Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/11/2020 in all areas

  1. My third. This one on intercepting an assigned course or radial to a VOR or waypoint. Don't know whether there will be any more once things get back to normal. I've learned to enormously respect the folks who do YouTube videos regularly. Mine are pretty simple but there's a huge time commitment to creating and editing even an 8-10 minute video.
    7 points
  2. There are a number of reasons why a constant speed prop isn't analogous to a manual gearbox transmission in a car, and I try to dissuade people from using that analogy. First, the propeller has a continuous range of pitch, not discrete pitch points. An automatic CVT transmission of the type found in certain Subarus and other modern automobiles is a little more analogous to a constant speed prop; but most drivers barely understand how automatic transmissions work to start with, much less the concept of a continuously variable transmission. Second and more importantly, in a manual gearbox vehicle, the gearshift lever sets the gear ratio directly. A constant speed propeller has no control that directly sets the propeller pitch. Rather, it is constantly and automatically "shifting" the propeller pitch to maintain a selected RPM. A helpful thing to explain to students is that if you were to safety wire the propeller control full forward such that it couldn't be moved at all, you'd still get about 90% of the benefit of the system. In fact, Cirrus SR22 Turbo 5th gen and later aircraft are designed exactly this way: they have constant speed propellers, but there is no propeller control lever, and the selected RPM is effectively hardwired at 2500 RPM. Third, the sweet spots for power and fuel efficiency in cruise on a typical car vs. a typical airplane are so different as to be almost completely unrelated. In almost all cars, you want to be in the highest gear during all cruise operations, downshifting only for unusual conditions like climbing a hill. Airplanes have more complicated and sometimes counter-intuitive RPM relationships. For one thing, selecting the highest "gear" (most coarse pitch) may result in undesirably slow cruise speeds that are not necessarily fuel efficient. Another interesting example from the cruise tables in my POH: 7500', 71% power, 10.4 GPH, and 165 MTAS cruise speed can be achieved at both 23"/2350RPM and 21"/2600RPM. There is no difference in fuel used and (AFAIK) no meaningful difference in operating temperate at these two settings. The reason to select one vs. the other has mostly to do with passenger comfort (noise and vibration), rather than any difference in speed or fuel efficiency. 2360 RPM will usually be less noisy, but may cause greater vibration and therefore passenger fatigue in certain airframes. I've spent hours across years poring over the performance tables of my airplane and thinking about how to best manage the propeller control. And after all that, I've settled on a trivial strategy: prop full forward for takeoffs, climbs, and landings (in case of go-around), full back for engine-out scenarios to minimize drag, and 2500 RPM everywhere else. Again, 90% of the benefit is the governing control system that automatically increases propeller pitch as load decreases, to maintain a constant RPM. Exactly what RPM is selected in cruise is almost an afterthought, and dramatically less important than the operation of the gearshift knob in a manual gearbox automobile. In summary, if you're trying to understand or explain how a constant speed prop works, I actually think the automobile manual transmission analogy hurts more than it helps. That's especially true in the modern era, where many automobile drivers aspiring to be pilots have never driven a manual gearbox automobile in the first place.
    4 points
  3. To my eye, fixed gear is ugly, and very uncool. All the cool airplanes are either retracts or tailwheels. And the very coolest are retractable tailwheel models. As this is just a hobby, toy, fun, activity, and since I'm spending significantly, it has to be "cool". A Honda Accord is so much better than a Porsche 911 in so many categories, but it won't turn any heads. And so you don't seen anyone in the throws of a mid-life crisis, out buying an Accord. It would be different if I was a pro pilot and needed the airplane for work. But that's not the typical mission for most Mooney drivers. I was parked between two Cirrus's yesterday on the ramp in Casper, WY. All of us had landed short of our destinations because of weather. And we all ended up spending the night. With thunderstorms forecasted overnight, my Mooney went in the hangar. The Cirrus guys didn't care and left their airplanes tied down overnight on the ramp. Of course they are likely less susceptible to hail damage than I am, but later at the hotel over dinner, it was obvious that the Cirrus guys weren't nearly as passionate about their airplanes as I am about my Mooney. But then it's probably the same between someone buying a new car and someone maintaining a classic car. I don't see anything wrong with either position. But for me, it's got to be a retract.
