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It was a pretty nice day to fly to Myrtle Beach where things are open. Jazzy the Corgi enjoyed the flight.

I just wanted to provide a little update here. I went out to the field today to look over things. First, I inspected the ga35 antenna very closely with a magnifying glass. It looks perfect and sealant is perfect. Then, I looked at the bnc connectors to ensure everything was good and not touching anything else. So I pulled the gtn breaker and verified I had gps on the iPad, then turned avionics master on.. neither the gdl, nor the aera could get gps signal. iPad gps sitting on my wingwalk was ok. I stuck my finger under the glare shield to undock the aera and then the satellite signal page lit up. I then thought, ok, something is going on under the glare shield... I pull it up a little to reveal the remote external gps antenna that is hooked up to the GDL39. Its been there for years sitting on top of the panel subframe. The remote antenna has a plastic film coating on the metal on the bottom side of it. Some of the film was worn away from the edge and it seems it was grounding to my panel, which was jamming signals. I moved the antenna to sit on the fiberglass glareshield and I could not replicate the signal jamming issue. Duuuuuuuuuhhhh

Good morning MooneySpace! Airspeed Insurance Agency is happy to announce that we are bringing on a new agent this morning. Paul Havelka @Paul_Havelka joins us from Grove, Oklahoma, just east of Tulsa. Paul has a background in offshore oil service and recently sold his Piper Cherokee. It's yet to be seen what airplane will replace it, but I think a Mooney is high on the list. Paul and I will be working closely over the next few weeks to bring him up to speed on Airspeed's business flow & operations. He has a few accounts lined up, so we'll have plenty of his own prospects to use in making sure he starts out on the right foot. Airspeed has experienced a successful startup and that is much in thanks to the great support we have had from MooneySpace. In fact, we insure about 1% of the registered fleet of Mooneys right now and that number grows weekly. Have a great week, everyone! Parker Woodruff Parker@airspeedinsurance.com 214-295-5055 (office) Paul Havelka Paul@airspeedinsurance.com 918-314-6139 (direct)

When buying an airplane it is almost more important to pre-buy the seller than the airplane.

So my Mooney was dropped off at the engine shop on Friday. Although compressions were 80/80, we pulled the cylinder and immediately discovered one of the compression rings was shattered and there was a spiral gouge on the cylinder wall. Long post short, cylinder 3 is getting replaced with a factory new assembly from Lycoming. Obviously not the cheapest outcome, but at least it will be fixed and reliable again. I truly appreciate everyone’s input as I am sure you saved me a small mint in troubleshooting costs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice job. Can always get another airplane. And now you have a great bar story. I don’t know how many times I pulled over in a run up area to get out of the plane and check that I locked the door.

There’s a free iPhone app that can provide cabin altitude alerts as well. It’s called “Pressurization.” The screen shot shows it set up for the 5.5 psi differential of the P46T. It sounds a loud annoying tone and blinking light if the cabin pressure drops below a present limit.

Ya, I used a lot of O2 over the years in my Rocket. Don't need it much anymore with the IVPT. I DO hang the mask around my neck and require all passengers to do the same anytime above FL-240 though. Too long to get to a breathable altitude from there. I also have an Icarus altitude alert that my headset cord plugs through (6 pin) that works amazingly well for cabin altitude deviations. There would be many more pilots alive had they been using this valuable tool. Tom

This one is FAA-PMA for every Mooney model except the M20A or B. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/sts-12a24a.php http://www.lamartech.com/files/128975167.pdf

Went to see AC, unfortunately the damage is a little more extensive than I first imagined (without taking off the tail) you can see that the airframe has twisted to the right all the way up the tail and the skin is deformed down the side of the fuselage half way up towards the baggage door on the right. Really hard to see in the photos. The impact from the door has also pushed the horizontal stabiliser back a good 10cm compared to the left side. You can see the 1cm gap thats been created at the joint where it connects to the empennage. Finally, and most worryingly the debris & stuffing from the hatch door was blocking the elevator fork from moving freely hence why it didn’t just fly away, as a consequence the flight controls are all strained & warped from the opposing force of using the trim to control the AC on the glide down, the metal linkage has also been bent slightly showing the strain that was on the AC. The additional photos are the skid marks through the field. Turns out Membury used to be an old RAF base used during the battle of Briton, I have draw out our flight path on the old map in green and red. My wife compared the incident to being hit by 88mm flak cannon. A toast to ‘The Few’.

