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I’m going through my nose gear now. I called LASAR and Heather gave me an email contact to coordinate sending in my steering horn for rebuild. There’s two versions and I have the older style. I sent it up to them and when it came back it’s like new. I don’t have the welded pivot bolt, I have the AN3 bolt through the fuselage tube. Not sure what other differences there are and if the newer style has procurement issues. I called LASAR a couple weeks ago for something and was surprised when Dan answered the phone. Apparently he’s not completely retired. Since Top Gun is more local to me than Prineville, recently I’ve been in contact with Rachel there… you can email her at parts1@topgunaviation.net or (209) 983-8082. She is a great resource into parts availability, what Kerrville has in stock, parts manufacturing, and the corresponding amu commitment.

Update Thanks for the help. It was a disconnected sense wire. Strangely, the wire was disconnected and capped. But it working now.

My wife took this picture several years ago on my first approach in actual after I passed my check ride. We were coming back home from Myrtle Beach and had to shoot the RNAV approach. I still remember how happy I was when those PAPI's showed up.

The landing gear failed to retract on my 1994 M20J. I removed the belly panel and exercised the up limit switch several times and thereafter it worked again. The switch comprises two components: A micro switch and a plunger. The plunger is spring loaded and I noticed that it was a little sluggish to reset when I removed it so I cleaned it and lubed it with some silicone spray. The problem may have been mechanical or there may have been a problem with the switch, but I replaced the switch anyway.

Business Ethics is a standard course offered and required both at the undergraduate and in MBA programs. If you want to see what happens when a business loses its way ethically look at Boeing. It largely started during the USAF tanker competition when their CFO was bribing AF officials for information on Northrop’s data, extended with the 737 Max debacle and has culminated with the door blow out. All of it can be traced back to management’s lack of ethics in pursuit of profit. Ultimately their lack of ethics have failed the people thy were supposed to protect. Their shareholders, their customers (ask Southwest why they can’t fly their planned schedule) and the innocent souls who boarded their airplanes. Trust is only earned by the ethical. Right now no one trusts Boeing.

I just want to be clear: I am not commenting in any way on @OHAEDO's unfortunate circumstances. He suffered an expensive loss and chose a particular course of action for which he explained his motivation. It didn't work out in his favor and he has publicly accepted the fact and moved on. What interests me is to understand if there is a towing damage failure mode singularly unlike all the other failures that have been reported over the years.

Here's the returned engine, installed. You'll notice that apparently the previous owners didn't comply with SB CSB19-01A, and James installed the old parts. If you have the old primer system, it might be a good time to get that fixed. Also James painted the oil cap. He said he's done this on hundreds of engines. He sandblasted and painted over "OIL 8 QTS" which is illegal, so we had to put a little label on it. Would be nicer if it said it on the paint, and was painted yellow.

You were right. I went yesterday to the plane, and without having touched it the level in the left tank was low enough that it looked like it could hold another gallon. Thanks.

Yes, at 15,500 feet. At first signs of engine hiccups I switched tanks, and engine came back in a few seconds. I think this is a Mooney-recommended way of fuel management for long trips: fly one hour on one tank, then fly till the other tank runs dry, then fly on the first tank the rest of the way. That way all your available fuel is in one tank at the end. YMMV, make sure to check your POH for the recommended method for your plane.

No, they still have negative reviews, they might censor the “this FBO sucks” comments. It would be pretty easy to automatically delete certain comments with keywords.

I used Watson Aero. James is fantastic at communication. Some stuff to note that I learned from my overhaul: If you can, fly your plane to him. I couldn't do that, it was a 'forced overhaul', let's call it. Holy crap, some mechanics don't like other mechanics. James is not one of them. He made mistakes and was willing to rectify all of them but the mechanic that had the plane didn't want to talk to him. Pretty much all of the below issues are due to that Mechanic in Chandler didn't send the turbo since he mis-read, so he had to send it to Main Turbo. Main is 6-8 months backed up on parts, so see what James could do about that. Luckily my turbo was overhauled by them 200 hours ago so they knew it'd be light and did it in a day. When the engine got back to AZ, even though my mechanic here seemed very aggressive towards Watson, he said it was very very well tested, and most of the configurations for RPMs were very small tweaks, and was the best he'd ever seen. It took 7 months from uninstall, ship, overhaul, ship, install, fly.

