BigTex

I had something similar in that my low voltage light came on when I ran my Nav and/or landing light... After much work, it turned out to be the alternator switch.

Stay away from 15W50. Google mike Busch's webinar "All About Oil" and give it a watch. Aeroshell 15W50 is the ONLY oil he has his clients swap out. Basically he goes with Aeroshell 100 and a will know additive. In winter months he recommends X/C 20W50+ an additive.

Stupid is as stupid does...

This is the exact reason everyone should go through a 10 hour basic aerobatic course. In many cases, folks that when this happens will pull on the controls and split-S right into the ground.

Yves, then obviously you're not drinking beer from the correct brewery. Everyone knows that America has world class beer... And I'm not talking about that yellow fizzy stuff!

So rob, are you Rob?

I brought my wife for the first time last year. She's not into aviation so I only scheduled three days. Well, she had an absolute blast. As we were leaving on the third day, parting comment was that next year we need to make sure we stay for the entire week! Unfortunately our schedule didn't work out for 2013 and she was truly bummed. So folks that are concerned their wife's wouldn't like it, don't be.

And for some strange reason, I get a thrill every time that nice English lady whispers 'TRAFFIC!" in my ear...

I never understand why folks insist on performing maneuvers or anything else that's prohibited in a given aircraft. If you have an itch to do some aerobatics, go out and fly something that's designed for it. I've done a fair amount of aerobatics in my day but I'd NEVER consider doing it in my Mooney. I guess it must be a macho thing. For those folks doing aerobatics in aircraft not designed for it, don't be surprised if Darwin kicks in. Remember there's old pilots, bold pilots but no old bold pilots.

Skynewbie - help me understand why you feel the controls are heavy and why you think that's a bad thing? For a cross country plane, I consider the controls almost perfect. Until you take something like a Decathlon or any other aircraft with light controls cross country, you'd die for something as stable as a Mooney. I did that many times flying to aerobatic competitions and fought it the entire time. If you find the controls too heavy,maybe you have a different mission profile Than what the plane is intended for. I suspect you've not got enough experience to know what to look for for a given mission profile. So tell us on this forum why you find the controls so objectionable? Inquiring minds want to know!

You can always scope the cylinder... That might tell you something.

My O-360 oil usage depends on its level. At 7 qts, I have to add a quart every couple of hours... At 6 qts, I can go 10 hours between additions.

Also, Part 121/135 folks have all but eliminated the two biggest killers in GA and that's VFR into IMC and Maintenance Induced Failures.

Wow... What a great question. I always thought it was a combination of hours, procedures and maintenance but can't wait to hear others response.

After reading through this thread I almost hate to jump in... But what the hell. Talking to my brother in-law that flys a 737 for a major legacy airline based at DFW and he said the he flys his approaches almost exclusively using the AOA. Not sure if we're talking apple and oranges but if major airlines use them, they must have value. I too am considering having an AOA installed. Not to replace the ASI but to put another tool into my toolbox. Trust me, I need as many tools as the toolbox can hold! Since I fly one of those low-end Mooney's with a carburetor I could really use carb temp gauge to monitor carb icing. Do I need it? No. But it would be nice to have a way to monitor icing and not rely on procedures as I do now. I see the AOA indicator is being a similar instrument. Both would be very welcomed additions to my toolbox.

You seem obsessed with what you consider as "heavy controls." No offense Skynewbie but what would you know about heavy controls? From what I see, you're still learning to fly. Get your PPL and come back and we'll talk the finer points of flying.

I actually had the same thing happen after Don Maxwell adjusted them. It took two pumps before they started to lower. Don said that I should just start working them and they'll start working over time. Sure enough he was right. After a couple of weeks, they're back to normal.

