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  1. Just to update all my fellow MooneySpace Family, I was the PIC of this flight. It happened quick as most emergencies do. We (my family and I) were in solid IMC at 5k when I lost almost all power very suddenly and without warning. I worked through the emergency procedures checklist but had no success. I advised ATC of my issues and started a descent to VMC about 1000’ ft below. After the emergency procedures didn’t recover the power loss, I advised I was declaring and proceeded to get vectors for the nearest field. I was about 9 miles from the nearest and I worried if I lost the engine we may not glide all the way to the field. When we broke out, I could see what I thought was an airstrip about a mile or two off the nose. ATC advised I was near a private airfield and I thought that’s what I was looking at. I informed ATC of my intentions to circle this field and make a landing. We landed safely and not a scratch on my family or the plane, thank god! Only after I landed did I find out we landed on the Consumer Reports testing facility track. It’s about 4400’ long and makes a great emergency LZ! Now to work through the process to determine what happened and what’s next. This is a sobering reminder of why to practice practice practice, constantly refresh yourself with the POH and your checklists and stay sharp! I credit my save to my flight training and the many days I spent with my CFI working through this stuff! I will continue to be a student of the game and always press myself to study, practice and stay sharp! …..your life and others depend on it!
    51 points
  2. Hello all, I am the passenger of N231GZ - M20 Rocket Engineering conversion to turbo prop inner-cooled. I'm not a pilot so I only know a little bit. Pilot/ Physician is instrument rated for 22 years. Trained in a Mooney because it was built in Texas and could be converted by Rocket. We travel throughout Texas doing exams for the state for work injuries. Hangered in Addison field for 22 years. IFR coming home from our monthly trip to Abilene, 5 mile final 2000 ft. locked onto the ILS, engine failure. Pilot tried multiple things to restart with no success, then just "flew the airplane". Couldn't see the ground until about 400ft. and saw the street/ trees, not a very hard landing until we were lunged forward. Prop was feathered before we crashed. We now know we hit the light pole, but I think the left wing was still attached and barely on fire when we were pulled from the plane. Neither of us lost conscience, the handle fell off inside and I was unable to open the door. Someone came up to the window and we told him to pull outer latch and they got us out. I am now home with broken radius, repaired with surgery, broken facial bones will not require surgery. Pilot fractured L2 that severed nerve, had surgery and nerve will heel in 18 months but may have a drop foot, and stitches in forehead. He should be home in a few days. If he weren't such an amazing pilot with a ton of experience and God watching over us, we wouldn't have made it for sure!
    41 points
  3. Hey Folks: It's been a while since I've posted and for that I apologize. I've been working diligently to keep Mooney alive and kicking and to put us in a position to become self-sustaining so we can concentrate on the more important stuff: Developing the retrofit landing gear to increase useful load and building brand new Ultras. Although we have kept parts moving, I'm well aware that there is frustration at the delays and in some cases, your inability to get certain parts. Some of this is a result of supply chain issues and some of it is that we simply don't have the resources to purchase the vendor inventory we need. I promise you that we are working on ways to remedy this. Many of you have written or called me offering your support and suggestions. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Some of your ideas are great and if I haven't been able to implement them, it's simply because we don't yet have the resources. We have just formally re-opened the Factory Service Center. One way you can support us, is to book an appointment and have the factory service your plane. We're competitively priced and whether it's for an annual or some vexing issue that no one else seems able to fix, come down to Kerrville and the folks that built your plane will take care of it. We'll also show you around the factory and if I'm available, I'll stop by so we can talk Mooney in person. The service center number is: (830) 792-2064 and the email is FSC@Mooney.com We look forward to hearing from you and I thank you for your continued support. Warmly, Jonny
    40 points
  4. There are a few days in a lifetime that are especially memorable. In my case it would be my birthday, Shirley's Birthday, the day we met 41½ years ago, and the day I closed on N9148W, 31 years and 12½ thousand flight hours ago today. Little did I know at the time the life changing event that would be. Before I bought it, I was in awe of anyone who owned an airplane, and anyone who owned a Mooney TLS had to be in a different league than me. I remember sitting in the airplane that day and thinking, "what have I done?" Will I even be able to learn how to fly this thing? It was intimidating. I had, Suzanne, Top Gun's pilot and a flight instructor, fly with me down to San Antonio where I took the Flight Safety Mooney M20M Course. After the course, I was still uncomfortable and had, Paul Arrambide, my flight instructor fly back with me to San Diego, where I showed my family what I had done. My Mother had not a few reservations. A PPP the following March in Fresno, where I flew with Jerry Johnson and met my soon to be mentor instructor, Robert Goldin, who fortuitously lived close by me, changed the direction of my life. Who ever heard of someone changing from a Real Estate Developer into a Flight Instructor? I did it. Real Estate became a sideline and Aviation took front and center. It still does. It's a passion and never gets boring. Along the way I've met hundreds and hundreds of people who became my students and later my friends. I've met many top educators in the aviation field. Most of them were dedicated teachers. What an experience it has been and continues to be. After all this time, buying my airplane was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It's a special day indeed.
    38 points
  5. It was 12 February, 1973, my Dad brought 47U home from Willmar Air Service to a 1/2-mile long grass strip (2Y5) in Northern Iowa. With Mom in the right seat, they enjoyed 35 years of flying the Mooney all over the country. Getting up there in years, in 2008 he gave up his medical and I brought 47U out to California, just north of Sacramento. I learned to fly in a Tri-Pacer (on the farm strip) and owned a Cherokee 160 for 20 years. But, 47U is my forever plane, just like it was Dad’s. Photo below, my Mom and Dad on a trip to the Dallas area to visit her sister.
