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Posted about this a while back. Some thought it was good and others thought it would be tough to stay proficient, but after flying in it I really enjoyed the challenge of learning the twin engine. Here is the history of the purchase. A older gent at our field who is now in his 80s has gotten to the point in life that he is permanently wheelchair dependent. Dementia has set in pretty well and he is now family dependent.. In his day Roy was a big aviation buff who was crazy about his Twin Comanche. It's a 66B model and he has owned it since 1973. He has always hangered in the same enclosed hanger all those years and no expense spared on maintenance, he added mods as they came out. Long story short the family has finally come to terms it is time to sell the plane, they really hoped to see it stay in the area. One of the family's close friends, a doctor at our field that owns a Aztec has been flying Mr. Roy's Comanche regularly about once or twice a month to keep it exercised. He has pretty much been the caretaker of the Comanche for the last 6+ years or so. The family really trusts him, even gave him the okay to have any maintenance ( minor or maintenance) done as needed with a open checkbook. Most recently had two new boost pumps, new battery and upgrade to Garmin 345 ADSB transponder installed just a few months ago. This is where I come in. I had expressed an interest in flying twins and the doctor has kept me in the loop on the families thoughts about selling. Well, finally the family has decided to sell it and we've struck a deal. We close this week. One of the families requests was an emotional one. The first was could I try to keep it in the same hanger it has been in for the last 20 + yrs where their father has kept it? and number two was could they bring the their dad out for an occasional visit to see the plane. I said no problem..I would like that. Their dad is really to the point in his illness that he really does not know what is going on, but being a big family person I know how passionate their dad (Roy) was about his Comanche and I welcomed them anytime. I only had the pleasure of talking to Roy, their dad, a few times many years ago when he was still aware of his surroundings. Those few times we spoke I saw his passion and will say he did love that Comanche and just flying in general. A very nice man. The last few years of any kind of awareness Roy's wife would drive him to the airport just to visit the plane. A few years ago the caretaker doc would help Mr. Roy in the plane and fly the pattern a few laps..Even though he was not flying, he still loved his Comanche. Yesterday Roy's son who has been negotiating the deal said yesterday he really was sad to have to tell his dad they sold the Comanche. So far I've been up In it three times lately, twice I was in the left seat. Love flying the twin and it will have a purpose for me. My Mooney will still be my passion and first real plane. It is great knowing my Mooney will have company when the hanger doors are closed. I start twin training next week in Memphis. Insurance was reasonable and we close the deal in the next few days. Big pluses on the purchase. Mr Roy was the second owner and purchased it only a few years after new. It's been at the same shop for most of it's life. Mr. Roy was a mechanical perfectionist and business owner. He never let anything laps that needed attention (especially when it came to his plane). Logs are complete and accurate. Engines are only 500 hrs since overhaul. Knock on wood nothing comes up, but I think short of buying a warranty package from a dealer this is as close to a solid safe purchase as one could hope for. I'd call this a win, win all the way around. Everyone gets a good feeling. I get a new bird, Mr Roy gets to know the plane stays in Dyersburg and in his old hanger. A little sappy and nostalgic at the same time, but a happy ending and new chapter in my aviation journey of learning We truly are just "Caretakers" of our birds until the next person comes along........... -Tom

Wow. Mooneyspacers must be doing better financially, or they finally figured out the genius of this device. Back in 2010 when I got mine, the Mooneyspace wisdom was, yes it's cool, but it's way over priced. "For that much I could get..." All manner of $200 DIY solutions were proffered up, combined with the usual bargain hunter bragging of "I found this at a garage sale for $100!" Now it looks like Mooney folks are getting serious! You guys won't be sorry.

I would always keep the wheels on the ground a little longer than most and therefore build a tad bit more speed. Therefore upon breaking ground, there is plenty of energy to keep it in the air especially if still in ground effect. With the wheels put away, it accelerates and builds energy much more rapidly which can then be traded for altitude quickly as well. Oh and BTW... I think the "seat of my pants" registers positive rate quicker than the VSI does. And it allows one to keep eyes outside the cockpit.

