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The best Mooney in the world is the one you are flying!

I found an alternate answer to the rigid/semi-rigid/flexible conundrum while looking for a replacement for my early model VA-400. The VA-400 still works great, but I need something that I can also use for another application that the rigid VA-400 can't accommodate. So I bought this one on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDKCHJQ4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details And I had a "eureka!" moment when the idea of using a rigid tube slid over the flexible cable occurred to me, and I also ordered these. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0923RDDQ5?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details And here's what I have now that meets all of my requirements quite elegantly. The scope can be rotated very easily inside the tube, and I can cut the tubes to different lengths as the application requires. Best of both worlds. Cheers, Junkman

I have found that centering the plane while pushing back into hanger is difficult when you just have a ribbed galvanized wall. I had a banner in last hanger and when above the tail it made pushing into hanger a lot easier. I put this one in and centered the drooped Mooney tail feathers on the center. Put the top of the dorsal on the tail of the Mooneybird and push back is easy.

And here I thought we just responded to one particular post, and once we scroll past the title, we don't remember what the discussion was supposed to be about, only the part that we each want to respond to . . . . .

There is only so much to be said about certain subjects. This is not a technical thread, it’s philosophical. The nature of philosophical conversations is that they tend to meander.

lol @EricJ throwing some accolades to the HIGHLY COVETED AND DESIRED 1977 MOONEY M20j and it starts a model debate. Love that energy, boys.

It never ceases to amaze me how you guys can take a thread into a completely unrelated direction from the original post. If that was an a Olympic sport, you'd all have gold medals.

Ask and ye shall receive

I own a 2009 Subaru Outback. It has a seeping power steering hose. Subaru no longer makes the part and there are no aftermarket replacements. Last I checked, Subaru was a going concern. When Clarence used to post here, he pointed out that some Cirrus parts have very long lead times. Beechcraft owners waited years to finally get some magnesium control surfaces made. I was pleased that Mooney could provide me with a new nose gear leg when an FBO damaged mine. Personally, I can live without a redundant fuel gauge. I understand that some of you cannot.

I don't expect Johnny to be a presence here. But a monthly or quarterly state of Mooney post here and other venues (post on Mooney site), would be nice. It would be great if someone from Mooney had a presence online.

Yeah, the number of times I’ve needed that light is very small. I never trusted it to go off on its own, so I would have to linger in the hangar to see. In a world of LED flashlights and headlamps, I’m disinclined to spend a lot on this. -dan

My hangar has a seam in the ceiling insulation dead center. I align the tail and the com antenna on the seam. It perfectly centers the plane every time. My tie down has nothing to align to and an off center light pole behind it, so you cannot push it too far back and pull it forward along the line. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is a PITA.

BIG X for the tail & the stripe for the nose tire. Hangar lights are a huge plus. The wife watches the stab/elevator clearance. Way easier now since getting the Sidewinder.

An instructor for my Aerostar brought up a good point to me about efficiency and cost on the lycoming up-540. But it’s valid in several other areas. I was very accustomed and comfortable with LOP, and I really wanted to try it out but the lycoming do not tolerate it as well in general, and on the twin, the speed loss is huge. While fuel is a big expense, I think it’s fair to say so is tbo. I’ll use my numbers to illustrate but feel free to plug in yours to see which makes sense. Aerostar ROP 220 knots at 32gph, tbo at 2000hrs. That’s 440k miles and $320k in fuel at $5gal. OH @$100k $0.95 per mile Aerostar LOP 175 knots at 26gp, tbo at 2000hrs. That’s 350k miles and $260k in fuel at $5gal. OH @$100k $1.02 per mile acclaim ROP 220 knots ROP at 21gph tbo 2200 OH @$100k and two tops $25k $0.78 per mile acclaim LOP 200 knots at 15 gph tbo 2200 OH @$100k $0.60 per mile Encore LOP 175 knots at 10gph, tbo 1800? oh @$100k $0.60 per mile. it’s an interesting way to look at it is all.

Hmmmm, NO. 252/Encore is the best Mooney.

And they'd be wrong!

