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Ordered a set of visors from @DonMuncy My '66E had the center mount visor. Mr. Muncy fabricates a fully articulating visor with nicely sized hardware and smooth joints at a very fair price. I fabricated a very crude bracket for each side and used existing Mooney hardware to install to avoid any alteration to the plane. Hopefully my bracket will hold up over time. If not, I have no problem having paid Mr. Muncy a modest sum for his hand-made engineering. My Wemac baffles above are courtesy of @Utah20Gflyer's design. I built a vacuum forming machine and formed them from 1/16 ABS. Also copied @piperpainter's backseat mod w/ a slight twist. I guess it's time for me to confess that I've been lurking on this forum for a long time saving and compiling information. I have definitely taken more than I've given. I try to database any information that I might need in the future to repair or obtain equivalent parts to keep this plane in the air. And I can't quit buying up everything that comes available that I think I might need in the future. Why am i buying Brittain stuff from Bonanza guys? And why did I buy that lot of various early Mooney inspection panels? I save instruction articles such as @Shadrach's thorough course on hydraulic flap maintenance/overhaul or @carusoam's bullet points and I've saved just about everything @M20Doc has said. I do try to buy from the folks here. I ordered @donkaye's landing video. I have @takair's electric step conversion sitting in my hangar waiting to install. Picked up a battery charger from @OSUAV8TER shortly after I bought the plane. Anyway, I'm thankful for the folks on this forum and your willingness to share your years of experience and expertise. I fly out of a rural airport in the middle of nowhere in SW Louisiana. Without the information here, I will quickly run into something that will ground me. -David

Some people have WAY too much time on their hands

The rumor is the factory test pilots got over 300 mph

Just got my J home. I would love to connect with any local guys and share resources and advice. Mechanics, flying locals etc. , join and support the local Mooney community. see y’all Randy (HQZ) Mesquite

Shout out and special thank you to @Cody Stallings for some great advice today. Mooneyspace is blessed to have him and I know where I will be sending my prop for service in the near future !

Terry big difference once you drive behind your own panel. Unfortunately I get stuck flying using only a part of my available stuff. Then your thrown a reroute with a coupling crossing altitudes and calculate in my head when we can just enter the plan with the stuff using VNAV etc. I’d bet the younger pilots who grew up on glass utilize much more of the capabilities

That looks useful for the nose gear. For the mains, it just looks like extra work. I say this as someone who just installed new discs in 2021.

Pretty sure that during testing, all aircraft are rigged with quick release hinge pins making it easy to jettison the doors. The Bonanza F33C is equipped with quick release door hinges.

Glad to meet up and show it off once I get it. Or meet me at N71 next week when I am up there.

My understanding is that there was a premature parachute opening by one of the jumpers that caused damage to the plane. So all of the jumpers went out, followed by the pilot.

In addition, I take 3.2 ounces (two quarts worth) out of each Cam Guard bottle, so it is ready to add at an oil change (8 quarts for me). And I mark the bottles with Cam Guard added with CG written on the flat near the neck with a Sharpie.

Best GS I have had was 229, but by the time I got the phone out, it was only 227.

Way I read it was everyone jumped. In a statement Sunday, the National Transportation Safety Board said preliminary information indicates the plane was flying a skydiving mission, where "all passengers and the pilot were able to exit the plane before it crashed." The article did make it sound like the pax rode it in though

This doesn't sound right to me. There are springs (aka bungees) that interconnect the rudder and ailerons. It is described (a little bit) in 27-60-00 in the SMM and shown in 27-10-00 in the IPC (items 36 are the two interconnect springs). If one side is broken it might do what you're describing.

