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Cole Aviation is a highly recommended and respected shop in this community. Joe Cole, the owner, no longer does any advertising and his business thrives on the reputation of his work and word of mouth referrals from his many satisfied clients. I am now one of them. This is my first experience with Cole Aviation performing an annual inspection on the Mooney M20M I've owned for 11 years. I moved to east TN 6 years ago and had my annuals done by AGL Aviation in NC until Lynn Mace sold and moved to Texas. It was a bit of a trek over to Foothills Airport by car, but I knew Lynn and his team and my wife didn't mind the drive to pick me up. The last few annuals have been a mix of owner-assist in my hangar with a local IA and one with a shop on the field. I had read good things here about Cole Aviation and decided to get an MSC annual with them this year, seeing as how Dalton GA is an easy 2.5 hour drive from home. I am completely satisfied with the work they did, including the list of squawks I asked them to address, and the communication throughout. They completed the work in the promised amount of time. Jeff, the A&P working on my airplane, did a great job. He and Joe replaced all of the landing gear pucks, installed new brake rotors and linings, fixed a TKS leak, stopped an oil leak on my #2 cylinder, and found and repaired a couple of leaking gaskets that were causing a fuel smell in the cockpit. Just an indicator of the attention to quality work, he installed zerk caps on all of my grease fittings. I didn't ask for those, and it's just a minor thing, but it was a nice touch. They determined my turbocharger had seen better days and suggested I might be able to get another 500 hours out of it, but I opted to have it overhauled. They handled all of the shipping, R&R, and setup with no issues. The parts costs, shop rate and labor hours charged for the work were very reasonable. My post-maintenance inspection found no loose screws, panels, or leaks. Joe did two separate comprehensive engine runs and I was able to verify the data from both showed nominal engine performance before I did my post-annual check flight and flight home. A very positive experience. I highly recommend Cole Aviation.

This has been circulating online, and there’s some brief discussion of it in another thread here, but I felt it appropriate to both honor him and centralize information into a dedicated topic. Heartbreakingly, Joe “Joey” Cole of Cole Aviation in Dalton, GA passed away last week. According to folks that currently have airplanes there and have subsequently been in comms with family and staff, he died of a sudden heart attack at home last Friday evening. It was a gut punch for me, and as reactions have come in from various channels, it’s clear many feel the same. The loss of the biggest Mooney shop in the Southeast and its technical support, although significant, didn’t really even come to mind initially. If you’ve worked with Joey long enough, you had a real friendship with him. He was a relationship oriented business manager and he went out of his way to make you feel important to him even when his shop was overflowing with work. You didn’t feel like a customer as much as you did, “a friend.” He would call you from his house phone (bc he’s notoriously the only guy in 2026 that didn’t have a cell phone) at night after work to discuss your airplane and timeline and invariably the conversation would drift into life, his girls, business… and you’d now been on the phone with him for an hour at 10:30pm. I always appreciated receiving 2…3….4 phone calls (if you didn’t answer) after you left his shop to make sure you got home safely. “Sorry I’ve been blowing you up, just want to make sure you made it. No problems? You good?” Courtesy rides, lunch outings, hosted fly-ins, it’s clear he really valued the people and not just their money. Next time you slide your flip flops on, think of Joey. A friend, a good human, and a legend of the Mooney aviation community. My heart breaks especially for his girls and family he leaves behind. There has been some discussion about a memorial fly-in happening sometime in the next couple of weeks. I hope it happens. If you have any news about it or otherwise please share it here. his daughter posted the following notice online, which says a lot about his impact as a Dad and husband. Fair skies and tail winds Joey, as you go West.

Very nice job! It turned out well. Regarding your comment on criticism, this is an internet forum on which you've made seven posts. Going forward, when you post, expect input from people and be thankful. In your first post you asked "Why did this happen?". Whether you agreed with the responses or not, they are taking their time to give you a broader perspective. That's the only way to get opinions other than your own - it won't always be delivered in a way that's easy to receive and may sting your ego at times. That's OK, just filter through it and see if you can find one thing that expands your viewpoint. It's happened to all of us that post on here, but that's how we learn and grow. Aristotle said, "There's only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing."

Had to go to the cath lab. Now need triple bypass surgery. Total shock as I had no symptoms. After 56 years and 29,000 hours I am done. If anyone is interested in a no excuses Ovation 2 GX PM me. Really have enjoyed you all here.

Awesome trip to my folks house for Mother's Day. Nothing like a 525nm XC with a tailwind both ways, I must be living right!

But not too expensive. No need to waste expensive beer on CB mooches who come over to “help” but only sit and talk!

