pinerunner

I'm working towards my IFR too. My old M20E doesn't have an autopilot and in 1963 they didn't even put in the positive control wing leveler so I'm missing that advantage. I'm on a tight budget so I ponder this question quite a bit. Many say it's very foolish to attempt IFR without an autopilot. I think it's possible but you need to be very careful not to put yourself into a situation where the workload overwhelms you. You don't get to take a coffee break but you can tell ATC to wait. I'm pretty sure if you do that much they'll want to have a talk with you. I'm pretty lucky that my son, who I helped get his private, is now enrolled in a B.S. in Aviation program so in a year or so I'll have the perfect secretary. Also he may be able to help me with the cost of strategic upgrades. If we get an autopilot, he'll probably be the one to pick it out.

My boost pump started leaking and I had to have it replaced. I've had an ongoing eletrical problem where it doesn't charge unless you turn the master off and on once it's started. Cleaning up a bit of corrosion where the ground attaches seemed to cure that, but it seemed to return.

I'm not thinking about springing for a total glass panel, though if John Travolta wants to buy me one as a charity tax writeoff I guess I could go along with that. The Garmin G5 has really got my attention however. I'm very likely to get at least one of those in the next couple of years.

I agree with what he said. If you could easily afford a J you probably wouldn't be asking about the earlier models. I'm happy with my E but only once did I need to put anyone in the back seat and I have short legs so no problem. If I were regularly flying two in the back I would start looking for an older F and I'd be happy with the older gauges. How much money have you got? No matter the answer we can help you spend it. I got my 4 years ago for 35 k$ and I'm having a blast. Spent about 3.5 k$/year on annuals, fixing squawks, and upgrading to a better engine monitor. The older M20 models aren't bad x-country machines. They're just not as good as a more recent J. They all beat a Cherokee so you're sure to be happy.

I agree with the advice to lean aggressively for taxi but takeoff is the one place you want it the richest. I remember an article by Deakins where he reccommended you fight with your A&P and get him to set the mixture even richer then he normally would for takeoff, to get maximum protection from detonation. Once good airflow established then start leaning. Trouble with his recommendations is they get kind of complicated so I don't do all of them and stick with a simplified version. If I need a secretary to read the instructions to me then I'll take the easier road. My nose wheel door got less stained after I started leaning for taxi but it still gets dirty. I'd check my spark plugs and if they look fine I wouldn't worry too much about being too rich. Do you have an engine monitor and a fuel flow indicator?

A well-groomed grass field is not a big deal. I haven't gone into one yet with with my M20E but eventually I will. I will however be picky about which one and when. The only thing I worry about is taxiing my nosewheel into a pothole. I've seen them mowed over in a way that almost makes them stealth traps. If you're going into less than ideal grass strips maybe you should lean toward a Bonanza. Their gear is known for being pretty rugged and they sit up higher. I really dig the Mooney efficiency. That's what got me looking at them, when I read that they have a much higher glide ratio than just about any other single engine airplane. I would not want to go into a gravel strip. With the prop so close to the ground, I'd be afraid of chewing up my prop tips unnecessarily. Beach landings are out for me because I don't want to get salty sand into any of the seams in my airframe. Salt is a real bane for aluminum aircraft. I'd land near a beach once or twice I guess but mostly I stay inland.

A good read, thank you. I found one practice that I have been doing since reading Busch/Deakins. I lean to peak for low power settings to keep the temperature up. This makes particular sense in the winter and I was happy to see it. I unfortunately have a big guppy mouth (my M20E) and I'm cautious about flying when the temperatures up here in Maine get down close to freezing. I worry about over cooling the oil and also about creating a particularly cold spot on one of the mechanical parts of the engine and causing a crack to develop.

One issue you brought up has been on my mind for a while; the missed approach with a J-bar, given that it's hard to get the gear up at higher speeds. I can see two solutions which I haven't tried out well enough to decide (my plane is in the shop while I work on my leaky right tank). Solution 1 is don't bother to raise the gear at the start of the missed approach. Just give it full power and climb at 90 mph (I've got an older ASI). Keep it as simple as possible and worry about raising the gear when you have plenty of altitude and a stabilized climb. Solution 2 is to give it the power in two steps, the first of which gives you positive rate of ascent at an airspeed that will allow easy retraction of the gear. The second step is full power of course. This solution may be too complicated at a point in time where you want to make things as simple as possible. I guess I'll add in solution 3 where you give it full power and climb at such a high angle that you're at easy gear raising speed. I'm afraid you might be flirting with a power-on stall and all the attitude changes combined with reaching down for the handle might be disorienting. If it's done real slick the "Mooney Dip" you would probably do might end up in the perfect attitude for a maximum rate of climb. I'm eager to see favorite missed approach procedures for J-bar Mooneys

Precisely what I'm doing and I found a Mooney specific one too! John Napoli on Long Island.

