First long cross-country in our Mooney

[0TreeLemur]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I made our first long cross-country this weekend: 1600 NM round-trip to Colorado and back from Alabama.  On the return with favorable winds we did the 800 miles in 5.0 hours.  The trip out took 6.5.  With the PC system and properly trimmed, it almost acted like there was an autopilot on board.   Sweet.

My only complaint- cold knees.  My wife had a heavy coat she used for a blanket.  I didn't.   The central duct put out a nice jet of hot air, as did the two ducts pointing towards the rudder pedals- just not enough of it.  The door seal is pretty leaky in the bottom front corner.   Probably need to look at that before the next long cold flight.   We think we really like this aircraft.  Smiles all around.

[steingar]

Congrats. My first was bringing mine home. Mine gets a cold breeze too. Oh, and on that flight I climbed up to smooth air, trimmed it out, set the autopilot and felt like a passenger. I love my Mooney.

[L. Trotter]

52 minutes ago, Fred_2O said:

Hi everyone,

My wife and I made our first long cross-country this weekend: 1600 NM round-trip to Colorado and back from Alabama.  On the return with favorable winds we did the 800 miles in 5.0 hours.  The trip out took 6.5.  With the PC system and properly trimmed, it almost acted like there was an autopilot on board.   Sweet.

My only complaint- cold knees.  My wife had a heavy coat she used for a blanket.  I didn't.   The central duct put out a nice jet of hot air, as did the two ducts pointing towards the rudder pedals- just not enough of it.  The door seal is pretty leaky in the bottom front corner.   Probably need to look at that before the next long cold flight.   We think we really like this aircraft.  Smiles all around.

Keep that girl of yours happy and warm while flying with you. It will be the best investment you could make in your plane.

[N201MKTurbo]

Take a dish towel and fluff it along the seat and the bottom of the door. It will stop a lot of air from getting in.

[Hank]

Fred--

Please post or send me details! We are taking our C to a family event west of Denver this summer. I'm curious about routing, FBO reports, etc. I flew to from WV to Cody, WY a few years ago with no issues (isn't that PC system wonderful? 1320nm each way . . . ) except the ground was rather close when cruising at 8500 msl.

Even flying in WV and Ohio in the winter, I never had problems staying warm. In fact, much of my IFR training was at night in the winter there, and I usually took off my coat and gloves shortly after takeoff. Check for air leaks as above, and check the windlace around the door and baggage openings. 

[carusoam]

FRED,

What altitude were you flying at?

There isn't much heat available when the MP declines towards 20”.

the OAT is pretty darn cold there as well.

Got a CO monitor?  We have a thread for that...

Flying around in my old M20C in winter with all the heater hardware Improved,  we still used a big blanket to duct air towards the people...

Best regards,

-a-

[smwash02]

A couple winters ago I took the plane to Reno, NV and to prepare I put metal duct tape outside the plane on the vent on the top and pilot side to prevent air getting in. It made a big difference, but still gets cold. Being north of FL170 didn't help.

It's a bit of a double edged sword. Can't hardly get enough airflow in the Texas summer, always too much in the winter.

 

[0TreeLemur]

Great info from all.   Hank, we stopped both ways at TQH which is half way to our destination, LAA, and where fuel was $3.68/gal.   Self serve, and on the ground no more than 20 minutes each way.  They have a pump with a finicky leak detector.   It requires ~30 sec. of no-flow to provide more than a trickle. 

We were flying at 7500' on the way back until about Little Rock where we had to descend to 5500 because of a SIGMET for icing.  N201MKTurbo -good advice about the dish towel.   We'll have to try that next time.  

-Carusoam, I read the article about the Mooney pilot in Minn. who landed while unconscious due to CO poisoning last Feb. and bought a SensorCon CO monitor based on that thread.  It is nice to know that I have a plane that can land itself....   But I don't want to try it.

[carusoam]

@DanM20C is still with us... he posted some pictures earlier.

Best regards,

-a-

[bcwiseguy]

On 1/15/2018 at 7:25 PM, Fred_2O said:

Hi everyone,

My wife and I made our first long cross-country this weekend: 1600 NM round-trip to Colorado and back from Alabama.  On the return with favorable winds we did the 800 miles in 5.0 hours.  The trip out took 6.5.  With the PC system and properly trimmed, it almost acted like there was an autopilot on board.   Sweet.

My only complaint- cold knees.  My wife had a heavy coat she used for a blanket.  I didn't.   The central duct put out a nice jet of hot air, as did the two ducts pointing towards the rudder pedals- just not enough of it.  The door seal is pretty leaky in the bottom front corner.   Probably need to look at that before the next long cold flight.   We think we really like this aircraft.  Smiles all around.

Fred, that’s awesome. My wife and I used to fly my 1966 E model Mooney all over the country. We sold it back in 2005 but will be purchasing a turbo Mooney sometime later this year. We are looking forward to all the fun flying again.

I don’t recall ever being cold on our flights....even when flying above 10k ( which was nearly always) and even during the winter months over the Rockies. I guess my Mooney was “air-tight”......lol.

[FloridaMan]

There's a piece of SCAT tubing that runs right by your passenger's knees. I can nearly guarantee it's torn or not clamped properly and needs to be repaired or replaced. 

Edited January 22, 2018 by Antares

[Oscar Avalle]

I installed an inflatable door seal and it helped. 

 

[MooneyF]

Oscar would you please share the details? (manufacturer, vendor, model, cost, installation, etc..).

Thanks!

[Andy95W]

This I should the only inflatable door seal I've ever seen for Mooneys:

http://ultimatedoorseals.com/product.html