All Activity

I’m so sorry to read the predicament that you are in Ryan. I have the D3000 Bendix magnetos and only once in 24 years has the impulse coupling needed maintenance. I have no mechanical or electrical knowledge and I hope this doesn’t sound silly, but is there any chance the magnetos may be the cause? I ask this question as from what I’ve seen on this forum, Slick magnetos don’t exactly have a stellar reputation.

M20’s I’ve landed with take off flaps quite a bit. It’s a shallow approach and I don’t really like it. It put you closer to the ground than I like. While I would normally be in the camp of Flaps, Gear, flaps. The manual flap Mooney’s would be different than any other airplane. Ie…Flaps up “monitor” until they reach Takeoff, then reposition the valve to down to stop the retraction, then gear up and then finish the flap retraction. The added bonus of monitoring the flaps, adds a situation that might be better to do gear first. Anyother airplane or jet should be flaps , gear, flaps. Falcon, like most aircraft, teaches to wait till positive rate for gear retraction. Gear adds stability during the go around and jets are sometimes slow to spool, I’m glad I had the gear down. I’m glad a stock Stearman gear is welded down. It’s the only airplane I’ve touched down in after I initiated a go around. Accept what’s infront! -Matt

I heard the entire situation while flying from KSAC to southern California. I heard 85U depart Los Banos, check in with NorCal, and then for over an hour try to coach the crippled Cessna to a better resolution. The pilot(s - names broadcast on ATC but omitted here) in 85U were incredibly calm, thoughtful, and appropriate in their coaching, guidance, and recommendations. The pilot of 03H (name broadcast on ATC but omitted here) was also calm, focused, and determined. After a series of electrical system (breakers; autopilot; master switch) tests were performed, all pilots involved became confident this was a mechanical problem. Listening to this was one of the most helpless feelings I can describe; knowing that another aircraft launched in the hopes of helping the situation was heartwarming and instilled a great sense of faith in the commitment of our aviation community. The end to this story was tragic. After more than 25 years of flying, this is one of the most difficult days I can recall. Blue skies and tailwinds to the aviator of 03H and to the kind souls of 85U.

I recently did a top overhaul on my just over 1000 hour IO550. I was burning oil and adding a quart every three hours. I did manage to buy six factory new cylinders. The work was done well at Sarasota Avionics at KVNC. Running alternating 75 and 65 % power. Straight mineral oil. wanted to start with longer flights so flew from Florida to Pennsylvania. About five hours each way. Running very well. And a few knots faster. No oil leaks and watching CHT's Mostly around 375 degrees at cruise. Still was not cheap. Paid $22.5 for six new cylinders and just over ten more for the work. Did not get the new cylinders re worked. Plan to change oil at 25 hours. will look carefully for and little metal scraps and hopefully not any chunks where I can read a part number. Perhaps now engine will make TBO. In Harrisburg, had ceramic coat paint covering . Had Dan at NuAero do the ceramic coating. Mooney looks new! I ask my Cirrus friends if they are getting bird strikes from the rear Alan Ovation M20R

Hi, is the 820308-509 ASI still available?

Did you find out if the Blade under the pilots seat was for the DME or the transponder? Im assuming the blade under the co-pilot is the DME and then the one under the pilots seat is the Transponder, otherwise, the cables would cross over in the dash.

Toto, The airspeed correction chart is the key to properly determining if an airplane meets the requirements to exercise Sport Pilot privileges. Thanks for uploading the chart image; not all POHs have it. Hank, The Mooney 2900LB MTGW increase is at the pilot's discretion as stated in SB M20-252. So, an A&P can, at the request of the pilot/owner, remove the retrofit kit installed in accordance with SB M20-252. Doing this would effectively return the airplane to conformity with the original type certificate and weight limitation. Whether the aircraft is equipped with a steam gauge or glass ADAHRS, the airspeed markings/ranges will need to be regressed to the original limits, the POH supplement will need to be removed, and a logbook entry should be all that is required to allow a Sport Pilot to operate a M20J with a 2740LB MTGW . -Cheers

The GPS Antenna and both the cables was never in question, It was all about conflicting stories of re using the transponder antenna. After Digging deeper, the Main thing is... An M20J with original Avionics, Has BNC Connections at the antennae, therefore its not recommended to rely on a crusty BNC connector from 1981 to transmit critical Transponder data through.