Going to visited the AC today. I’ll keep you all in the loop once I have more info/photos. If anyone has a spare hatch door for a model K I maybe in the market....... think mine is a little unsalvageable. Thank you for all the kind comments, my wife and I really appreciate it, lots to take in. The first question she asked when we got in the cab home was ‘how long do you think it will take until we’re flying her again?’

22nm after take off, mid point between Charlton Park(Private) & Fairoaks (London) the baggage hatch blow off which then could caught & wrapped it’s self firmly around the right hand tail elevator. We immediately lost lift and declared an emergency with ATC who had us on a basic service, lucky we were within distance of a 770m grass / gravel strip between some solar panel farms. Other than the damage to the elevator and hatch looks like we were extremely lucky to walk away unharmed. (3:52) in the video

Wife and I took our 11 week old first child on his first flight today. Filed for 5000, ended up cloud surfing the tops at 7000. Saw someone before me suggest taking out the right seat so my wife sitting back seat with our son would have plenty of leg room. Worked like a charm. Kid loved the flight. Can't wait to do lots more flying as the 3 of us. Wife wants another child sooner than later. Need Jimmy to find me a FIKI long body once or before the next one is here. But for now she was thrilled with how much leg room she had. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Lack of use is the reason. From Cape Air running turbocharged 520 Continentals to trainers running (I)O-3XX Lycomings that fly everyday rarely have theses issues. Continentals have there cylinder issues but a regularly flown engine reduce them. Before I bought a airplane I rented a Piper Arrow. One day they had all the log book at the front office so out of curiosity i went through them. The engine had 2800 hours on it and it had no repairs any deeper than mag work done. it accumulated those hours in 7 years. There are always the exceptions but I think everyone agrees that if you fly frequently they will give you good to great service. If it is 20 years old with 600 hours on it it probably will rot from the inside out. All that said a friend of mine who has a 1977 Grumman tiger has used Avblend with Philips X/C 20w-50 since the day he bought it 1992. He used it because the previous owner used it. It still has the original engine in it with about 1800 hours on it. It has had one cylinder repaired because there is a cylinder on tigers that don't get the best cooling. For a engine to keep corrosion out for that long takes something other then regular multi weight oil and Avblend is the only thing he does differently.

Correct. The inside emergency latch was introduced in the J & K models and the last update was issued in '88 with wording changes in '89. There are no more recent ones that I can see. There were some retrofit suggestions for earlier models like the F published in MAPA years ago which I believe are the basis for F mod discussed above - but these didn't come from the factory. With the last SB M20-239A, the AFMS calls for locking the baggage door to secure it in J's and K's.

Agreed, I just flew mine to Dallas and back in the flight levels which allowed me to make the trip non-stop and avoid all weather as well as flight over some MOAs that were active at lower levels.

Yes.

Yeah, I would never get a turboprop because it would be SO ANNOYING to have to deal with all those pressurization issues. I think I’d probably fall asleep behind a reliable smooth engine with no vibration effortlessly taking me into the flight levels. I’m much more comfortable with a maze of tubes dangling from the cabin and the reassuring feel of the cannula shoved up my nose. On a serious note, I actually didn’t mind the oxygen until I got the dog and am now really jealous of those with pressurized airplanes. Definitely the way to go. Although if I had a pressurized plane I wouldn’t have been able to ask NorCal for a gradual descent “because I have a puppy”— which they actually gave me. Controller was in a great mood and even made a self-deprecating reference to a Kinky Friedman song to a plane headed to El Paso.

That's a gamer and lifetime keeper!

For the same reason that Dr. Carter never said what was in his liver pills. Knowing what's in it makes it possible to run tests and collect data; they'd rather sell based on feelings and belief. Must not be much real data to support the claims . . . . or they would brag on ingredients and wave the data around.

Welcome to NJ, FloridaMan! The NJ Turnpike people want you to know that they appreciate you flying over their toll road... Here’s your bill... Best regards, -a-

No, but when I was a paramedic and we went to Vegas for St. Patrick’s Day we did bring some supplies... It’s oxygen tubing. We all like oxygen. O2D2 up front and O2D1 in the back set to go on at 5000’. Kept it below 8000’ for the puppy.

If Avblend is 99% mineral oil and 1% magic, then there are 0.32 oz per quart of magic. 8 quarts is 256 oz + 12 oz Avblend (containing 0.12 oz magic), or 0.12 ÷ (256 + 12) = 0.000448 = 0.045%. But it still ain't very much. Most folks here fly with 6 quartz of oil not 8, which raises it to 0.059%. Then again, how much is 10mg of painkiller in my 200-lb body? A whole lot less, but fairly effective the last time someone was drilling in my mouth. But I really didn't read the numbers on the syringe, it could have been 2-3mg. [NOTE: 200 lb = 90,718g; 10 mg = 0.01g, or 0.000011%, but it kept my mouth from hurting.]

