Leaderboard

2018 has come and gone and a new year has begun. Wishing all many hours of trouble free flights in 2019. Please take a moment to share some with the folks here on Mooney Space.

Happy New Year to all of our fellow Mooney bloggers! Wishing everyone clear skies in 2019!

Last Flight of 2018 Albuquerque to St Louis today. On home to Baltimore tomorrow. Good tailwinds today. Smooth air above the widespread stratus clouds Lots of ice down there over Kansas.

The brake valve was not the problem. The cable (which probably was never lubed in its life) got stuck about halfway in when I pushed to release it which was not enough to release the valve. With the cable unhooked from the valve it operated very smoothly. After some TLC the cable operates smoothly now. There was always quite a bit of resistance operating it from the time I got the plane a couple years ago. It would push in and it would sort of stick halfway and then pop through and go the rest of the way. I thought that was just the way the brake released (you don't know what you don't know). I didn't know that the valve is smooth throughout its range of operation.

Well, N1017L, my 1982 Mooney Rocket I’ve owned since 2001, flew for nearly 2,000 hours, was officially sold as of 6:00 PM yesterday. Both my wife and I have pretty ambivalent feelings, having flown our Rocket into probably 75% of the states in this country, and kids memories of a lot of those trips too. My first cross country airplane in 1996 was an F model, N929PG. We flew her for 5 years, accumulating 1300 hours with my now 26 year old being 4 years old when I bought it. He used to sleep on a bed made on top the luggage in the baggage compartment during many Michigan to Colorado trips in the early years. The buyer, a very quality guy out of Austin, TX, began the initial inquiry and commitment to purchase during the air show in Oshkosh of this year. He said once we talked extensively about the plane, he was buying from the owner more than just the plane. I was not bashful disclosing things that I would address if I continued ownership of the plane, and a good review of my logbooks made it pretty clear I did not hold back on any maintenance throughout my ownership of the plane. He came up and inspected during my annual, which began in August and was not finished until November (engine overhaul on another thread). He had say in every aspect of the overhaul and never got a final number from me until two weeks ago (I was waiting on all the OH bills to come in). We were $5k apart on his expected number and my final number, and he hadn’t accounted for the $5k prop OH. A tip to other purchasers, he’s getting a lot of items that don’t normally come with the sale. His only request to meet my number was getting a Flight Stream installed, which I provided for the sale. By not beating me up he got a lot of stuff from me I would not have been compelled to provide otherwise. I’ve really enjoyed my participation on this forum over the years. I joined Beach Talk about a year ago, participated for maybe 4-6 months and although most were pretty decent people , I found some so caustic I’ve not been back in 4-6 months. On the other hand, this forum is the BEST ONE I’ve ever been privileged to belong to. I will stay for a while, believing 22 years of Mooney ownership and owner supervised maintenance might be of value to a few of you here. Many of you have followed my Lancair project through the later build years and the two years I’ve flown it. It’s done, reliable, and a great cross country machine. I hope as old age creeps up on me, and I no longer feel competent in the prop jet, to return to the Mooney fold for my last years flying. You guys will never lose this pilot as a huge advocate of the Mooney airplane! Thanks a ton fellow Mooniacs!! Tom

I was waiting for you to post this up. One of my resolutions is to take a couple of pictures every time I fly and post them here. I missed posting about quite a few flights last year, time got away from me.

One other thing to consider is the position of your prop knob. Pull it all the way back, it makes a big difference, more for those of us with the extra blade.

