I did a thing today.

[Pasturepilot]

1 minute ago, Shadrach said:

Brittain products are bullet proof and easy to maintain.  I have some extra bits lying around if you run into an issue.

Thank you! I'll keep that in mind. 

[DanM20C]

Welcome to Mooney ownership!

Usually @carusoam does my dirty work for me , but looks like he missed it.  Your first upgrade should be a proper CO detector.

Cheers,

Dan

[WilliamR]

Hey, Jeremy!  I'm based at PDK but was based at Falcon for a long time.  Sounds like you are somewhere around Mallards or Brooks Bridge.  Good times down that way.

Great looking plane and great writing skills. 

And man I miss Sammy's.  That was a nice place to go and have a good lunch.

William

[Pasturepilot]

1 hour ago, WilliamR said:

Hey, Jeremy!  I'm based at PDK but was based at Falcon for a long time.  Sounds like you are somewhere around Mallards or Brooks Bridge.  Good times down that way.

Great looking plane and great writing skills. 

And man I miss Sammy's.  That was a nice place to go and have a good lunch.

William

Hi Neighbor!

I just had lunch at the Downwind when you were posting this... My wife works on Clairmont and we live almost in the shadow of the King and Queen buildings. The airplane is out west of town, between Douglasville and Carrollton at Lyons Landing.  

 

J

 

[Pasturepilot]

2 hours ago, DanM20C said:

Welcome to Mooney ownership!

Usually @carusoam does my dirty work for me , but looks like he missed it.  Your first upgrade should be a proper CO detector.

Cheers,

Dan

Best upgrade suggestion ever. 

[0TreeLemur]

8 hours ago, DanM20C said:

Welcome to Mooney ownership!

Usually @carusoam does my dirty work for me , but looks like he missed it.  Your first upgrade should be a proper CO detector.

Cheers,

Dan

Welcome Jeremy.  A new engine monitor makes a great early upgrade- a certified one gives you the ability to take out a lot of old legacy instrumentation, and keep all the flammables forward of the firewall.   They don't cost that much and are relatively painless to install in my experience with the support of a good A&P IA.  Frees up a bunch of panel space too.

[clh]

I would not worry too much about the upgrades.  Just fly the thing!  Even though you have been around it for some time, it somehow changes when you are spending  your $$ and want it set up exactly as YOU want it.

+1 on the go with a modern GPS.  The install cost just doesn't make it worth it.  But again, take  your time and layout exactly what you want in your plane.

 

Tailwinds.

[81X]

On 6/19/2019 at 8:32 AM, Pasturepilot said:

 

By the time I can hold weekends off, I'll be in the "young at heart" category. If I ever get my hangar built, I'll host Wednesday fly-ins for junior airline pilots. 

I’m definitely also in the “young at heart” category, but my two year old has a “future pilot” shirt she loves to wear. It’s adorable. 

[Jim Peace]

On 6/19/2019 at 12:59 AM, Pasturepilot said:

Anyone got a better suggestion that I've not seen yet? 

Almost everything you do to that panel will be fluff and does not mean much, an iPad can do most of it.....

get a CO detector 

get an engine monitor

[Gone]

1 hour ago, Jim Peace said:

Almost everything you do to that panel will be fluff and does not mean much, an iPad can do most of it.....

get a CO detector 

get an engine monitor

I am with Jim on this advice.  CO detector is to save you and your bride's life.  Engine monitor is to save your engine's life.  GPS is to save your approaches.  

I had an old Trimble TNL 1000 (then 2000, then 2000A) in my E model long after I had purchased the JPI 700 and the CO detector (although we never learned about the CO detector until years after I had the JPI).  

The WAAS GPS was purchased only last year.  Going from IFR capability to conduct 25% of all published approaches in North America to being able to conduct over 90% of all published approaches in North America was exhilarating.  The CO detector and engine monitor are must-have-right-now (in my opinion) instruments.  The WAAS GPS is a really-would-like-to-have-right-now instrument (again, in my opinion).