The City of Phoenix does a good job with this, and requires airworthy aircraft in a hangar, or a limited schedule to get a project flying. e.g., for an experimental it has to be flying in X years, similar with any "project" airplane. Yes, you can have something non-flying in the hangar, but it has to be an active projet and actually fly within a certain amount of time. They seem to be enforcing it, which helps a ton with moving the hangar wait list along and keeping the airport more vibrant. I appreciate it, but some of the deadbeats definitely don't. A local private field that doesn't take fed money has a couple rows of hangars, and several of them when they're actually open are jammed floor to ceiling with crap. Furniture, boxes, cars, whatever. If there's an airplane in there somewhere, you can't tell, because there's so much crap. If there is an airplane in there it obviously hasn't moved in a LONG time and it'd take a pretty significant effort just to get it out. I think people don't want to let go, and an artifact of some loved one's life is just a symbol of what's left of them. It's pretty natural to want to hang on to stuff like that, which is why it's such a powerful thing. It's emotional, not logical or rational, so the hurdle to overcoming it can be very high.

RockAuto might be able to help https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/subaru,2009

I suspect it is being spent elsewhere, as in, not much on Mooney. As others have said, once it became clear that there weren't good prospects for ROI, even in the long run, his energy probably turned elsewhere toward greener pastures. I remember when the enthusiasm was high and he was making promises for regular communication with the community, developements of things like replacement cowls, etc. I was skeptical at the time and it played out pretty much as expected (because that's nearly always what happens), although it was a bit quicker and more pronounced than I anticipated. It's nice that it still exists and poops out little batches of parts once in a while, but I think anything past that going forward is just going to be a bonus for the user community. I'm not expecting much.

Thanks Mike - will do. I'm heading back to the airport tomorrow morning and will take a look with the cowls off.

I agree with you. But incase of Subaru. You can legally manufacture your own parts or use stuff that are similar. With a airplane. It's a little bit of a grey area with PMA. Especially with newerish airplanes

As a firefighter..... If there is not life involved, no rush is warranted. I could say something about their hose lay as they looked like they were pulling rolled up hose. Also moving from an up wind position to a downwind position. They were doing car tactics where you approach from the front quarter. But notice when the magnesium wheels are hit how they spark. If that gets on you it will go through your gear. Also the fuel was on fire from the wing sump. He hits it a couple of times and it relights. meaning there was something there hot enough to relight. We are taught and it takes awhile to get through to the younger go getters to evaluate what you are saving vs. cost. So if they had got water on it 1-3 minutes earlier how would the outcome be different?

The TC does not go anywhere. It has been issued and remains in full effect. The PC may go away and that effectively puts Mooney out of the parts business but has no effect upon owners other than a lack of spares. Realistically when I attended my first MooneyMax and heard Jonny speak, I asked one simple question. "Are you not afraid of people eating your lunch with PMA'd parts?" His response was Mooney owned the blueprints. I knew then we were in deep doo-doo. Simply put he does not understand the business.

In a PM from @StevenL757 to me, he mentioned that the item is used as blocking diode for the standby alternator system. It prevents the non-essential bus from being fed by the standby alternator. The schematic for this installation was not available to me in the documentation I had from Mooney, but I was eventually able to locate a schematic for my Ovation serial number. It seems that when running the standby alternator, this diode will block power to adjacent switches to the left of the Pitot Heat breaker switch, none of which are on the essential bus. But under battery power, there should not be any drop in voltage across this diode. Since we measured a significant drop, my assumption is that this diode has failed. A replacement is on order. Thanks to all. Ron

The M20P you might recognize from filing a flight plan. On the FF side, to set up your Aircraft you want to put in your N# and your type aircraft should come up. There might be a S/N range, but it should be right there. And yes, you may see other options because there could be different engines, changes in the model, etc. When I put in my N# it pulls up M20K/231 (M20T) TSIO-360-LB(1). But if I look at the drop down options I also find M20K 252 Rocket, M20K 252 TSE, M20K 252 Encore w/ 2 engines, and the list goes on. So be sure to try your N# first and stick with it unless it really doesn't match up. Then reach out to team@foreflight.com.

Be great if you all share a picture of what your new borescope can do to show off its image quality. That’s still #1 in my book. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is the FAA code for Flight Plans. M20P for NA and M20T for turbo. https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/Order_7360.1D_Aircraft_Type_Designators_FINAL.pdf

@Max Clark That's the Aircraft Type Designator. M20P is normally aspirated Mooney. M20T is turbocharged Mooney. You'd use this also when getting flight following, i.e. N12345 is a M20P... ATC just cares about turbo vs NA, but otherwise most Mooneys fly relatively similar for their planning purposes.