    35 points
  6. I called Anthony tonight , and all is well... He has put down the keyboard and ventured out to smell the roses for a little while.... No problems , or issues , just didnt want to commit the huge amount of time , that he has been for all these years.... He will be back , e v e n t u a l l y ..... Carry on....
    32 points
  7. Just to update everyone, Upon inspection with the FAA Inspector and A&P/IA, they found that the internal baffles had broken off inside the muffler. The FAA Inspector and IA noticed heat marks and deformation on the inlet pipes going into the muffler housing indicating that the exhaust gases couldn't flow smoothly out of the exhaust and became trapped. They determined that the piece of the exhaust baffles had become lodged and obstructed almost all of the exhaust exit hole in the muffler, thus causing the immediate reduction in power and inability for the engine to run properly or make any power to maintain flight. They did say that they had seen this once before on a different aircraft and normally when a muffler fails the pieces simply blow out the tailpipe. I guess I got very unlucky that mine got stuck. I was very lucky however, that i had such a great spot to make an emergency landing!! We got a new muffler overnighted and made the necessary repairs yesterday. The FAA approved all of the work and all the ground runs showed that the problem was corrected. I was able to take off yesterday afternoon with the plane and fly it back to my local field. I played it safe and made the trip at a high altitude so I had options should any issues arise on the way back. I will say that the FAA Inspector was amazing and did a great job. He never approached with the attitude that he was out to get me and if anything, he was extremely understanding and compassionate to the issues. He reiterated several times that I did the right thing and made safe decisions to result in this positive outcome. He said this is why we have emergency procedures and pilots should never hesitate to use them! Then he said, Never let your pride get in the way of your safety! Thanks all for the kind words above and thanks for reading. Stay safe and fly Smart- Matt
    32 points
  8. I was looking forward to this year's Mooney Summit. Really bummed it was postponed. Nevertheless, I still wanted to hold the presentation I had planned to do, but virtually. I don't have a solid date and time yet, but thinking Thursday, October 21st at 8 p.m. EDT...will post the official time here once I can solidify my schedule. I'll be more than happy to do this assuming I can get a good number to attend (say 30 or more). If there's very little interest, I won't bother. So, please add a "Thanks" or "Like" to this post if you are interested so I can get a feeling for the number of you that might be willing to attend.
    32 points
  9. I let @carusoam take me to lunch just so I could get a lot of likes here on Mooneyspace. Ladies and gentlemen, the ambassador of Mooneyspace Mr Anthony Caruso: He’s ignoring me cause he’s probably busy checking Mooneyspace! PS, I heard Anthony managed to get re-current in his airplane for the first time in years!
    30 points
  10. I know a few of you are already aware of my incident on 09/30, but I've been hesitant to post anything until the insurance company made their determination re repair vs write-off. Also, having a forced landing off-airport is an awkward situation to find oneself in, and I've needed time to process the event and my responses to it before opening the topic up for discussion on an open forum. Aircraft background: M5779R is a 1985 M20K (231) with many positive aftermarket mods, including GAMIjectors, intercooler and wastegate, 3-blade McCauley prop (hot), Aspen PFD, JPI 830, Garmin 430, and Garmin ADS/B In/out transponder. The engine was rebuilt in 2016 prior to my purchase, and had less than 100 hrs SMOH when I bought it in 2018. I have flown her nearly 500 hours since then. I had a great deal of work done at annual last year, including replacement of the #6 cylinder, Prop governor overhaul, new right-side exhaust header, replacement of ALL belts and hoses, new gascolator, and multiple other smaller jobs. At the time of the incident 79R had flown 143 hours since last annual. On the date above I was flying from KABI to KDGW in a clear VFR sky to do some hunting with friends. I had stopped for fuel at Borger, TX, and was about an hour into the second leg of the flight at 12,500' when I had a sudden partial loss of power. I had been cruising at usual settings, 32" MP and 2450 RPM and 11.0 GPH (approx. 50% power setting) with a 12 knot tailwind. With the power loss my manifold pressure dropped below 20", but RPM's stayed around 2400. My first thought was that I had a fuel flow problem, so immediately switched tanks and hit the low boost switch. No change. Airspeed had dropped significantly, but the autopilot was holding my altitude and the engine was still making some power. IIRC, CHT's and TIT were fine, but the JPI was reading 20% power output and dropping. Half of my brain was trying to puzzle out the cause of the power loss, but the larger part of my brain was saying, "Look for a place to land, establish best glidespeed, try to restart the engine, and declare an emergency," over and over again. So that's what I did. I looked around at the flat eastern Colorado terrain, saw no airport; looked at my Foreflight moving map, and saw the Limon airport about 25 miles ahead of me and no other marked airfield. My airspeed was still above best glide at this point. Looking back on it now, I estimate that the time elapsed up to this point in the emergency was about 20-25 seconds. The engine was still running, so a restart was obviously not necessary; so I pushed the prop control full forward and there was no change. In fact, I noted that my RPM's were starting to climb irrespective of the position of the prop control. This was my first clue that I had an oil pressure problem. I then looked at the oil pressure gauge, and it was pegged on zero. This was the "Aha!" moment, and I went fully into my power-off landing checklist that I've had stamped in my brain since my earliest flight training. I switched off the magnetos, which caused immediate slowing of the aircraft, and of course also meant no vacuum pressure, so I began setting my attitude manually to best glide (88 KIAS). I keyed the mic and informed Denver Center I was declaring an emergency. The controller, who sounded very young, immediately experienced a 2-octave increase in his voice pitch, by which I gathered he was pretty new to this situation. I advised ATC I had lost power and was descending without power, and intended to land on either a road or an open field, unless he could vector me to an unmapped airfield closer to my position. I started at 6500' AGL, and estimated I had about 10 miles maximum glide range. There were several roads and a paved highway ahead of me, so I simply maintained my heading and descended at best glide speed. As I got closer to the ground it was apparent that the highway was far too busy with vehicle