cliffy

It all comes out to one word---LIABILITY and who assumes it when installed on a certified airplane Go "Experimental" and the owner/builder now assumes the liability in TOTAL for everything. All "chain of traceability" for a certified part is lost once "experimental" is used on it.

I didn't know it was in such high demand :-) Actually I'm fighting a nose gear donut install problem right now. Had to order in bar stock to make a drift to get the donut bottom hole to line up with the side bars. Common issue but it needs 9/16 stock and 9/16 bolts to make it our of are not easy to find and expensive' Need to grind a ball end on so it will slide through and line up the other side to drift the main bolt in. I'll probably do a start to finish article so others will know what to expect when they do it. The main gear donuts are easy- no special tools needed.

Earth Rounders Club ? :-) @AH64Bennett Check out Honey Mooney website. He came through my home drome a few years ago.

"Brake fluid is NOT just brake fluid- Auto (Dot 3,4 or what ever) is a totally different chemical than AVITATION "Brake fluid" (5606) Due to the materials in the seals and orings in aviation hydraulic systems (for us little guys) automotive "brake fluid" will dissolve all the seals into a gooey mess thereby causing system failure. Never guess, always use what the maintenance manual says to use or approved alternates. Yes 5606 will turn to red jelly inside your calipers after a few years even if you bleed them every year. Disassemble, clean them out and reseal every 5 years or so to stay ahead of the curve. SOME very old small aircraft actually used automotive brake fluids WAY back when. And those I think were restricted to brake systems that actually had expanding rubber balloon shoe brakes. Like I said, a long time ago. Large modern aircraft (Boeings, jets. etc) mostly use phosphate ester fluids like "Skydrol" for its fire resistance. NEVER even think of using that in our airplanes. Beside one of the side affects of working with Skydrol is- as they say- "mild eye irritation" BULL CRAP! If you get it in your eyes you are blind for hours from the pain!!! Don't ask me how I know. As a small aside- Rolls Royce for decades used automotive "brake " fluid in their cars (they actually have hydraulic pumps (2) for brakes and suspension. All worked fine until the 1980s when they decided to change to a fluid very similar to our 5606 all mineral oil fluid. Many many Rolls Royce cars were damaged by using the traditional fluid rather than the newer mineral oil fluid. It costs thousands of dollars to repair a Rolls Royce if this happens. It was so bad that they designed a fluid reservoir to only accept a specific bottle hose design so the incorrect fluid could not be put in the car.

IF YOU ARE TIMING THE MAG (MAGS)- USE ONLY NEW LOCK WASHERS EVERY TIME A MOUNT NUT IS LOOSENED-PERIOD! IF YOU TIME THE MAG AND TIGHTEN A CLAMP BOLT WHILE DOING IT -REPLACE THE LOCK WASHER WITH A NEW ONE BEFORE YOU FINSH THE JOB! THIS IS A HARD AND FAST RULE IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD IT BEFORE. NEVER REUSE A MAG LOCK WASHER- EVEN ONCE. I CAUTION AGAINST USING A HARD MAG LOCKING TOOL WHEN TIMING- MANY WILL FORGET IT IS IN AND WIND UP BREAKING THE MAG. CAPITALIZED HERE ON PURPOSE- BECAUSE PLANES HAVE GONE DOWN BY REUSING A MAG LOCK WASHER.

First your main ship's battery is your "backup" power supply in case of an alternator failure It is vitally important to know how good your battery is and how long it will power your systems Do you do an annual battery capacity check? If not DO IT! Most IFR rated Mooney owners who actually fly IMC DON"T do it --BIG MISTAKE! A secondary power supply is not a bad idea IF you do lots of IMC work. If not -an alternator failure is a bonified emergency declaration. How long do you "think" it will take you to get down if IMC? Now double that estimate. DO you have enough battery capacity to do it? If you do suffer an alternator failure have you given any thought to how you will download the electrical system to save battery power until you land? Turn off all not needed equipment. Pull breakers if necessary. What do you absolutely need and nothing more. Turn off all outside lights (EVEN at night) you don't need them in an emergency. As far as the battery goes, just because it started the engine for this flight doesn't mean it will power the airplane for an hour Starting the engine actually takes very little of the battery capacity so a bad battery can and will start the engine. Have you ever come out to your airplane and tried to start it and it only grunted. Dead battery. How much capacity do you think it had on the last flight if you had a generator failure? Don't even think of jump starting a dead battery and charging off into IMC conditions Most battery manufacturers say it takes 3 or more hours of continuous flying to to fully recharge a dead battery Where will you be if 15 mins after takeoff the alternator quits? The same goes for VFR flights - No jump starting and flying-- its always a bad idea.

The red and white airline? :-) BTW @Captnmack Weatherford TX ? There used to be a fly in community there called IIRC Tailspin Airpark Is it still there? I knew the developer who started it many years ago. Chuck Becum (sp?)

Me and that white stuff don't get along! That's why I live in the desert.

We kill'm faster than we build them And the clan grows smaller each and every day. One day in the future the last Mooney will die. Crashes aside, how many Mooneys are sitting rotting away at airports all around the country? Mooneys that will never fly again

That's the airport. I have a relative that hunts that property and has seen camo'd up guys around the airport but never interacted with them. I did notice cars around a building at the small old "airport" just to the north. That's why my comment on black ops. Got the numbers off Google with no other reference as to who it was. My Google-foo must not have a high enough clearance. A small aside- I used to do training in 727s at Miami T&T airport out in the swamp west of MIA. Nothing there either but a runway when I was there, Now its turned into Alligator Alcatraz

Me up high in the flight levels on big iron It can go way out in front of the windshield like long spears It was fun to call up new hire FAs to the cockpit and show them "the fire" at night :-)

Anyone ever seen "St Elmo's Fire" all over the airplane in heavy dry snow at altitude? Static electricity takes on a new dimension when that happens :-) If it came with static wicks from the factory they are probably part of the TC and they all need to be there to be "technically" legal I've said several times that parts pricing today is based on what a new airplane TODAY will cost @ 1 MILLION $$$$$ NOT the $45,000 in the 70s What did a Ford F-150 cost in 1975 compared to today? Have you priced Ford parts lately?

That's interesting because I used it as its much easier for me to read than the basic font. Maybe its just my eyes I'll take another look for something else if its hard for others to read

Just replaced the battery in mine after many years and then not taking a charge. Works fine after new battery

Found an interesting airport out in west Texas below Ft Stockton with no aviation plot anywhere on any map/chart I can find. No name, no nothing, yet it is pushing (by my guess) 7,000+ feet with good asphalt and full IFR runway markings but no IFR approaches I can find It is literally in the middle of nowhere with no paved roads nearby. No houses, no hangars nothing There is what looks to be a paved ramp north of the runway and a dirt staging area to the southwest. Its directly below Ft Stockton with a lat/long of N 30 18 '55.7 w 102 49' 29.3 North of 90 east of 385 Rwy 9-27 A couple other ranch strips out there but nothing this size or direction Men in Black? :-)