Today's flight for 2017

[bonal]

A quick trip to VCB for lunch and shopping not happy with my landing today had a bit of a bounce but settled down OK when leaving for home took the RWY after an ICON pretty cool looking airplane real sad what happened to that flight that ended with tragedy at lake Berryesa. Landing at home was gusts of 17 from 80 degrees kind of off center line but ok I hope I'm not getting into a landing slump. Was as always great to be in the air again but noticed Snoopy needs a bath.

[211º]

Under 65% and LOP is pretty awesome. Did a 95nm round robin this evening at 2,500 ft after the rain and overcast slid off to the east. So much fun to see 6.3 gph and GAMI spread of 0.7 on the EDM. 

Smooth as silk, minor corrections with the rudders. Trimmed out nicely. Using amazing-in-its-day Garmin 155XLS and increasing my aptitude with it.

Suggestion for those looking to get a new-to-them Mooney... nothing wrong with steam gauges and an iPad backup. Although I’d love glass and a well working autopilot, getting to know the Mooney - your Mooney - is pretty great on its own. 

[Skates97]

11 minutes ago, 211º said:

Suggestion for those looking to get a new-to-them Mooney... nothing wrong with steam gauges and an iPad backup. Although I’d love glass and a well working autopilot, getting to know the Mooney - your Mooney - is pretty great on its own. 

I agree. Glass and an autopilot would be nice, but my steam gauges and tablet have gotten me all over the place, I can see myself flying behind this panel for a long time.

[Hank]

27 minutes ago, Skates97 said:

I agree. Glass and an autopilot would be nice, but my steam gauges and tablet have gotten me all over the place, I can see myself flying behind this panel for a long time.

That's what I thought when I bought my Mooney in 2007, and I've not done anything to the panel yet. I do have two Brittain units, AccuFlite and AccuTrak; I use the heading bug frequently, especially when traveling. I did buy a CO monitor when Dan set it up in  the spring, though. And now I'm engine monitor shopping . . . Having a G430W makes a difference, though. 

[xcrmckenna]

I agree. Glass and an autopilot would be nice, but my steam gauges and tablet have gotten me all over the place, I can see myself flying behind this panel for a long time.

I have an S-tec 30 autopilot slaved to the gps/heading bug with GPSS. And I still hand fly wayyyyyyy more. It's so much fun flying a Mooney isn't it:)


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[BradB]

Erie to Nairobi, Kenya.   First leg is done.   

 

The rest of the flying will will be done by Air Canada.   Drink time 

 

 

[211º]

Flew to Illinois today... because it was there and to color in another state.

[bonal]

Another run to LVK to spend time with family and  was a very nice flight. Not really using our plane for any fantastic adventures but we are able to travel efficiently above all the crazy traffic in style cruising effortlessly at a relaxing pace over 160mph. Made two really nice landings so worry about getting into a landing slump might be for naught. I know there are always things we as pilots can do better but today's flight was really close to perfect in all aspects. Also very happy to see oil temp is much improved and on our return trip only peaked at 212 on a 6500 foot climb and dropped to 203 for the cruise home. Once above the haze you could see beyond forever with a thick marine layer out to our west and all the mountains in view in every direction you looked. Not a single bump in the air until we were letting down for home but even those were nothing more than a tiny little bump just to let you know there is air out there. 

[gsxrpilot]

This was a formation flight including an M20E and a Cherokee. Needless to say, we kept it slow in the Mooney. Here is the Cherokee coming aboard on a rejoin over Canyon Lake in the Texas hill country.

 

[rbridges]

7 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

This was a formation flight including an M20E and a Cherokee. Needless to say, we kept it slow in the Mooney. Here is the Cherokee coming aboard on a rejoin over Canyon Lake in the Texas hill country.

 

being up by yourself, you can lose perspective on how fast you are moving.  It's eye opening seeing how fast the distance closes between these planes even with minor adjustments.

[HRM]

So, flew The Mistress out for annual today. What was I thinking when I let it get pushed to August? ....and I am soooo rusty, but she, as always, flew me rather than me flying her. Just an incredible bird. The fun part was arriving at KAXH to a flock of training that really tested my non-towered pattern skills, which are, well, let's not discuss here. I enjoyed the way the other aircraft started saying, "I have the Mooney", or "I'm number two behind the Mooney" and "The Mooney's behind me."  

I now have ADS-B IN and it is too cool. Should have done it four flights ago. I am also convinced that if the Houston Bravo Guys and Gals see that you do not have out they WILL VECTOR YOU IN SOME WAY (see map). To be fair, I was heading for KHOU and KEFD, where I normally go over via MHF.