Great job!

In over 40 years of flying Mooneys I don’t think I have ever landed with takeoff flaps, but this makes a lot of sense to me for the reasons you stated. I’m go to play around with this. Thanks.

have Brian call Zephyr, they seemed reasonable when i called a few weeks back

Incidentally… anyone who can recommend an engine shop somewhat near South Dakota, would love to have some other options

And smarter and better looking also,

pop that gear with the speed brakes and the descent rate gets narly!

More of the impulse internals

tl;dr - I have had two impulse couplings destroy themselves in less than 200 flying hours, resulting in 1 and now more than likely 2 engine IRANs. Background: I had my Mooney M20J's IO-360-A3B6, equipped w/ Slick 4372 and 4370 magnetos sent for major overhaul in January 2024. It returned to service in March 2024 and had 110 trouble-free flying hours, with no adverse symptoms. In fact, we flew to Alaska and back, and everything performed perfectly. Engine ran like a top and barely used any oil and leaked not a drop for 110 hours. In July 2024, when starting up the engine at my home field self-serve pump, I heard a strange (very loud) whirring sound that I thought was an electric fuel pump sound at first (which should have been and was off, as in a normal start). The engine ran very poorly so I shut it down. After some simple investigation, we found pulling the prop through revealed the impulse coupling was very messed up. Rather than click-180-click, it was click-click-click. My home shop removed the left magneto and discovered that the impulse coupling had destructively let go, destroying the magneto drive gear, damaging the accessory drive gear(s), and rained metal debris into my accessory case, resulting in the engine being removed for IRAN and sent back to my engine shop for a warranty claim. The engine shop dutifully performed an IRAN under warranty... and apparently the magneto shop (QAA), paid for this labor, since they were the provider of the magnetos during the major overhaul. After some delays, I was back flying in October 2024 with a freshly IRAN engine and a replacement (still QAA) Slick 4372. Due to some electrical issues (unrelated to this), I have only been able fly around 80 hours since. Fast forward to this week. As I write this, I am in South Dakota and my Mooney is at KRAP. I started up the aircraft, and it ran fairly poorly. (Although without the loud whirring sound as before). A quick magneto check revealed that the left magneto was DEAD. Engine totally dies. Shut it down and inspected. On a hunch, pulled the prop around by hand. NO impulse clicks at all. Shop on field took a look and we quickly removed the magneto to find... utter carnage, again. Photos attached. It appears that the rivets failed in the impulse coupling and the pawls became stuck at high speed and the whole unit destroyed itself, breaking off large, thick metal chunks and again damaging the gears. I am at an utter loss. How could this happen again in so few flying hours. Is there anything on the engine side that could be causing this? Could a drive gear be misaligned or wrongly-sized or putting side load on the magneto drive gear or something? Looking at the accessory drive gears I see absolutely no way this should affect the impulse coupling but again I have no idea. This is getting into serious money now and nobody has any ideas what the hell might be going on here.

and isn't oklahoma a sales tax free state on aviation parts and installation? that right there is worth a few thousand dollar discount compared to other states.

Everything began to shift after HCAA “acquired” what was then Vandenberg for $4.8 million back in 1985. At first, there seemed to be some support for growth and development, but over the years—especially as new generations of career government staff cycled in—the direction changed. Historical details are difficult to find, but the turning point appeared to be when Skyport took over and the current HCAA leadership came on the scene. Since then, the decline has been gradual but steady. Many of you know Hawk, who originally started his paint shop at Tampa Executive. Over the years, the airport hosted a number of maintenance operations, but one by one they left as bureaucracy tightened its grip. Running a maintenance shop is challenging enough when dealing with the FAA; add in an overreaching FBO manager and an ambitious county administrator, and the environment becomes anti business and ga fast.

Looks good

First post. Due your due diligence. Caviot emptor.

Not a Mooney, but quite concerning. I hope there is a formal investigation and probable cause.

I pay $5700/year for 1 million coverage for product liability and premises insurance. That's a lot for a mobile or part time mechanic

The insurance on my M20J decreased by 12% this year. I am in Canada. I turn 70 next year so am wondering if I will get hit with an increase because of that.

It’s worth every penny, as long as the pennies don’t add up to more than $425

Joey Cole is fantastic (KDNN)