Where in Fl would you gear up?

[A64Pilot]

What I’m asking guys with this thread, is where is the best Mooney maintenance facility in Fl?

[Mooneymite]

5 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

What I’m asking guys with this thread, is where is the best Mooney maintenance facility in Fl?

Yes, that's important, but how your aircraft will be moved off the runway may be more important.  If you close the only runway at a busy airport, the operations people may want your aircraft moved quickly, but perhaps not carefully.  A lot of damage can be done by personnel after the gear up landing.

[A64Pilot]

20 hours ago, Mooneymite said:

Yes, that's important, but how your aircraft will be moved off the runway may be more important.  If you close the only runway at a busy airport, the operations people may want your aircraft moved quickly, but perhaps not carefully.  A lot of damage can be done by personnel after the gear up landing.

Still not getting any answers though, Naples I guess seems so far to be the best bet.

I guess to your point it may be prudent to notify tower and hold somewhere until fuel is low, that way they have alerted whoever is necessary, one assumes worst case a tow vehicle pulls you from the prop to the sod?

Landing at home field means either I’m doing the repair, or it’s being cut in half and put on a truck, unless maybe they would do it in place?

[Mooneymite]

3 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

Still not getting any answers though, Naples I guess seems so far to be the best bet.

It's a tough question to answer.  There are so many variables.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

Still not getting any answers though, Naples I guess seems so far to be the best bet.

I guess to your point it may be prudent to notify tower and hold somewhere until fuel is low, that way they have alerted whoever is necessary, one assumes worst case a tow vehicle pulls you from the prop to the sod?

Landing at home field means either I’m doing the repair, or it’s being cut in half and put on a truck, unless maybe they would do it in place?

I’m not sure how you’d fare in Naples?  The J model that was damaged last week in Naples will be leaving on a truck to get repairs to the wing.

Clarence

[A64Pilot]

2 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

I’m not sure how you’d fare in Naples?  The J model that was damaged last week in Naples will be leaving on a truck to get repairs to the wing.

Clarence

See I have idea either, where is it going? Not Fl I assume

[Guest]

1 minute ago, A64Pilot said:

See I have idea either, where is it going? Not Fl I assume

I’m told that Texas or Tennessee or in the running for the repair.

Clarence

[flyboy0681]

When my ex-partner ran off the runway in Georgia and substantially damaged the wing, the tail and wing were separated from the fuselage and shipped out on a flatbed. It was taken to Carrollton Airport and repaired by Air Services. They did an outstanding job on the repair and she actually flew better and faster after the repair.

[A64Pilot]

Tx, Tenn and Carrollton unfortunately are too far. I’m in Central Fl and only carry I think 54 usable, figure 44 by the time I need to go to wherever if the gear don’t come down. But thanks for the info, we occasionally do travel to middle Ga.

 I have bladders and keep them full, sure there is a small performance hit, but it’s not really noticeable to me.

Edited February 21, 2022 by A64Pilot

[Hank]

1 hour ago, A64Pilot said:

Tx, Tenn and Carrollton unfortunately are too far. I’m in Central Fl and only carry I think 54 usable, figure 44 by the time I need to go to wherever if the gear don’t come down. But thanks for the info, we occasionally do travel to middle Ga.

 I have bladders and keep them full, sure there is a small performance hit, but it’s not really noticeable to me.

Your J, bladders or no, should carry at least 64 gal.  You should be able to fly from Central FL to Carrolton, GA, outside ATL, easily. It was not a long flight in my C from WV to Lakeland, FL.

[Hank]

2 minutes ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

I think @A64Pilot has 54 gallon (6 bag) bladders, Hank.  

So he lost useful weight and range, too? That's crazy!

[A64Pilot]

54 is enough for me, I like bladders not everyone does.

I consider that I have 50 gl usable, at my normal LOP cruise burn rate of 6.5 GPH, gives me over 7 hours of flight time, that’s enough for me. I guess Carrollton depending on winds is doable in most cases, depending on how much fuel I’d have when I discover the problem.

At a glance Carrollton is only 22 or so gl away

Edited February 21, 2022 by A64Pilot

[Hank]

Just now, bluehighwayflyer said:

Agreed.  When I owned my 201 I was a low power hyper miler, too, and 54 gallons would have been more than sufficient.  I put 64 gallon bladders in it, anyway, because … well I’m not quite sure why.  I like the idea of 10 hours of ultimate endurance even if I never actually used it.  

The only time you have too much fuel . . . . . .

[A64Pilot]

I left Ft Pierce years ago to go to Grand Cayman to lay over for a flight to Costa Rica to export an aircraft. There are three air routes over Cuba and you have to be on an IFR flight plan. I initially tried filing as an S2R which is the type of aircraft, that's apparently not in the FAA database, but an AY65 apparently is, the AY65 was the drug eradicator aircraft built for the State Dept. My plan was to tanker fuel into Grand Cayman as I’m sure fuel is expensive there and to validate the ferry fuel system, so I filled the hopper with 500 gl of fuel, giving me 728 gl total. With an at altitude fuel burn of about 40 GPH, that gives me about 18 hours endurance.

Anyway I get to the first route and get denied and told to go to the next one further West, I get there and am denied and told to go tot the next one, to be denied of course and routed to Cozumel Mexico to stay out of Cuban airspace. Took me 12 or 14 hours to get to Grand Cayman via Cozumel Mexico from Ft Pierce.

I’ve had enough of sitting in the seat for hours and hours

Later I found out that State Dept aircraft are NOT welcome over Cuban airspace, seems one was flying home over Cuba and opposite direction traffic was closer than he liked so he let out a big puff of smoke from the smoker, that turned into the US State Dept was spraying chemicals on the Cuban people of course.

[Igor_U]

On 2/18/2022 at 3:25 PM, A64Pilot said:

Why Key West? What’s there

Sloppy Joe's, a short Uber ride from the 'drome. 

[A64Pilot]

15 hours ago, Igor_U said:

Sloppy Joe's, a short Uber ride from the 'drome. 

Also the meanest hardest to work with bunch of CBP people I’ve ever met. 

I learned quickly to check in and out from Ft Pierce, besides the FBO used to rent life rafts too, and the CBP was nice and easy to work with. 

Edited February 22, 2022 by A64Pilot

[M20F]

On 2/18/2022 at 6:25 PM, A64Pilot said:

Why Key West? What’s there

Captain Tony’s, Green Parrot, Sloppy Joes, the list goes on.