And oh, if you are referring the brown stuff you see, that is Bruce Jaeger’s handiwork. Those are new side panel he covered with approved material. Doesn’t have the rug covering them anymore. It is now a cloth. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Field wire is often a loose connection causing some challenges with charging... PP thoughts only, not a mechanic... Best regards, -a-

@mooneyman @aviatoreb You guys are killing me I just pitched in last night

The people at ECP are nice but I miss the old airport. A lot more convenient, multiple runways, and multiple FBOs. This one's just in the middle of nowhere while the other one was relevant to the city.

Well, it seems I am closer to my UL than it originally seemed. When the avionics shop wrote up the new W&B at the end of the process, they inventoried everything they had removed and added, netted them out, and updated the W & B doc for the POH. Unfortunately, they missed the standby vacuum pump I got from the tech early in the job and sent to @NJMac, so it looks like I gained another 12.04 lbs of UL. That will take my UL up to ~897, so I am going to stop whining about a 900 UL. And if I look at what @Hank posted above, I probably have lost a couple pounds of paint from rain buffing off paint on various places on the plane during IMC flying. Co-pilot and I are working on gaining back about 25 lbs. of UL ourselves, and I am still pursuing some of the weight saving updates mentioned above, which I want to thank everyone for suggesting.

+1

So, here's the question- if you forget your gas cap, would you rather lose the cap or beat the crap out of the top of your wing? I guarantee replacing the gas cap is the cheaper option.

@gsxrpilot is one of our Australian experts, in Asia this week... @Tommy is currently in Australia... we have a few MSers out that way... Craig started MS while living in Hawaii... His all electric 201 might still be there...? As he moved up somewhere along the way... Best regards, -a- Advice... Take a pic of the Mooney World out there and post it in the right place... today’s flight thread...

I am guessing it's sold in 30 minutes or less.

Every annual the tires should come off to inspect the wheels. Even if they don't take the tires off you can swap the wheels left to right while it is up on jacks with very little effort. The point is don't make a special maintenance event out of it just have your guy do it at annual. it will cost almost nothing.

I always recommend the GEM G2 as the best budget engine monitor if you are going brand new. It will be Primary for EGT and CHT. It will also include a very nice Fuel Flow option as well. It has dead simple data logging and has a much better screen than either the JPI or EI offerings.

When I started getting into the turbulence I was at 13,500 but was pushed down to 11,500msl due to clouds. That was only about 2,000 agl in that area though. I would have climbed in to 15,500 but didn’t want to get caught on top. I promise I’ll get my Ir soon... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You know I have been working on these things for about eight years now and it’s extremely rare that I actually break something when I’m trying to get something else. But a lot of the stories I hear, you got to be kidding me. These are not very complex machines will you pay somebody $9000 for an annual and they put the wrong hardware on the magnetos and they don’t get the timing within 5° of each other it really makes you wonder about the viability of the whole thing.

Anyone ever make a STC for an electric preoiler for Lycoming Engines? Seems like a no brainer. To the OP - be very patient with a project like this. Expect not to fly it for many months and that things will not work out as planned. Think of yourself more like an RV builder than a pilot at this point I don’t want to bust any bubbles but your learning curve is going to be super steep. Usually a project like this is reserved for folks that fall into particular categories - availability of idle time (retired / not a regular 9-5 schedule), are either very young or very old in aviation terms, or have a lot of mechanical experience / are handy. I’ve owned an aircraft for 7 years, have done most of the mechanical work supervised, now and I don’t think I’d be ready for a project plane ala John Breda, Alan Fox or Alex (Raptor). If you do hands off with an AP it’s usually best reserved for one you have a longstanding relationship with. Else you may be paying for multiple college tuitions in labor costs and the project may or may not move along your anticipated time frame. Unfortunately there are no true barn finds or steals- everything saved up front is paid back later in maintenance costs to the fleet average value. When you have it opened up for annual perform 208B service bulletin and inspect the spar under the seats for corrosion Now with that disclaimer out of the way.... please consider putting an engine monitor in the thing. Best investment you can make in pretty much any airframe. There were two recently on the list for sale very reasonably priced. @Aerodon also has them up for sale frequently . Grab one and get it in there.