@hangareuro I had a similar issue and isolated it to misrigging of my elevators. The document @PT20J Skip attached covers how to do it precisely. But it's easy to visually check on the ground for gross misalignment, which is how I found it on my airplane. Hold one of the bob weights aligned with the stabilizer and look to see if the bob weight on the other elevator is in the same position relative to the stab. If not, you have a starting point for your chosen A&P. Cheers, Junkman

I've had to use my tie down ropes several times the last few years. It's been at places you wouldn't really expect. Once in Sedona, Arizona, a very busy ramp. I think I parked in the only spot that was missing its chains or ropes - but it was one of the few spots available, which may have been why nobody was parked there. Same thing in Knoxville, TN. Got one of the last open spots, but its ropes had gone missing. No problem since I had my own. Gunnison, CO had hooks set into the asphalt, but no ropes. The hooks were full of hard frozen ice so I couldn't use them anyways, but the FBO was nice enough to triple chock the plane. The Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas ramp has cable running across it for tying down, but I didn't see any ropes or chains to hook it to. I didn't stay, but if I did, I would have had to use my ropes. It's a campground so maybe that's to be expected. I keep the ropes in a soft camera bag that zips closed, so they take up very little space or weight.

The engine-driven mechanical fuel pump draws fuel up from the tanks, i.e., sucks, so the pressure on the input side of the pump is lower than ambient. A heat source on an exposed portion of the low-pressure side makes it susceptible to boiling at the reduced pressure, so the mechanical pump is then subject to vapor lock. The boost pump pressurizes the input side of the mechanical pump so that it is less likely to vapor lock. It moves the low pressure (suction) side of the fuel line to behind the firewall (less heat) and below the fuel tanks (more input pressure), so it is unlikely to suffer from vapor lock.

I've dead sticked several RSA systems (broken diaphragm) but never had vapor lock with them. Being a closed system they should actually be less prone as the supply operates at a higher pressure which is one of the reasons Continental has a vapor separator. That all said vapor lock can only come from three sources. Rapid expansion of the liquid (with a resulting pressure drop), excessive fuel temperature or out of spec vapor point fuel. I think the last one we can eliminate so the other two you have to look at. I know there is a lot of problem on auto to marine fuel injection because the fuel pumps on marine have to suck as opposed to push fuel (to meet CG regulations). With a push pump, the pressure can be increased, increasing the temp at which vapor lock occurs. I've seen several instance when the mechanical sucking pump, a similar design to that on the Lycoming (basically a GM fuel pump) will blow a diaphragm and with the sucking along with the fuel being thrashed around by the diaphragm vapor lock will occur. On these engines there is actually a "cool fuel" mod to insulate the fuel system from heat since the vapor lock so easy. The other alternative is to install a pushing electric pump with an oil pressure cutoff such that it will not operate without engine oil pressure. I'm not familiar with the J fuel system but if the electric pump pushes fuel before it reaches the mechanical the use of the electric pump should stop vapor locking by increasing fuel system pressure unless the mechanical is thrashing or there is a heat source somewhere.

I don’t have a picture but 285’ish in my F. 120kt tail wind KTOR back to 06C at FL210. I lost speed descending.

This is the fastest I’ve seen over the ground in my M20F. I was coming home from brunch in Latrobe, PA (DeNunzio’s is a great fly in restaurant). It does not qualify for the fastest Groundspeed records website because it’s a screen shot. If I had taken a picture of the screen with my iPhone, I’d have the record for the M20F. I used to got to Lima, Ohio every year for Thanksgiving. 220kts+ across the ground was pretty common on the return flight home to MD.

The level cruise groundspeed envelope for my C, with similar power settings, is 68-186 knots. Going over the mountains, GSP-TYS while avoiding icing on the way home to WV, was at 10,000 msl, 23°F OAT, WOT- and 2500. The winds had been brutal before that, 4000 and under was 105-110, but I had to climb for terrain . . . .

This was on a Dallas to Asheville leg @ 16,000’. I was trueing about 165-170 so roughly 60 knots on the tail. 231 with no mods at the time. (Now it has Gamijectors, and GI 275 EIS.) I’ve been contemplating doing full write up about how awesome the 231 is even without intercooler and waste gate. Since these pictures I've discovered at least with the summer heat I can't run 65% LOP without cowl flaps in the trail position. (Thanks to the GIS 275 EIS I keep hottest CHT 380 now) So I lost 5ish IAS, is this a typical experience for everyone?