I stopped by the hangar and checked today. Looked around the knob for a set screw and didn't see any. I put a little wrap of tape around the metal stud and held it with vise grips. Then I lightly unscrewed the knob. It didn't move. I started to sweat. I applied a little more force to the unscrewing action. I was now at roughly .0001in-lbs, which I felt was far more than I was willing to risk. My vision started getting blurry from the beads of sweat running down my forehead, as I knew a gear collapse was imminent. I looked over the cowl and noticed my prop was at the regular 1 o'clock position. I got out and rotated it horizontal so I would not have a prop strike. I got back in and applied more "leftsy-loosey" twisting force to the knob. It let loose and I winced, bracing for the impact of the plane smashing onto the floor. It did not. The knob is off. The plane has not been totalled. Now I can clean up the knob a bit too.

It's easy to Monday morning QB anyone and everyone...what I will say is that this guy made sure NOT to stall. And, consequently walked away!

And here some pictures of the finished work. Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

Just did a quick inspection of a Mooney with 29,000 hrs on the airframe It was in good condition BUT only because it has had excellent PROACTIVE maintenance There was another one nearby that I didn't see with over 30,000 hrs Stay on top of the maintenance and don't have deferred items and they can last forever!

Received my aircraft back from paint about 2 weeks ago, and just now getting around to provide a review in the event anyone is looking to have their aircraft painted or wondered about this particular paint shop. I'm very pleased with the final product and with Marcello Santos (772) 260-5876 (exeairdesigns@gmail.com) and the work his guys did. I had a picture of the paint scheme I wanted that was from an A36 and provided it to Christian (954) 899-9159 of XDesigns and he tailored it to the Mooney, if you already have an example of the rendering he charges $150.00 to tailor it to your aircraft and you get to make (2) edits to the initial rendering, after that he charges $25.00 an hour, not sure what he charges if doing a rendering from scratch. Marcello Santos is the one who stripped and painted the aircraft, the pricing was good, was initially quoted $22k, but ran into an issue in that the aircraft had the original mud-red primer that wouldn't come off with paint stripper and had to be sanded off so the price went up due to the additional labor but was reasonable. Marcello's shop is located at KRYY in Kennesaw, GA. I called and coordinated with Marcello and flew out KRYY to take a look at the shop and was able to see the Hawker that just came out of paint as well as (2) other Mooneys that had just been stripped or primed and liked what I saw so we talked numbers and drew up the contract. Fortunately, I only had to wait about a month, as he had a last minute cancellation, and was able to get my plane in sooner than anticipated. The contract is very basic, so you need to make sure you understand exactly what you are getting for the base price as opposed to what might cost you extra, for example...any body work or filler application, in the contract you are alloted 8 hours of labor, if you have anything that needs to be done, you need to ask if it's covered in that 8 hours or if he anticipates it exceeding the 8 hours. The paint in the base price is AWLGRIP, which has been used on planes for years, they no longer differentiate their aircraft paint from their yacht paint, he prefers using the AWLGRIP on those planes that will be outside as he said that it holds up to the elements better, you can elect to use JetGlo or PPG, but you need to specify your preference when asking for a quote as the cost difference can be significant. Regarding AWLGRIP paint, the brochure has a very limited amount of color selections, AWLGRIP and color match anything and they have a pretty extensive database of cross-referenced colors when trying to match auto paint colors, if they don't have the color you want, all they require ais a 2"x2" sample in order to provide you with a color match, they do not charge for this service. Marcello is VERY responsive and provided updates and pictures during the various stages of the process, mainly by texts but phone calls as needed. Some things to consider: 1. Corrosion/Body Work....if your aircraft needs it, get it taken care of at home station before you take it in for paint, guarantee you that your local shop rates will be less.. 2. Having all inspection panels removed before painting will cost extra, make sure you let him know if you want them removed (STRONGLY recommend it), same with the wing and tail lights, if not, they will be masked off. 3. Check around your antennas, if the proseal is in bad condition or they put it on with a shovel, either remove it yourself or ask him how much he will charge to do it, if not, he'll mask it off and paint over it. 4. Make sure you tell him to remove the dorsal fin so that the paint and clearcoat fully cover the vertical pylon, additional cost of course. 5. I did all of the Labels myself and had them printed off at the local sign shop that does vehicle wraps that hold up under UV, cost me $25.00, the A&P will not sign-off the aircraft without the labels being applied, only one they were really concerned about was for the fuel. Christian can also do them for you, not sure what he charges. 6. Go to Aircraft Spruce and get the Stainless Steel Trim Kit so that they can put all new screws on when they are reinstalling the panels (https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pnpages/04-02830.php) 7. Make sure you write down everything you understand the contract quoted price is to cover before you sign the contract...that way it minimizes the chance of a misunderstanding. There is a local A&P that Marcello uses there in the same hanger, he will be the one to remove/reinstall the flight control surfaces and there are some things he will do, Marcello will tell you what works he can do vs what work the A&P has to do, you are billed separately for any work the A&P does outside of the typical removal, balancing and reinstallation of the control surfaces, get any estimates before signing the contract. The contract states the process will take "approximately" 20 business days, plan on 6-8 weeks, mine was a bit longer due to the additional time/labor required to remove the original mud-red primer. If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to reachout to me.. with the way things are today and some of the work that's been posted from other "reputable" shops, I just wanted to share my experience in the hopes it provides a more favorable outcome and cost savings to others out there...as I don't subscribe to one individuals views that we need to "lower our expectation of quality we can reasonably expect to get for the $20-$30K" we are spending for a paint job these days..there are still reasonable pricing out there, but as we've all seen recently, there are some former shops, that had good reputations, that are putting out HACK quality finishes and charging outrageous prices. And for those who will make the comments regarding the smaller registration numbers no being allowed once the aircraft is repainted, FSDO and AOPA legal both cited 14 CFR 45.22(b)(1) and 14 CFR 45.29 (b)(iv) which refers back to 14 CFR 45.22 (b)(1), only restriction is that I cannot fly across the ADIZ without 12" Registration Numbers. Hope someone finds the information beneficial, if you speak with Marcello, let him know I recommended him. V/r Matt