Actually I think we can all learn from that, so I embrace my weakness and happy to share. Perhaps you can come up later and share some empathy. If there is some in there.

I think you just got a bad Concorde. They usually last much longer. It may have been discharged all the way down once during its life which is hard on the battery or maybe sat in the shelf awhile before you bought it. Next time you're at an air show where Concorde has a booth I would walk up and introduce yourself (the name LoPresti still carries a lot of weight ) and let them know "what great success you've had with their batteries and how you've always recommended them . . . except for this last one. Are they not made as well as they once were? I'd like to be able to recommend them to pilots I know, but . . " They are a good company and I bet they do something for you, a Visa gift card which they sometimes give at airshows. They want to know.

For the benefit of the community: - Was offered $235k by their insurance. I said no because of loss of value ($213k) + loss of use ($60k) + the pain of going thru this and them not being helpful or amicable or ethical. That’s me - I fight. Win or lose. - There is a video and it’s blatant they’re at fault. Kevin Kammer told me - there’s no way one sees that damage during pre-flight (eg it’s sheared from the top) - Gross negligence in FL means they willfully intended to cause harm. So they hide in legal verbiage to avoid liability. So the line man can run the fuel truck into your airplane and ????. Crazy. RECOs: 1. Check your lease agreement for negligence verbiage 2. If you can’t find an FBO w a negligence standard - I wouldn’t let them tow my Mooney 3. I’m angry - sad and embarrassed. I embrace my weakness and am ultimately happy I had my day in court against these evil folk. Win or lose that’s a win. tail winds!

To close this out, my oil pressure has returned to where it has always been. It seems to have happened slowly over the last month. Was it the warming temperatures or the oil “breaking in”? I don’t know. Today i flew at +3 oat at 10,500’ and the oil temp was about 4 degrees warmer than previously (180 vs 184), but the pressure was back down to 76/77 where I’m use to it. After the oil change, i was seeing ~-10 oat and maybe 180 oil temp. The oil now has about 12 hours on it.

Looks to me like they just made a flat plate to go over the top of the B-K base. The PTT is still on the front. The GFC 500 doesn’t use the CWS button. Looks pretty straightforward.

Last Saturday morning above western North Dakota. It's amazing how green it gets here... for a few weeks.

Sold. Thanks for the help.

the LASAR steering horn assy kit fixes a problem that nothing else can fix: a worn vertical nose gear pivot bolt that is welded to the roll cage, if you can find one of the LASAR kits used you are lucky!

I would look at the mounting bracket and where it attaches to the floor. A crack there could creek and pop

Looks like a work of art…. -Don

It seemed to. That is what is confusing everyone. But the shop did say that the voltage ramped up over time, so the normal turn off one then the other before takeoff check might not have seen it.

I put a 3/4'' pipe through the mains of the landing gear just above the wheels. Then I use a floor jack under the pipe. I lift the wing up high enough to slide a 34'' sawhorse under the main spar approximately 2' outboard the main gear.

I was totally confused on a cessna project once, getting continuity to ground when there shouldn't. I eventually discovered the flap switch was partially down providing a path to ground even though everything else was off. Aerodon

A few years ago there was the case where somebody's partner landed their J model in a field in the Rockies after the mag walked out of the accessory case after maintenance. The airplane was fine, but not flyable. He was a trucker and worked with the recovery company to rig up a system to lift it with a helicopter and take it to an airport, which they ultimately did successfully. I recall him saying there were a lot of opportunities to damage the aircraft, so he took charge of the lift rigging and got it done without damage. And that was the entire airplane with engine, etc., at high DA, so it is certainly possible.

just winch it up on the back of a roll back wrecker and put it at an angle. Some wide load signs and off you go.

@LANCECASPER Really? I must have missed where he said 'we were too lowly and mindless'. Can you point to that post, please?