[MyNameIsNobody]

Drove my freshly washed chick car out to the airport for a short flight in search of 100LL <$4.00.  Found success in S.W. Wisconsin.  Went out to assisted living and wished a belated Happy Birthday to my 105 year old next door neighbor growing up.  She is still sharp as a tack and asked me how my adult children (by name) were doing.  A short trip down the hall to my two neighbor down former Tech Sargeant in support of the 101st Airborne during WWII.  Jack saw a lot in is spring chicken 90 some years.  Next off to my in-laws to say "Hi".  Enjoyed my courtesy former police interceptor.  Engine doesn't feel like it has 150k on the odometer.  In laws were relaxing on their three season porch enjoying a couple of swiveling new reclining and rocking chairs.  Great to see all in good spirits.  Prior to my return home I picked up my favorite deep dish pizza for the .6 flight back home.  Nice to have the plane flying so well with no noted squaks.  Dan Auerbach's new solo effort playing in the Bose.  Much to the chagrin of eh 122.5 monitoring crowd.  Put her away while sun was setting and last daylight of a wonderful summer day came to a close.  I love GA and I love my Mooney.

[Yetti]

"Because I was inverted"

[bonal]

Today was wash day since Snoopy was looking a little check that a lot dirty.  My wife met me at the hangar with our puppy and we went to work. It's a big job and am so thankful to have a wife that is willing to help with such things. Turned out pretty nice for the time we spent as you all know you can spend forever cleaning these things. Besides with the upcoming LASAR flyin I can't show up with a dirty bird. Won't be much of a flight though just a taxi across the ramp.

[Hank]

6 hours ago, bonal said:

Today was wash day since Snoopy was looking a little check that a lot dirty.  My wife met me at the hangar with our puppy and we went to work. It's a big job and am so thankful to have a wife that is willing to help with such things. Turned out pretty nice for the time we spent as you all know you can spend forever cleaning these things. Besides with the upcoming LASAR flyin I can't show up with a dirty bird. Won't be much of a flight though just a taxi across the ramp.

Take for for  lap around the pattern!

I need to clean mine up for the Summit . . . . It's almost an hour's flight, and this year we will have ramp time to visit and look at everyone's planes.  

[Skates97]

Had the 500 hour inspection done on the mags and got to take it up for a couple trips around the pattern before it was dark, and then made some short hops to local airports.

(Still working on getting photos and videos for my July flights done... Flew 26.7 hours in July, a personal record for a single month. Stay tuned for an epic blog post this coming week. )

500 Hour Mag Inspection – Night Flying

 

[Vance Harral]

Flew from Longmont, CO to Torrington, WY this morning to catch the solar eclipse.  Can't say enough about the great job the folks at KTOR did with this unusual event.  Very well organized, plenty of parking, great hospitality.  I didn't have a reservation, but figured I'd take off with plenty of fuel and just see how it went.  Turned out to be a piece of cake getting in, and we had spectacular views of the eclipse.  Not bad getting out, either.  Departed about 1pm and we were sitting at home by 3:45pm, including a stop at the ice cream shop on the way home from the airport.  My airplane partner drove with his family, and he's still on the road 8+ hours later (I owe him dibs on the next cool event!)

 

[bradp]

Took my daughter to see the eclipse in Dayton, TN yesterday.   Honey was stuck at work.  One of the beech talk members hosted an eclipse hangar party.  Gracious and wonderful host and his family.  Those beech members are pretty swell.  On the way down I had no idea how much traffic would be migrating southwest.  Green approach plain Jane shut down to arrivals for 30 min to offload some of the volume.   The eclipse was stunning and even my three year old said it was something special when all the crickets started chirping for a few minutes.  After she had her fill of eating raspberries, cookies and showing off her high heels, nails and twirly dress, we departed into another gaggle of traffic on the way back.  I had to do some creative climbing and diverting to stay VMC and avoid some build ups.  Generally atc was amazing given the volume.  Pilots were definitely hit or miss.  You could tell there were a bunch on various frequencies that seemed like they hadn't flown in a decade, but only one  "im declaring an emergency for you" was heard.  Topped the CLT bravo and got some flight following back to the home drone.  Great news was that I'm not aware of any accidents or mishaps yet and at least our airport was pretty much empty on the ramp and more than half of the hangar doors were open on a Monday. 

 

This is with no ADS B in and hide distant traffic turned off to give  sense of how many planes were GA  

[amillet]

Flew.a friend to Friday Harbor (15 min.) to pick up his C182.  Victoria, BC Harbour & Strait of Juan de Fuca sunset

[211º]

Flew from Cincinnati to Kansas City on Wednesday and returned yesterday.  Headwind on the way out kept the GS and IAS about the same the whole way - 140mph at 8500.  Loved seeing 170mph GS at 9500 on the way back though. Under 65% both ways - leaned the cruise back to about 8.2 gph using LOP.  After 4 hours of flight, landed with about 20 gallons remaining in the tanks.

Leaving Downtown KC airport with a right 270 back over the airport - saw a mylar balloon at about 2,000 feet.  Reminded me of Mark's (Hedge's) story of the drone at 4,500 - mine was not nearly as lethal, but the time between "what?" and "it's now past me" isn't too, too long.

[Skates97]

I took a friend up for a short flight to French Valley Wednesday to let him do some flying and have some dinner. It was a great time. I need to find more people to take up flying... On a side note I just passed 170 hours, over 111 in my Mooney.

French Valley Friend Dinner Fun Run

[Yooper Rocketman]

On 7/5/2017 at 7:47 AM, Yooper Rocketman said:

Did a little promotion work for aviation and our annual airport day by participating in our local parade.  The bear in the simulator airplane went over great.  The simulator plane gets set it up with a projector on the wall and a Snoopy the Red Baron simulator program hooked to the center stick for the kids during the event.

We had a 4 car police escort getting the Cherokee back to the airport after the parade (moved it TO the parade at 7 AM before there was any traffic).

Tom

Well, I was blown away this past weekend.  I am part of the oldest established "Pilot's Organization" in Michigan that was started in 1939 by a local aviation pioneer, Mario Fontana.  Anyway, we had the August monthly meeting / dinner and a new member attended, a local business woman who has just started her private pilot lessons.  At the end of the meeting I asked her what prompted her to become interested in learning to fly.  She said she had been looking for something new to do for a while and grabbed her phone and showed me a picture of my pickup truck with the billboard for our airport day on the trailer behind it.  She said "THE FOURTH OF JULY PARADE" and my entry (which she had no idea I was the person driving it).

Guess it's nice to know the work put out to enlighten the public actually pays off sometimes.

Tom

[Yooper Rocketman]

I just completed some maintenance on my Lancair and flew about an hour late yesterday afternoon to verify everything was right (more avionic glitches, but found the problem).  Anyway, after eating a box dinner I had brought along, I called a friend to take along for another 1 hour flight before dark.  She was having dinner with a friend, and asked if he could come along as well.  I said fine but when they arrived I thought he might have a medical condition when they walked from the car to the FBO, as he stumbled a bit.  I asked who would be riding up front, and my friend said the guy would be.  Boarding my Lancair for the co-pilot seat is difficult, and I always do a pre-boarding demonstration to ensure a safe and easy boarding.  Well, he did NOT board as I described, and my alert neutrons went off.  I discretely asked my friend if he had been drinking and she said YES.

I promptly advised him he would have to deplane, as I could not allow him to fly with me if he'd been drinking.  I could only imagine what bad could happen with someone in the front in such a complex plane without their faculties.  I told him it was against FAA regulations (not sure if it is, but it helped support my decision).  She elected to deplane too and my flight was done solo last night.  It was too bad she wasn't more honest with the situation up front, as I could have called someone else to fly.  As it was, it was too late to call anyone at the point I refused to fly them.  My willingness to "just go flying to build hours", and providing an experience to others in this impressive plane will be dropping fast now as I passed my magic 150 hours on that last flight and these types of flights are pretty expensive.  

Taking a trip to Santa Fe for LOBO next week, and maybe sending it off for paint by the end of September.

Oh, an Mooney related, I flew the Rocket over to Duluth, MN with a couple customers to buy a truck on Wednesday.  It only took 15-20 minutes longer and bunch less fuel cost.  That bird sure flies nice!!

Tom

[ragedracer1977]

Took my youngest son to breakfast on the USS Sedona (KSEZ) this morning.  His first time riding in the front of any airplane. We had a great time!

 

 

First time taking the yoke!

 

On the ramp at SEZ.

 

Breakfast time!

 

Departing Sedona

 

 

 

Flying the Mooney

\

 

Williams, AZ.  Gateway to the Grand Canyon. And Route 66 is down there too!

[Jerry 5TJ]

Flew my Mooney replacement from Kansas City to Baltimore yesterday and put her in the hangar.  A direct if boring route with a nice tailwind.  Total of 3:20 enroute.