A milestone for me today, my first flight in IMC. I filed an IFR XC today and on my way home requested a block altitude 8-9k to intentionally get into the clouds. I recall the opposing bases podcast recommending this and it was a great way to experience IMC in very controlled conditions. It was a lovely broken layer at 8500. It was cold but no ice and i had an easy 500 ft descent to escape if needed. I cruised in the bottom of the layer in and out of IMC for my flight home. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Don’t pull it back to 26/26. There is no benefit.

Thought I’d share some fun stuff that happened this annual. Happy to be back in the air! New fine wire spark plugs and removed an old ADF and Rad alt antenna and my cruise LOP increased 4-5 kts. This photo was around 9.5 GPH. I was typically around 152 KTAS, and today saw 157. New interior I almost have this plane where I want it. Avionics, interior, engine, all in order. Next is a tank reseal and paint. I love my mooney.

I have learned valuable information from this thread regarding fuel management strategies. I appreciate @Mark942 for bringing up this topic. I too have been told by many pilots more experienced than myself that fuel gauges need only read zero when empty to be legal. My original fuel gauges are worthless to me. I calculate my fuel burn and am very conservative on management. I am always reluctant to post questions, comments, or responses on this forum d/t the inflammatory nature of some of the responses. I joined this forum right around the time a highly revered member was leaving the forum d/t interaction with other members. I don't remember the details, and they don't matter. We have lost good members and will continue to lose good members of we can't interact cordially. Everyone here has the capacity to earn and maintain a ppl at baseline, and many here have robust expertise in a variety of arenas. That being said, everyone here deserves a basic level of respect. The inflammatory language never helps. Leave that crap on Facebook. -David

The IO-720 uses 17 quarts per oil change, so I bought a full drum of oil for it. Kind of heavy to lift, but I get it done. Clarence

According to the TCDS, the certification basis for the M20 series is certain specific revisions of CAR 3 and certain paragraphs of FAR Part 23. Part 24 no longer exists. When it did exist, it was titled “Mechanic and Repairman Certificates”; it never pertained to aircraft certification standards. The intent of the CAR 3 fuel gauge requirement seems pretty clear: “Means shall be provided to indicate to the flight personnel the quantity of fuel in each tank during flight.” It seems clear that the sentence, “Fuel quantity indicators shall be calibrated to read zero during level flight when the quantity of fuel remaining in the tank is equal to the unusable fuel supply as defined by 3.437.” is intended to indicate that the zero reference is to be unusable fuel and not empty or some other value.

On a sea level takeoff, full rich, note your egt. Lean as you climb to maintain that egt. It works well. That egt is now your target egt for any takeoff at any altitude. Just pick one cylinder to avoid confusing yourself as they will all be a little different and swap places occasionally as you climb.