traffic to safely land on, so I decided to try for the nearest east-west gravel road, which I estimated was just within my glide range. However, it became clear quite soon that I wasn't going to get that far. As I dropped below 1000' AGL, I lowered my landing gear (I still had lots of battery power for the gear motors) and advised ATC I'd be landing in a pasture. I maintained clean configuration for airspeed, and the mains touched down a about 70 KIAS. I kept lots of backpressure on the yoke to keep the nosegear off the ground as long as possible. When I could keep the nose up any longer I started braking, but almost immediately hit a shallow cowpath and the nosegear collapsed. I skidded to a stop within about 50 yards of the cowpath. When the airplane stopped, I made sure all switches were off, unfastened my seat belt, and exited the aircraft. There was no gasoline smell, and no smoke, so I didn't hurry. I found I was less than 100 feet from the county road I'd been hoping to land on, and about 150 yards from the paved highway. All kinds of vehicles were turning onto the county road to check on the "crash scene". One kind young man offered the warmth of his car to sit in while I dealt with the necessary phone calls. ATC at Denver called within a few minutes (to see if I was alive), and of course my first outgoing call was to my wife to let her know I was down but OK. ATC got emergency services on the way and I was soon talking to the sheriff's deputy, fielding calls from the FAA and NTSB, and so forth. Eventually all the ducks were lined up as well as could be, and the deputy gave me a lift to a hotel in Limon, where my wife picked me up in her truck the next day. My insurance company has decided to sell N5779R for salvage, and I've signed the bill of sale. Unfortunately, I hadn't anticipated the rise in airplane prices this year, or I'd have re-insured her for what I could sell her for today (about $80,000 more than I paid for her!). I was not injured in the incident. I attribute this to the sound construction of Mooney aircraft, and to the thoroughness of my flight instructor(s) who drummed the engine-out landing checklist into my brain. At no time during the incident did I feel scared or panicked... I just did what I knew had to be done and flew the airplane all the way to the end of the landing rollout. Easy-peasy. I know a lot of people don't have as happy an outcome when they experience an engine failure. I realize that I was fortunate to have perfect conditions for my off-airport landing, or I might not have had as happy an outcome myself. If I had been over rough country or mountainous terrain, or flying at night, or IFR over low ceilings, my landing may have been a crash. But because I had clear visibility and plenty of flat terrain to choose a landing spot on, it was relatively uneventful. On the other hand, if it hadn't been for the cowpath that collapsed my nosegear, I would likely be having my airplane fixed right now rather than shopping for a new one. I share this experience with my fellow Mooney pilots because it may help someone else in their aeronautical decision making process or in their flight planning process. I am an avid reader/viewer of aviation-gone-bad articles and videos myself, am constantly learning from them. I hope this experience might help someone else be prepared in case of an emergency of their own. Postscript on the engine failure: when I landed, the entire belly of the airplane was covered with engine oil. I did not remove the cowling then and there, as more than one helpful idiot has suggested I should have done (including the guy from NTSB that called me 20 minutes after my airplane came to a stop in the pasture) but when the salvage crew got it to a nice clean shop and pulled the cowling they found no sign of a catastrophic oil line failure, etc. What they DID find was an oil breather tube covered with oil, and a splatter pattern in the compartment suggesting that an oil passage blockage had occurred somewhere in the engine resulting in the sump oil being blown out the breather tube. There was still about 3 quarts of oil in the sump, and the crankshaft still turned, so my delay in shutting down the engine apparently did not seize it up. I was just informed yesterday by the insurance adjuster that the engine is going to be torn down and inspected as part of the salvage process, and he will keep me informed as to the location of the blockage. FAA and NTSB have both signed off on the incident as an engine failure, and I have not been cited for pilot error. So that is something of a comfort. Postscript on aircraft damage: in addition to the collapsed nosegear, the right main gear was damaged (framework within the wing bent). Two of the 3 prop blades struck the ground and were severely bent, which of course necessitates and engine tear-down and inspection. The engine mounts were not damaged, but there was some deflection of the airframe back of the firewall which the insurance adjuster estimated would require significant repair costs. At this time I still don't know what damage to the engine and/or turbo may have occurred to cause the power failure. So I'll be airplane shopping now. I love the 231/252 platform for a lot of reasons, and I am strongly tempted stick close to home in this respect. Jimmy Garrison at GMax (formerly All American) says he has a lot of options in that area if I'm willing to be patient, and can stomach the high current prices. But I'm somewhat concerned about the growing scarcity of parts for Mooneys, as the factory continues to not make them. So I may stray farther afield into the land of Bonanzas, Cessnas, or Pipers. I guess we shall see. PPS 12/19/21: I posted the following last week farther down in the thread, but I am copying and pasting it here to save folks having to scroll down. I received an unofficial report on the engine postmortem. The engine crew looked first at the turbo, expecting to find the exhaust to be full of oil, indicating the failure was in the turbo (as the loss in manifold pressure suggested). However, there was no oil. The turbo had seized, but that would be expected with almost any loss of oil pressure. The crankshaft had not seized, and still turned easily… they found there was about 3 quarts of oil still in the crankcase. The culprit proved to be a broken exhaust valve in the #4 cylinder, which fell into the cylinder and punched a hole in the top of the piston. I w@s surprised to hear that, as I heard nothing that sounded like any engine cylinder eating a valve I’ve ever heard before (in automotive and small engine applications). The engine guys suggested I might have had enough power to keep the engine going a bit longer, as it was still making some power… but if I had done so, and tried stretching it the 25 miles between the point of failure and the Limon airport, other nastier things might have happened, such as an engine fire. All in all, I think what was basically an uneventful power-off landing in a field was the preferred option, as opposed to a high-speed and high-angle descent in a burning airplane into a fresh crater.