We have secured the room block at the Westin Tampa Waterside for $189 per night. You can book your room at the link below: https://book.passkey.com/go/MooneySummit The Westin will be our headquarters hotel, it is a short ride to both TPF and TPA and is connected to American Social where our Banquet is being held. Please DM @DanM20C and me with suggestions for topics, speakers and activities you'd like to see at this year's Summit. If you are interested in being involved with the planning, let us know as well. Looking forward to seeing all of you in Tampa. Best, Alex

no easy way out, over the years I have developed a method where I have a Mooney guru far away do one annual and the next annual I do with a local A&P that is very familiar with my engine, either way I help as much as I can and make it clear to everybody that they will be paid that same and me staying involved does not reduce their pay, after a while they start to trust me, I do simple things and learn, sometimes I find stuff that nobody else does and things run smoothly. Like with any project there are surprises, the OP then has a chance to step in and gently guide around obstacles, find parts, have them shipped overnight so the bird gets back into the air.

Worst case scenario would have been it failing when the gear was up

Can you share his information in the event one of us runs into the same issue?

Took Mooney for family camping during airshow at OldWarden (EGTH) Followed by goodbye to Daks (DC3 and C47) on their way to Cherbourg "Then, it's a dogfight"

If I was you, on a long cross country like you did recently, I wouldn't mind an extra quart in there for peace of mind. It might buy you an extra minute or two before things seize if you are dumping oil for some reason. Also our engines are both air and oil cooled. But in normal use I would try to keep it at six when you start up for the day. Don't check it an hour or two after a flight. Wait until the next day or the next flight and see where it has settled. If you check it soon after, it might be a 1/2 to a full quart lower than it will be the next day. If you add a quart right after a flight, on the next flight you might just be blowing out oil that never should have been in there. Has the air oil separator and the lines going to and from it ever been cleaned? That would be where I would start. Cleaning it might lower some of the pressure that's blowing it out. Also cleaning the engine and cowling completely might reveal other oil leaks that could be handled with new gaskets.

I have AGMs in my boat (3 of them) and my airplane. Trickle charge is the key to long AGM life.

Did it look like this hat?

I think that was Kevin's nice way to make a brand new Mooney owner feel better.

This is what @OHAEDO posted. I don't understand what broke or how something on the nose gear can get damaged by over steering in a way that can't be seen during preflight. I am NOT saying it can't -- I'm saying I don't understand how it can and I would like to learn.

Maybe 500k wasn’t the right number, but no way that a tear down, a new prop and nose gear would make him whole on a brand new plane with damage history. That seriously depreciated the value of the plane. I don’t think I would feel a whole lot different if it were my brand new plane. I can tell you from first hand experience that he sold it for a significant discount, and no one else was offering anything better.

I’ve posted my email and phone if someone needs help. Not responding to commentary from folks trying to prove a point. Haedo OFFLINE. If Mike Elliott wants me to come over and share turbo fan safety in piston world I’m happy to. safety número uno. fly safe boys and girls and tail winds.

What they did to this plane was absolutely gross negligence. it may not seem that way to people outside of aviation, but when your only job is to move planes around, it would be expected they understand the limits, especially when they are clearly marked on the plane where the tow bar is attached. these “agreements”, are like the Apple user agreement. You don’t really have a choice, and they could say anything they want in there, you don’t have an alternative. one thing I can guarantee you, they spent at least 3x what the OP was asking for fighting the case for five years. I avoid signature whenever possible.

OK, I have answered and endeavored to add to you gents and ladies. omarhaedo@mac.com 3059340123 If I can be of value to this wondrous community. Signing off and wishing you all the best

Perfectly rational and sensible thots my friend. As I have stated repeatedly - personal decision. I have to sleep well, and not fighting evil is one of them I wouldn't be able to sleep with. I exhorted, helped, was friendly, to no avail. Also, the dollars, while significant and hurtful, are not material, so that plays into it too. I won't let evil doers run amok with me. But that's just me. Prefer to leave $250k on the table.

We had to pay $250 extra to have a waiver of subrogation for the air venture cup to the EAA so that I guess we can’t sue them, i’m neither can our insurance company.. But meanwhile, you can give rides in a rotorcraft and kill some people and you’re not required to have insurance at all.