Back in the late 1980s and early 90s there were a lot of instances of cylinder heads cracking. Someone came up with a theory that it was due to shock cooling caused by rapidly reducing throttle during descents. There was another theory, less long-lived, that going to full rich would cause cracking because of more cold fuel being introduced to a hot cylinder head. Back then, cylinders were usually replaced with overhauled cylinders and Cermichrome was the hot new thing. But, the overhauled cylinders still used the original heads. The cracking seems to have abated after Lycoming and Continental reduced prices on new cylinders and it became cost effective to replace cylinders with new. It seems that perhaps cylinder heads wear out after a couple or three TBO runs, so buying a reconditioned cylinder with unknown service history might be a crap shoot. John Schwaner of Sacramento Sky Ranch fame once told me that he set up a tub filled with dry ice and acetone and heated a cylinder head with a torch and then dropped it into the tub. After the excitement was over, he checked the head with dye penetrant and found no cracks.

My actuator was due for its inspection. Here it is 40/1 no ware at all. These gears were put in in 2003.

Maybe it ate the self serve hoses?!

Thank you all for the responses. The buyer wanted a 4k credit for the "dead cylinder" (cost to replace it).... They did not ask for anything else so I went ahead and did the deal. I think they are planning to just do a top overhaul soon anyway. When I first posted I had just been hit with the PPI report. After deeper consideration I came to realize that much of it was not very serious indeed. Also, the reported "suspected oil leaks" was likely spills from the very recent oil change.

I’ve been making interior improvements to my M20F. Recently had the seats reupholstered. And new carpet yet to be installed. Did a lot of searching for methods of restoring the plastic side panels, so I thought I’d share my experiences. I thought before buying new ones I’d try restoring the old. I think it worked out well. I followed the method described by Jaeger/Wisconsin Aviation site, with some modifications as recommended by a local auto-body place. I started with the pilot side panel, the rest are in much better shape. I had three long cracks nearly full length, with a lot of damage near the armrest. I carefully removed the panels, like I was dismantling an explosive device and washed them in hot soapy water. Then cleaned with plastic cleaner prep recommended by the auto-body place, it was much cheaper than the SEM product. I prepped all surfaces to be epoxied with 100 grit sand paper. I then used a two part flexible epoxy recommended by the autobody place, as it was much cheaper than the 3M and they assured me just as strong. I used aluminum foil tape and vinyl transfer tape to hold it together while I epoxied various spots so it would stay together. Then Dremelled out the cracks as per the Jaeger method. Removed the ashtray while I was at it, and patched the hole. Then used SEM texture (used as a primer on the advice of the autobody, as they said the adhesion promoter wasn’t necessary on such old plastic. Then painted, with a BASF plastic paint, they matched for me. Followed by a matte clear coat. Re-reupholstered the armrest with some of the darker color from the new seats. I pleased with how it turned out. Did the window frame above it as well. I think the other panels will be much easier, the door will be the challenge. But overall wasn’t as time consuming as I thought. The drying at each stage takes the time. As I mentioned, I researcher as much as I could online, and the info is limited. But the Jaeger instructions and the autobody supply store were great resources. Had an autobody custom seat upholsterer, redo the seats, with FAA/TC approved fire rated material for about half the price of “aircraft” upholsterers. I took video at various stages, but think I’ll redo them when I tackle the other panels. It was my first attempt, and I’m technologically challenged. If I can be of assistance, happy to share my errors and experiences.

Beer

To give everyone an update: Chatting with Don from Aircraft Magneto Service was worth it's weight in gold. Turns out, the Bendix mags I have (PN 10-163045-3) which has the small "round" style screw in P-leads do not function like I thought it did. My original understanding was disconnecting a P-Lead makes the magneto hot. However, when you screw in the P-lead on these magnetos, the length of the plug pushes against a metal tab in the back of the magneto. This tab, ungrounds the mag from its own housing and allows the P-lead to handle the grounding duties. Therefore, unscrewing the P-lead does NOT make this a hot mag. So when I disconnected the P-lead from the back of the mag on my second runup, I was grounding the magneto out. Then, in the shop when I was troubleshooting, I had the P-Lead adaptors screwed into the back of the magnetos for the buzz box. I then moved on to running the starter over with the plugs tied to the engine housing and discovered spark - because the P-lead adaptors were still screwed in this made the mags hot! So, I went back and tested the P-lead/switch. Turns out, the shielding from my right P-lead is a hot mess and was causing an intermittent ground regardless of switch position. Don from Aircraft Magneto Service had a P-lead plug laying around and made a 5' pigtail then mailed the P-lead to me via 2 day ups - for FREE. Great customer service from Aircraft Magneto Service for something that is 100% not their responsibility. It comes tomorrow, I will hook it up and see if things have improved - I think they will. EDIT: Problem solved, it was the right P-Lead. Simply put, for all you trouble shooters out there, you can't simply unscrew the P-lead from a Bendix mag to make it hot. It needs a P-lead or P-lead adaptor screwed into the back of the mag to un-ground it from its own housing. Here's a cool pic I took from a slow motion video. My mags are timed pretty close (top 1 and bottom 1 plug firing)!