    30 points
  11. Hi Folks. For clarity, the Mooney factory didn't perform the annual on the aircraft that was lost. In any event, our focus right now is keeping the friends and family of those who were lost in our thoughts and prayers and allowing the NTSB to do their work. Kind regards, Jonny
    29 points
  12. I had a mission to fly on Dec 26 from KGVL Gainesville, GA to KMKL (Jackson, TN). 267 miles. I have a known ice airplane. Looking at the forecast, MKL was above minimum, above personal minimums but would require an approach. The airport was in light snow that would end later in the day by the time of my arrival. Cloud cover forecast on Aviationweather.gov showed bases at 900' tops FL320. Freezing level near the surface. There was SLD icing above 13,000. Light to moderate icing below. After considering all things I canceled. Here was my thinking. I don't mind flying in forecast icing if I can bail out to warmer temps below and maintain MEA. I flew from BWI (actually KMTN) to GVL a week earlier and took a route down over RDU and CAE to do just that. Highest MEA was 3000', forecast to be above freezing. ATC wanted to route me out over western VA and NC but I told them unless I got what I wanted and filed I would divert to RIC. They granted me my wish. I was 2.5 hours solid IMC but had no worse than light icing. In this case on the 26th, I had no out. I could not descend into a non icing environment nor could I quickly exit it to the south as HSV (Huntsville, AL) had similar issues. The real range of a known ice Mooney is 1.5 hours. That is the amount of time you have running the TKS at max. Thus you must have no-ice conditions max within 45 minutes of entering, because that is the amount of time to get in, decide you are over your head and get out. You have to make your decision for turn back or turn out within 45 minutes of entering otherwise you are committed to the remaining time if you don't have "above MEA no-ice conditions below" and you have to be pretty darn sure about those conditions. I also could find no PIREPS on icing other than a Baron on the edge of the wx area over AR to the west reporting light icing at 9000. A look at flightaware.com (pirep by absence) revealed no aircraft below 10,000 feet and below 250 knots in the intended operational area. Equally so, a call to KMKL revealed no operations inbound, snow of unknown depth on the ramp and questionable runway conditions. Cancel. Finally a flight aware flight popped that met my requirement. A small commuter flight called "Southern Airways", departed ATL for MKL. Operating a known ice Cessna Caravan. It made Chattanooga where it executed a 180 and returned to ATL. A discussion with the MKL agent the next day (when I completed the mission) revealed he bailed when he TKS system was at max just to remain airborne. I made the right call. I post all this just to give you an idea of my personal decision making process, especially if you have a known ice airplane or are new to IFR flying. It is not enough to have a capable airplane, it is knowing what the real capability is and it's limits. Equally so, yes you can approach to 200' and 1/2 mile but can you stop on the runway? Can you taxi in and park? Always leave yourself an out. 6
    25 points
  13. I took the plane into the paint shop on Aug 1st and got it back today....It turned out beautifully but there were some hoops to jump through....let me first say that Scheme Designers was outstanding to work with. Highly recommended. The paint shop, Master Aircraft Services in Wickenburg, AZ, did the incredible paint job but we all learned some lessons. The Mooney control surfaces are engineered (according to the factory) to a fine balance and the planes leave the factory with a light coat of white paint on them (control surfaces). The original scheme had color on all the control surfaces. Only the elevators were not able to be balanced with these colors and required a revised scheme for the horizontal tail and elevators.
    25 points
  14. I’m well overdue explaining my off-field landing incident on May 9 of this year, as a result of the D- 3000 dual mag failure. Caution – long write-up but hopefully there are some takeaway points of value here. My wife and I departed from our home base in California for the Chicago area in our M20J as we’ve done many times before. Day 2 we took off from Page, AZ - direct Albuquerque - direct Salina, KS. Enroute at 11.5K nearing Albuquerque we began to hear what sounded like a very faint rattle emanating from the belly area. Listened for a bit and it started to get more frequent. Began troubleshooting to see if it might be engine related. Changed prop, mixture, throttle, pump, tanks with no affect. Best I recall all items on the engine monitor appeared normal. No change until switching to Left mag – nearly dead. Right mag was better but rough. Immediately turned to nearest airport. Declared an emergency with ABQ approach and informed the controller of my situation. Unfortunately, Double Eagle was a couple miles beyond the FF glide ring. Within the next couple minutes the left mag completely failed and had only partial power on the right, but that also failed in the next few minutes. Now it was truly an “oh darn” moment, or words to that effect. How both mags checked good during preflight and both were now failing was not a good feeling. All I knew was I needed to make the best of a bad situation. I tried to reassure my wife that the plane flies perfectly fine as a glider now, we have about ten minutes to reach the airport or find a good place to land and we’ll be alright. We gained some ground on the glide ring as we continued but were battling some 40kt headwinds. Kept the aircraft clean and the glide speed faster than normal in an attempt to minimize time in those strong winds. Glider pilots minimize their time spent in sinking air by flying faster for the same reason. I kept Approach informed of our progress, that I had no power, that I thought it was a dual mag failure and that I might not be able to make the airport. Then came the standard issue question - say number of souls on board and fuel remaining. My wife remained remarkably calm throughout and even helped by scanning around for possible landing locations and obstructions. The fact that I am a fairly experienced glider pilot did help immensely in my opinion. During the entire power-off descent and landing it all seemed rather normal to me because every landing in a glider is an engine out landing. Airports are nice but fields work too. Approach handed me off and Tower had already cleared out traffic for the inbound emergency and cleared us for any runway but winds were strongly favoring 22. It is so gratifying and special to know the ATC professionals will do everything in their power to assist an aircraft in distress. Despite making up some glide distance, it was looking very iffy that we would be able to make the runway. Several miles out we identified what looked like a good open space short of the airport boundary clear of power lines and obstructions. It was our go to place if needed. At about 1000AGL those hangers, roads and fences on final approach looked like something we might not clear. Without hesitation I told the tower unable to make the runway and we're going for the field. The last thing I wanted to do was to try for the airport at all cost only to stretch the glide with disastrous results. As much as I love my Mooney the thought went through my mind