Just a parting sad story... I was up in Oshkosh in 1979 (yes I'm old as dirt) and there was a guy up there named Neumann (no Seinfeld jokes!) . He brought his newly finished aircraft called the Neumann N2 (we never figured out what happened to the N1). He drew large crowds around showing off his handy work. He was immensely proud of what he created. He was the buzz of the '79 Oshkosh. From what everyone there could tell he violated virtually every know commonly held standard or practice for building aircraft. At the time I saw this plane, it has not flown, he hauled it in for display. The general consensus was that this thing would never fly. Unfortunately it did. Somehow he managed to talk the FAA into providing him with an airworthiness certificate. Well he flew it and as you can read from the excerpt below from the NTSB report, he performed light aerobatics and exceeded speed limitations. Narrative: THE NEWLY RATED PRT PLT WAS ON HIS 12TH FLT IN THE RECENTLY CERTIFICATED HOMEBUILT THAT HE HAD DESIGNED AND BUILT HIMSELF. WHILE PERFORMING AN UNKNOWN MANEUVER BOTH HORIZONTAL STABILIZERS AND BOTH WINGS SEPARATED FROM THE ACFT. THE ACFT WAS RESTRICTED FROM PERFORMING AEROBATICS HOWEVER, AN ACFT LOG THE PLT KEPT REFLECTED THAT HE HAD FLOWN THE ACFT IN A STEEP DIVE RECOVERING AT 140 MPH. THE ACFT WAS REDLINED AT 103 MOH. HE HAD ALSO LOGGED THAT HAMMER HEADS AND WING OVERS WERE PERFORMED BY HIMSELF IN THIS ACFT. Complete Link: http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=40477 The moral to this story is that rules and regulations are in place for a reason. If they are discarded, disastrous thinks can and will happen. I think if Mr. Neumann was around today, he'd agree.

If you don't want to invest in something relatively current, I'd forgo installing any additional avionics into your plane. A GPS and/or Auto Pilot are not required for IFR flight.

So, let me get this straight... On your landing thread (too bad it's gone), you discarded all of the recommendations from this forum on how to land in favor of your old salt instructor because according to you he can fly anything with wings. Is this the same guy that you're now saying isn't even a CFI? What were/are you thinking man??? I would seriously consider selling your Mooney. You really don't have any business flying that plane right now. Take some time off... six months... maybe a year. After you've had time away from aviation, re-evaluate if aviation is for you. If the answer is yes, find the best flight school in your area and get yourself current an something like a 172 and rent their planes. It sounds like you need a very structured environment that a flight school will provide. Enroll at the best flying school in your area, train in their planes and forget flying your Mooney. By you going out and purchasing IFR training materials before you have an instructor tells me you still don't get it. ... no more from me on this topic.

Only because they don't have a choice!

LEO's can't randomly pull you over without cause. I just don't see any difference between operating a car, plane or anything else that requires an operators license. FWIF, I have the same issue with the Coast Guard boarding boats to perform random "safety checks."

Robert - I still consider myself a relatively low time pilot and I already have a list of "events" that could fill a book. I've had a wrench left in a tail of a Decathlon by a mechanic that lodged in the tail causing the elevator to lock up (caught on pre-flight!). I've met aircraft taking off the opposite way right at my flair. I've had my cabin fill up with smoke from when a mechanic forgot to rinse off engine cleaner resulting in an emergency return to the field. I've had numerous instrumentation malfunctions as well as engine issues. We all have tons of stories. Why do you think pilots like to hangar fly? We all think we have a story that can top the other guy! Maybe put a hold on taking passengers and start work on your instrument. When you have your IR, you'll have much more training under your belt and experience. Then you'll likely fill confident in your ability and ready to take passengers again. As others have said, you have to learn from it (which you did) and move on. If on the other hand you still can't get past this, maybe flying isn't for you. It's not for everyone.

We all know that operating a car or aircraft is a privilege, not a right. The real question we're discussing is why would a person with a pilot's license not have the same rights under the law as folks driving a car? Both are privileges and should have the same protections/rights.

Too bad you guys can't upgrade to a carbureted engine!