Some mechanics, I swear. If you can't find every single part of the intake valve and re-assemble it on your bench, do not let the plane leave the ground until you do.

Exactly - airspeed is everything. Because of this i personally think partial power failures on takeoff can be more deadly than total power loss since there is no mistaking losing the engine after a brief startle effect. But with some power it’s much easier to try to nurse it around. the pilot was maintaining level 1100’ while airspeed was decaying. But did the pilot get the gear and flaps cleaned up? Did the pilot try to force the plane around with a skidding turn while pulling back? When was the last time practicing any slow flight? There is absolutely nothing impossible about the impossible turn. In fact they’re down right easy in the Mooney - we have the best glide performance of any aircraft. I invite any doubters to come spend a day with me and you’ll open your eyes to the real facts - do you know the conditions under which the problem may not be getting back but getting down? The bottom line is this - doing the impossible turn depends on planning for it before departure. This includes deciding to only attempt in when there are no other better options. If that becomes the plan then you must plan the angle/airspeed you’ll climb out at, minimum msl altitude you need before attempting the turn back, which direction you’ll turn and what bank you’ll use as well as the runway length. Follow the rules and you’ll get back. Decide on impulse after losing the engine and the odds are stacked greatly against it. This is why it’s so vital to do an emergency departure brief for every takeoff to have a plan for the unexpected because someday the unexpected becomes reality and if you haven’t planned for. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Speaking as a career EE, now retired, there is NO WAY I'm going to trust dual SFs, or any other electronic 'mags'; I've just seen way too many 'unexplained' electronic failures. Despite the ridicule our 'tractor mags' receive the reality is that they have an incredible record of millions of cumulative hours of reliable operation. The odds of BOTH failing in flight are virtually zero. I can see trusting one to 'get you home' if you have a electronic mag, or electrical power, failure. Fundamentally, the fact that my entire electrical system, even planes with dual batteries and alternators, can fail and the engine will continue to run is why I'm an ardent 'tractor mag' fanboy

I gave you a smart ass but yet very serious answer earlier in this thread. Over the past 20+ years of Mooney ownership, I've concluded a few things: - Ownership is exceedingly difficult and expensive if you can't help yourself to some level. You have to get to know your airplane and you have to be able to spot issues, particularly issues that occur after major maintenance. Maintenance induced failures are real. IMO, owner assisted maintenance is essential. - When I purchased my airplane, I spent an additional 30% of the purchase price on upgrades a few months later just to be somewhat satisfied with the flight experience. And... I had a pre-buy with a local mechanic. - If you don't have a local mechanic that can do what he says he's going to do when he says he's going to do it (within reason), ownership is exceedingly frustrating. Even annual inspections can take a month instead of a week; and you'll have a few that take many months (4-6) when it comes to major issues (paint, engine overhauls, avionics upgrades, etc). - My suggestion is to find a mechanic at your local airport that's willing to support you long term and help you make these decisions. Ask if you can help or at least observe maintenance and learn about your airplane. Make sure he's willing to work on a Mooney. If he doesn't want you on the shop floor (within reason), that's a problem in my opinion. - I'm getting older and crawling around on the floor cleaning and removing inspection panels is getting harder. When I can no longer assist with maintenance or when a shop that can perform maintenance in a timely manner is no longer available at my home airport, I'm done flying. You've got a lot of advice about the different aspects of ownership. I suggest you focus on maintenance next. Find a local mechanic before the purchase that can help you make these decisions and is willing to support you long term.

43.13-1b Chapter 11 mentions changing brushes when you don’t have manufacturer instructions. So, there is approved data.

Continental say to strain the oil through a screen as it’s drained into the bucket, their approved one is quite expensive. You can strain through a paint filter for a few pennies. Clarence

Thought I’d update and say: Successful 1500nm XC. 1 day with two stops on the way there with just my wife and I. It was a long day, but the new autopilot and IFR flight plans made it really quite relaxing. Headwinds going east though. Not fair! Stood in my brother’s wedding while at our destination and starter our journey home about a week later. This time with our 3 year old as well. He was a champ. Definitely more weather to contend with as we had a mega low pressure system over the prairies, but after a few hotel nights and some nice family time in cities we have never visited, we made it home in 4 days (the amount of time I allowed for the return trip). My wife is very understanding of the “always be flying” mentality when on an XC. If there is a safe opportunity to make some ground, take it. This applied to one of our stops where a weather window opened up and we were able to get ahead of storms the next day. We affectionately call it “ABF” I had the pleasure of doing a flight lesson with my friend’s flight instructor who happens to be involved in the design of instrument approaches. That was a treat. We are definitely looking forward to more family adventures in the J. Cheers everyone!