to use the plane to save us. I rolled out parallel to the active into the strong headwind, lowered the gear and flaps and did a nice smooth full stall landing on the sandy desert floor. We looked at each other, did a quick embrace and said somewhat jokingly, well that wasn’t a bad landing. We ended up about 100 yards from the airport fence. Tower controller was watching the entire event and offered a big compliment. I let them know that the airplane appeared undamaged and no injuries. Emergency personnel soon began to arrive, followed by airport and FBO staff as well as the FAA. The largest fire in NM history was in progress and the last thing anyone wanted was an airplane crash to spark another blaze in the windy desert scrub. Everyone, and especially me, was relieved that the Mooney was sitting there unscathed. No damage to the prop or even the gear doors, not a scratch that I could see. Full stall landing into a strong wind on the semi-soft surface made for a very short landing. FAA measured the roll out at 322 feet. The two gentlemen from the FAA were extremely nice but also professional. In fact one of them owns an F model so we bonded a bit. They did check the airplane for fuel and oil just to make sure I didn't do something really stupid. They took pictures of the plane as well as my documents and the airplane documents to verify everyone and everything was legal and current. Basically a ramp check in the desert. They also requested I send them scans of the latest annual logbook entries when I returned home. After everyone was satisfied we were fine and all the paperwork was done, one of the maintenance guys offered to help with his small Jeep and a tow bar. It was an easy pull to perimeter road and onto the ramp. Given the situation I’m extremely grateful for the outcome. Day VFR at cruise over a desert having just flown over rugged terrain. Luck played a big part but I’ll take it. Those sounds at the beginning of the event were likely afterfires in the muffler due to incomplete combustion in the cylinders. One would think EGT would be spiking but the JPI 830 didn’t show that and the engine data doesn’t reflect anything out of the ordinary either from what I tell. So what happened? The next morning I met an IA at the plane. We pulled the infamous D-3000 dual mag and right away observed that neither set of points was opening. That's on a recently overhauled mag with 209 hours on it replaced two years prior. Something caused both rubbing blocks to wear down prematurely – and remarkably simultaneously. I’m going with lack of lube because it appeared the oil pads on the points were dry with some fibers scattered about inside the distributor cap. But both sets, and simultaneously? Other commonalities to the failure could be bad surface finish on the common cam, contaminated lube, defective rubbing block material. So, bad parts or a bad rebuild? The FAA says they are looking into it but who knows how long that will take or if anything will come of it. Maybe if more failures occur it will become a higher priority. In the meantime the mag was field repaired (points adjusted and oil wicks lubed, engine timing set) and I flew it back to my home base. It just came out of annual with an emphasis on looking for any possible damage due to the off-field landing. As mentioned, not a scratch or any problems found. I subsequently made that Chicago trip, without my wife this time, and the plane performed perfectly. I plan to have the point gaps checked every 50 hours to see if there is any trend or cause for concern. Lessons learned. When something doesn’t feel or sound right it might be worse than thought. Wasted a few precious minutes troubleshooting before turning to the airport. Pulling back the prop might have improved the glide. Never trained for it, only read about it and being task saturated at the time didn’t think of it. Forty plus years and thousands of hours, mostly in Mooneys, without an engine failure doesn’t mean it can’t happen. I fly a Mooney for safety and its good looks, but also for its efficiency which means I frequently fly direct. Been rather cavalier about flying over inhospitable terrain. My glider buddies call that Tiger country. Glider experience helped. Kept things somewhat routine. Stay current and legal. You never know when a ramp check can occur. Practice various emergencies. Commit important procedures to memory. Single pilot ops too task saturated or no time to look it up. Squawk 7700 in an emergency. Didn’t think of it and wasn’t my highest priority. Hopefully missed my one and only opportunity. ATC already had me as an emergency. Add more items to the survival kit. Could have been far from help or injured. Love Mooneys but hate dual mags. I don’t want this incident to significantly change my flying. Unfortunately, it’s changed my wife’s flying. It was a rare event and the odds of it happening again are highly unlikely. However, the reason for this failure is largely unknown. I’m still flying with the same mag but checking Left and Right in flight now and especially before entering IFR conditions, nighttime or Tiger country. Fly safe.
    24 points
  15. Hello all, Today I upgraded the server from a shared hosting program to a new "virtual private server" - our storage went from 100GB to 250GB and we will now have continuous backups (we have not had backups since we exceeded 50GB on the old plan). You should also notice that things are running considerably faster around here. We have a lot more processing power and quicker disk access, etc. The migration happened really quickly but there is a chance that within an hour or so today something you posted might have been lost in the transition, I apologize for that but it is the nature of the beast. I am increasing storage limits to 1GB for Supporter members and 200MB for Basic members. However, please still be mindful about your uploads - obviously if 200 supporters decide to max out their upload limits we are going to be in trouble again. We currently sit at about 75GB storage usage so we have about 175GB of headroom. The new server plan costs about 3x what we were paying before. Donations would be appreciated as always and remember that Supporters have the ads turned off and get 5x the storage space of basic members. You can donate at this link if you so desire - $10 minimum per year will grant you Supporter level access. Please let me know if anything else seems off or not working correctly...I have not seen anything but things like this usually end up breaking something or other. Fly safe! Craig
    23 points
  16. My grandson soloed a few weeks ago in our Citabria making him a fourth generation pilot. I told him he had to learn in the Citabria, but he will have access to the Mooney for his instrument rating when the time comes. He got his drivers license two days after turning 16 and soled the next week. He also has discovered girls. He will find all three pursuits expensive! lee
    23 points
  17. A suggestion like that would put my wife in a Pilatus with her next husband.
    23 points
  18. Just a quick report that I got my Acclaim Ultra back from annual yesterday from the Factory Service Center. My observations: The work was outstanding and reasonably priced. They kept me informed along the way. They found things that other shops had missed. They test flew the aircraft when they finished. I flew a 1400 mile trip yesterday with no squawks. Kerrville is a nice town. Mooney is very much in business.
