I need suggestion on first long distance trip in my mooney M20J

[Richie the C]

On 5/31/2024 at 7:54 AM, Shadrach said:

One of the great joys of aviation for me is being able to easily visit places that are significantly removed from the well traveled highways, and major metropolitan areas. I try to support these operations when possible because I want to keep them in existence.
In general, it’s good practice to call an unknown FBO before making a decision to patronize. One can get a pretty good sense of hospitality from a phone call. I wish more pilots left Airnav ratings (I’m guilty as well). All of the above being said, I’ve been treated well and I’ve been  treated poorly by FBO large and small.

I also make it general policy to tip line people. It’s sets a nice tone out of the gate.

 

 

[LANCECASPER]

On 5/31/2024 at 8:43 AM, N201MKTurbo said:

Pecos TX has free barretos. 

Hmm, i got ripped off . . lol.

I stopped there in  February 2014 for fuel when bringing an Encore back from California to Texas. He pointed me to the freezer where the burritos were for me to heat up in the microwave and charged me $5 . .  haha. I don't remember whether it was worth it. 

[N201MKTurbo]

2 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

Hmm, i got ripped off . . lol.

I stopped there in  February 2014 for fuel when bringing an Encore back from California to Texas. He pointed me to the freezer where the burritos were for me to heat up in the microwave and charged me $5 . .  haha. I don't remember whether it was worth it. 

Whatever you do, don’t spend the night! 
 

My wife and I were flying back from New Orleans a few years ago. The winds were howling in the wrong direction. I asked her if she would mind stopping and spending the night and we would fly home in the morning. She said “thank god, yes!”. So we stopped in Pecos and got the crew car and went into town. The only room we could find was in the Motel 6. The whole town was slammed with oil field workers. 
 

We quickly discovered that there are about 3 females in all of Pecos. Everywhere we went there were hundreds of eyes staring at her. Very bizarre. 

[LANCECASPER]

36 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Whatever you do, don’t spend the night! 
 

My wife and I were flying back from New Orleans a few years ago. The winds were howling in the wrong direction. I asked her if she would mind stopping and spending the night and we would fly home in the morning. She said “thank god, yes!”. So we stopped in Pecos and got the crew car and went into town. The only room we could find was in the Motel 6. The whole town was slammed with oil field workers. 
 

We quickly discovered that there are about 3 females in all of Pecos. Everywhere we went there were hundreds of eyes staring at her. Very bizarre. 

I do remember the winds. They were gusting right down the runway with gusts over 40.  Not pretty but a safe landing.

[N201MKTurbo]

28 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

I do remember the winds. They were gusting right down the runway with gusts over 40.  Not pretty but a safe landing.

Landing in big winds has never bothered me, but bouncing along for hours on end with double digit ground speeds gets old.

[The Other Red Baron]

On 5/31/2024 at 7:54 AM, Shadrach said:

I wish more pilots left Airnav ratings (I’m guilty as well). All of the above being said, I’ve been treated well and I’ve been  treated poorly by FBO large and small.

 

 

I've heard airnav will delete negative comments so I never bother and it does seem like every single comment I read is positive.  I do leave carefully worded ForeFlight comments to try and dodge any censorship.

[Fly Boomer]

1 minute ago, The Other Red Baron said:

every single comment I read is positive

Certainly suspicious.  On Amazon you mostly see negative ratings.  Or maybe that's because I go directly to the "one star" ratings.

[The Other Red Baron]

14 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said:

Certainly suspicious.  On Amazon you mostly see negative ratings.  Or maybe that's because I go directly to the "one star" ratings.

Same. 

I leave positive reviews on Foreflight too, actually most are positive, but if I'm leaving a negative review it's for a good reason. 

[ArtVandelay]

I've heard airnav will delete negative comments so I never bother and it does seem like every single comment I read is positive.  I do leave carefully worded ForeFlight comments to try and dodge any censorship.

No, they still have negative reviews, they might censor the “this FBO sucks” comments. It would be pretty easy to automatically delete certain comments with keywords.

[Shadrach]

54 minutes ago, The Other Red Baron said:

I've heard airnav will delete negative comments so I never bother and it does seem like every single comment I read is positive.  I do leave carefully worded ForeFlight comments to try and dodge any censorship.

I have seen negative reviews on airnav though not many.  I’m sure there is a mechanism for removing dishonest or vulgar comments.

[0TreeLemur]

I'm in the middle of a long cross country in my J, TCL-LAM-U42-LAM-TCL.   Covering much of the same parts of the country that you plan to traverse.  My process:

1. For long range weather, I use windy.com to compare the outputs of the different forecast models.  Agreement between the ECMWF and GFS models  boosts my confidence in their forecasts.  Divergence between them adds uncertainty.   For route planning & fuel stops I use skyvector.com because it is fundamentally map-based.  It allows you to enter a flight plan, giving a megenta line on a map.  Shows 100LL prices to help you pick candidate landing airports along your route.  Skyvector also shows you the AFD entry for airports you enter.   Has some reviews.  Starting the day before departure I do route briefings with foreflight.

2.  From 106W to 80W your route covers 26 degrees of longitude.  Weather is always going to be a factor this time of year   Are you flying IFR?   If not, good luck, because you'll be doing a lot of deviations, unscheduled overnight stays or scud running.  All of this throws your initial plan into the rubbish bin.  If you are IFR current and capable, then you'll have more luck.  A Stormscope and an iPad with FIS-B weather displayed and talking to controllers all keep me out of convective trouble.

3.  Leave as early in the morning as you can because it decreases the time you spend in rough air.

4.  Eastbound, I like to plan for 11,000 or 11,500 because I don't have O2, and it typically maximizes tailwinds.  Westbound, lower (~6,000) east of central Kansas offers lower headwinds.  I've stopped  at GLC westbound for fuel- nice facilities.   From there to DEN you gotta fly above 8,000 terrain.

5.  Since my J burns 7.5-8.5 gph LOP,  I don't have to completely fill the tanks at every stop.  Last year I flew eastbound (Fort Collins/Loveland - Tuscaloosa) FNL-TCL non-stop in 6 hours, but that was mind-numbing.   I enjoy flying a bit more if I can stop every 3-4 hours and stretch legs and use the facilities.

6.  Miami Executive has a good FBO.  It's located about 6 miles south of MIA, and the MIA approach controllers sent me low (at or below 1,700!)  over the Everglades for a long while keeping me out of the heavy traffic above.   Bouncing along in the hot, humid air for 50 or more miles dodging 172's on training flights is not very glamorous.

Good luck!

 

 

 

[Nico1]

Flew into Miami (KHWO) last December. The field was great - reasonable prices for the area (used fuel depot @ bobby's they were great). Miami airspace is insane. Flying in/out IFR is strongly encouraged!

Also would suggest bringing basic tools (be able to pull/replace a spark plug for example).

Sounds like an awesome XC, take your time and enjoy it!!

Edited June 6, 2024 by Nico1