omega708

That sir, is sexy.

Congrats! That's my next step... I've watched my ground school DVDs and am registered to attend a classroom ground school in mid-August. I'll probably schedule my written for shortly thereafter.

Quote: Mitch Below is copied information off of mooney@aviating.com forum this morning. The bare facts: John Barthomolew of Sioux City Iowa was pilot. John was uninjured. Wife Pat was taken to hospital with possible fracture of tibia. Released with crutches but no cast or brace. Both in good spirits at dinner last evening. Landing was on 36R, normally a taxiway, in a tricky quartering tail wind of 8 knots from 240. Plane left the hard surface into the grass, caught a wingtip on a long line of parked trucks and rotated nose first into same line. One report suggested plane might be totaled. John and Pat expected at BBQ tonight. Other news: The first all-formation Caravan to Oshkosh was a huge success. 28 planes including 2 planes invited from the Cherokee to Oshkosh group as observers, had a faultless flight from Madison in excellent weather conditions.

Quote: BigTex Sure... It's a PDF. PM me your email address.

If you have those drawing electronically, I'd love to have a copy... -JLG

Quote: BigTex How much air flow do you guys get with the overhead vent? Mine has almost no flow to it?

Try here.... http://www.mooney.com/news/mooney-media-image-downloads-3.html Scroll to the bottom. They're fairly high resolution.

Seth, You could always replace one of them with an LED to see how you like it and then replace the other later to keep from dropping double the $$ as the rest of us.

No problem Jelswick. I'd like to hear your opinion on the light when once you use it at night.

Quote: Seth That's too bad to hear. I had heard good things about Whelen. Anyone happy with their Whelen landing lights?

Pic, and where are they located?

Quote: DaV8or This poll should have included a "Yes I am instument rated, but not current." option. Getting the IR was tough, but keeping current has proven even tougher. Now I'm so far behind, it's pretty much like starting all over again. Having the 430 doesn't really help much either. That thing is a user interface nightmare. Anybody know of a FAA approved simulator with a 430 in it in my area? This is posted by the real Dav8or!

I'm having my "shotgun" panel replaced early next month to a standard layout in preparation for my Instrument training. Additionally, I'm upgrading my avionics in the next 3-4 months. My plane is currently "IFR Certfied" but the panel layout and antiquated avionics don't provide the situation awareness that I'd prefer. I still have about 6 hours pre-paid in a Piper with a nice Garmin stack that I'll use up between getting my pilots panel redone and the avionics upgrade. For right now, I'm just watching my ground school videos and studying. As far as flying goes, at this point, I have all of my required cross country time, but only have about 10 hours of instrument time.

I have a feeling that my issue is due to the seatbelts that were installed when the previous owner added the shoulder strap. For obvious reasons, the shoulder strap needs to attach near your hip, in this case, its just too low on my hip. I haven't been to the hangar in 2-3 days, but plan on checking to see if the belt can be adjusted tomorrow or Wednesday.

Quote: Shadrach Intersting. My seats are installed with the male ends on the inside (next to the J-bar) of the seats and the buckles on the outside. It would be impossible to unlatch my belts putting the gear down, and nearly impossible when putting the gear up. How are everyone else's configured? You may want to swap the positions or your pilot and copilot seats.

Quote: aerobat95 Would you be willing to post some pictures of what the part looks like and then what the installation looks like? I am curious how many hours do you think the intsall will be?

Quote: triple8s I had the same problem and re adjusted the belts using the flat piece near the attach point its a small flat steel piece where the belt loops through and makes adjustment. There is one on each side of my seat. I would like to change out the whole thing for a restraint with a shoulder belt just haven't looked into that yet.

Anyone else have problems accidentally removing their seatbelt when putting the gear down on a manual gear Mooney? Probably 30% of the time I manage to catch the seatbelt latch when extending my landing gear, which unhooks the seatbelt. I think I could remedy the problem if I could find some belts that are about 2 inches longer so that the clasp would be up closer to my waist instead of sitting on my hip.

Quote: knute You can still get in and out of the aircraft into the pilot's seat with a front-facing carseat in the co-pilot seat? I think you're more limber than I am! I'm very interested in this thread, because my 13-mo old son will hopefully be taking his first flight with me soon. We tracked down some toddler-sized earmuffs that seem to fit, and have played with them while we vacuum the carpet so that he knows what they're for, and he seems to tolerate them. Our plan is to put the carseat behind the pilot seat, then put my wife in the rear seat next to him with the copilot seat full forward to give her more room. (E model, so it's legroom-challenged in back!) He's flown commercial with us a number of times, and as long as he's eating or drinking on climbout or descent, his ears seem happy, so we're lucky there. (Something that encourages swallowing definitely makes a big difference)

I don't mind at all. However, if you take a look at the pictures posted by Robert14 on January 1, you can see what it looks like. It is the tiny black knob below and slightly to the left of his throttle. When the valve is pushed in, the PC is disabled. You simply pull the knob about 1/2 inch to engage the PC. Based on the simplicity of the system, I would be shocked if it takes an hour to install... I'll follow up on Monday evening or Tuesday morning with the pictures and install time.

PC bypass valve arrived from Brittain yesterday. Mechanic is scheduled to install on Monday. The Brittain part number is 11516 and the cost was 123.61 + 10.03 shipping. The bypass valve came with the necessary tubing and fittings.

Thanks for the great input! The trips we are planning for this spring are from Central Texas to South Texas to see my Sister and her family. We should be able to stay below 8,000 easily and there are no obstacles around any of the airports on our route that would require rapid ascents / descents. Her car seat is rear-facing, so we have tried putting it in the co-pilot seat and mom sits in the back seat behind her so that she can easily reach her if necessary, and that seems to fit nicely. We're planning on ordering a set of these ( http://www.earmuffsforkids.com.au/ems4bubs ) or having my wife sew a similar headband for a pair of ear-muffs from a shooting headset. The "girls" did go on a trip with me, a few months back, from the hangar to the wash bay, and she didn't seem to mind my Browning shooting muffs.

My wife and I recently had our first kiddo and up until now, we've just dropped her off and Grandma's when we get ready to go on a quick Saturday or Sunday trip. I've done a decent amount of research on hearing protection for infants, and have validated that her car seat will fit comfortably in the back seat of the Mooney. My question is this. What other special precautions should I take when flying with an infant. We're not planning any trips with more than 2.5 hours aloft, but I am specifically concerned about pressure on her ears. Should I simply fly at the lowest safe altitude (~ 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle) for our route and plan my ascent and descent carefully to allow time for pressue equalization? Since most scare-lines pressurize their cabins at a pressure equivalent to roughly 8,000 MSL, will flying in our small plane be any worse if we keep it below 8k? Which won't present any problems here in Central Texas....

Quote: aerobat95 I called about the alt hold function.....I am now on the list but they said its over 15 months long......maybe someday...

Quote: Mazerbase I liked his last comment, "I almost waited too long." I'm not sure that I would call asking for help just in time to run out of fuel on the descent with a slosh of fuel to the engine making the difference between crashing into the fence and making the runway, early.