    23 points
  19. It's been a while. Back in the 70's as an Oakland cop, I'd drive down Earhart Rd. (that runs by the "old airport"), shining my spotlight on the ramp, looking at the parked planes. Mooneys just looked fast sitting there. I knew little about them, but did know I could never afford one. That changed 20 years later, some ten years after I founded Morgan Alarm Co., when in 1991 when I had my company loan me half the purchase price for 58065, an '87 201. At the time, this seemed the culmination of a lifelong fascination with flying, an unimaginable dream come true. As Mooney owners, we are so fortunate. At one point I owned 3 power planes and 2 self-launch gliders, but now age and (fortunately just minor) health issues have prompted the sale of all but my Husky A1-B bush plane. Many here probably won't remember me, as I was far more active on the forum back 20 to 30 years ago . . . still, I thought it appropriate to say goodbye and thank you to all for everything you've taught me and all the help that was given, hopefully I returned the favor some back in the day. Clear skies, unless you fly gliders too - than add some puffy cumulus to circle under. All the best, bumper
    23 points
  20. Hello to all my friends at MooneySpace! I haven’t been here for a while since I sold my Acclaim in 2018. I sold my RV a couple years later and haven’t flown since. I just wanted to give you all a shout out from Mexico. My wife and I are retired and we moved here about two years ago. We split our time between Puerto Vallarta and San Miguel de Allende. I really miss flying Mooneys. Did so for 25 great years, as the proud owner of an Encore and then an Acclaim. I hope all of you who are still flying are keeping the flame alive and enjoying these incredible aircraft. I’d be curious to know if any of you have ever flown your Mooney to Puerto Vallarta? I flew my Acclaim to Cabo several times, but never to anywhere on the mainland. I get a tiny taste of aviation every day because the skydiving concession in Puerto Vallarta is right next door to my condo. They land about 40 single and tandem jumpers on the beach in front of me every day. Pretty neat. Fly safe, my friends, and enjoy your Mooneys! Saludos, Joe Zuffoletto, aka José de México :)
    22 points
  21. I have not been doing much flight instruction work over the past few years, but I have noticed a couple common occurrences recently, both on flights and on various social media posts (Facebook, in particular). It seems a pilot will complain about the airplane not settling down, yet their approach speed is correct (such as 70 KIAS for an M20J). Here are the things that come to mind when I hear this: Observation 1 - Idle RPM set too high. I was flying with a client and he couldn't get the plane to settle. I said "let me demonstrate one". So I take it around the pattern and have the same problem he had. We taxied off the runway...I think his idle RPM was 800-900. It's quite possible you may know exactly what to do and, all things considered, be using correct pilot technique. But in reality, a high idle RPM could be forcing bad results, or worse, forcing you to use to bad pilot technique to get a desired result. Observation 2 - Not closing the throttle all the way. This one is often recognizable to me by sound. A pilot sets up a very good final approach attitude, airspeed, glidepath, etc. Everything is great...until the end But in the flare, the pilot hasn't completely closed the throttle control. The pilot may not be able to experience a full flare unless he spends an exceptional amount of time floating down the runway trying to bleed off airspeed. "Ballooning" is often the end result leading to either a go around or wasted runway as corrections are made. Note on your next flight - Check your engine idle RPM after the engine is fully warmed up. You may find your idle speed is too high and spoiling your otherwise great flying technique. - Make it a point to feel the throttle control reach its "closed" limit before you touch down. Happy Saturday! Insurance is fine and all, but it's nice to talk about flying.
    22 points
  22. Years ago I was flying home and while planning my flight realized there was a 70knt tailwind at 25k, directly on my tail. Pretty hard to pass up in a plane capable.. I was alone, had the nice blue silicone mask with a microphone, so I filed for 25k and off I went. I was cruising along and I looked down in my lap and saw this little black disk. At the time the plane I was flying was an ultra with the precise flight conservers, and I thought the disk looked like the adjustment dial on the outside of the unit. After a few seconds of fiddling with it, I realized I was trying to put it back together, but it wasn’t apart…. By the grace of god I realized that what I was doing made no sense whatsoever and I engaged the vertical descent for 1400fpm and still to this day do not recall the next two or three minutes. What I do recall is being level at 8,000 ft with atc calling me asking intentions. I hit replay on the g1000 and listened to me responding to them and taking instruction. I did not sound like myself, but I was responding. I do not remember any of this… After my wits were about me again I looked down and realized my arm had gotten wrapped around the o2 hose going to my mask and had inadvertently pulled the grommet out of the front of my mask at 25,000ft. The disk was the grommet, and if one was completely cogent, would never had mistaken it for anything else. I don’t know how long it had been pulled out, or how long it took me to notice something was wrong. The flight recorder only goes back about 2.5 minutes on a constant loop, so that’s all I could listen to. I don’t know how long the entire event lasted, but I did realize how close I came to being a bad story. There is certainly more elevated risk at those altitudes, and one must be very vigilant, aware and have some routine to check yourself very regularly. I personally stay 19k or below if I am alone, and will only go to 25k with someone else and if we pick up enough time to really make a difference. This isn’t my recommendation or suggestion, it’s merely a personal minimum in my Mooney, or any non pressurized airplane. Things can deteriorate much quicker than you would like to believe… Last thought on this story… I was embarrassed by this. I felt foolish, like my arrogance and confidence led me to a bad choice that could have killed me. I finally opened up and told the story to a pilot friend of mine and he told me I should share, because perhaps someone could benefit from hearing my mistake. I sure hope it does, because I still feel foolish.