    4 points
  4. Reading a book review of "Years of Combat", it occurred to me this perhaps was the motivation for the Cirrus 'chute, formation of the barf bag industry, and a reason why front seats are so desirable. Here is an excerpt Sholto Douglas recalls his encounters with Immelman, Boelcke, von Richthofen and Goering. Indeed, much later he read Boelcke’s account of an encounter that Sholto Douglas had with him and Immelmann in December 1915. Boelcke believed that they had killed Sholto Douglas’ observer, Child, but in fact he had been thrown about so much in the encounter that he was thrown over in the aircraft and was violently sick, vomiting over Sholto Douglas in the rear seat! The RFC aircraft did not have any forward firing guns until 1916, apart from inefficient “pusher” configuration planes. With Douglas’ planes of this era, the observer sat in the front seat and the pilot in the rear. The observer had to fire his Lewis gun backwards, over the pilot’s head, which was useful if they were being pursued but not otherwise. There were also no parachutes, as supposedly a reliable parachute had not yet been invented. This was a lie from the high command, as Sholto Douglas recalls with righteous indignation, as parachutes were available well before WWI. The “idea” was to stop crews recklessly abandoning their aircraft. here is the full review You cant make this stuff up..
    3 points
  5. Several of us managed to maintain recommended social distancing while keeping the rust at bay in Paso Robles last weekend. Morro Bay is wonderfully scenic, and perhaps the tourists enjoyed our breaks, rejoins and tail chase.
    3 points
  6. I'm just up the road at KFUL and have my Halo's and my wife's if you want to meet up and test it out.
    3 points
  7. Last night, Amy went to get the mail while I was fixing dinner. She comes walking in and said "You've got a letter from someone in Denton, Texas. The envelope says "*Additional information 46Q." I got fan mail. I called Paul and we spent 40 minutes telling tales. His father may be the perfect embodiment of the American Dream. You see, Roswell Mathis dropped out of school in the 9th grade. His father died, and he had to tend the family farm. Eventually he upgraded to driving a milk route, and from there he wound up driving a city bus in Jacksonville, Florida. He saved his pennies whenever he could, but when the barnstormers came to town, a friend talked him into shelling out a few bucks for an airplane ride. Yeah, the bug bit.. Hard. Roswell took flying lessons, knocked out his tickets, and when World War Two rolled around, he instructed Navy pilots as a civilian. "My dad really wanted to go fight, but the navy wouldn't have it. They explained that he wasn't easily replaceable. He'd have to start from zero as a military pilot, and as he progressed, the navy would have to find a civilian instructor to take his place. So he instructed his way through the war." After the war, he hired on at Eastern Air Lines, starting on the DC-3 and flying until he turned 60 in 1974. Not bad for someone who didn't finish their freshman year of high school. His son had googled the tail numbers of airplanes his father had owned, and my story popped up. The plane is registered in my name, at my home address. The crumbs were easy enough to follow. He recounted tales of flying around in the Mooney - he remembered flying with his dad while Disney World was under construction, then again once it was finished but not yet open to the public. The theme park had a soft opening for locals, and they flew along I-4, eyeballing the traffic backing up for miles. The apple hadn't fallen far from the tree. Paul flew F-4s in the Air Force and went on to a career at Southwest that he recently retired from. We told Mooney stories, I listened to war stories, and we talked a lot about aviation books–we're both book nerds as it turned out.
    3 points
  8. I moved on from that one. Too many red flags Made an offer on this one, they accepted, and it's on the way to prebuy! 1978 T310R Ram I (300hp) conversion. FIKI certified. G500, GTN750, 430W, Avidyne EX500 with radar. Tail number blocked since it's not "mine" yet.