Congratulations and accolades to all concerned. @RedSkyFlyer for piloting skill, to his passenger for being a real asset during the experience, and to Al Mooney and the Mooney factory for designing and building such a good (and strong) airplane.

Hi Alex, welcome,, best way to get that ball rolling around here is to let us know about your mission how many PAX useful load as well as bags etc. I think I may have beaten Anthony to the welcome wagon once again. PP short body only, not a Bravo oner

Here is the final installation. You can order the eyeball vent from Spruce, and the adapter from xometry. Please see the pdf for the order details. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/largealumavblack.php 1AB77-15002.pdf

Thank you @Parker_Woodruff for the opportunity. I look forward helping the Mooney community and yes, a Mooney is high on the list!

Well . . . a nine year follow up on this post. I was thinking of getting back into a Mooney back in 2011 and looked at N1152L. I made a trip out to Georgia with the idea of giving it a close look and maybe flying it back to Texas. Looking over the logbooks when I got there before I ever saw the airplane told me everything I needed to know - lesson learned I should have asked for scans of the books and saved the trip. There had been about 10 logbook annuals with almost no time each year, same AP/IA, same wording, absolutely nothing done to the airplane once I looked at the airplane in person. Fuel stains everywhere, nothing had been lubed in many years, tires dry rotted. etc, etc. Very sad. I drove an hour back to ATL and flew back on Delta the same day. If they would have given me the airplane I couldn't have found a way to make the numbers work with everything it needed. (Engine, prop, panel, interior, fuel tanks - plus a lot of deferred maintenance on the airframe.) Later that year I saw that someone from Uvalde TX had bought it and I thought good for them, someone found a way to make sense of buying it and getting it back in the air. In early 2015 I see that it had a gear collapse in Beaumont TX (https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=172715). The reason I follow up on this post is that every month someone comes on Mooneyspace, just like I did, and is looking for a cheap Mooney. The best advice, it costs money to maintain a complex airplane, budget for one that has been maintained and don't get stars in your eyes about buying a cheap one and flying it as-is for free. I heard that the guy that bought it didn't insure it, so the collapsed gear cost him whatever he paid for the airplane basically. Glad that wasn't me.

Took Snoopy to visit my mom and install a solar charger in her car (since she hasn’t been driving anywhere).

You missed my point. These Yamaha marine engines sit for up to 6 months at a time, on a lake, in the winter, NOT RUNNING. You want to talk about lack of use? Corrosive environment? They are aluminum blocks to boot. They don't have corrosion issues. They rev 6000 rpm, 4 cycle. They don't have head issues. The reason? Partly the fact you can run synthetic oil, partly the fact that they are manufactured in state of the art facilities. How is you can pick these engine up straight from the factory and run them, and do nothing to them, not even break in, for 100 hours. When you look at how a Rotax kicks butt on a Lycoming O-235 or a Continental O-200 from almost every conceivable point of view, you realize we are buying crap. Sorry the "lack of use" is an excuse for weak and antiquated manufacturing. There is no reason for these parts to be so weak on surface treatment in comparison to other engines.

In theory you could connect (not legal) the 795 to the ASPEN through the serial port, but it would show only the course line. In the meantime even if you don't install a GPS at this point I would pre-wire it to avoid the need to redo the install in the future.

I don't usually lock the door just make sure it's latched. Will lock from here on out! That could have been much worse! I thought perhaps you were overreacting until I started to wonder if it hit the tail on the way out causing control-ability issues. Then when you posted pics of it wrapped around counterbalance of elevator, I was surprised at HOW WELL you reacted. I saw the plane suddenly pitch down and you had to pull that yoke, good job!

Thanks @PJClark, couldn't find the recent previous thread that discussed this... Steve

You don’t need to live in the hills to take advantage of an M model, there extremely useful in the summertime as the clouds raise up to the heavens. I just finished a little trip in the Bravo about 1150 miles, unstable air which became smooth above 9,000 watching them build higher. Keeping a smooth ride just requires keeping ahead of the plane and weather. Agreeing with Lance I’d have a difficult time going back to a NA plane, although all Mooney’s are great planes and IFR platforms.