BTW:  Great story.  Good luck.

[MBDiagMan]

Congratulations Jeremy!

I have a real soft spot in my heart for a Johnson Bar short body.  I had to sell mine after a shoulder injury and move to an electric gear mid body.  I sold my C to another A320 driver.  Not sure what it is about C models and Airbus drovers.

Enjoy Al’s masterpiece and give her the care she deserves.

[GTPH]

On 6/19/2019 at 1:20 PM, Pasturepilot said:

Hi Neighbor!

I just had lunch at the Downwind when you were posting this... My wife works on Clairmont and we live almost in the shadow of the King and Queen buildings. The airplane is out west of town, between Douglasville and Carrollton at Lyons Landing.  

 

J

 

Excellent, more new neighbors (us included)!  Might as well hijack your thread for a quick intro...

My partners and I have an M20F over at PDK as well.

[gsxrpilot]

On 6/20/2019 at 10:26 AM, Jim Peace said:

Almost everything you do to that panel will be fluff and does not mean much, an iPad can do most of it.....

get a CO detector 

get an engine monitor

This... at least for starters.

I would get a SensorCon CO detector before flying the plane. It's too important not to have. Shoulder harness is in the same category for me, but you've got those already.

I'd immediately get on the schedule with your local/favorite shop to install a proper engine monitor. It will pay for it's self in reduced shop time, troubleshooting, fuel savings, etc. And it might  give you the advance warning you need to be get on the ground under power, rather than a forced landing from a catastrophic failure.

Next go put a 100 hours or so on it and get through another annual. If you're flying plenty, loving the plane, the annual is clean, and you're planning on keeping it, then start down the upgrade path...

• WAAS GPS
• Autopilot
• Solid state AI, HSI, TC, etc. (remove vacuum system)
• PS Engineering Audio Panel
• Sirius XM Music/Weather
• StormScope
• etc, etc, etc...

[WilliamR]

@Pasturepilot, funny, my office is just down the road from the King and Queen.  I'm waiving right now.  Can you see me? 

My house is over by Mercer and PDK.  Sounds like a meet up is easily in order.  @GTPH you too.  If it's ok to continue to hijack, I'm on the NE ramp at PDK.

 

Btw, Jeremy, the plane looks sweet.

 

William

[cliffy]

Nothing is easier than spending someones else's money,

Has your airplane EVER had an engine problem in its history? If its like most 180 HP Lycs it hasn't. Lycoming certified it with the gauges it has. Its flown for decades with no issues. What would make one feel that an issue is imminent without an engine analyzer?   Ya, I know the slings and arrows are coming in sort order toward me for being a heretic but I've flown my C model for 20 years  with the dials it came with.

Enjoy the plane for a while and plan your perfect panel. No hurry. 

What I would put in would be something that called out "Retard" Retard" "Retard" and just make sure you call TOGA as you push the knobs forward!

My shields are up for the rest of the forum posters on the analyzer issue :-)  :-)  JMO  You wanna talk big 6 cyl engines (or 8) ? OK, should have one there but the 180 ? NA Nice but not required. 

[Hank]

Me, too, @cliffy, for 12 years anyway.

What's with the Retard Retard Retard bit??? I've not done TOGA since college, well before I migrated to the front seat of any airplane.

[Andy95W]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

Me, too, @cliffy, for 12 years anyway.

What's with the Retard Retard Retard bit??? I've not done TOGA since college, well before I migrated to the front seat of any airplane.

The Airbus tells you to "Retard, retard, retard" the thrust levers in the flare, since the autothrottles won't automatically go to idle and disengage.  When I'm flying, I think it may be calling me one.

[cliffy]

I thought you said you were flying A320s?

On Airbus's the call out for setting takeoff power is "TOGA" when the annunciation lights in the ADI and on landing IT calls out  "retard"  for you to close the throttles (ER power levers). At least that's what ours did when I was working for a living. 