@RBBailey I thought you said you had a pre-buy done? It looks like the entire tail is assembled backwards, how on earth did they miss that?

Please don’t dis regard the oil leak from the quick drain. There is a member here who lost almost all of the oil from a leaking quick drain valve. It turned out to be a small piece of debris in the O ring seal. Clarence

Doesn't make me want to buy a new Cirrus. Maybe a new camera? Or a cool jacket. Or better hair.

That looks like fuel staining from the injector nozzle. You'll want to make sure it's not leaking during operation, but otherwise what can happen is that it dribbles a little bit every time you shut down. Over time it can make a mess like that. Clean it up, which might be difficult if it's been there a while. In any case clean it up as much as possible, clean the injector, and then just keep an eye on whatever it is doing. A simple thing to do is to make sure the nozzile is oriented properly. The X on one of the flats should be toward the bottom. It's not a tragedy if it isn't, it just means it might be leaking out the nozzle vent during shutdown. The oil on your gear doors and bottom of the airplane is not unusual, but is definitely worth tracking down. Clean it up every time, to see how much it is leaking on each flight. It's worth it to track down leaks, as some may be indicative of pending failures. It's also good to get to know how much is "normal" for your airplane, so you can tell when it changes, which means something has...changed. Tracking down leaks is tedious, but ultimately generally worth the effort.

As someone that has taught many pilots this maneuver i will say 800’ is very challenging and only possible in light winds with someone that has practiced this maneuver to a point of proficiency. Anyone attempting this on impulse alone is highly unlikely to pull it off for several reasons. It has to be part of the briefed plan before departure and the pilot has to be practiced at doing this in their Mooney. Otherwise the safer outcome is straight ahead or to one side. Since we all know we may not have any good options other than returning to the airport on some departures plus way too often people have died trying it on impulse, I believe that every pilot should learn to do this properly and owe it to their passengers to do the training. Not only is the skill invaluable but it should also reduce if not eliminate trying it on impulse after they’ve trained for it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did a lot of experimenting in a PFC DCX MAX AATD simulating a Mooney M20J which I fly. I found I could consistently make the turn with no wind from 1000' with room to spare. Below 800 feet was dicey. The wind is the biggest factor. If there is a significant headwind on takeoff, the turn starts closer to the runway and it's actually easy to end up high and fast with the tailwind once you get turned around. If the runway is short, it's possible to run off the far end -- something that I had never thought about. After a lot of sim practice, I practiced it at my home field. It's a lot different to practice at low altitude at a real airport than at altitude because of the visual cues so close to the ground. I achieved very similar results in flight to what I saw in the sim. One thing to keep in mind is that the drag of the windmilling prop going to be higher than the prop at idle power.

The latest iPad Pilot News from Sporty's has an article on a free app that allows you to input your aircraft specifics and takeoff field parameters and conditions, and then gives you an academic assessment of whether a turn back to the departure runway is a go or no go. Here's a link to the article https://ipadpilotnews.com/2026/05/glide2-app-review-planning-the-impossible-turn-before-takeoff/ The app is Glide2 and is available for free in the Apple Store. I had time on my hands a while back and toyed around with a spreadsheet to perform essentially the same calculations. I downloaded the Glide2 app found the app and my spreadsheet generate almost identical results. The app author includes all of his equations so you can see exactly how the predictions are generated. The biggest benefit of taking the time to play with this app is it allows you to experiment with varied performance, field, and environmental inputs and see how each affects the mathematical prediction of whether a turn back is possible or not. This is useful learning for more than just the turn back scenario. The app allows you to vary the reaction time delay, and also has a separate "Pilot Correction" input that allows you to add an additional buffer for less than perfect execution. Armed with this data, you can then go out and see how you and your airplane perform to the predictions under the same existing conditions. It's important to keep front of mind that this is an educational tool, not a decision making tool that you would use in preflight planning. If you choose to use it, use it to find the predicted boundaries, go out and demonstrate to yourself (and possibly an instructor or trusted safety pilot) how well you perform to the predictions, and then use that information to help determine your personal rules of thumb.