You're doing the right thing trying to get all these settings squared away before you get very far into the instrument training. My previous instructor felt I was too sloppy with my settings and that it complicated the training so he wanted me to switch to his Piper Warrior which is simpler. In my approach I decided not to have a higher speed approach with gear up like you show in your table. I found that if I slowed down well into gear extension speed, straight and level, then dropping the gear gave me a nice decent rate close to 500 fpm. I want gear extension to be the start of ALL my different approaches in order to minimize the chance that I will forget it. Instrument flying is more complex than VFR and I can imagine, under a heavy workload, that the one item I want a perfect record on remembering could get forgotten.

I give a downward tug on the Johnson bar after I put the gear down t make sure it's really locked in place. I also feel the button with my thumb to be sure it's clicked into the lock position. There have been some cases mentioned out there on the net where the gear seemed to be down but wasn't really locked and folded up right after touching down. One response that I recall was that wear and tear on the J-bar could create a false ridge that handle could hang up on when lowering the gear, making it harder to lock it in and not as secure. I also recall a case where the spring-loaded handle came off when lifting the gear and shot into the rear seat area. The right seat passenger found it and they were able to put it back together well enough to land (my memory only). Bottom line: Johnson bars are simple and reliable BUT keep an eye on wear and tear issues where the handle and the two spots it seats into are concerned. If you don't let them sneak up on you and bite you you should be good to go. In the air you have a great opportunity to check this by slowing down, unlatching, and looking and feeling all these wear spots. Mention it to your mechanic at annual time.

I saw a video where a bunch of people lifted a Mooney that had it's gear go up on a grass strip. If you had a big enough crew you be able to do that. Of course you'd have to be very careful about what they grabbed onto.

It does constitute one more case of loss of power on takeoff. They all make me wonder how to minimize the chance it could happen to me. If you don't count things like not enough gas, water in the gas and not bothering to drain the sumps, what kind of things can shut you down at the worst possible time even if you do an excellent preflight? Would a wobble test at every annual make the difference or just be unnecessary expense. How about buying my own boroscope and learning what to look for (if I can change my own spark plugs it must be legal for me to take a peak inside). Frequent oil changes with testing and checking the filter for bits of metal (mine has been great so far on that test) should add to the comfort level. Is it usually valve problems that suddenly cause loss of power in a plane that has been correctly preflighted?

I've been in rain in warmer weather and a couple of times I've been in very light, dry snow (just a few flakes going by) and had no problem. True icing conditions are the one thing that I think I have to be the most cautious about flying, especially as I go for my instrument rating. I would talk to local IFR pilots as much as possible especially near those mountains which can generate their own version of weather. The thing about ice is you can think you know enough and get away with something a few times and then get into a situation that only seems a little different but generates a lot of ice and no good way to get rid of it. You might follow local pilot reports to get a better idea of the South Carolina weather scene in the winter. The phrase "tickling the tail of the dragon" comes to mind.

There's one thing all the naysayers (concerning your transition from C140 to Mooney) didn't take into account. As someone who started out in a conventional wheeled aircraft you were already well on your way to being a real pilot.

A few years back I got very interested in the Sandel HSI's after reading about the 3308 capabilities. I liked the idea of having multiple navigation in puts into one display and having it linked t a magnetometer. But the newer Sandels were pretty expensive, especially after installation, the older 3308 needed a bulb change every year and the installation for it wouldn't be cheap. Once the electronic displays showed up a couple years ago I've been watching them and licking my chops. The L3 ESI 500 was in the lead because it both allowed magnetometer input and navigation input. Garmin's G5 didn't so it was out. Now Garmin fixed that so magnetic input and a single nav input from a Garmin-approved list can be used and it can be switched from the main mode (like souped up artificial horizon) to an HSI mode giving navigation and heading. They'll be hard to beat but I hope the other companies try. They had said we'd have to wait for the FAA approval but here it is. Could it be the FAA wised up and fast-tracked something that made so much sense? Too bad it only allows one nav input but other than that it's got everything I think I want.

Do you realize if you tie a yellow ribbon around the antenna right in front of the windscreen you get an AOA indictaor!