    2 points
  9. This reminds me of a time several annuals ago. With all the seats removed I decided to see if I could egress my Ovation through the baggage door. I’m 6’2” and 215lbs. I could do it with quite a bit of difficulty. I can’t imagine being able to do it with the seats back in. Especially if you or your rear seat passengers are hurt. My good friend, who is a fireman at KBOS (Boston,MA) told me that no fireman would try to open a small baggage door (17” or 43.2cm X 20.5” or 52.1cm) to access passengers. They go through the windows or cut open the airframe. I lock mine.
    2 points
  10. The main thing you're looking for is asymmetric wear patterns on the exhaust valves. It's possible to catch these early, before the valve actually starts to leak enough to cause lower compression readings. You get to see the intake valve too, of course. But my limited understanding (not an A&P) is there's not much to look for on the intake valves other than gross damage. You can also look at the cylinder walls to see if they still have their cross-hatching, and/or if they're beginning to show any signs of abnormal wear. For pictures, see the "What to look for" section of https://blog.aopa.org/aopa/2016/12/20/scope-that-jug/
    2 points
  11. You must have stopped watching at that point Course to begins at about 7:45.
    2 points
  12. The price difference between two G5s and two GI275s is half way to a GFC500. I'm picking my plane up tomorrow with the G5s and GFC500. Its a bit more money now but every servo and wire is new now and I won't have a servo overhaul or some other problem with a 20 year old autopilot next month.
    2 points
  13. You're pretty much correct, although to be fair, running a motor a high MP (open throttle) and low RPM (high gear) is what will cause it to lug. Practically, thought, if your intention is to use it as a teaching tool for people who have driven a car, it's not very helpful. Nobody drives a car the way we run aircraft motors in cruise and climb, with almost full throttle all the time. Even in descents we're using 50-60% throttle. Drivers have a tough time understanding why you go FASTER if you increase your constant speed prop RPM, since they generally experience higher gears allowing them to go faster than lower gears. A more accurate analogy would be driving a car with a trailer uphill. You need almost the full power of the car's motor, so now the analogy applies. If you shift to a lower gear to be near the rev limit, you will go faster than if you're in a higher gear, because you can't MAKE it to the rev limit. Unfortunately, most drivers never encounter such a scenario
    2 points
  14. . Initial fitting seems to indicate the left liner may be a little short. Will deal with that if it turns out that way when I start to put fasteners in. Funny, I installed these 40 years ago in a C and seems to remember the left liner being about an inch short. Okay maybe it was only 38 years.
    2 points
  15. All of the Mooney users with a bad back, actually a real bad one, I had 10+ surgeries and going in next week for another consult, anyway I started going through tugs in an effort to find the easiest on your lower back, the 40ez one wheel to balance once I got older and weaker it became difficult to keep balanced and lock it on the gear, tried two different wheel ones like the sidewinder, the winder being much lighter than the other, but still required bending and lining up properly not good, I then was in Bob Belview’s hanger he had a nose dragger looked easy. I got one it’s been easier on the back I still use it, nice unit, little slow highly recommend for those old weak bad backed individuals.
    2 points
  16. Sorry, yes, that would be helpful, 70’ F model, IO-360, GAMI’s, PF exhaust, and CHR-30P. I wasn’t sure if normal practices were still followed. I see in the other response that status quo practices still apply, thanks all! Looking forward to seeing advantages to EI! Yes, SF on left mag, I misunderstood the instructions for starting from the MX that installed it, and I had preconceived notions about how the start would go, which were wrong. Thanks to all who replied! I’ll Be flying today, cooler wx with high overcast will make a great day!
    2 points
  17. I have both a GMA340 tagged complete with new install kit , for 1000 , and I might have a used PMA8000B , for 1100.00 with a new connector kit...