All, quick update: - I reached out to SAVVY to enlist all their resources to help source a motor. Brandon found my exact motor at PowerPacks Plus with a “call for price”. They had one non working motor so a bought it for parts. - Also, I remembered on a recent work trip to Alabama I was talking to the FBO operator/field mechanic who was telling me the difficult time he had finding a cowl flap motor for 252 he had at the field so he ended up using a yaw trim motor they found at BAS. I got the part number and the FAA/337 story from the 252 owner then found the same motor at BAS so I also have a 24v 8800550-507 on the way. The only thing with the Yaw motor is that it is a 24V motor so it will work fine in the 28V Mooney’s but not in my 14V Mooney. The owner of the 252 did say that his cowl flaps open and close in 2 seconds. He has had it in his plane for the last 2+ years. I can’t use the 24v “as is” because it would operate at half speed and probably wouldn’t take the wind load in flight. I might try it before I tear into it, but if it doesn’t work, it’s coming apart. - My plan is too take all three motors (including mine) to try and make one. If I’m able to make two from three I will let you know. I will post pics when I get one apart. - I also talked to Patty at Globe and used my airplane LLC as a business to start a request for quote. I want to see what the min bulk quantity is and price per unit. She said once an order is received for a new spec unit it’s 30 to 40 weeks so I wouldn’t count on this as an option for a long time. I’ll let you all know if I get that far.

After I bought my 1991 M20J 205 MSE, which was grounded by the German CAA due to several findings, I made it my personal mission to give this beautiful bird a second life. What started as a project to fix what needs to be fixed and some „little“ upgrades with a new GTN somehow almost made me lose my marriage and she almost kicked me out. I just hope, if I die she’s not selling it for what I told her the cost was…. I compared Garmin and Dynon and in the end I went Garmin all the way. Panel: G500txi 2 x GI275 (Stby Horizon & HSI) 2 x GTN750xi GFC500 with Yaw damper and smart glide with dedicated button AT-01 traffic (we need FLARM to see gliders in Europe) Behind the panel: Garmin GSR56 satcom & datalink wx GTS 800 Active Traffic Digital fuel probes Interior: Completely rebuilt seats Rebuilt yoke Rebuilt panels & headliner New sound proofing Exterior: 3M leading edge protection Whelen LED NAV/Strobe/Beacon/Ldg/Taxi New Top cowling New main breaks & wheels Ceramic Paint Coating Engine: Factory new prop Factory overhauled Engine Factory ne Govenor The whole process took about 7 months, in between I had to change the shop, but both did an amazing job. The pictures speak for themselves. I’m genuinely proud of this aircraft and can’t wait to fly her lots before it turns winter here again. Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

Two issues, your baffle sealing tapes could use an upgrade to Gee Bees seals. Two, your ChT temp values are less meaningful as they are taken under your spark plugs and not in the hole provided by Lycoming. Clarence

I'm glad to see that Erik's Rocket is flying again, and not languishing in a hangar while his widow wrings her hands. It's sad, but happy at the same time. Best wishes to the new owner! Is he here yet?

Yes, water can be introduced from a pump, or a truck. One case I know of personally was a truck where the top hatch allowed water entry and it had rained overnight. This was a long time ago, so maybe things are designed differently now, but it can and has happened. Like with anything else, there's usually some failure mode that allowed the water to get in to wherever it got. Sumping isn't just to detect water, though, and mis-fuels may be more frequent than water contamination and can be just as deadly.

Hi guys, Sorry, started posting late, so it wasn’t well thought out. RagF15e, one would think you want to keep the cracks tight together, and epoxy over them, but Jaeger instructions describe, using a Dremel tool to make a larger channel. Place tape on the good side, then fill the crack from the back side. The opened channel allows more epoxy to bridge, across the crack as opposed to just being on the surface. Because I had so many, I taped in numerous places leaving gaps. The aluminum foil tape works great but is a little more tedious removing it. I learned to leave the ends curled up, so I could get a good grip on it when removing. The acrylic transfer tape worked well also, and was much easier to remove. Bought this acrylic transfer tape on Amazon for about $12. Then Dremelled out the gaps, and filled them. Went back and removed the tape, then did those parts. So it was filled in sections initially, so it would hold together until I rebuilt the strength. You’ll see in the above photo, the long crack in the centre, and the one on the bottom are in natural gaps. So instead of Dremelling those out, I simply filled the gaps. I then placed a strip of drywall mesh across the full length. And saturated it in. The lady at the autobody place had automotive mesh, but said it’s exactly the same as self-adhesive drywall mesh for a fraction of the price. My intention was to then sand down the back smooth, but it mentioned on the epoxy directions high speed sanding can weaken the bonding qualities. Sand at low speed or by hand. I started to, but then decided, nobody will see it, and it adds material. It is very strong now, if it breaks it won’t be on those cracks. Here is the link for the Jaeger how to guide. https://www.jaegeraviation.com/ckfinder/userfiles/files/DIY-Plastic-Repair-Kit-2021.pdf Ready for painting… 3 light coats of Texture, 3-4 light coats paint, 3 coats of clear coat. The clear coat seals the paint and helps prevent it from wearing and chipping. Might help with cleaning as well? These were the products used in order of use. Hard to read the paint can as the disclaimer sticker didn’t come off easily. Omni-Pak Master blend EZ touch by Sherwin Williams. The autobody shop mixed the exact color I wanted for about 1/3 the price of the SEM, which only has a variety of colors. I asked the owner of the autobody if these products were as good as the SEM products. She assured me they are very good and be just as good a quality, especially for what I was doing. These products saved me a lot of money versus the SEM and 3M EZ Sand which I was prepared to pay for.