My 64 M20E has a zone between 1950-2450 RPM with its upgraded prop (no AD, called Hartzell to see if the restriction still applied and they gave me one that was slightly different). I pretty much stay away from that zone and go through it quickly. For landing I pull the power back until it goes out of governance (with prop control full in of course), then lean until slight drop in RPM and then enrich a little (I lean to peak at very low power settings). Then I drop to 1950 RPM to get to under 120 MPH and put the gear down and that initiates descent. I have 1950 RPM and under to play with while descending and if I really need more power I go up to 2450 RPM. They didn't say anything about a low RPM warning zone for my set-up. If I really needed the power I'd get at 2250 when out of governance then I'd use the prop to regulate it down to 1950 RPM and then add manifold pressure, but I haven't really needed that. I go full rich on base leg as a habit so the inspector won't freak when I take my instrument check ride. I do believe in Jonh Deakin's advice that you get in the habit of touching all three controls when making a power increase, but old habits are hard to change. Funny that when I bought it I wanted a COMPLEX aircraft. Now that I've been flying one for a while I try to find ways to make it as simple as possible.

I actually did take off on one mag in a J3 cub when I was a student. I'm fairly sure I had checked it but that was just when it decided to fail. It was a 2000 foot grass strip with trees to clear and it sounded different and barely cleared the trees instead of easily cleared the trees. I was really glad for dual mags.

I'd like to thank you very much for this post. I was raised with bush flying and it's natural that I would be considering just how short a strip I might go into and how to go about it. Obviously speed control is everything and it's that Mooney's would be trickier than a Super Cub, but I had no idea that it could be so easy to have a prop strike as long as you touch down on the mains first, which I understand you did. I routinely use 80 mph in final and slow down to about 75 if I'm going into a shorter field. I've also used forward slips at 90 mph if I'm too high but I haven't explored just how much slower than that I can bring that technique into play. If a freak wind shear isn't the culprit I have another explanation. I think you might have been the victim of an accelerated stall. While I've seen top seaplane pilots skim the trees, drop the nose with full flaps, and flare dramatically to get into short lakes (or even just to save time taxiing back to the dock). I don't think the laminar flow wing on our Mooney's is so forgiving of a sharp pull-up at low speeds, though. With the forward slip you generated more downward momentum than usual and maybe you waited just a split second too long and had to pull up and flare aggressively enough to force the stall. Your experience reminds me that I'm not flying a Cessna. Someone with an AOA indicator could test this out nicely, at altitude. A G-meter would be nice too, or just have your wife sit on a scale and read off the numbers.

It's a spin-off of the original thread

I hadn't heard this. Could you expand on it. I think I've seen my compass get off on east west headings, but assumed ti was because of acceleration. It would be good to know if it were common and even expected. I've been thinking about remote flux gate based solutions but haven't been able to find lower priced versions.

A personal blood oxygen level meter would have offered a way to catch this. They're apparently not very expensive and fit over your finger. You might even be able to rig one up so it sets off an alarm (Sleep Monitor CMS50FW by Contec) if it goes below a certain level. If I mess with higher altitudes I think I'll get one.

This can get a little tricky and be a thorny issue. I think the FAR's are written to allow pilots at uncontrolled airports to use their brains and work out the most sensible solutions between each other. I recall being on downwind with our local instructor and hearing a King Air call in that they were on final for an RNAV approach 5 or 10 miles out (I forget which but the idea is I thought they were way out) so I figured I should finish my landing since I had already announced downwind. My instructor, who was very familiar with the various users at 2B7 told me I clearly had no idea how quickly a King Air would eat up 5 miles and had me extend my downwind and all worked out well. It's not a one size, one rule, fits all, business. Some uncontrolled airports have feeder airlines with serious jets coming and going a couple times a day. On the way back with my newly acquired M20E I stopped at Ellis arifield (uncontrolled) near my son's Marine base to lay over with him for a couple days. As I approached I heard a Delta flight call in that they were on final. I didn't want to mess with them and told them I'd just circle around a bit until they were done. They came back and said they were far enough out and I should go for it. So I turned base a little early, adjusted my final and landing so I would end my landing roll right next to a turn off and get out of their way. It all worked out fine. If I had forced them to go around I would have inconvenienced a hundred people and cost Delta a bunch of gas money. An old Piper Cub with no radio would have a perfect right to go into that airport but he would also have the responsibility to do his homework, keep his eyes peeled, and not cut off the other traffic. I think the Delta pilots know this and have their eyes peeled when going into Ellis. I should hope so. Some of my non-flying friends couldn't believe that an airline would be going into an uncontrolled airport. I think professional levels of behavior at both ends of the spectrum can make it work out fine. The attitude where you figure out when you have the right of way and then insist on it and even fight for it can lead to trouble.

I have an older M20E (1964) with manual gear and Maximum flap extended speed of 100 mph. I get the gear up soon after liftoff before the IAS gets past 80 mph. The flaps follow immediately after that before the speed has a chance to get over 100 mph. Once I'm sure I'm going to clear any obstacles (I haven't needed maximum angle of climb) I want to have the nose just below the horizon for better cooling and so I can see better. That puts the IAS over 100 and gets me great climb rate. From longer runways I just leave the flaps up for simplicity.