    22 points
  23. I have flown quite a few Angel Flights in the last couple of years. I do it for the same reasons I fly - I really enjoy it - and Angel Flight is a way to help others. But someone told mom and today I feel like the kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, vaguely embarrassed. A few weeks ago I was informed that I need to make my way to Angel Flight Central’s gala on Nov. 18 in Kansas City, there to receive AFC’s 2022 Pilot of the Year Award. Then today I was surprised to receive a call from the CEO of the National Aeronautics Association. At a ceremony that will likely be held at Oshkosh next year, I am to receive the NAAs Distinguished Volunteer Pilot Award. It’s a good thing I was not flying when I got either piece of news, I probably would have put it in the ground. My aircraft, as many of you know, is nothing special. A 231 with an engine now well over TBO, oil leakage from the rocker covers has reached the incurable stage, we are waiting for a new Conti to show up. It is Mooney’s most manual version of a turbocharged piston. And yet I have safely carried well over a hundred patients and their companions, all shapes, types, and sizes, even found a way to cram a collapsible wheelchair, the patient, and patient’s mom into the plane (definitely within W&B), and on occasion, cargo to the weight limit of the aircraft. We need more folks. If I can do it in my lowly 231, you can do it!
    22 points
  24. Do what we all do. Take the close expensive one. Put the hangar rent on autopay, and pretend you don't remember the cost. You will be happy every time you go to the hangar.
    22 points
  25. Thanks for adding me to the group. I brought my new (to me) airplane home to KPRC yesterday, and it brought a wave of nostalgia. There are almost 55 years between these two pictures. Both airplanes are nearly identical 1962 "C" model Mooneys. The brown one was the first retractable landing-gear airplane I ever flew. It is still flying, based in Wisconsin. I had many wonderful adventures in that bronze bird when it was nearly new in the late '60s. I have about 100 hours Mooney time, twentyish in a wood-wing M20A and the rest in the M20C, none of it more recent than 40 years ago. A friend and I used to shut down the wood-wing and we could ridge-soar it, prop stopped, in the orographic lift from the Estrella mountain ridge SW of Phoenix. I bought this blue Mooney from a friend. I can tell I'm going to have a fun time with my new bird. It's old now, but so am I!
    22 points
  26. I decided to fly my 1994 M20J MSE to Sun 'n Fun this year despite the terrible winter. It's got to get better, right? Got from the Seattle area to Twin Falls for fuel on Monday the 27th and then stopped by snow showers. Made it to Shreveport LA the next day via Santa Fe for fuel (the Santa Fe terminal is still under construction and will be until Sept.). Wednesday morning the airplane started very rough with #1 cylinder not firing. Clogged injector or stuck valve? 350 hours on a factory rebuilt engine, so I guessed injector. Went to local auto parts store and got a wrench and some carb cleaner and cleaned injector. No change. No local mechanic available; apparently he only works when he needs beer money. Shreveport is only about 70 miles or so east of Longview TX so I called Don Maxwell who immediately swung into action and sent Mike to rescue me. He staked the exhaust valve in #1 which got it running and I flew it to Longview where Don and Paul and Mike performed the rope trick (they like to call it Rope-a-Dope) and reamed the valve guide. Don graciously loaned me his truck which I repaid by filling the tank. Great guys, the Maxwells. I didn't see Jan, but she is reportedly busy planning MooneyMAX. I gave up on Sun 'n Fun due to the weather forecasts and frankly I was a bit beat. Flew to Payson AZ and visited a friend that moved there form southern CA and built a great home. Then to get back home. With the weather so bad in the pacific NW and the freezing level down near the surface, the only reasonable route for a non-turbo, non-FIKI airplane was low up the coast so I stopped in San Jose CA to let the weather clear a day and then flew home. There were a few low clouds and heavy rain showers along the coast, but nothing like what I flew in in Ketchikan when I flew Beavers up there. The only glitch was that the FBO at San Jose broke a stop off the nose gear towing it. But, Mooney has the part in stock and I'm letting the insurance take care of it. About 30 hours flying to not get where I intended, but as I told my wife, if I really needed to get there I would have purchased an airline ticket. The journey is the adventure. Skip
    21 points
  27. Pictures make a lovely gift. That’s me on the left, 33 years ago. The little guy in my lap is in the next two, his kids on his lap, last month. Shameless bragging.
