Amelia

Asking for a friend. No, really! My esteemed mechanic is needing information about a Brittain vacuum-controlled wing-leveler for a customer’s 1966 M20c. He says there’s no vacuum going to the servos. Vacuum is good. Must be a controller someplace, but it’s not listed in the parts book. He’s looking for a schematic, or some information on where he might look. It isn’t where the manual he found on line that says it should be. Anybody have a clue? He’d like not to tear the airplane apart on a fishing expedition. Thanks!

I think you’ll find most Mooney owners proud of their planes, and happy to show them off. Some are so pleased, they even ask passengers to remove their shoes. I will bet you could stop at almost any small airport and ask around, and find a Mooniac to proselytize at you. If you’re up for a road trip, to EDE, NC, I have a very fine long body to might try on for size. It’s not for sale, though. I’ve been told you don’t “get in,” a Mooney, you “put it on”. Short and fat granny just sort of rolls in. Some disabled Angelflight passengers ooch up the wing on their bottoms and slide backwards onto the seat. They exit by sliding off the wing forward, into the waiting arms of an attendant. My very tall and broad passengers are grateful when I remember to crank the front articulating seat all the way down. Their shoulders are far aft of mine.

Hallelujah! That did the trick. The guy in Wichita had ONE. He put it on the truck and it should be in my corner of the swamp, NE NC, by Thursday! Thank you SO much.

Apparently one battery charged up just fine. The other has a direct short. But if we manage to find a second Concorde, I may yet get to fly before the snow does.

No joy either place. Wonder if there are any second-hand ones for now?

Well, it has been a year. The overhaul is done! The initial break-in flight went beautifully. My first landing in a year went well. The new io550n hummed like a very energetic sewing machine, all the numbers looked great. Round the pattern at 3000’ and 200+ mph. Whee. Checked for leaks, found one, (thanks Continental) and on the next flyable day, found both Concord RG24-15s were totally dead. They had been on battery conditioner most of their year off, for no good reason, it seems. Now my plea. Does anyone want to sell me a couple of batteries? Or know where they might be had? It’s not funny anymore. One dang thing after another.

Well, it has been a year. The overhaul is done! The initial break-in flight went beautifully. My first landing in a year went well. The new io550n hummed like a very energetic sewing machine, all the numbers looked great. Round the pattern at 3000’ and 200+ mph. Whee. Checked for leaks, found one, (thanks Continental) and on the next flyable day, found both Concord RG24-15s were totally dead. They had been on battery conditioner most of their year off, for no good reason, it seems. Now my plea. Does anyone want to sell me a couple of batteries? Or know where they might be had? It’s not funny anymore. One dang thing after another.

Thanks so much. The latest theory is a stuck check valve. New one is ordered, though probably soaking the pump will have done the trick. It is, in theory an easy and cheap fix. We hope!

Um, make that phone number 252/339-0287. and the part number I need is 649364-4

File this under “NOW what???” After 10 months, my bright shiny nsewly field-overhauled engine is ready to fly. Now is when we find that the fuel pump is inop. Not but 230 hours on it, still new looking, so the mechanic didn’t send it out. Said it should be good for a long time. Works fine with boost pump, but nothing, engine-driven. New ones are $5000-ish. And several weeks out. Probably just a dried-out seal, right? $0.25? So what are my options? Salvage? Ohhh help! Anybody got an extra to unload? Mimi 252/330-0287

File this under “NOW what???” After 10 months, my bright shiny nsewly field-overhauled engine is ready to fly. Now is when we find that the fuel pump is inop. Not but 230 hours on it, still new looking, so the mechanic didn’t send it out. Said it should be good for a long time. Works fine with boost pump, but nothing, engine-driven. New ones are $5000-ish. And several weeks out. Probably just a dried-out seal, right? $0.25? So what are my options? Salvage? Ohhh help! Anybody got an extra to unload? Mimi 252/330-0287

The latest snag is a defective (allegedly new) wiring harness direct from TCM. So back to Mobile it goes, and we wait somemore. Sigh. I’m going to die of very old age before I get to fly this thing.

Yep. At least that is done. Thanks!

Good point. Dang. I forgot about that. My BFR is current, but not the 3 takeoffs and landings, at least in the Mooney, obvs. A lovely airport friend arranged for one of his ag pilots who’s a CFI to go up with me a month ago in a vintage 172. We did three in that and she didn’t try to climb out midair, spose that counts? I need to run the new engine hard for at least an hour to seat the rings, no idling around in the pattern. The engine wizard agreed to come along for good luck. Then check for leaks, and go log nine more high power hours over the airport and change the oil, is how I understand it. Then I get to venture farther afield.

I wish I’d been following this saga for the last ten months! I’ve just had a field overhaul for my 20S, Io55o, with N cylinders replacing the Gs. Tomorrow is, I hope, the last of the preliminaries, gathering up spare parts and screws and wondering where they go. My home field mechanic is a quiet, methodical fellow who promises me with a straight face that if I break it in properly, it’ll make TBO. Not his first rodeo, he says. So early Tuesday morning, we will know more. Brave man is promising to climb in with an old lady who hasn’t been in a left seat for nearly a year, monitor monitors, and keep her from messing up his good work. All y’all’s good advice is most welcome!