    2 points
  18. since you invited me to the conversation I'd recommend the GMA340. They are cheap and plentiful. You should be able to find a used one. Chase at @Avionics Source takes them in on trade all the time and so must have some used ones to sell. It's cool that you'll be able to do the install yourself with someone to look over the work and sign it off. But the best part is that down the road when you're ready to step up to a top of the line audio panel... the PMA450b will slide into that GMA340 tray without any modification or rewiring at all. It literally takes 2 minutes to install. My PMA450b is riding in the original GMA340 tray that came in my Mooney. And Chase will probably take the GMA back and trade it (and some cash) for the PMA450b... which is what you really want
    2 points
  19. Good call on that @carusoam and I’ve been watching his listings on the bay. I’d always rather support a MSer. A quick @Alan Fox note - do you know how I found his listings on eBay? I was looking at avionics and realized I recognized the dining room in the photo, from MS listings. Made me laugh...
    2 points
  20. EGTs have some interesting characteristics... Often where we measure them has a distinct difference... Thermodynamics makes it relatively easy to understand... Most of us don’t remember much of the thermo stuff either... How far down the exhaust pipe the thermocouple is, really counts... further from the exhaust valve, the colder... As exhaust gasses expand, they cool off... a lot! Many thermocouples were installed after the plane left the factory... the exactness of the sensor location depended on the installer... Next on the list of quirky sources of temp data... is the number of exhaust tubes feeding the thermocouple.... Exhaust gasses flow in waves of pressure... each time an exhaust valve opens... a wave of hot and burning gasses is released... If you have a turbo charger (you do ) where multiple tubes supply multiple waves of hot exhaust... the average reading over time (TIT) is actually higher than the average reading of only one exhaust tube (EGT) coming from a single cylinder... The Long Body’s Ship’s EGT gauge is similar to the TIT... it has three tubes collected into one on the side of the Engine... rough leaning is done with the calibrated gauge using a blue box on the instrument... a white box if G1000 equipped... Interestingly enough... some G1000 equipped Mooney Ovations actually callEd the EGT, a TIT... there is no turbo inlet temp on a NA Mooney... somebody didn’t finish the G1000 programming properly... For a few years... When learning to lean a Mooney engine... some are so well balanced, like the M20K’s intake system... that you might lean until the fuel is no longer burning evenly enough... anything that interrupts the completion of the burn will have some raw fuel going into the exhaust... More opportunity for fuel burning down stream... As Ross pointed out a case of slowing down the burn so much, it start to escape before completing the burn... Any raw fuel getting to the exhaust system will cause elevated EGTs.... similar to a bad spark plug... Compare your EGTs to you TIT and see if the TIT is reading higher... this is the case of six waves of exhaust feeding one thermocouple at the front of the turbo... The TIT sensor is pretty far downstream of the EGT sensors, but it is probably reading a higher number... This is all about the averaging of the Temp data...Over time... six pulses over the same amount of time... How is that? PP thoughts only, not a mechanic... Fun stuff you can get involved discussing on MS... Best regards, -a-
    2 points
  21. I find that Low wing aircraft tend to handle X-winds better than High wing aircraft
    2 points
  22. Exactly right. I am still waiting to read the first report of any rescuer climbing in a baggage door to attempt to pull out a disabled occupant. About the only reason you would even attempt that would be because the front door was blocked by fire. nobody is going to climb if the bird is on fire. I've seen a # of Mooney wrecks and haven't seen sheet metal from the wing block the door from opening enough to egress - but of course anything is possible. But when professional rescuers arrive on the scene they're surely not going to use the baggage door and add any risk to a injured vertebrae, they are simply going to cut the roof off the plane, do what they can to support your neck and back and gently extract occupants without risking further injury. Any of us following the accidents has seen pictures of this repeatedly. On the other hand we've read about lots of baggage doors opening in flight that caused their own emergency and sadly worse. After the third such instance at Mooney PPP's many years ago, the policy of always locking the baggage door was adopted to prevent further instances. We haven't had any since. As we've discussed elsewhere, can't say conclusively how they can open in flight with it fully latched but I think the evidence thus far is that we have yet to hear about the first "locked" baggage door opening in flight - all have been unlocked to my knowledge.
    1 point
  23. PFD and MFD are the same part (Display ) the piece that decides its function , is the config module..
    1 point
  24. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alkemade
    1 point
  25. Today I confirmed the location with soap and blowing some air near the area leaking into the leading edge. Leak is exactly as you see on the picture. I cleaned this area with MEK and resealed with ppg sealer. Also sealed the lower access panel with the specific sealer. How long should I wait until adding fuel again?