Being one of those lucky owners based at an airport that is in the no-fly area of the current presidential TFRs, I have a perspective on this. I don’t particularly understand the need for them. I lived only a few miles from the Prez and if it wasn’t for the TFR, I would not even have a clue he was in town. But by presenting the TFR, someone with ill intent certainly would know. My airport is less than 5 miles as the crow flies from the current Prez’s house. If someone took off from my airport, stayed low (flat terrain the whole way), to your point, there is no way an intercept would happen. And even if Philly picks them up on radar, I have listened to the fighter/controller exchange where the controller helps the fighter locate the interception target. There is a nice YouTube video that showed this happening in the NYC area during the former Prez’s term. The controller was giving out vectors to help locate the interception plane. Too much ground clutter? Turns out it was a West Point Academy GA plane that was involved. There is some entertainment value to them. Every time there has been an intercept, I usually know because I hear the fighters circling. That’s when I head to the airport to see what this intercept brings. Like the sweet octogenarian couple who clipped the western edge. We helped them find a hotel after the guys in the black SUVs were done making sure their denture cream wasn’t in fact an explosive. Or the poor guy in the Cirrus, who had to leave his plane there for a week until the TFR came down. I guess having two pilots on board doesn’t guarantee that one of them saw the TFR notification. But my all time favorite was relayed to me by a realtor friend. They were at a home and set up to do a drone video on the home being sold. They were swarmed by a horde of black SUVs and detained for a couple of hours. The drone operator was Part 107 but obviously slept through the part that drones were also included in the list of grounded airborne vehicles. I do find it interesting how some of these interceptions are conducted. On a couple of them, the jets did the intercept only to be joined by a Coast Guard helicopter that followed the plane to the airport. I made a suggestion to the airport manager to see if they could set up a FRZ type process for us. We already tried to see if we could get a gateway designation like KILG. But even KILG’s TSA window is pretty narrow. Our work around if we really need to get out is fly our plane to one of the two airports before the TFR goes active. Another interesting thing we learned is that when these TFRs are up, sometimes when you look on ADS-B exchange, you can see a refueler doing circles over the area. Wonder how much that costs… I wonder if isn’t time the approach is revisited… Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Some pretty big numbers here….. https://groundspeedrecords.com/top-3-models/?terms-filter=78&aircraft-manufacturer=Mooney -dan

I bet intake gasket leaks, they are just paper and seem to squish out over time. Tightening them often makes it worse as it makes them squish out more. I’ve heard the Superior gasket is better but don't have experience with them myself. Poorly made gasket in my opinion, be easy to make a better one, but at least they are cheap and not too hard to change. Pretty common I just did a set on an O-320 on a Super Cub on straight floats last week. At least on Carb motors they get bad enough so that the engine begins to pop through the exhaust at idle, has very little effect at high power of course because there is very little vacuum to leak there. I do not use glue or sealant myself on them, others of course will say different, but I don’t think Lycoming does either. Sometimes sealant is more of a pain to clean off the next time than it’s worth. Oh, and a sniffle valve that leaks a little the idle richness adjustment ought to make the engine run fine with that small leak, I bet they all leak some.

The “must be an installed appliance… with a permanent clock presentation” requirement was a 2016 Chief Counsel interpretation. I don’t think there has been a change to that part of the reg.

I’ve been following the C-47s since they arrived at KOXC Waterbury Oxford CT a couple of weeks ago. That’s All Brother is the one from Austin, TX. I see it nearly every time I go to the airport to fly my Mooney. A friend of mine will be part of the crew starting June 9th for the flights to Germany and the North Atlantic flight back to Austin. We had an incredible time in Normandy. I was there before but had forgotten how beautiful the country side is and how nice the people are. We stayed at the Grand Hotel du Cabourg for 4 nights and then the Chateau de Canisy 5 nights. We visited most of the well known WWII related sights and many less well known ones as well (e.g. Hill 314). We had one “tourist” day at Le Mont Saint Michel and one in Honfleur. Let me know if you are ever in Austin or CT. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was going to say, the 3rd picture shows a stud that was about half gone before it finally broken. Possibly the same for one in the first picture, or it may be some contamination. Where the metal is frosted looking, that is a fresh break

What setting on the air hammer do you recommend?