Hi all - I have molds for aft gear fairings and I made a set of replacement aft landing gear fairings for @kaufmath. I also made some brackets for G5 installations for me and for Ron in Sonoma. I am about to run some gear fairings for another mooneyspacer. I’m deciding how much carbon fabric and epoxy to purchase for the run. The rules for owner produced parts are pretty straightforward. You can either provide me with the data to make them (i.e. send me your old beat up one, send me the part number, or send me a picture of your beat up one with measurements), or be involved / direct the quality assurance (i.e. tell me how to make the part - for example provide me with the part number and tell me to make them with 5 layers of 2k carbon plain weave with a single layer of 4oz fiberglass to meet or exceed the structural integrity of the previous part). Tell me how I should test for quality assurance (ie brad please jump up and down on the part ten times, visually inspect for resin voids or bridging). If parts from mooney are too expensive or not readily available, that suffices as justification for using the owner produced part route. I'll provide the part without the holes so you can match them up to your particular plane’s hole pattern, and drill them out. I can either give you the part plain carbon micro beaded and sanded or primed. Then you show your part to your A&P to make sure it conforms and he should install it. He should swing the gear to make sure there is no binding / scuffing of the new part. I don’t want carbon on bare aluminum- so please makes sure that issues of dissimilar metal / dielectric corrosion are addressed appropriately (EDIT- I should clarify that these have an extra layer of glass to abut the skin to avoid carbon on metal). The need for a gear swing I want to be pretty clear about - I don’t want anyone’s gear binding because of fitment issues. I'm not planning to charge anything beyond the direct cost of the materials to make the parts and whatever it costs to ship them to you. In the world of fast cheap and good, these are good and cheap but not fast. I have a full time 60hr week gig and small kids at home so this parts making happens when I get an hour here and there. Each set of fairings takes about 15-20 hours of love to produce. If anyone wants non-structural composite parts (other fairings or interior parts), just let me know and I should be able to make a mold and run a part. As of now this is just a hobby but I might make it into a little cottage industry (It will remain under the owner-produced rules for now)... trying to support our fleet. I’m not interested in producing critical or structural parts as of now (so please ask @Sabremech if you need a beautiful prop spinner or replacement cowl). PM me to let me know if you’re interested. Brad

700+ in the Airbus. Not nearly as many in the Mooney. Hopefully more in 2019.... having a 1-year old limits GA flying, though we did take her on her first airplane campout prior to 1-year birthday.

106.4 hours, including my first time ever in a Cessna. That was just under two hours flying around Maui, Lanai, and Molokai. Checked Hawaii off the list of states.

I will install YOUR Alpha systems shoulder belt kit , for 275.00 and sign it off , If you fly it to me... Alan Fox 856 419 5209 ..

Willer, I have the same setup as you. From experience do exactly as carusoam describes and save the aggravation. Downloading to the USB converter is the way to go. Plug the USB in at home to your computer. Also recommended joining SAVVY. They have software that will allow you to view your data. Plus if you message them a service request from the data analysis page they will analyze the data with your flight debrief if you have an issue. All good info to share with your mechanic. Hopefully you have a mechanic who’s thought process is to go to the engine data as one of his first couple troubleshooting steps.

In 2018 I flew 116 h, which is about 10 times more than in 2017, and infinitely more than 2008-2016. Life is good.

I just used tri-flow on it.

At the better part of a million bucks apiece with planes that new the company should just say bring it on in to Kerrville or your nearest service center and we’ll get her squared away for you. If they don’t they don’t deserve to be in business.

Such a beautiful day we decided to take our pup for another flight today just a short hop over to VCB really like it when I can pull power to 2400/20 inches and see a ground speed of 185 at 5500 altitude. Course we had to pay for it on the trip home but was in no hurry so an easy 2400/20 which gave us a GS of only 120 but what the heck the flying was nice and not in any hurry to be on the ground for anything. Our pup Magneto seems to be getting more comfortable in the plane he has only been up a few times. only one more day to fly in 2018, see you on the flip side. Thank you to all that posted and visited this thread.

Here’s a sunset tonight!

Your first paragraph sounds like you just ran the right tank dry, which is no issue and actually a good thing to do occasionally. Although it's better when you're expecting it. Did you fill the right tank on landing, how much fuel did it take? Is there a chance that it was just empty? Your second paragraph seems completely unrelated to the first, unless this only ever happens on one tank. I would not be comfortable flying very far from the pattern without knowing the issue. I'd especially be hesitant to fly into the Smokeys without knowing for sure what the issue is.

I have the aspen AoA as well. I wish they provided a little more detail about “what’s under the hood” in the manual- but I do like the simple approach to flying the unit for landing. Set the flaps down carry on the line between yellow and green and hold that AoA to the flare. all these AoA gauges share a common attribute- none of them are divided up into degrees true markings- they are all “calibrated” into equal “units” in relation to the wings stall margin, and then some form of algorithm is applied to show where the “on speed” marking is. Depending on that algorithm, a pilots inputs may change the display of the AoA in either a linear, or some sort of non-linear way. I have a 3 bladed prop, too- so I don’t think my best glide numbers are in line with the poh. I think the best way to find best glide as it pertains to your AoA indicator is to literally go out and test it, using a known weight, and a known IAS, and then see what that gets you. One could back up the test data with something like cloud ahoy... and then be able to see just how your plane did based on the number of test trials conducted, and the set input parameters. I’m not sure if there would be a “better way” unless your AoA gauge has some sort of L/D max input or calibration feature- as these units are all meant to be airframe “agnostic”- focusing mainly on stall margin. BUT... that’s not to say that they can’t be used to aid in finding best glide- because they can be.