For those of you who don't follow the Bugs and Suggestions forum, I've put together a map with pins indicating the approximate location of MooneySpace members. There are currently 99 members listed on the map. Most of them are in the US of course, but there are also some in Canada, Australia, and the UK. To get access to the map, you'll need to be listed on the map. To be listed on the map you need to have either a City or Airport listed under your avatar. The map will have a pin in your town or city, not specific airport. The map only lists screen name and city. No other information, personal or otherwise is listed. The purpose of the map is simple. When traveling to an area of the country, you'll be able to see which MooneySpace members are in the area and will have a screen name you can contact via private message here on MooneySpace. The map is searchable by screen name or city. This is not an official MooneySpace feature, just a personal project of mine. It was suggested by @Roger O and I've had assistance from @RLCarter on this project. If you have the link, please do not share it to protect the privacy of the members. If you'd like to be listed on the map and have a link to the map, send me a message or respond to this thread. Enjoy...

On April 26th my wife and I were traveling to Nassau for a long weekend in the Bahamas. We planned a stop in Daytona Beach for fuel. When we departed Huntsville, AL there was a low pressure to the west pushing a cold front to the east so we had to pass through about 90 miles of light to moderate rain. When we arrived at Daytona Beach the controler took us several miles off shore to enter a right base for 25R. To make sure we had our best glide in case of an engine problem I left the gear up until we started our descent on final. As we started to descend on final I put the gear switch down and started my gear checks. Switch down, manual gear indicator in the floor in the green and and gear down light on is my normal procedure. When I looked at the floor indicator I remarked to my wife that the light must have burned out as it was hard to see the green indicator but it was there and I could see it. When I looked at the annunicator gear light it was off. At this point I knew something was wrong but I didn't know what. I am still at a couple thousand feet so I had time to cycle the gear up and back down and had the same indications. I checked the manual gear cover to be sure it was latched and I pulled the manual gear handle to confirm the gear was down. It is now time for a different plan as I knew I wasn't landing without a gear light since I didn't trust that the gear was locked down even though I was confident the gear was down. I thought I probably had a stuck or broken gear down switch. I have always felt and I teach my complex students that the worse place to diagnose a problem is in the pattern. Close to the ground is no place to deal with the distractions of a gear problem. My call to tower was "Daytona tower, Mooney 49Q has a gear problem and needs to depart the pattern to troubleshoot the issue". He immediately offered an orbit over the speedway and a climb to 1500 feet which I took. In hindsight, maybe not the best spot since I had to stay away from the runways which was a lot more complicated because the autopilot was randomly disconnecting. Lots of distractions during the entire event including the tower asking fuel and souls on board. The tower was great during the entire event but I did have to ask him to standby once since I was feeling overloaded. Flying, troubleshooting and talking was one too many things to do. Things got really quiet after that. After arriving at the speedway and getting the altitude back where it belonged I started troubleshooting the gear issue. At this point I planned to manually put the gear down since I had tried all the electric troubleshooting I could. When I reached to the circuit breaker panel to pull the electric gear breaker I noticed the gear indicator breaker was popped which explained the lack of lights. I pressed the gear indicator breaker back in and put the gear down which promptly tripped the breaker again. Not good. Next plan is to pull the breaker and manually extend the gear. That worked but I still didn't have a gear light. I reset the gear light breaker and the lights came on. I told the tower that I had a gear down indication and I was ready to land. He sent me on a fairly long downwind since he had two jets to land. I didn't realize until later but the controllers were holding the other planes on the ground to give us the runway. During the downwind leg I heard someone asking about the alert aircraft and realized they were talking about us. That was a bit sobering. When we turned final we had two fire trucks and an ambulance on our left. They had four trucks at various places on the right of the runway. Lots of airplanes holding on the parallel taxiway since Emery Riddle does a lot of training here. Ok, this is for real. I made a nice slow descent and as gentle touchdown as I could. The gear stayed locked down and after I made the right turnoff on the taxiway I felt fairly confident that the gear wasn't going to collopse. We had one of the alert trucks and a fire truck follow us for a while. The alert truck followed us to the ramp and the airport authority guy took our statement. End of the incident but I still have a broken airplane and reservations in Nassau. First step is to call Joey Cole and get some advice. He is at lunch and will have to call me back. Daytona Aircraft Services is on the field and were kind enough to put the plane on jacks to check the gear. We performed several gear cycles and no issues were seen. We pulled the gear indicator and confirmed that the gear would lock down even if the gear down indicators wouldn't light. The guys at Daytona Aircraft Services were confident that there were no issues with the gear and that I just had a problem with the gear indicator system. When I spoke with Joey and told him the problem his first question was did I fly through a lot of rain. I said that I had flown through about 45 minutes of moderate rain that morning. Joey said that water can cause issues with the gear indicators and that was probably what happened. At this point I felt comfortable that the gear would come down even if the indicators failed to work. We fueled and loaded up to depart for Nassau. When we arrived in Nassau the gear extended and the lights lit with no issues. When we get home I plan to pull the wiring diagram and check for anything that could cause the breaker to trip. What I did right: 1) Left the pattern to diagnose the problem 2) Managed the flight and got all the help I needed 3) Didn't do anything to make it worse. I was really tempted to cycle the gear instead of getting it on jacks. How much worse would it have been if I had the gear down, put it up and then it wouldn't come down. 4) Landed at a field that had a Mooney service center on the field. What I did wrong: 1) I should have gotten out the checklist instead of doing everything by memory. I would have caught the popped breaker sooner. 2) I should have cancelled my IFR clearance sooner. I didn't need it and it made the controller's and my job harder. I definitely busted my assigned altitude due to distraction. I didn't declare an emergency but I am sure the tower controller did it for me. It will be interesting to see if I hear anything from the FAA about the event.

Bingo!! This is per the regulations. That whole reg about having the capability to do the work. It right there with having the manuals to do the work. Someone without capability was allowed to work on a certified plane. It's a regulatory violation. forgot where I read this, but referring to negotiation. Once you become emotional you have lost.

You’re the best @Marauder That’s exactly what I was looking for. I’ll see how this one goes and I’ll be happy to do some @cost plus a suggested donation to Mooney Ambasadors, Safety foundation or the Mooneyspace.

Believe me, Anthony, I know. I've forgotten the pilot side fuel cap... twice! I was lucky enough, both times, to find it. The copilot side is easy to remember because on the smaller fuel tanks it's right next to your foot as you get in. For the pilot's side, I now put the cap on the cowling where I'll see it as I sit down and visually clear the area around the prop before engine start. I hope I'm still on MooneySpace when the younger guys like Mike and Alex get old enough to start forgetting shit too.

Exactly - that and your moving the rotor to a different set of pads - not a really good idea. I've got an awful lot of landings on a set of Air Hawk tires stuffed with Michelin airstop tubes - my thinking is that I'm not going to risk an expensive tube to extend the life of an inexpensive tire by flipping the tire each year. The CBC has to have some limits LOL

@sdflysurfWhat bradp said. You have made a gutsy acquisition to say the least. I bought a plane at roughly your level of aviation experience 3.5 years ago, but it was flying and in pretty good condition except for the panel. Still the challenges in dealing with maintenance issues and getting a 50 year old bird into a reliable state have been substantial. Despite access to helpful resources like this particular site, the repair and maintenance challenges have been compounded by my lack of time, experience, and mentorship in this area. Inevitably there will be lots of unexpected problems, expenses, and a steep learning curve in the first couple of years. Also I was not born with the judgement to know when some new problem is an urgent safety issue or not - this learning has built up over time and continues to do so. In absence of such judgement, early on I was hyper-conservative about maintenance concerns and might have gotten taken for a ride a couple of times. The upside here is that if you are able to get this plane in good shape over a couple of years, you will know the bird intimately and it will truly be your own. As challenges go, learning to fly it and leaving your C172 behind will be infinitely more fun than getting this plane in shape. P.S. Definitely get an engine monitor - JPI, EI, or Insight.

nothing a bottle of wine and some roses wont fix

The ammeter shunt and fuses are next to the regulator on a shelf behind the tach.