Thanks again, everyone. I was originally hoping to save up and go cash on a C or E, but after thinking about how long I hope to be flying, and being a "cry once" kind of guy, I've decided to look into getting a loan for a J. Won't be able to justify the fancy panel'ed ones, but there's still a lot of reasonably updated ones out there. Maybe by the time I'm ready to upgrade the panel, they'll have that emergency autoland option available.

Or weep no more in Wilmar MN, tank sealing is the one job you want to stay away from no matter how smart or experience you are

‘We’re the government and we’re here to help’… cringes everyone… -Don

Suspicious gear blocks ;-)

ALMOST DONE. I have seen it powered up. AWESOME. A couple of little glitches. They are calibrating the fuel senders as I type this. Annual is being completed also. Now waiting on the interior guy to finish and install the interior. That is looking good. I am going to change the trim to fabric for a bit more contrast. That is the trim strip and the piece above the arm rests. It doesn't look like it in the photo, but the lower part of the panel is a good bit darker than the upper part.

Update to the resolution here. Never found any issues in wiring. Pulled the mag and inspected. The retard breaker wasn’t working and pretty high resistance. I had been thinking about a Surefly so went for it, and we just installed it today. All I can say is WOW. It starts soooooo easy and runs very smooth. With the built in timing light we had it within 10rpm for mag drop compared to the right mag. Tapped manifold pressure off of cyl 4 and also had to install a new resistor for the EI CGR-30P off the p-lead. Still need to go fly it to see how the CHT/Oil temp is affected. Very happy so far.

You didn’t say NORDO. You said deviation. Missed an altitude or a turn or clipped an airspace or flew to the wrong waypoint? You know any number of stupid pilot tricks. The more you fly the better you get, but it also gives you more opportunity to screw up. We would all like think we are perfect, we are not.

You guys are making it a lot more palatable for me to freeze my ass off in Washington all winter just to enjoy our nice summer temperatures!

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.

The PC system pulling to one side is a classic indication there is a leak in one of the vacuum lines.

Congratulations on your new to you F model. I operate my F LOP frequently. Operationally, it's quite simple but one should really gain a rudimentary understanding of what is actually taking place under the cowl to optimize both efficiency and safety. It's for good reason that the articles linked below have been a staple for those looking for a deeper understanding of engine operations. They are the best "self study" starting point that I know of. John Deakin passed in 2021 but he left a legacy of excellent aviation related content that is still relevant today. I can offer more nuanced advice regarding how I operate my 67F but it will not be of much use to you until you have a foundational understanding. https://www.avweb.com/features/pelicans-perch-63where-should-i-run-my-engine-part-1/ https://www.avweb.com/features/pelicans-perch-64where-should-i-run-my-enginepart-2-the-climb/ https://www.avweb.com/features/pelicans-perch-65where-should-i-run-my-enginepart-3-cruise/ https://www.avweb.com/features/pelicans-perch-66where-should-i-run-my-enginepart-4-descent/

I went in to see Cody after he was recommended from Paul Maxwell (Don Maxwell Mooney) and he's everything people say about him. He took the time to show me the inside of a prop that's the same as mine as well as looking at mine to make sure everything checked out. Like you he let me park inside his shop, which is one of the nicest hangars I've seen. It would be hard to not compare it to an operating room.

I’ll bring this thread back to life because Cody Stallings is an absolute rockstar. We flew to Delta Regional today to drop some passengers off for an overnight and, with the potential for some ugly weather, Cody parked us in his hangar to protect the airplane! Gave us a nice tour of his spotless facility, sat and chatted well past closing time. It’s so great to have a knowledgeable and honest guy you can trust in this industry and it’s so nice to know he’s willing to help even when your airplane doesn’t have propellers!

Apparently a new owner forgot to put the gear down on his C model at my home base - KLXT - this week. Don’t know the N number but I saw the curled up prop tips on the plane where it is sitting in Hangar 1. Allegedly only had 35 hours on the engine.