[Andy95W]

16 minutes ago, cliffy said:

I thought you said you were flying A320s?

On Airbus's the call out for setting takeoff power is "TOGA" when the annunciation lights in the ADI and on landing IT calls out  "retard"  for you to close the throttles (ER power levers). At least that's what ours did when I was working for a living. 

Yup, I've got about 6,000 thousand hours in 'em.  I never said anything about the pilot call out of "TOGA", I said the airplane tells the pilot to "retard, retard, retard" the thrust levers when you're in the flare during landing.

[Pasturepilot]

Different operators, different procedures. I just get the nod from the other guy that he’s ready to go, drop it in the second notch for flex power and start the timer. “Airspeed alive” is our first call. 

But yeah, one gets used to being insulted in the flare. 

Re:Engine Analyzers, @gsxrpilot, it’s got an EDM-700. For a 4-cylinder carbureted  engine, that’s enough for now. Would love to upgrade to a primary setup to replace the old gauges, but that’s later. It could grenade next Tuesday over the hills of North Carolina, but I’m happy with 4cyl egt/cht/fuel flow and oil temp. It’s not the most intuitive, but I was sharp on that very box at age 23. Pretty sure that 15 years later I can figure it out again  

I have had one engine failure that put me off airport  engine monitor wouldn’t have helped a bit with that one.

First order of business is a little shakedown trip next week to NC. I’m gonna let the crew at AGL aviation put the travel boards to her and get everything rigged square. 

I’ll take a look at the Sensorcon CO detector. That’s money well spent right off the bat. 

I do appreciate the suggestions on how to spend the bucks! Some priorities came up that I hadn’t considered. 

Stay tuned. We’ll have some fun. 

For anyone who still reads those paper things, I sling some words at Plane and Pilot magazine. I mean, it’s no MAPA log - you’ll have to tolerate the presence of other sorts of  planes- but I’m sure some Mooney tales will make it onto the pages here and there.

BTW all my PDK folks, who’s got the most reasonable overnight fees? I need to stage out of there next week for a night. 

[gsxrpilot]

2 minutes ago, Pasturepilot said:

Re:Engine Analyzers, @gsxrpilot, it’s got an EDM-700. For a 4-cylinder carbureted  engine, that’s enough for now. Would love to upgrade to a primary setup to replace the old gauges, but that’s later. It could grenade next Tuesday over the hills of North Carolina, but I’m happy with 4cyl egt/cht/fuel flow and oil.

Yep, you're in good shape then. 

[cliffy]

I guess something was lost in translation

My original post was to the OP as to what equipment was to be added right away. :-)

[carusoam]

7 hours ago, Pasturepilot said:

 

For anyone who still reads those paper things, I sling some words at Plane and Pilot magazine. I mean, it’s no MAPA log - you’ll have to tolerate the presence of other sorts of  planes- but I’m sure some Mooney tales will make it onto the pages here and there.

 

Post a link, I know somebody will read it.

We have a couple of writers around here.

Really cool to be reading something, in a major publication, from somebody that you have gotten to know...

Best regards,

-a-

[GTPH]

On 6/21/2019 at 6:33 PM, WilliamR said:

@Pasturepilot, funny, my office is just down the road from the King and Queen.  I'm waiving right now.  Can you see me? 

My house is over by Mercer and PDK.  Sounds like a meet up is easily in order.  @GTPH you too.  If it's ok to continue to hijack, I'm on the NE ramp at PDK.

 

Btw, Jeremy, the plane looks sweet.

 

William

Yeah, let's do that @WilliamR.  We're over on the NW ramp...

[WilliamR]

@Pasturepilot for overnight I usually recommend Epps.  Pretty confident it's $20/night (cheaper than Buckhead overnight parking for the car). 

You can also look into pdkssavgas.com to reserve one of their spots on the Clairmont ramp.   Although, I think that is $20 too.

William