my first "decent" length trip

[rbridges]

I've had my C model for about one year, and yesterday was my first trip out of state.  It was a 2.3 hr trip (165knots) there and 3 hour (135knots) trip back.  I was really impressed with how comfortable the mooney was, and the engine ran like a champ.  I leaned it back to 8.5-9 gph.  I probably could have squeezed a little more economy according to the EGT.  This same trip used to take 9 hrs by car when I was a kid.  We were able to go there, hang out for 4 hours and be back home that same day.  Awesome.

One thing I learned-I have to get some type of removable screen or tint.  We flew east in the morning and west in the evening, so we got the sun both directions.  Going home was particularly rough b/c the sun was right in my face.

I hope to have several more trips like this.  Overall a great day.

[74657]

My family did the same thing in our Missile yesterday.  It was our first long-ish trip in the new plane.  Flew up, hung out for 4 hours and flew home.  16 hours of driving vs. 3 hours of flying.

[piperpainter]

I have several of those shades with suction cups, I can put them any place I need and then they fold up real nice in the seat pocket! They are usually to give kids shade etc. I just found some solid black ones, and I can still see through them....maybe not to see a plane but they move easily for that!

[rbridges]

Quote: piperpainter

 and I can still see through them....maybe not to see a plane but they move easily for that!

[Jeff_S]

Rosen sun visors are "da bomb!" I know they're a bit pricey, but they really do work well and are fully articulated so you can twist them in a lot of different directions to block the sun from any window. Something to consider.

[rbridges]

Quote: Jeff_S

Rosen sun visors are "da bomb!" I know they're a bit pricey, but they really do work well and are fully articulated so you can twist them in a lot of different directions to block the sun from any window. Something to consider.

[DonMuncy]

Laser's visors, although a little smaller than Rosens, are fully articulating, much cheaper, easy to install, and work very well.

Don 

[Jeff_S]

Quote: rbridges

 I could live with the cost, but installation intimidates me.  I read a few threads, and it sounds a little tricky.

[rbridges]

I'll have to look into them b/c sunglasses only go so far.  I may get one of the suction cup screens until then.

[tony]

I really like my Rosen visors as well. I have never seen the laser visors so I can't compare. My visors were also installed prior to my ownership so no comment on how difficult the installation is but the visor itself is only held on with one screw.

[jetdriven]

Those 3$ suction cup fabric sunshades are the best airplane toy I have bought. 

One thing we have vastly underestimated is the need for real time inflight weather. An airplane that can fly 1000 NM in a day will cross weather systems, including embedded thunderstorms.  Flying without onboard stormscope info or XM/ADS-B weather was a real hassle.