Nice follow-up Derrick... The O uses a similar location for the vent air, closer to the floor... The Xometry part came out pretty nice... Best regards, -a-

I feel very fortunate that I devoured the knowledge and experience on forums like this while I was looking for my first plane. I would give the same advice to anyone looking. buy an active flyer, interview the owner, people that let little things go, more often than not let the big ones go too... buy the best plane you can afford and it will be the cheapest purchase you ever make... look for value, not price..

I finally got my plane back after the avionics upgrade. This is my panel prior to the upgrade: Here is the scary midpoint of the upgrade...It was quite unnerving seeing the panel in pieces and I was wondering if they could put it back together: Luckily for me, they knew what they were doing and here is the panel today when I picked it up: The upgrade was precipitated by a failed KI256 during an IFR flight late last year. After much research and a pause due to the release of the GI 275 earlier this year (I briefly contemplated 2 GI 275s instead of the Aspen but opted to go with the Aspen unit and a GI 275 as backup as I felt the presentation and features on the Aspen were more complete and fit my flying better - and since the G5 was not TSO'd as a backup and would need a field approval which I did not want to risk during these uncertain times). The KI 256, KI525, RC Allen backup AI, magnetometer, KCS55A remote gyro, vacuum pump and electric backup vacuum pump and related wiring came out. This was replaced with the Aspen Pro Max with an EA100 for interfacing directly to the KFC150 and a GI 275 backup ADI . I also upgraded the 430 to WAAS to better talk to the GNS530W. This install saved 27 lbs!!

IDK the answer, but I didn't end up replacing it and still have the part. I'll get the P/N when I go to the hanger tomorrow.

1% of 12oz of magic in 8 quarts of oil is 0.0000047 oz. Actually less than that because it’s >99% mineral oil so <1% magic. That is some powerful magic that deserves some equally powerful imagination!

Drop in part number GI275 .

How would ever know if this stuff does any good? it is easy to say "I've used Avblend and my engine made it to TBO", which is great, but you will never know if it would have made it just as well without it. I think flying often is way more important than what oil or additives you use. It is just like people who have BMWs who always put premium gas in their cars because they deserve it. You will never know the difference driving to work or the grocery store unless you drive like a teenage boy! (I'm going to hear about this one!)

I think with your sleeping hours (as on your MS posts) you should qualify for the program

Its probably worth mentioning while we're on this topic that there are few Mooney SB on the emergency baggage door latch that applies to J's and K's to prevent the door from opening in flight and where Mooney's answer to some causes of doors opening in flight years ago and may still be applicable to some Mooneys out there. sbm20-239a Baggage Inside Latch Modification.pdf sim20-63 Engagement of Baggage Door Mechanism.pdf sim20-82 Baggage door inside latch mod.pdf

That J model door is very impressive compared to what I have on my 68 F.

I happen to have the interior out of my 1994 M20J and I spent some time looking at the baggage door hinge and lock this afternoon. This picture shows the door with the exterior handle in the open position: Here's what it looks like with the exterior handle in the closed position: Note how far the latching pins protrude in the latched position. There is no way that the door is going to open if the pins are engaged unless perhaps the hinge gives way and allows the door to shift. Here's a shot with the interior emergency handle pulled open: I labeled two springs, A and B. Spring A creates an over center force to hold the mechanism either open or closed. In addition, Spring B acts to hold the pins in the latched position and did so (albeit less forcefully) even when I removed spring A. I noticed that to open the door with either the inside or outside latch, the lever has to be pulled forcefully over center. Even if the hitch pin was removed from the inner lever, I don't think the door could open unless something pulled on the lever with enough force to compress spring A and move the mechanism over center. The piano hinge is riveted to the tailcone skin and the door. It is recessed slightly so that the tailcone skin retains the hinge pin. The design seems very secure. I don't see how it could open unless something was broken or it wasn't latched. But, in cases where it is not latched, I would expect that it would open on takeoff as others have reported. In this case, there was a delay. Skip

My pictures are upside down about half the time. But I don't post them if they're that way. Just delete the picture out of the post. Then I'll rotate it on my lap top a couple of times and re-add it to the post. If it's right then I'll post it. If not, delete it and try again. It usually doesn't take me more than one time to get it right.

I had some .010 stainless steel sheet kicking around and I cut a piece about 3/8" x 4" and glued some 150 grit aluminum oxide sandpaper to it to get into the crevices. I also used a small wire brush.

Nice! I'm on for the 18th to drop mine off for a much needed upgrade to an Aspen 2000 system. Can't wait. And, I will be removing some similar equipment, so it's nice to see that much in weight savings!