    1 point
  26. No clue on the certification, but mine looks like the bottom one. Don't think I've seen one with tick marks every 50 feet, only recall seeing the 20-foot tickmarks.
    1 point
  27. Simple things first: make sure the (T)ip of the 3-connector TRS plug on the Halo is making good contact with the corresponding terminal of the headset jack in your airplane. Depressing the PTT switch shorts that terminal to ground, and it could be that the exact condition of your jack is such that the Halo plug is making intermittent contact and causing noise or other issues, where other headsets make good contact (or possibly no contact at all - this can still "work" depending on how the PTT is wired to the rest of the com system). Assuming your co-pilot's headset plugs are wired with a PTT switch as well, you can try plugging the halo in over there. If it works there but not on the pilot side, it's very likely that the jack needs to be replaced, or just tweaked a little. There are all kinds of other things that could cause your problem, but this one is easy to check yourself.
    1 point
  28. I think it is a good analogy, for variable propellers but works pretty well for "variable Pitch" than "variable RPM" with CSUs/Governors, although there are few intuitions: - Low gear is fine pitch (high rpm speed) and High gear is high pitch (low rpm speed) - Full gas is high MP and Low gas is low MP At slow ASI speeds you need low gear (high RPM) and at high ASI speeds you need high gear (low RPM) Obviously, one can drive his car at cruise 50mph in many forms ("over-square" on 6th gear, right at 5th gear, "under-square" on 4th gear) all should be ok and healthy but surely, not on 6th gear and full gas at 10mph uphill (too much "over-square") nor 1st gear and full gas at 70mph downhill (too much "over-speed"), with no gas you can drive in any config as long as it is not 6000rpm Analogy fails when you talk about which one goes first gearbox or gas VS MP or RPM and the range of RPM (max rated 8000rpm vs 2700rpm ) At specific % power you get a desired ASI in cruise, if that can be achieved by various prop RPMs then there is probably no "correct RPM setting" but one can argue about various operation constraints (e.g. fuel flow, cylinders temps, decibels, over-square, making TBO...)
    1 point
  29. There's an easier way to do this on the GTN. At 5:44 in the video, when you pick the VOR, then touch "Course To" and put in the vector you want. Intercept it and it will continue sequencing with no messing around with OBS mode.
    1 point
  30. I tried using the Halo's last Fall and had a similar experience. I was able to transmit but with poor sound quality and ATC had a difficult time hearing me. Phil at Halo said that the mic circuit in my plane needs to be a "floating ground" which is independent of other ground circuits. I have not yet had a chance to test it but he described a procedure of testing where you check for a voltage drop with transmission. Give him a call, he will explain. Please let me know what you find out as I have not had time to pursue it. It is on my list of things to do, but not high on that list right now. John Breda
    1 point
  31. Clarence will know. @M20Doc He will be installing them in my ‘65 E.
    1 point
  32. @nels Our shop falls within the range Niko provided. We are not below 10K. KMQS airport in SE Pennsylvania. Don’t know if that qualifies as reasonable flying distance from Cincinnati.
    1 point
  33. Things to look for with the amperage reading fluctuating... It could be real... Or it could be a function of the instrumentation... Often the instrumentation is affected by the quality of the panel grounding... Lots of cleaning of grounds connections, and ground straps can be helpful... The amp reading, as you are probably familiar... Is a voltage reading across a large resistor called a shunt... At low rpm, voltage produced by the alternator may be a bit funky... The alternator’s diode bridge may be aged as well, adding some noise to the situation... got any rpm sensitive whining going on in the audio panel system? PP thoughts only, all stuff I read about on MS... Best regards, -a-
    1 point
  34. Folks wanted to give you a heads up. The FAA investigator reviewing the off airport landing (plane of course is now gone to the salvage yard) stated I didn’t make a ‘complete entry’ in the maintenance log. I nicely explained him I complied with the 43.9 reg. He disagreed. He said I must state the certificate type on my maintenance log. Rather than argue I said that I’d look it up. Here it is right off the FAA site in a flyer that I had. I did send this to him so he knows that for the maintenance entry, I only needed my cert # (which I had in the log). For an inspection, a cert ‘type’ is required... note the 4 items it lists on the bottom right... -Don
    1 point
  35. I live in Vero Beach, Florida. I recently retired from the aircraft modification business. It took me two years to find the right Mooney 201. I am very happy with it!
