AlanA

Just a word about fuel minimums since I don't think it has been mentioned yet. Unless I am approaching weight capacity I ALWAYS add more fuel than I need. Most of my flights are XC from Utah to California. When there is weather you have to go around or strong head winds it is so nice to know that you are still going to get there. Makes for a much more enjoyable flight than watching and worrying about how fast your fuel gauge is going down, or what you are going to do if the destination airport is fogged in. The cost to carry the extra fuel is negligble and well worth it.

This week it has been mighty cold throughout the nation! Temperatures subzero in many places. It made me curious as to whether or not anyone has ever had a problem with Avgas freezing (gelling) in their Mooney? According to what I read Avgas freezes at about -54 degrees F. Lately at my airport it has been -10 at field elevation in the early morning. Because of the mountains or clouds I often have to fly 10,000 feet higher. Lapse rates are about 3 degrees per 1000 (in high humidity) to about 5.5 degrees in dry weather. So theoretically if I start at - 10 degrees at field elevation and go up 10K on a clear dry night the temp could be -65 degrees. I assume inside the cowling it is warmer but exactly by how much and where it's I don't know. My question is, at what point do you start worrying about your fuel freezing? And has anyone had any real life experience with this happening? If you did have freezing gas, how did you correct the problem and fast was the problem resolved?

I found both the Novus system and the micromesh pad online on Amazon. The micromesh comes in many grits. What grits are needed?

My last flight had me flying directly west into the sun for almost 3 hours. I noticed on this flight some minor scratches in the windshield glass that I hadn't noticed before. Are there any plastic polishing compounds that can be used to improve this? Recently I restored the old hazy, plastic headlights on my old truck to a brilliantly new-like clear headlights again with a kit I bought at the auto store. Has anyone ever tried a kit like this, or other solution on their windshield to remove minor scratches?

Cross County! I commute twice a month from Utah to California. A 3 hour plane trip verses a 9 hour car trip! 3 to 4 hour trips are PERFECT for a Mooney. I keep a car in both places in case weather is a problem. Then a few local trips in between commutes to practice skills or take friends.

What helps me the most is to keep flying with a bit of power all the way to the ground, but I have long runways to work with. I wouldn't use this method with short runways.

One more vote for WOT descent. I like this method for several methods. It keeps my engine temps more constant, I get home faster, and the Mooney slows down fairly fast if you want it to once you pull the throttle back, especially once you get slow enough to put the gear down.

I stalled my J while under the hood practicing IFR stalls with an instructor. The abrupt wing drop scared the instructor so bad which then scared me. I was afraid to even practice after having seeing his fear. I mentioned this months later to a CFI friend familiar with Mooneys and he reassured me that it was because my instructor was use to trainers and didn't understand that the wing of a performance plane is different. It stalls much faster or all at once rather than very slowly like the trainers. I went up for my Biannal with my CFI and practiced bad stalls of all kinds for almost two hours. Best instruction I ever received. I am much more confident about stalls but still only practice with lots of altitude below. I still give them lots of respect and would never purposely let a stall proceed to a spin. However all the talk about flat spins has me worried again. I need to get more information about fat spins. That's why this forum is sooo good. Just when you think you know what you are doing you find out there is more to learn. Thanks everyone!

So awesome to have someone from the Mooney company on our forum!!

Mine M20J is also a commuter - Salt Lake City to the eastern Sierras. Makes a 8.5 dangerous car dive into a 3 hour plane flight. Love it !!

Thanks for the post - it's a good reminder to me to stay on yellow and taxi slow. I almost had a prop strike after taxing a little to fast and bouncing over something. My speed caused me to lurch forward and I was almost certain the prop would touch the pavement. fortunately it didn't but I could have avoided the worry if I had just gone slower.

Having paid outrageous prices for Mooney parts I am hoping that a larger supply of parts may bring some of the prices down. Knowing that parts will still be available is the big positive here.

in my 201 anything over 6 qts just gets blown out, however if I am going to fly for more than 90 mins I always fill it to 7 qts. I like the idea of having at least some fresh oil in every time I fly. I think of it as a mini oil change for every flight. Then because I have been continually adding fresh oil I extend my oil change to 50 hrs instead of 25 hrs. I have no data to prove it extends my engine life but it makes sense to me. The downside is I have to clean the belly more often, and it is harder to monitor actual oil burn.

Thanks. The forums have been so helpful!

I'm routinely between 11,000 and 13000 commuting over Utah, Nevada, and Calif mountains. Had it as high as 17,700.

Glad to hear there are others of you with oil temps that that are slow to move into the green. My J is the same.

I ended up replacing my switch because I like everything to work that is suppose to work, however because it was sooooo expensive to replace it ($600), I find myself afraid t use it for fear it will go out again. It works now but I mostly just use the trim wheel. Ridiculous that that part should cost so much. Must be made by NASA.

Mooneys can sometimes be "tight" for older, bigger, or less flexible people as they get in and out. Once you are in though, they are very comfortable and plenty spacious.

Whenever I carry passengers I tell them that it is their job as "co-pilot" to ask me if the gear is down as we approach the airport. It doesn't help when I am flying alone, but often having passengers is distraction enough to forget things, so put them to work. It doesn't replace my checklist but it is one more layer of safety. Makes them feel important too Interestingly, I have a friend who use to fly a Cessna P210 who had a gear up landing after the tower changed his routine. His first flight after the very expensive repair he flew the mechanic to pick up another airplane. They decided to race each other home. In the excitement of everything he landed AGAIN without his landing gear. Ugh... two gear up landings in back to back flights. Moral of this story is even after a gear up landing pilots are still vulnerable to do it again.

I did the same thing and now have no cover for the baggage door release. If you find where to get knew ones please let me know.

I've noticed that many passengers are not comfortable not being able to see over the panel like they are use to in their cars. I bought a little seat cushion they can sit on to help them see better. They seem to really enjoy the flight better this way. Maybe there is also something for back of seat so they don't lay back as far.

Congratulations! I bet you are itching to be flying again. If I go more than a week or two without flying I begin to fill the "hunger" to get back at it. Have fun!

This is a good question because it also applies to how much extra gas to put in the tank if gas happens to be cheaper at one airport verses another. In other words what is the cost of filling up your tanks to save 50 cents a gallon and flying that extra weight (say 30 gallons) to your destination? Does the cost of the extra weight eat up the savings of cheaper gas?

Ditto: Make us proud!

I use to drain a small bit of water from my right tank until I replaced the O rings. Did it myself. Very easy. Very inexpensive. Good posts on the site already on how to do it. Now never a drop.