wombat Posted Friday at 06:09 PM Report Posted Friday at 06:09 PM (edited) Note: I've found someone based at the SMX airport that should work out great for me. My Mooney Rocket is finishing up in a paint shop down in Santa Maria, CA and I need to get it back to Portland Troutdale for the annual. I need an IFR current CFI with Mooney experience for 2 full days during the week of 15 December. Adventure! Excitement! But not too much. My plan is: You are based either within driving distance of Portland, OR or Santa Barbara (Or Santa Maria), CA. I pay for your airline ticket either to Santa Barbara, CA or back to Portland, OR and a hotel for you, and two days of your time or more if we are waiting on WX. You sit right seat and provide instruction on the XC flight from KSMX to KTTD. I'm planning for about 3 hours of flight time. We should expect to use O2 and to be IFR Why do I need a CFI? I'm one approach short of being IFR current. I'm 5 days beyond my current medical. I'm out of the country so I can't fix either of those issues easily. Ideally this flight will happen during a relatively short window although there's not an absolute 'must-go' date. But I don't want to wait in a hotel room for a week for the weather to clear enough to conduct the flight under VFR About me: 2,200+ hours Instrument Commercial CFI 600+ hours in M20 (300+ in this aircraft) About the aircraft: M20K 305 Rocket In annual until 1 Feb 2026 G500 GTN750xi KFC150 Autopilot Non-FIKI TKS Edited Sunday at 04:42 PM by wombat Update with new info
Skates97 Posted Friday at 07:56 PM Report Posted Friday at 07:56 PM Take lots of pictures of the paint and post them, Art Craft does great work. Tell Teresa Richard says hello. They did my plane back in 2022.
NotarPilot Posted Friday at 11:23 PM Report Posted Friday at 11:23 PM 5 hours ago, wombat said: My Mooney Rocket is finishing up in a paint shop down in Santa Maria, CA and I need to get it back to Portland Troutdale for the annual. I need an IFR current CFI with Mooney experience for 2 full days during the week of 15 December. Adventure! Excitement! But not too much. My plan is: You are based either within driving distance of Portland, OR or Santa Barbara (Or Santa Maria), CA. I pay for your airline ticket either to Santa Barbara, CA or back to Portland, OR and a hotel for you, and two days of your time or more if we are waiting on WX. You sit right seat and provide instruction on the XC flight from KSMX to KTTD. I'm planning for about 3 hours of flight time. We should expect to use O2 and to be IFR Why do I need a CFI? I'm one approach short of being IFR current. I'm 5 days beyond my current medical. I'm out of the country so I can't fix either of those issues easily. Ideally this flight will happen during a relatively short window although there's not an absolute 'must-go' date. But I don't want to wait in a hotel room for a week for the weather to clear enough to conduct the flight under VFR About me: 2,200+ hours Instrument Commercial CFI 600+ hours in M20 (300+ in this aircraft) About the aircraft: M20K 305 Rocket In annual until 1 Feb 2026 G500 GTN750xi KFC150 Autopilot Non-FIKI TKS I would do it but I would have to do it the following week. I work on the 16th til 19th and I don’t work the following week.
mike_elliott Posted Saturday at 01:57 AM Report Posted Saturday at 01:57 AM Mooney pros has a rocket owner instructor that could do this the week of thev14th kindly go to www.mooneypros.com and complete out new pilot information form which depicts our rates and insurance policy requirements and once this is all in place we can get you scheduled Mike
wombat Posted Sunday at 03:24 AM Author Report Posted Sunday at 03:24 AM On 12/5/2025 at 6:57 PM, mike_elliott said: Mooney pros has a rocket owner instructor that could do this the week of thev14th kindly go to www.mooneypros.com and complete out new pilot information form which depicts our rates and insurance policy requirements and once this is all in place we can get you scheduled Mike Mike: I know you want to promote your business but flying someone from Florida to the West Coast and back probably isn't a cost effective solution for a 3 hour flight.
wombat Posted Sunday at 03:25 AM Author Report Posted Sunday at 03:25 AM On 12/5/2025 at 4:23 PM, NotarPilot said: I would do it but I would have to do it the following week. I work on the 16th til 19th and I don’t work the following week. The following week might work, I'm actually pretty flexible on this. Where are you based?
wombat Posted Sunday at 03:31 AM Author Report Posted Sunday at 03:31 AM On 12/5/2025 at 12:56 PM, Skates97 said: Take lots of pictures of the paint and post them, Art Craft does great work. Tell Teresa Richard says hello. They did my plane back in 2022. I'm adding all the photos they send me to this album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jnrkLwoWASCpGu4M7
NotarPilot Posted Sunday at 11:52 AM Report Posted Sunday at 11:52 AM 8 hours ago, wombat said: The following week might work, I'm actually pretty flexible on this. Where are you based? PM sent.
mike_elliott Posted Monday at 02:24 PM Report Posted Monday at 02:24 PM On 12/6/2025 at 10:24 PM, wombat said: Mike: I know you want to promote your business but flying someone from Florida to the West Coast and back probably isn't a cost effective solution for a 3 hour flight. He wouldn’t be coming from Florida, but your point is well taken. You simply need a ferry pilot, not a CFI to get your plane repositioned. Perhaps your shop uses a ferry pilot or service and can help. hopefully they have experience in a rocket if Notarpilot doesn’t meet your specifications check with @donkaye, MCFI. He will get your plane there in one piece
wombat Posted yesterday at 04:05 AM Author Report Posted yesterday at 04:05 AM Ahh, but I don't want a ferry pilot; I want to fly my plane. Unfortunately I am not current on medical and IFR. I considered trying to find a CFII (or good weather and any rated PPL or better to be a safety pilot) and an AME so I could renew my medical and get my IFR currency back but I decided that I'd prefer to do it this way. This leaves me in Portland in late December which actually work fairly well for me. Part of my reasoning is that I want to inspect the new paint and interior on the plane.
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