When the quick profit from a sale could not be had, everything and everybody walked away. It is a zombie company that has one thing a real value. An FAA production certificate. As long as there is free rent and enough revenue to make a payroll and keep the lights on, it will zombie walk on.

there are two failure modes, failed timer board, found the whole timer box used on ebay, think our Don Muncy sells the timer board, spring loaded switch fails to spring back and turn off, $7 standard item, is it all worth the trouble or is it just easier to take out the bulb? depends how much fly at night, coming home and turning on the baggage light and finding stuff in the trunk is nice, timer runs about 5 min, on the downside battery is expensive, when in doubt take the bulb out until you are sure baggage light is tuning off reliably

Then they put a forum on the Mooney web site, and it dwindled rapidly from little to nothing.

Tell use a number. X at this price or Y at this price and see if owners and MSCs will come up with the price. Or, as I said, set up for vendor to sell direct for a piece. That piece could start with paying down the debt.

It is all good for Part 91. If you fly for hire, the headset has to be TSO'd. We had a number of pilots busted for using converted Quiet Comfort units.

if that is 9v I am seeing on your schematic drawing.... If that's 3v drop that seems high to me, I am sure by now the you have clean all your contact and check the condition of wiring and made that they are all tight. maybe put ACF50 or like to prevent future corrosion. hope that helps, James '67C

@exM20K I went through this back in 2021 as soon as I got the Acclaim. I needed a circuit board in my timer box. My findings are in this thread.

That reasoning does make sense. But dang that would just be sad. I wished someone from the company was able to be open and upfront today

The only thing I can think of is that they already owe that vendor more money that this order would net them.

Spencer. That was the one.

I've long thought that the Encore is the ultimate Mooney, but you gotta be careful where you go with it--my C will easily go in and out of places that an Encore won't. Plus the Encore isn't much of a grass fielder. It's all in the compromise--which functions are important to you, and how many AMUs are available? The final answer will be different for most of us.

Me either. They can get cash up front to cover the cost of ordering, purchasing, shipping and some profit. Another idea, let the manufacturers sell them direct, but with a small fee to Mooney per part. Even better, they get cash in, at no cost to themselves.

Wow, 45# is brutal for a mountain hike. I’ve done 100miles (rolling hills, not mountains) in 3 days with closer to 60# more times than I care to remember. Of course this was not for fun, or by choice…. These days, I may start a little over, but I stay under 30# for the end. If I can’t whittle it down to that I aint going! these old knees can only take so much.

If you call Frank Crawford at Mooney, he can look up the drawing and tell you if there is anything special about it. Mooney sometimes modifies standard AN fittings (for example to add a flow restriction for instrument connections or to make a right angle sniffle valve). I don’t see why a mod would be needed here, but the drawing will tell.

I worshiped King for 30 years. Their stuff was so much better than anyone else's. 40 years ago there you were, KFC-200, KNS-80 flying Great Circle routes across the country. You thought you were a God flying the Space Shuttle. Then they failed to innovate, and let Garmin take over the world. Now they are just scum. Trying to hold up any stagecoach that comes through their area.

I sent it in July of 2023 and had it back in two weeks.

Sensorcon has been a great company to work with. I had a really good relationship with them, but unfortunately they have had some employee turnover and that has ended. I've been meaning to get back in contact with someone there and try to restart what I had in the past. This week I'll try to do that. If it works out I'll let everyone here know. Cheers, Dan

What really amazes me are the derelicts sitting on the ramp or in hangars. and the owners refuse to sell it to someone who wants to put it back in service. The ones in hangars are crazy, some of the owners have paid more in hangar rent than the airplane is worth and still won't sell it.

Just take a volt meter and trace backwards from the SOS to see where the electricity stops This is not rocket science. Its only one wire. Is there 12 v power getting to the SOS? If not- Go to the other end of that wire - Is there12 v power getting to the other end of THAT wire? If not- if not continue as above and find where the power stops Basic trouble shooting will save a lot of time and money instead of a parts cannon.

The simple answer is a hanger fairy dialed up your oil pressure when you weren’t looking. Normally a hanger fairy would only complete work they knew the owner wanted, but maybe yours went rogue.

You are still in the normal range, but something is somewhat different. If it were mine, I'd just watch it, and if it doesn't get worse, I'd see what happened after the next filter/oil change. If you are worried about it, you could just change the filter and see if that makes a difference since that is the only part that was changed.

And I appreciate all the great efforts put forth by those who organize these events. It is a lot of work and takes real dedication from those few who donate so much of their time to arrange this great experience for the rest of us!