Very welcome.

What a wonderful story Tom and congratulations on your acquisition. I believe there is some genetic relationship between their wings, meaning that Al Mooney had some involvement in the design of the Twin Com wing. Both your aircraft are truly related. Post a pic of them parked together if possible.

Here are the common Mooney parts by model at Aircraft Spruce: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/stpages/mooneyM20standardreplacementparts.php?clickkey=3028256

Have your shop install a 12v plug in receptacle in the rear hat rack area. Many of us have done that. Mine is wired so it is powered only when the master is on. -Tom

Yes, familiar with Bravo and Turbo related issues/cost. Learning more all the time. Already had first exhaust crack and DMax had part manufactured by Dawley. Expensive and VBands have to be replaced next time opened. This is my 4th Mooney and 6th plane.

Andy, Now that you mention it... It all depends... on the brain... Kind of like the baggage door... if there is a way to goof up the process... doing it half way, can be really bad... My M20C caps were untethered... I liked them that way. Because, I didn’t like them being placed on the wing’s paint... Then I realized, I kept getting in the plane, family after me... looking out you see the uncapped tanks, the caps next to the pump, and the receipt flapping in the wind.... taunting me... The next thing I did to avoid the cap being placed on the paint was to put the cap back in place, but not latched down... knowing I would latch them down after sumping the tank... this insidious situation didn’t look really wrong, and allowed you to get further, before deplaning the family, to get out to latch down the caps... Today, with the M20R, and much nicer paint... caps are tethered.. they sit on the paint. They don’t get touched until the tanks are sumped.... then the caps get put on and latched down... this often includes telling the lineman to just leave them off until I do the sumping. As for the baggage door, very similar... I always put the door down to keep it from being blown around by neighborhood Robinson helicopters... again, deplaning the family to get out to latch down the baggage door that was left half closed... If there was a use for a new Check list... the pre-pre-taxi checklist would have things on it like fuel caps placed and locked, both doors closed and ‘locked’, and probably the oil dipstick and door too... If there is a way to half finish the job, I learned it early on... thinking the half finished job was efficiently getting me to the end goal... Today... We are fully knowledgeable of how the brain works and doesn’t work. Distractions come in various flavors... a half finished job doesn’t get you any closer to completion, but it has the insidious nature of not standing out either... a shut door that isn’t fully closed properly, looks closed... the fuzzy memory can’t cleanly remember latched or not... Not sure what caused the OP’s loss of fuel cap, but if he is like me... he is going to learn to always keep the baggage door closed and latched, or all the way open... PP thoughts only, I wasn’t there when this cap went missing... just relaying the experience I had and the thought process behind it... Best regards, -a-

Mine is a 77 J as well. Calculated UL of 1004. my SN doesn’t qualify for the 2900 lb GW increase but I know I’m in a safe margin even if UL is calculated. Don’t fly over gross. .

I know Royal Aero Club of WA uses J for their complex aircraft training so if you are keen to fly a Mooney in Australia, you might want to start there. Expect the usual pre-hire check for insurance purposes. Also you need this : http://www.royalaeroclubwa.com.au/content/page/short-term-licence-validation.html. They are based at Jandakot - the regional airport of Perth. You will find Australia pretty easy to fly around - low terrain, good weather, cheap landing fees, and plenty of Class G space - and a trip up north along the coast to Broome and Kimberley or inland to Ayers Rock will definitely give you plenty to smile about. Have fun!

glad to see you are rescuing this fine plane. Fly it well and often once you get it where you want it and while getting it there

Just buy one- I bet the boss won't notice...

Last off topic post for today... I made it! The landing was easy, did a practice on our 4500' concrete runway before I went over and was stopped in 900' with just light braking. No braking needed on the grass and still had to use power to get to the wider part of the runway. The turnaround was the only challenging aspect, but I can confirm that my M20F will turn around in EXACTLY 40' on grass with enough right braking. As carusoam said, know where your wheels are. The outside of my tire lines up with a seam on the top of the wing well inside of the fuel cap.