"Aggrieved victim", LOL! Talk about pejorative language in keeping with an 'ethical' approach...your bias is showing, @GeeBee Yes, I have personal experience: I was injured by a guy that blew through a stop sign, hit me on my bike, and broke my foot. The police issued him a citation on the spot. I dealt directly with his insurance company and found them fair, just, and responsive. They paid my medical, bike repair, lost wages, plus a reasonable amount for my inconvenience of lost mobility while in a cast. Thing is, I wasn't looking to retire on the settlement so I didn't call the ambulance chaser with his face plastered on billboards all over town! Sure, the shark probably could have got more but would I have ended up with any more in my pocket after he took his 40% plus 'expenses'? And, dragged the thing out to the 'courthouse steps' in the process? No, thanks. I followed the steps in the NOLO book "How to Win Your Injury Claim" and, as they advertised, avoided the insurance company runaround.

If the OVP is tripping on two different regulators then the problem must either be that the field current is too high and not being controlled by the regulator (maybe shorted to the battery bus) or the sense voltage is too low (maybe disconnected, or shorted to ground or the battery bus). Both field and sense should have breakers and after a major upgrade, goofs at the breaker panel would be where I would start looking.

They are not evil, but their business makes them that way (Thank you Jessica Rabbit). You speak only as the policy holder. Have you ever been an aggrieved victim? My barber was out jogging. A woman insured by USAA driving from behind lost control of her vehicle while changing her radio, he ran all the way up into a yard of home but her car still managed to strike him on the front lawn. USAA denied all liability despite police citations to the driver, then said, they only owed him medical bills and not lost wages because he was over 65 and could draw Social Security. They also denied him expenses of his barber chair rental. Only when they were shown the doors of the court house did they want to settle. Dealing with him fairly, justly and responsively would have been far cheaper, but more important, the ethical thing to do.

On the humorous side of all, I was performing a flight review with my instructor when this incident took place. With the gear collapse and safe landing outcome, someone took a photo of my instructor sitting on the ground with my log book on the wing, signing me off for excellent emergency procedures.

Go IFR and bring Hefty Slider bags.

Well after about 4 months we are done... My M20C had its heart transplant and I am now running an IO-360-A1B instead of a carburated O-360... which translates into a 20Hp more horsepower. The engine swap was more complicated than expected. Mainly because I had to procure many of the parts that were needed. I had to get a new electrical fuel pump, a new exhaust... But lets start: After getting the engine and reading the STC I realized that I needed a new cowling and engine mount, in addition to a new electrical fuel pump and throttle, mixture and prop cable. Not a problem. Ebay, McFarlane and Aircraft spruce got me everything. The work started and first hurdle: the side panel I had from my M20C did not fit with the new cowling... my AP worked around it and fixed it and made them fit. Then little issues came up that became huge problems, such as the cables don´t fit exacly as expected and we need to find a way to make them fit... Did I tell you that my AP is great? Next hurdle: Baffles... where can I get a new (used) set of baffles... The old dog house did not work... So I had to go out there and find used baffles. I was lucky and found a full set in ARGENTINA.... I was able to get them and had them shipped. Then, the STC states that you have to move the battery box to the back of the plane. Easier said than done. After looking at the cables my AP said that it would be better to change all the cables... So I ended up purchasing an insane amount of cables, connectors etc. But now I have a brand new electrical system (plus new alternator and regulator...). The only thing that is still not 100% is the RAM air door. The STC states that you can use the carb heat cable, but I am not convinced. So I decided to order from McFarlene the RAM air cable. I installed a set of GAMI injectors, new ignition coils too. In parallel I also changed my autopilot to a Garmin 507 and swapped my ASPENs for a G5 and ad G3X touch. Finally after learning how to start a flooded fuel injection engine, I flew the airplane this weekend. It is great! Did it make sense? in hindsite: No. The costs I incurred were absurd. It would have made much more sense to sell my M20C and buy a M20E. But then... you get attached to your machine... so would I do it again? after flying the plane... most likely: yes... Oscar

You can report it here: https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_safety/wildlife The bird won't get a phone number to call.