adrian

I put a manual valve in under the panel in my '66 E. If you have an Aspen PFD, it is absolutely essential, as a blocked static causes the attitude indicator to fail within a few seconds - as well as all the other problems that you would expect.

Bad things come in threes. My Skytec has died after just six months. :-(

Interesting input from piloto. All Mooneys will have had to demonstrate safe and predictable spin recoveries with standard control inputs as part of their certification, so there shouldn't be any surprises - not that I have any intention of experimenting. Fortunately thanks to YouTube we can all watch a spin.... looks like an F model, with a teenage boy in the right seat being filmed by his dad in the back. The pilot demonstrates a stall, then spins from 2,800ft - inadvertently if one believes the boy's comments below the video, but who knows?

Usually no flaps for me, especially if I'm going to climb into IMC soon after takeoff. The ground roll is shorter with flaps, but it's pretty short without them in an E. The flap limiting speed is very low, and there is a significant trim change on flap retraction. Taking off without flap means a much lower workload just after takeoff. (LOP / full flap landings / sealed long range tanks / haven't tried Marvel Mystery, but might give Camguard a go!)

Alas I flew my Mooney away from its old base in Brunswick in August. It's a lovely part of the world to fly. The short hop to Wiscasset was a regular favorite, either for cheap fuel or for grilled burgers in Mike and Ann's hangar, or lazy afternoons talking airplanes with the lovely group of people who make the airport such a friendly place. Have fun!

Not sure - I'll check next time I fly. The change from mph to knots didn't need any involvement from Aspen - the avionics technician did that after installation in the aircraft.

The Aspen in my M20E is calibrated in knots. The avionics technician was initially reluctant (although he worked for my company), but I convinced him that the old analogue ASI which displays mph and kt was the primary, and that as there was no requirement for a backup display (the Aspen) it didn't matter what units I used. The only advantage of mph is that the gear and flap speeds don't seem quite so depressingly low!

I know... Don't depress me! But as a small consolation, we have a nicer Paris than Texas, even if 100LL costs ten times as much!

Sounds lovely! It is the same age as mine, and has a lot of the same mods. Unfortunately I'm not keeping up with you on flying hours - only 55 hours in the last 8 weeks, and that includes flying it to France from America. flight2000 - We afford the gas by flying M20Es with Monroy tanks which allow us to fill up where it is marginally cheaper. Despite which it is still so, so painful. $12.92 / usg yesterday, at the idyllic Saanen airport in Switzerland.

Finally properly home. It's amazing what you can do in a 1966 M20E, which I bought for about $20,000 just last year. With a bit of TLC, and a smattering of new toys, it has become a fabulous travelling machine. Thanks to everyone on this thread for your support and encouragement!

I had a long chat yesterday with Alain Horiot, and was able to buy some oil. (The airport manager told me that the airport used to sell oil, but stopped several years ago because it was "too complicated".... it is going to take me some time to re-adapt to flying in Europe after the last few hundred hours in America.) Weather looks good today, once the morning fog clears back home, I can get some fuel nearby now that conditions are VFR.

José, thanks for the useful information. If I ever bring the Mooney back to the US, I will certainly look at an installation like yours. In the meantime, the problem is getting home.... My aeroplane has now been imported into Europe (and I am much poorer as a result), and I have made it to Troyes airport, just an hour from home. I tried leaving yesterday, having been assured by the on-site meteorologist that there was no significant convective activity on my route. I'm not sure how bad it would have had to be for her to call it "significant", but moderate turbulence, >1000fpm updrafts, lightning and torrential rain, were clues that it might be best to turn back. And because it is holiday season in France, the airport has run out of avgas, and I no longer have enough in the tanks to fly anywhere else with IFR reserves! Still, it is nice to be back in France. The wine and cheese last night were superb!

Does anyone know what structural changes were made (if any) when Vne was increased on the M20E? It is annoyingly low in mine!

I looked at the same. With the MARS mod, and an auto-tuner added it would be ideal. I was thinking of a portable installation, as I won't be doing this journey regularly. I have been told that on departure from Goose Bay nowadays, you are transferred to Gander who do an HF check; also physical checks have apparently been carried out at Goose. In Reykjavik we saw a beautiful M20K, fitted with a retractable HF antenna. That would be a much better solution than a temporary fixed antenna. I see from flightaware that it is now in Toronto - registration N400MW. It seemed to be particularly well equipped for long distance flying. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet the pilot.

Thanks! Five hours is about my limit for sitting at the controls. Our longest flight was 5.5 hours, and I was ready to stop. The routes from Goose require HF radio. You can obviously bluff your way around that, but it didn't seem worth the hassle - and the weather to the South was very poor when we flew. I looked into making a home-made HF radio, by modifying a ham radio - it can be done quite simply for about $1000, and I would consider that if doing the trip again. For me, a big part of the pleasure was flying over the mountains of Greenland, which are stunning. I have done most of my flying in the French Alps, often in a ski-plane, and have become quite happy flying over pretty rugged terrain. I would love to go back there in a taildragger on skis..... one day, maybe!