This thread and others like it have been popping up about every year since this site’s inception. I have been running one tank dry on long cross countries for nearly three decades without issue. It doesn’t raise my anxiety meter in the least though it may have as a new pilot. I’m not going to try to convince anyone to operate that way, but I think there is a lot of unfounded fear. Does anyone here have any evidence that running a tank dry has ever caused a problem? Running both tanks dry has certainly proven to be a problem, but one tank…meh…It has been common practice for the majority of the history of piston recip operations.

Took the wife on our first overnight airplane adventure. We went to KCQX "Chatham" on the Cape. Had a nice tailwind on the way there, light winds forecast straight down the pipe. Well, when we arrived it was 10G20 down the pipe. Tried our new folding kick scooters and they worked really well. We probably scooted about 10 miles over the weekend. Stayed the night at the "Captains Inn" bed and breakfast, which was quaint and charming. Breakfast was better than the typical Continental but we would probably head to a coffee shop instead next time. We did venture to the south Eastern side of Chatham which was very fancy... Too fancy for us, really. We are taco truck people.

To each their own, but when teaching primary students with limited experience, I boil turnbacks down to a trivial rule: Make a normal crosswind turn on departure, at the altitude you usually use, even if your intended course is straight out. Engine problems before that turn require a straight-ahead landing. Only when you're already in the turn do other options open up. "Don't turn back unless you've already started turning back" is about as simple as it gets in terms of decision making, and covers the vast majority of piston single airplanes and pilots. The corner cases it misses are too corner-case to be worth complicating the rule.

Data point: we've been operating our normally-aspirated IO-360-equipped M20F for 22 years. Engine had about 900 hours and 13 years SMOH when we acquired the airplane, now about 2600 hours and 35 years, and running strong except for the inevitable oil leaks you get when you operate that long without splitting the case or dropping the oil pan. During the course of that run, I've also been a flight instructor at the local flight school that runs a fleet of O-360-powered 180hp Skyhawks. Not a single member of our Mooney partnership has ever paid any attention to "shock cooling", nor paid any attention to CHTs except on the rare occasion they go above 400F during prolonged climbs on hot summer days. Cylinder temps below 300? Don't care. Rate of heating/cooling? Don't know, never paid any attention. And most of the flight school students (and some of the instructors) can barely keep the flight school airplanes right side up, much less carefully manage engine temps. All of those airplanes go well beyond TBO, albeit in just a few years due to flying almost 100 hours/month in peak season. It's your engine, not saying you shouldn't manage it as you see fit. What I am saying is that this idea that piston engines are definitely going to be damaged by anything other than meticulous attention to temperature detail, is not supported by my personal experience, nor any actual evidence I've ever seen. I think it's mostly fear that keeps these ideas going. That, and the desire to believe that you are "doing something" to prolong the time before you have to pay for a $50-100K engine overhaul. In summary: watch CHTs for very hot operations which are indicative of immediate, impending catastrophe. Other than that, doesn't matter.

The procedure to adjust the switch is in the Service and Maintenance Manual. Before you do any service on the airplane, it’s a good idea to read and understand the appropriate description in the manual. The switch is supposed to close when the airspeed reaches 60 +/-5 KIAS. Exactly how it is adjusted depends on whether you have Whitman-General or a V.E.P. switch. One test I would do is to put the gear handle up and if it does retract, accelerate and note if it retracts at a higher airspeed. Since the switch reacts to a pressure difference between the pitot and static plumbing, I would verify that there are no leaks there before adjusting the switch.