    1 point
  36. That looks nice, but I don't think you should have removed your Johnson Bar just to have cup holders...
    1 point
  37. Yeah, this was not a deal to snooze on. @Ross Tayloris a gentleman pilot. The book in already enroute. Always happy to do business with upstanding MSers.
    1 point
  38. Hi - thank you for the message. These have been sold. I updated the title of the post.
    1 point
  39. I said this 6 months ago. Lots of Mooneys out there. I looked at several before I bought mine. It's actually a good time to buy, since not a lot is moving right now. I didn't want a hangar queen, would have had a lot of choices if I did. The Buddha said there is no time. 6 months later and the OP is still looking.
    1 point
  40. Thank you for the education guys, much appreciated.
    1 point
  41. These are great. I have had a set on my 65 E for a year now and love them. They fit really nice on those flat wing tips, too. Highly recommend running a wire between the two units so the strobes fire in synch with each other.
    1 point
  42. Hi John, I see Corey got back to you from Savvy. You really need to check with JPI. But once its logging data, even a minute of data is enough to upload to Savvy and see. Flight that are under 5 min though are hidden, just click on "Show short flights" in bottom right hand corner, since they're still there - all are, but we hide them by default since they aren't real flights. But also change your data sampling rate to a minimum of every 2 sec - that's the fastest the 830 will go. the default 6 sec rate is coarse to be of much value.
    1 point
  43. 1 point
  44. You can get nice results with bike tape, too, fwiw. You can sort of see mine here. That's about a year old. And yes, I'm an avid cyclist, so I've got technique. Just don't buy the crappy cheap stuff. This is about $20/roll, does both yokes.
    1 point
  45. Knowing the actual crosswind component in knots is next to impossible while inside the airplane. winds are seldom constant, and seldom directly 90deg. once you are confident and proficient in the airplane you fly, “too much” crosswind is simply a function of being able to be aligned with the runway and stabilized in the approach. my water shed moment was the time I found myself looking at the runway through rear part of the copilot window. That was too much crosswind.
    1 point
  46. Excellent work, as always. Thanks, and looking forward to the next one!
    1 point
  47. Thank you for those very kind remarks. One of my goals is to keep it relatively short and clear. I guess my experience with public speaking (pilot and lawyer seminars, not to mention jury trials) helps. It nice someone noticed.
    1 point
  48. I happen to have the interior out of my 1994 M20J and I spent some time looking at the baggage door hinge and lock this afternoon. This picture shows the door with the exterior handle in the open position: Here's what it looks like with the exterior handle in the closed position: Note how far the latching pins protrude in the latched position. There is no way that the door is going to open if the pins are engaged unless perhaps the hinge gives way and allows the door to shift. Here's a shot with the interior emergency handle pulled open: I labeled two springs, A and B. Spring A creates an over center force to hold the mechanism either open or closed. In addition, Spring B acts to hold the pins in the latched position and did so (albeit less forcefully) even when I removed spring A. I noticed that to open the door with either the inside or outside latch, the lever has to be pulled forcefully over center. Even if the hitch pin was removed from the inner lever, I don't think the door could open unless something pulled on the lever with enough force to compress spring A and move the mechanism over center. The piano hinge is riveted to the tailcone skin and the door. It is recessed slightly so that the tailcone skin retains the hinge pin. The design seems very secure. I don't see how it could open unless something was broken or it wasn't latched. But, in cases where it is not latched, I would expect that it would open on takeoff as others have reported. In this case, there was a delay. Skip
    1 point
  49. My M20J beats all those turbos in the overhaul shop and save a lot $$$$$ for fuel.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.