. Have replaced some cylinders. Have not had to overhaul the engine, but that's probably where the real cost increase is. None of the rest of it is major, and all matched to higher capability, but it all has to be fixed, replaced, and upgraded over time. If you have a regular mission of 4 adults + bags, I don't think there's any Mooney that will really do it well. You need a 6-seater. But the K models are great if that's only an occasional need for you. And I've found it pretty rare that me and my wife know another couple that 1) wants to fly GA with us, and 2) has the flexible schedule required to set off in a non-deiced piston single without radar for a trip, and being OK with the possibility of being delayed 3+ days for the departure and the return if the weather turns bad.

If you have to take the front seats in and out, I found buckling the lap belts and cinching them up tight against the seat bottom gives you a nice handle to both lift them in and out and slide them back and forward to get them on or off the seat rails. I also cleaned at least a couple decades worth of black gunk off the seat rails on the floor. I'm not sure what it was made of, but it took several applications of brake cleaner and a scrub brush to get it all off. Shiny new looking rails was the result, sprayed them down with some tri-flow lubricant, and now the seats slide and go on and off a lot easier. Still not a fun job, but better than before. I'm a younger guy, and the next day after all that cleaning I felt it on my knees and back too.