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My recollection, as well. Here it is: turnback.pdf

I've used Top Gun for annuals a few times, and plan to use them again next year. They've always finished my annual quickly (under 2 weeks) except for the year they had to send out my PowerFlow exhaust to Florida for overhaul; that wasn't their fault. But you do need to book many months out.

BINGO! Product misrepresentation, plain and simple. The idea that you shouldn't expect to recover those damages is almost as ridiculous as claiming that the $400 isn't even damages in the first place! You paid for a "license" to use a misrepresented product...damn right I'd want my money back.

I have a sidewinder I bought in late 2022 from the manufacturer for an Ovation I owned at the time. It comes with a battery and charger. I'm in Massachusetts. Phil 413-530-0112

Hello, new Mooney owner here. I have a M20F with an Aspen E5 and a Garmin GNS430. The vacuum system was removed some time ago (and so was the PC system). The pitch trim system is still manual. I'd really like to install an autopilot. I don't necessarily need something to shoot IFR approaches (I'm an VFR pilot). Even a simple wing leveller would be great on long cross-country flight. Does anyone have any suggestions/advice on what I should look for or install? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Did you find one? I have a working one coming out in a month.

For one thing the fuel isn't available on any wide scale and likely won't be because of these issues. And is was advertised to cause no issues and be a "drop in replacement". It's not that, it's not as advertised, and I'm out $400. It's not really much in the aviation scheme of things but those are real damages. I paid for a product, it turns out is vaporware and even if I could get it, would likely result in damage to my aircraft. You damn right I want my money back. You order some $400 product on Amazon based on reviews, turns out all the "5 star reviews" are false advertising and the product doesn't work or causes harm, would you just suck it up or return it?

If it weren’t for these spammers I would never have learned how to change my flight on Ethiopian Airways.

You're welcome. Take heed to what @PT20J said; just run it for a second or two in each direction to verify the motor runs. Series wound motors need a load!

What is interesting to me is he never smuggled the beer. They were watching for planes smuggling booze in Fairbanks which is where they executed the search warrant. I can’t determine how they got the warrant. In any case putting on cases of beer with maybe the intent to fly them to a dry county isn’t a crime. Whole thing seems fishy but can’t determine more on the internet but there has to be more.

I’ve been using Top Gun for 30 years now. While Mark is the only IA, they have 2 other mechanics that work there so it is not quite a 1 man shop. They certainly are booked though. It might be helpful to know the model Mooney and condition to help suggest shops, some are good for annuals where there is little needed and others may be required to handle bigger or Mooney specific jobs that require expertise.

That's awesome. Thank you much! Scott

Hello Mooniacs! After Many frustrating months I recovered the Mooney I bought back in November 2024 and got her home Today Saturday Sept 6th. Having gotten quotes from multiple transport companies I decided to do the job myself. I needed to unbolt the wing for a 3k drive not separate the tailcone as is commonly done these days for short hauls. Starting off from Dinwiddie Virginia Last Thursday at 0400 I made the first overnight in Lincoln NE around 1300 miles. Day 2 was Lincoln to Ontario Oregon and around 1100 miles. Day three was a pleasure with only about 600 miles to cover arriving in Auburn Washington at Noon on Saturday. The inbound trip was only completed this quickly because I had previously airlined out and purchased the trailer for the return ahead of time. Virtually all the work was done by myself other than loading the trailer and some tool holding in order to unbolt and unscrew the floor. Departing Tuesday night loaded for bear and constantly mountain climbing It took 3.5 days to get home.This required 5 or 6 gas stops daily along with cargo checks and was not nearly as carefree understandably towing a heavy trailer. Unfortunately I did have to section the wing and My prior invitations to have someone adopt it/repair found no takers.The aircraft fell off jacks prior to me buying it and had a large wound in both wings from that event. I will have the fuselage at my home shop hopefully completing the panel(needs extensive work as It’s basically empty)Along with extensive cleaning/inspection etc. I hope to chronicle the work here and It’s going to be an 18-24 month timeframe most likely In the meantime I need a wing so If anyone has a decent one gathering dust please PM me. Thanks for reading my short summary of what’s already been a 10 month journey. Im looking forward to the Process of returning this excellent airplane to the sky! Cheers, Stuart

It can be downloaded here:

I remain confused. But, I’m not a fuel tank guy, either. By not employing nut plates, dome or not, how do you hold the nuts from turning when the last access panel is installed to close up the tank? And how are those nuts sealed? Installing hardware with sealant isn’t unheard of, but mostly as last-ditch effort to stop a leak and avoid pulling an access panel to make a proper repair. Maybe I should go read a mx manual… Glad you have a way forward.