Don, The POH is where the data collection is, based on in flight data from the tests Mooney ran in certification... The factory then slimmed things down for us, to be determined by the instruments that are/were in our planes (at the time). Things That are interesting to us... Vx, Vy, Vz, stall warning, and stall speeds are all directly associated to AOA... So when they print charts and graphs that have huge amounts of memorizable data... weight, bank, speed... using an AOAi can be very helpful to alleviate the giant memory challenge... Watching Mikey @201er land smoothly time after time, on a short surface target... he has demonstrated great speed control. He uses an AOAi to control his speed better, by knowing what the right speed of the day is... He is still the PIC of his ship and does a great job of the flying part too... Aside from that, no, I don’t believe we have the actual data available in a table that we could look up... If we did, we would still be calibrating and proving we have the AOAi set up properly... We do run into some additional memory load using the AOAi though... when the configuration changes, adding flaps, the AOA and target numbers do shift... So some displays are better than others to handle the change in configuration... flaps up vs. flaps down... PP thoughts only, I don’t have an AOAi yet, not a CFI or mechanic... I’m looking forward to learning more about the new devices without air sensors(?) Best regards, -a-

Pyth. I can do a little angularJS and python if I need to.

Using an AOAi allows you to glide the farthest without doing the math or knowing what your current weight is... Note the similarity to effects of weight on stall speed. You get to understand a higher level of AOA, and where the limits are... the critical AOA... Our wing has a certain range of AOA it can use... some of that range gets used up by Weight, bank angle, and speed... PP thoughts, not a CFI... Best regards, -a-

It’s actually about 1 qt in 7 on average and has been the same since I bought it. I started my trip with 7.5 qts(added two for the trip) and 14 hours later (New Jersey) I am just under 6. And yes, most of it is out the belly! I probably added too much but wanted to keep the engine cool for the trip. Tomorrow I will add 1qt before heading towards Chicago. At 13000 ft it was kind of warm, around 20F! Tomorrow I’m trying for 8k

This is due to the fact that your “best glide” is actually an angle of attack for the airfoil- not really a speed. The best glide angle of attack is estimated in your POH by using a speed and weight combo which should yield near to the best glide AoA in stabilized flight. For those of us with an AoA instrument- you should be able to use your gauge for best glide (also referred to as max range)- which to me is not only more accurate, but simpler to fly. best glide can also be referred to as L/D max.

Lmfao! No sinister plot here! Just want to be able to fly in mooney style! And I don’t want it to take years to do it. First off I can’t afford that, and I ain’t getting any younger! Unfortunately or fortunately, I live in a place with few options, so, trying this out!

Signs of cam lobe wear include... measuring the lift of the valve stem? (Procedure for that) metal analysis of the engine oil. parts of metal collecting on oil filters and/or screens. taking a cylinder off to visually inspect a few lobes the cam... large Gami spread... The hardened layer of the lobes is very thin. Once removed, the wear increases rapidly... Other things to look at when valves are concerned... get pics using a dental cam through the spark plug holes.... the normal pizza look vs hot spots on the edge.... Visually inspecting all the cam lobes is a challenge. It doesn’t seem to be a good idea to remove more than one cylinder at a time... so your mechanic has to be very familiar with the procedure... What was the reason for FF not going above 10gph? Just max FF with the electric pump on? balancing FF and air flow to each cylinder is done for cruising conditions... under T/O and climb, ROP is used with enough excess fuel the balance can be a bit off without much of an issue... 100% power on a 200hp engine is using near 20gph, approximately double the cruise number... PP thoughts only, not a mechanic.... Best regards, -a-

Way to get it started, Mark! Happy New Year! May your number of landings equal your number of take offs all year long... And of course, let the rubber always touch the runway, before the prop tips do... And other positive forward looking statements... Best regards, -a-

Nothing compared to telling my ex wife she was wrong... Boy, did I get reeducated my pilot buddy who flys a G550 has only kind things to say about his boss and their handling of unexpected delays, so I guess its all about the entitlement of the individual how they react to the unexpected.

One of Mooney’s raisins d‘etre is that it’s a hand built quality machine. This flies in the face of that dictum. They need badly to get out in front of this quickly. The money lost in a crash pales in front of the money lost cue to loss of reputation.

You’re going to miss that Mooney. Joe is thinking about partnering up in mine. Yeah, his Lanceair is going to be an amazing machine. But if he just wants to do a short burger run on a nice day, it might not cut it where a Mooney will.

