First long distance flight for me!

[ragedracer1977]

Wife, kids, and I flew from Deer Valley to Stinson field.  We stopped in Pecos, TX.  She ran beautifully.  8.3-8.5 gph, 20" 2500rpm 9500'.  TAS about 150mph average.  30.9 gallons from KDVT-KPEQ, 3:48 flight time.  I haven't fueled in San Antonio yet to see exactly what I used KPEQ-KSSF.  

I nearly had to divert from KPEQ due to weather.  We were VFR over the top of a layer for about an hour.  FSS was advising me that PEQ was reporting broken at 4700', but they didn't know for sure what the sky coverage was.  I had an alternate planned to Marfa, TX which was clear all the way up. As I got close to PEQ, I found there were a lot of holes.  Winds were 20g28, but right down the runway.  Carried a little extra speed on final and made a pretty good landing.

We landed there (great little FBO!) and waited about an hour for the clouds to blow out.  Flight to SSF was almost uneventful, except the battery on my Stratus died about 40nm out.  Fortunately I still remember how to use actual charts and navigate by VORs.  Of course, I had my 430W programmed in, but I thought it was good practice to fly it by 'paper' so I did.  Winds at SSF were also pretty high, but again, right down the runway.  

SSF had my rental car pulled out on the ramp, AC running.  Very friendly and helpful folks!

So far, it's been a great trip and I was happy to not have been surprised by anything.  The weather was pretty much as I expected, I had a good diversion worked out well in advance, and FSS was great.  

[RLCarter]

Welcome to Texas

[Skates97]

Congratulations! Sounds like a great first long distance trip. 

[carusoam]

Go M20C, with great instrumentation!

Best regards,

-a-

[rbridges]

Awesome trip. I'm always paranoid about the stratus so I've gotten i to the habit of charging it after each flight. How long of a car drive would it have been?

[gsxrpilot]

This...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M6QODH2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

and this... 

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Micro-B-Black/dp/B00C7SPM4M/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1499000399&sr=8-5&keywords=usb%2B3.0%2Bcable&th=1

will solve your Stratus issue.

[ragedracer1977]

36 minutes ago, rbridges said:

Awesome trip. I'm always paranoid about the stratus so I've gotten i to the habit of charging it after each flight. How long of a car drive would it have been?

We drive it every July... We usually leave Friday after work and drive to Las Cruces NM.  Spend the night, then finish Saturday.  Straight through is about 17-18 hours.  Flying, we left at 445am and arrived at 1210pm.  

Edited July 2, 2017 by ragedracer1977

[ragedracer1977]

7 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

This...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M6QODH2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

and this... 

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-SuperSpeed-Micro-B-Black/dp/B00C7SPM4M/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1499000399&sr=8-5&keywords=usb%2B3.0%2Bcable&th=1

will solve your Stratus issue.

Yeah, I have charges and cables in the plane, I've just never ran the battery down before.  

[ragedracer1977]

[cliffy]

I do KPGA (Page AZ) to KEYO (Weiser) in Houston in 7.0 hrs i my C. 894 nautical. 

Good flight,  enjoy the ride

[cliffy]

OOOPS!  Just saw it  KEYQ    not "O"

[ragedracer1977]

Wednesday we're planning on flying to New Orleans! Putting some miles on the old girl!

[gsxrpilot]

This is what Mooneys are for.  Even if you don't think you'll do much cross country, owning a Mooney will likely entice you to get out and go places. We've been from Austin to Seattle, Austin to Minneapolis, and now Austin to Portland, ME. A good Mooney can get you anywhere in the country as long as you've got a weekend.

BTW... Austin to Seattle was in our M20C 

[KLRDMD]

15 hours ago, ragedracer1977 said:

Winds were 20g28, but right down the runway.  Carried a little extra speed on final and made a pretty good landing.

Why carry extra speed if the wind is right down the runway ?

[RLCarter]

13 minutes ago, KLRDMD said:

Why carry extra speed if the wind is right down the runway ?

Gust factor....4 extra kts as a cushion 

[KLRDMD]

Just now, RLCarter said:

Gust factor....4 extra kts as a cushion 

That's what causes a lot of Mooney landing accidents.

[RLCarter]

Just now, KLRDMD said:

That's what causes a lot of Mooney landing accidents.

Why would that be?

[Chocks]

That's what causes a lot of Mooney landing accidents.

Just to be clear. You believe landing with extra speed causes accidents?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hank]

2 minutes ago, "Chocks" said:

Just to be clear. You believe landing with extra speed causes accidents?
 

 

Trying to land a Mooney at too high of an airspeed has caused accidents--bounced landings & porpoises leading to prop strikes, runway overshoots, loss of control on go arounds . . . . It's all in the NTSB database.

The 4 knot gust factor (20G28 here) shouldn't be a problem, as long as his airspeed was correct before adding it in.

Edited July 2, 2017 by Hank

[Chocks]

Trying to land a Mooney at too high of an airspeed has caused accidents. The 4 knot gust factor (20G28 here) shouldn't be a problem, as long as his airspeed was correct before adding it in.

 

 

I'm sorry, but I argue that the opposite is true. Particularly in a xwind configuration.

 

Landing at a much higher rate in a no flap setup is the more stable and safer high xwind configuration.

 

Slow and dirty is the dangerous and accident causing scenario in every situation I can find in standard gear aircraft in that environment.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KLRDMD]

7 minutes ago, Hank said:

Trying to land a Mooney at too high of an airspeed has caused accidents--bounced landings & porpoises leading to prop strikes, runway overshoots, loss of control on go arounds . . . . It's all in the NTSB database. The 4 knot gust factor (20G28 here) shouldn't be a problem, as long as his airspeed was correct before adding it in.

Right, but where we see issues is, let's add 4 kts due the gust factor, plus another 4 kts because I have the family with me plus another . . .

From Mooney test pilot Bob Kromer:

"Know what the number one accident and incident area is for Mooney airplanes? Excessive speed on the approach. This causes 1) excessive landing distance, sometimes longer than the available runway, or 2) a pilot trying to force the airplane onto the runway as it floats in ground effect due to the excessive speed, resulting in a prop strike or a busted nose gear. At MAPA, about once a week we hear of one of these happening somewhere. The solution is simple. If the threshold speeds are held in check, there is no reason these accidents should be happening. But they are."

http://www.mooneypilots.com/mapalog/M20C Evaluation/M20C_Evaluation_Report.html

[cliffy]

Steady xwinds really don't have that much of an effect on a proper landing. Works in a Boeing, works in a Mooney. Gusty winds do. If 75 over the fence is good in calm then 75 in a steady xwind works just fine. Now add a gust factor if you must (1/2 the gust amount above the steady state wind, never more than 10 mph added) but the airplane is perfectly controllable at 80 mph even with gusts. As mentioned, Mooneys tend to get prop strikes by being too fast over the numbers and porpoising down the runway. 3rd touch down and there goes the prop (and the airplane to the insurance company) in many instances.

No need for anyone to freak out with a xwind. Its just normal flying technique. 

Below was clipped from the M20C  Evaluation report done many years ago-

"Know what the number one accident and incident area is for Mooney airplanes? Excessive speed on the approach. This causes 1) excessive landing distance, sometimes longer than the available runway, or 2) a pilot trying to force the airplane onto the runway as it floats in ground effect due to the excessive speed, resulting in a prop strike or a busted nose gear. At MAPA, about once a week we hear of one of these happening somewhere. The solution is simple. If the threshold speeds are held in check, there is no reason these accidents should be happening. But they are."

[cliffy]

OK so we posted at the same time :-) :-)

[gsxrpilot]

"Know what the number one accident and incident area is for Mooney airplanes? Excessive speed on the approach. This causes 1) excessive landing distance, sometimes longer than the available runway, or 2) a pilot trying to force the airplane onto the runway as it floats in ground effect due to the excessive speed, resulting in a prop strike or a busted nose gear."

Those of us who fly a lot of formation know that the problem is not the excessive speed. Obviously a higher approach speed will equal a proportionately longer float and require more runway. And trying to force an airplane onto the runway before it's quit flying is just asking for trouble. 

But it's also true that higher speeds give more control surface authority often making it easier to counter the effects of a strong and/or gusty crosswind. 

So if the airplane should be allowed to land when it quits flying, but I'd like a few more knots for increased control surface authority, and I've got a long enough runway, landing without flaps gives me those additional knots.

BTW... there a videos posted on this site showing Mooneys coming over the numbers at 90 knots and landing without any issues. And we do it all the time. It's SOP for the Mooney Caravan.

[KLRDMD]

10 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

But it's also true that higher speeds give more control surface authority often making it easier to counter the effects of a strong and/or gusty crosswind. So if the airplane should be allowed to land when it quits flying, but I'd like a few more knots for increased control surface authority, and I've got a long enough runway, landing without flaps gives me those additional knots.

I prefer the minimum energy possible when landing. Higher energy = greater damage in the case of an event. Since KE = 0.5 • m • v2 for a twofold increase in speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of four. Minimizing energy is good when landing.