For my C, Vs1 = 67 mph, Vx = 80 mph and Best Glide = 105 mph. My initial climb is usually 85 mph before lowering the nose to 100 - Altitude in thousands. At WOT, the deck angle at 80 mph would be very steep!

I remember the same article. And I think your recollection is correct. So in my plane, 45° bank and clean at max take off weight, the stall speed is just under 80 KIAS, which doesn’t leave much margin below best glide speed of 90. One would be conducting this entire maneuver with the stall warning blaring in my plane. -dan

I'd only run it for a few seconds If you test it without a load. Series wound motors are designed to provide high torque to start a heavy load. Unloaded they can accelerate uncontrollably to very high and perhaps damaging rpms.

I think David Rogers and one of his students did an analysis of this maybe 30 years ago. As I recall, the combination that gives maximum radius of operation is a climb at Vx to maximize altitude without getting too far from the runway, a 45 deg bank turn into the wind at just above stall speed to minimize turn radius, and then best glide speed to the runway. Wind and terrain are the biggest variables. Keep in mind that Vx is the speed where thrust/drag is a maximum and will result in a very high deck angle for higher powered, low drag airplanes and isn't that far above stall, so if the engine packs it in and you are at Vx, you will need to aggressively pitch down.

I took a look at the schematic for an E (S/N: 700035 and greater). The RED wire is always connected to positive (+ Battery) and is connected to the FIELD winding on the motor. The BLACK wire is the other side of the FIELD winding and is connected through two RELAYS that control the direction of the current through the ARMATURE which is the GREEN and YELLOW wires. That is, the field is connected in SERIES with the ARMATURE where the current is ALWAYS in the same direction through the FIELD (RED/BLACK) but the current through the ARMATURE (GREEN/YELLOW) wires is dependent upon the relay positions. In effect, the relays control whether the GREEN or YELLOW ARMATURE wire is connected to ground, while the other ARMATURE wire is connected to the BLACK FIELD wire. To 'bench test' I would connect the POSITIVE battery terminal to the RED wire, connect the BLACK wire to the GREEN wire, and connect the YELLOW wire to the NEGATIVE terminal of the battery and note the direction of rotation of the motor. Then REVERSE the YELLOW and GREEN wires (i.e. connect the YELLOW wire to the BLACK wire, and the GREEN wire to NEGATIVE battery terminal) and the motor should rotate in the opposite direction. That's the best I can do for you.

Sorry for the late replay to all the responses. McCauley had a new prop available, so I went that route.

Thanks. Missed it. Will check tomorrow when I fly.

As far as climb angle being less than engine out glide angle putting you too far from the runway to make it back, this was part of why Bob Kromer recommends steep initial climbs. I climb at Vx to clear obstacles, then at Vy. I need something decent to measure distance with good resolution to see how far away I am at 1000 agl. But remember, the runway is always longer than your ground run, and you only need to return to the far end of it, not to your liftoff point. My C is in the air around 1000', and my home base is a luxurious 5000' long; my C will glide 2 sm per 1000', so if I'm climbing at 75 knots groundspeed and 800 fpm, that's 1-1/4 minutes and 1.56 miles away, so I only need to go 1.56 miles = 8250 - 4000= 4250 feet. At 2 sm per 1000 feet, that's 10,560' of glide, so I have a bit of altitude to lose in the turn and still be safe. Practice three mistakes high with a CFI before trying anything near the ground! (That's the rule with RC airplanes, and I like it.) Use your own numbers for groundspeed and initial climb rate, I ballparked mine quite generically above--I've seen groundspeeds from mid-50 to mid-90s, and climb rates from 700-1500 fpm. It would be interesting to build a table of say three groundspeeds and three climb rates and see what the distances look like in each combination, then you'll have an idea of what is required. When I visit my inlaws, I'm usually on an 8200' runway, so turning back will be much easier. Note that runway width generally increases with length, too. Fly like your life depends on it, because it does!

These aircraft, especially the big jet transports, have significantly more flap deflection than our Mooneys. Don't some airliners use 50-55°? I always wondered how they stay aloft with so much deflection, although granted they're all fowler flaps.

Those are the panels. Looking at used one's, I came across a couple from a C model that have the same nut plates. Maybe an early factory thing before they figured out dome nuts were better? We're removing the panel and putting dome nuts on it, so we don't run into the issue again