Good for you taking care of your mom, she’s more important than a bunch of dumb pilots. I’m about a Mooney hour from the Pittsburgh area and would be happy to give you a ride should you still want one.

The only thing worse than a Senica I is a Senica II. If you love planes with poor visibility and engines that change power by themselves at the worst possible times, then it is the most fun you can have for $4/min.

Happy New Year! Hi all, I'm hoping to get back on the book early this year. My job and helping out my mother has eaten nearly all of my free time. But not to worry. I haven't forgotten about it. I'll post updates here and on thoseremarkablemooneys.com. If you'd like to be on the email mailing list, there is a link on the site above where you can sign up. Thanks for your patience, Tracy

I agree with taking the political talk somewhere else, but it isn't really helping responding with your own political opinion.

Expect the fine print on the jegs model to still say made in China... Must be a different factory in China though... Best regards, -a-

Yes, I have one just like it. You also have to have the converter. JPI will (at least when I set mine up) tell you it has to be a "Keyspan" converter. In my experience, they are right. I bought one that should have worked, but didn't. I got a Keyspan and still using it.

Add 2 zeros to the price and no one will question it

Thank you!!! For creating this thread every year. It’s been my favorite thread on this forum!!! Keep it going! Tom

I agree. They may well plan to make good, and anyway I like to think they are doing the right thing by addressing the problem asap for safety reasons, rather than wait to work out the business details which may well come shortly.

Here's what I did and you can do it too. Get your wife/girlfriend/signif. other to go up with you after you return from a trip with say less than 10 gallons on each side. Climb to a few 1000 ft AGL and orbit the field. Switch to the emptiest tank and ask your passenger to watch the fuel pressure gauge and tell you when it starts to rapidly decrease. When that happens, switch to the other tank and land. You can calibrate the senders on that empty tank knowing what zero means. Then, take it back up and repeat for the other tank. I've learned that there are two potential issues with removing the sump drain valves. First, the piece they are screwed into, which is riveted into the tank, might be corroded and can fail. Second, someone might have attempted to fix it and done a poor job. Running a tank dry is much easier, and IMHO, fun.

Adam I am a Mooney instructor/ferry pilot and Mechanic up in Cincinnati, ohio area. I speak Mooney fluently, having owned a 201 for 18 yrs. flown and wrenched on all models . I think I would be able to help you out. 58, semi retired and single so I could fit your requirements. Also familiar with Virgin Islands as I have a friend who owns a charter bus down there. If you are interested in discussing, feel free to contact me at phone/email below. Best Regards, Jeff Schnabel CFII, MEI,ATP, A&P 513-484-0604 schnabel79@gmail.com

My wife and I always travel with our small dog in our Mooney. We like having her with us, and it's really no additional expense. If I could just get her to wear oxygen.....

Yes, it could.

Getting my flying in this week. Warm front ahead of a cold front and unseasonably warm / wet / tropical system. What the weather guys refer to as “unsettled weather”. I needed some approaches to log and the plane needed a wash. Lots of rain bands. Some thunder off the coast. Convective wind shear with at least 45- 50kts at 2000ft. Good times. I figured out how to get audio so recorded my last approach on the iPhone. This wasn't exactly gentleman’s IFR - it was hard flying with a lot of bumps and wind shear in the mixing layer. Above the mixing bowl it smoothed out nicely. It was not dangerous but was challenging. It was dynamic with rain bands moving in reducing visibility and then clearing out. There was a twin Cessna flying from TN to ILM that kept going missed. First time he couldn’t get his GPS setup properly for the RNAV to 17. Then he went missed a second time on the ILS to 24 ahead of me. Then he goes temporarily lost coms for a min (my pulse rate went up and all I could think was this guy is a NTSB report). Then he comes back up, but his transponders falls off and approach asks him if everything is ok. He says yes asks for the RNAV to 24. Approach offers him a vector 40 nm to Cumberland county which is reporting VFR weather. My half hearted comment about the twin Cessna no harm no foul to go VFR was just me expressing my concern that this guy was having a bad day and sometimes the best plan of action is plan B - cut your losses and re-evaluate. -B

Don't go anywhere Tom. Your insights, advice, and information on this forum have been a huge benefit to all. And your posts are always "must read" material. Besides, every so often, we need a screen shot of that prop jet doing speeds over 300 knots just to help us all keep perspective. We'll look for you at OSH 2019.

You might've come to the wrong place...

And for the Paul Harvey moment... These are the results of the resistance checks on the plugs after I pulled the Champion massives with 475 hours on them (#2 cylinder's were replaced 10 hours ago with massives I had): Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk