Openwheeler3

I keep my plane at Skylark. I just got into an overhang which is $80 per month. Before that, I was renting space in a community hangar owned by one of the flight schools on the field. $250 per month with some restrictions on when they were open. Not perfect but it was better than leaving the thing outside.

LD, I'm a 64 pilot stationed at Hood. My first Mooney was a C model and I agree with other posts here that the C is your best value per mile traveled in the certified space. I recommend you go with a C or E at first as you get used to the differences between airplanes and apaches both in flight and ownership. In a C you are cruising faster than most Delta longbows can go at max torque.

"In my C, E, and K model Mooneys I always felt that as long as you aren't taxiing over rough terrain and don't try to force the nosewheel down on a long landing there was no prop strike problem." Pretty much the same with rockets.

Lovely! We will be there in February.

No, I'm a 64 guy. But I've had a couple 58 guys who went over to 150U work for me as shadow platoon leaders. Are you out at Polk?

Current Army AH-64E pilot and troop commander. 1 visit to Afghanistan.

Did you get a transition?

What's camguard? JK...

Same here!

Sorry to hear that. I had the pleasure of growing up with my grandfather and hearing his stories. But. It was only after he died and I became an Army aviator that I had enough context to better understand how it was. Still have his Air Force flight logs, though.

Marcopolo, what squadron was your grandfather in and where was he based during WWII?

Don, I tried to find a hangar in the Austin area, too as I am planning to. I've there next year. I found wait lists at Austin Exec, Georgetown, and pretty much each smaller airport on the outskirts. I did not try Austin Bergstrom itself.

Anyone notice the "required option on a aircraft" statement?

I don't know for sure but I have not seen any log entries indicating installation after the plane was certified in 1984. One broke off on my right aileron, but I haven't fixed it yet. I think it's just riveted on.

Haven't read the article. What does it discuss (I don't have a subscription)? My 84 K has them.

Pieter, I'm by no means an expert but there is a lot of experience on this board. Welcome! I suggest you search all of the threads about overhaul and some others may respond to this post as well. Bottom line is just because you have a couple of bad cylinders doesn't mean you need to overhaul the entire engine.

Who did your interior?

Awesome!

Welcome! Unfortunately, I don't think SWTA offers the cowl mod anymore...

I don't have any cowl plugs but I definitely carry my own tie downs. Many airports don't have them if you land after hours or they are just crappy ropes that are hard to work with.

Danb, I'm with you. I have the range and prefer to go non-stop.

Missile and Rocket.

This weekend I had my first opportunity in a while to fly a longer leg. At 10,000 and 11,000 ft, I ran 33/2300 and 15.8 gph for a true airspeed around 190 knots. Engine ran smoothly enough but TITs were about 1630, bumping right up against the limit. At some point, I will try similar settings at higher altitudes and find out if the resulting TIT and if it is within limits. My concern, as some have already voiced, it the stress on the exhaust system at those TITs. I continue to wonder if running ROP will result in better longevity for all of the engine components. I also found that increasing RPM from 2200 to 2300 resulted in an increase in TIT, but the engine ran smoother at 2300 than 2200.

I'm looking forward to finally being able to tour the factory...

Thanks for the data point. Haven't had much time to fly on the weekends lately, but I'm still working on LOP. It runs ok but I want it to run smoother while LOP.