If I'm low and slow, the runway is made with or without the fan on the front running.

Thank you. I will make sure to take a lot of pictures and document this whole endeavor. Here is a teaser pic. Anyone want to help me clean it? :)

A whole lotta truth here. If you need motivation, inspiration or commiseration reach out to @Raptor05121, @Dream to fly, or @Fookz92. But it's best not to ask them about the spending between purchase and airworthiness. Just know we'll all be cheering for you.

The most fun I had on Oahu was flying a sailplane. I told the pilot that I was one as well and once off the ground and before off tow, he handed me the controls and never touched them again the whole flight.

Glad everything worked out. If you are looking for a retirement celebration Flight I’ll buy dinner if you come up to KGCD:) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep, that’s the flap handle... draining the hydraulic fluid for brakes is the same fluid as the flaps... if the fluid leaks, the flaps stop working before the brakes.... The gear ratio is probably stamped on the gear box. Not too important right now... The spider is part of the fuel injection system... Ever fly a fuel injected plane? How many hours do you have? You have a long way to go on this project... Try and contain the excitement, until after you get it home... the added pressure isn’t going to help your decision making skills... More daditude... -a-

Couple of things , Just start the engine and let it Idle , I have put cams in engines w/300 hours , I have run them out also .... A galled cam will not stop an engine , and all cams don't gall from sitting , Start it up , run it to temp for 30 minutes or so , change the oil , look for metal in the filter or screen....If no metal , fly it for 10 hours and then change the oil and filter again , check it for metal , and if no metal , Fly the crap out of it....... Av gas can sit for 10 years and still be good , I have burned a lot of old fuel in my runners , if you are that worried , top it off before you ferry it , Don't listen to all the "experts" if it has low time on the motor , you can IRAN it with new cam, followers , bearings gaskets for about 10K and fly it another 2K hours.... If you haven't already acquired the MX170 , the Kings are better radios , just archaic to tune... Get a local A&P you trust , and put your trust in him , and don't second guess him....

My 77’ J has 1000lbs useful load. Im about to remove my vacuum pump installing a G5, all stock gauges with a jpi900, and a lot of garbage with a new clean panel. Still contemplating installing the HSI G5 to remove the Bendix King 55a. Then I can get rid of the heavy gyros for it. I’m hoping for 15-20lbs more of useful load. Even more with the second G5. My better half and I have a couple we fly around with. I can get full fuel, us, my survival pack and maintenance bag now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Besides normal preflight when conducting your run up or at the hold shirt line add to your checklist look left and right to ensure fuel caps are secured. I look for that now. -Seth

The clutch is frequently contaminated by corrosion-x. Amazingly people still dont know you MUST bag and seal off the servo clutches when treating an airplane.

With a little weather experience it is reasonably easy to predict the occurrence of turbulence. In the past 26 years of airplane ownership I have been stopped by turbulence once. it was over Wyoming in the afternoon and there was no option to mitigate it. I've attach an article I wrote a while back that might be of interest on flying turbulence. Nobody really likes it and flying a 3,000 pound airplane in expected moderate turbulence is no fun and in my opinion should be avoided if you want passengers to fly with you again. The Mooney structure is really strong and remember it is certified for 3.8g meaning the wing can carry a load of 3.8 x 3,000 pounds or 11,400 pounds. Turbulence would have to be strong to load the wing to that amount. Having said that, if there is a significant amount of turbulence and I've used all the mitigating choices discussed in the attached paper before I call it quits and land, I'm definitely not flying above the top of the green arc. If it's uncomfortable enough to slow to maneuvering speed, it's time to land and call it a day. As a private pilot, do you really need to be flying in those conditions? On Flying Turbulence.pdf

Had a young friend at Duke battling cancer for his life all year last year. This little airport was an important part of our battle giving me the opportunity to conveniently ferry family and friends between KROA and KIGX who might not have come otherwise. Unfortunately we lost our patient to that dreadful disease. I wondered why more folks weren’t using it or why its not being improved like KBCB ?? If its a liability its only because the owners want it to be one. Signed Ricky