Errrr.. I'm not very good at keeping track! Flight time from Maine to Southern England was about 28 hours, I think. I didn't keep all the fuel receipts, because some of them are just too painful..... especially the $730 for 2/3 of a drum of fuel in Kuujjuaq. We generally flew at just over 150kt TAS for about 9.3 gph, at about 9,000 ft. The Monroy long range tanks turn the M20E into a fantastic travelling machine for two people. On our longest flight from Canada to Greenland, we flew for 5.5 hours, and landed with 35 gallons remaining - very reassuring in an area where alternates are a long way apart, and the weather can change fast. The things I would like to change on the aeroplane are: 1. I want an autopilot! 28 hours of hand-flying, almost all IFR, over 4 days was pretty tiring. 2. The gear and flap speeds are far too low - as is Vne. 3. I want electric trim. When two people are in the cockpit, wearing survival suits, it's very difficult to reach the trim wheel! 4. The Aspen PFD is too bright at night. But for an aircraft built in 1966, which hadn't flown for 16 years before I bought it last year, I think it is absolutely amazing, and I love it.

We made it to Iceland today, over the icecap with a brief stop in the village of Kulusuk, on Greenland's East coast. What a day! Rubbish weather for the first couple of hours over the water from Greenland to Iceland kept us down low to avoid icing, in a very wet cloud. But in the end we made it, only to find another very splendid Mooney on the ramp of Reykjavik airport. Fuller update on the blog - http://n822e.wordpress.com/

Vicious headwinds today, and a long flight - 5.5 hours. But we made it to Greenland. What a fabulous destination! Some pictures on the blog: http://n822e.wordpress.com/

Merci, Gilles. After a few changes to the plan, we are finally en route. We have made it to Kuujjuaq in northern Québec. Greenland tomorrow!

José, I have 88 gallons of fuel - so plenty of range, with a normal LOP fuel flow of just under 9gph (or 6gph if I slow to 120kt). But I find 5 hours is a very long time to sit at the controls, and don't want to try Canada to Iceland direct. I fitted the long range tanks so that I would have more options for alternates, and also so that I can take full advantage of the occasional low fuel prices in some parts of Europe once I am home. Thanks for the links! Adrian.

Me too!

Yes. Definitely in 2013! The weather between Greenland and Iceland is rubbish at the moment, and for the next few days it seems. It's also cloudy and snowing over the icecap. If I was flying a turboprop with boots, I might think about going - but it's no weather for a little Mooney. Fortunately there's no rush, and things will improve eventually.

Thanks everyone. Weather looks set at least for the first half of tomorrow's flight from Maine to Iqaluit. Most likely we'll then spend a few hours bumping through the clouds, wishing we had an autopilot!

If anyone is interested, I hope to leave the United States in the next 2 or 3 days to fly my M20E to France. Progress reports here: http://n822e.wordpress.com/ Can't wait to get going!

I'm planning this trip for sometime soon, taking an M20E back home to Europe. Probably leave soon after Oshkosh. Insurance - you will need to meet European legal minimum liability insurance requirements. The quote from my US insurer was an additional $1000 premium. This covered me to make the ferry flight. The European insurer that I will use charged a much lower amount, but required a pilot on board who had done 5 single engine Atlantic crossings. I'm taking a friend with me who has done about 300 at the last count, so I'm going with the European proposal. Routing. The route that piloto suggests (Goose Bay to Narsarsuaq) requires HF radio (it is a requirement for the whole of the Gander Oceanic control area, at altitudes below 25,000ft). I am told by several ferry pilot friends that the Canadians police this requirement. The non-HF routing is via Iqualuit (CYFB) then Sondrestromfjord (BGSF) then to Reykjavik - with a stop between the last two if you feel like it at Kulusuk, on the East coast of Greenland (BGKK). This routing is a bit further, but it is legal without HF, the legs are much shorter and it gives you more options. Flying Goose Bay to Narsarsuaq, an alternate is likely to be a long way off, and fuel planning becomes critical. CYFB to BGSF is 487nm, and there are reachable airports to the North and South - or a return to Iqualuit is feasible. Customs. You might get away without it, but you would be well advised to get a customs broker in Europe to give you a T1 form for your aircraft, showing that it is in transit in Europe and will be returning to the US. This shows that you don't have to pay sales tax on the aircraft. Some European customs officers are a bit zealous, and a ramp check without the appropriate paperwork would be very tedious. To be legal for IFR in Europe, you should have a DME. And there are lots of approaches that allegedly require an ADF. IFR flightplans must comply with the European routing computer's idea of sensible routes... which are anything but. A (free) subscription to www.eurofpl.eu (great site created by an American ferry pilot) will solve the routing problems. Have fun!