    21 points
  28. Today, as the proud and excited new owner (AGAIN) of N1017L, an awesome Mooney Rocket I owned for 1700 hours and 17 years, I conducted my first flights since Xmas morning 3 1/2 months ago. I did them alone, in Lago Vista TX, conducting 3 separate takeoff’s and landing’s, at an airport with incredibly unforgiving options should your engine fail at 500’ after takeoff (not that that would be on my mind ). I did fine and will be returning to the U.P. of Michigan tomorrow. An additional plus is I picked up some Lancair parts (vertical tail section) for my ongoing “new project” to be flown back with me. I will share WHY with my favorite aviation forum soon ( I know, I’ll do it soon! It’s been painful.). Sorry for not sharing more but extenuating circumstances preclude me posting more on a public forum. I definitely think I want to hook up with @mike_elliott now as committed “high quality training” CLEARLY has an effect on outcomes when handed terrible flying challenges. And Erik @aviatoreb you hold no advantage any more on 4 blade MT props on Rockets Tom
    21 points
  29. Edit 23:00 on 12/26/2021 *** The M20K Guide is completed and I have emailed out the first wave. I had hoped to get it out before Christmas, but then life happened. If you requested it but did not get it, send me an email (jimmy@gmaxamericanaircraft.com). If you haven't requested and would like one, please use the same email to make your request. Thanks!! Jimmy*** Edit 14:17 on 12/2/2021 ***The M20J Guide and Pre-201 Guides Have been sent to all that have asked for them. I hope to have the M20K Guide sometime in the next few weeks. I am getting a good response on them. Thank you for the kind words you have sent regarding the work I put in. Also, Thank All of You who made a donation to MooneySpace!! Craig said he had a rash of $25 donations come in.*** MooneySpace and I (Jimmy Garrison - GMax) have agreed to a plan for the distribution of a Mooney Value Guide and we are proud to offer multiple comprehensive Mooney Value Guide(s) to the MooneySpace (MS) community. Mooney Owners will receive the guide at no charge via email (via request to Jimmy - they won't go out automatically). Those that are not Mooney owners can buy the 27-page '2021 4th Quarter Pre-201 Value Guide' for $75, of which $25 will be donated back to MooneySpace to help keep this site open and free to all Mooney enthusiasts. The production, updating and distribution of the guide takes a fair amount of my time and the small fee for all of the information will go toward keeping the info updated and fresh. The guide will be updated for value and market changes throughout 2022. If you are planning on being a Mooney owner some day, you will find the information very informative and the cost of the guide will likely repay itself many times for you while doing your due diligence. It includes a lot of info on the different models and changes over time as well as the value of upgrades to the models. As a non-Mooney owner, when you order it, I will also include you on my upcoming inventory list. The guides will go out by email, so if you want one, please PM me your email address or email me at one of the addresses below. The initial guide is just for the Mooney Pre-201 (M20C through M20G) and is ready for dissemination at this time. Please PM or email me (email address below) and I will get you the info on how to receive the guide. Email works best for me but I will try to keep up with the PMs also. I just need to know that you are a subscriber to MS if you go directly to my email. Subsequent guides for the M20J, M20K, M20M and M20R/S will be completed by the end of 2021 and the notice will be made on this post when they are ready. I hope to have the M20J Guide out in the next week or two. Once you have received any guide, subsequent guides will be available to you for a followup contribution to MS for $25 each. MS is a great resource for the whole Mooney Community and GMax is proud to help by providing these Guides as a thanks you to the MooneySpace Community and MS Administration. By the way, if you are a Mooney owner and get the free Guide, I would encourage you to make a $25 donation to MS regardless of whether you are a regular supporter or now. As you know, we all get a great amount of Mooney info from this site. This offer is for MooneySpace members and if you are not a member have any questions for me regarding the Guide prior to joining MS, you can email jimmy @ allamericanaircraft . com for more information. Jimmy Garrison GMax American Aircraft (formerly All American Aircraft) Office 830-438-4081 Cell 210-872-1110 Also: jimmy @ GMaxamericanaircraft . com
    21 points
  30. An OP takes a moment to share a fairly excruciating if not traumatic experience with us here at the board that involves death, family and children. Then by whatever methods, the thread is allowed to devolve into a pissing contest. As a community, i find that in terribly poor taste. A thread of this kind should genuinely be about providing an ear for the OP, supporting the OP, lending a helpful hand, and hopefully not pulling out the rulers for appropriate measure. There are hundreds of other threads for that. IANAL, and what’s typed is strictly my own opinion.
    20 points
  31. The long range fuel tanks have been brought up a few times lately and I wanted to let everyone know the STC is going to continue to be available. Don Maxwell Aviation along with a partner has purchased the STC from Jose and is currently putting kits together to be available by the end of the year. Our current run of kits will be a total of 30 and if you’re interested in purchasing a kit you can contact myself at Don Maxwell Aviation or Kellen Kester at (812) 240-6223. We hope to have these available as soon as possible.
    20 points
  32. You know how they say there’s no free lunch? Well I have discovered the magic formula: 1) Own a Mooney 2) Be friends with @carusoam 3) Fly said Mooney to the last corner of the Earth: 47N Central Jersey And enjoy a personal tour of the middle of nowhere, Manville NJ, as well as a top notch cheesesteak at a local BBQ place. Talk about Mooney’s and the good old days. Yes, I met Anthony so I think that kind of makes me famous too. #NJMP Mooney Pilots Fly-In
    20 points
  33. Hi, Friends! After a year of panel, interior, powertrain, and other updates, I have finally picked my 67 (68) M20F up from the final major planned maintenance - paint. Mural artist Matt Kress, in conjunction with Ace Aircraft Refinishing in Bartow KBOW, extended his artwork to an airplane for the first time. After a brief planning discussion, all artistic control was given to Matt... and one rule - I was NOT allowed to receive any visual updates (my idea). The 'unveiling' was this weekend and I could not be happier! Allow me to introduce "Anomaly."
    19 points
  34. Hi Goalstop - my name is Kyle, a fellow M20E owner and Garmin employee. Can you possibly pass along the details directly to me please? Kyle.Ludwick@Garmin.com. We would like to help with this issue! Apologies in advance for the trouble you've gone through. Kyle
    19 points
  35. I sold my PA30 Twin Comanche last year while the market was/is good. Wasn't using it for work or pleasure and even though the PA30 is one of the most economical twins it was still expensive to fly. Two engines, twice the gas, especially after owning a Mooney prior. Even though I missed my flying fix, I just couldn't justify the prices of anything that caught my eye. I've been without a plane for about 9 months now. We all know the Mooney is the speed efficient bird so I started thinking about another Mooney, but prices are pretty tough, and I still couldn't find the right fit for my mission and budget.. An occasional scan of the usual places didn't really pan out for me.... Until This!!.... I was doing a search while drinking my morning coffee last week and what do I see pop up.. My sweet old girl.. 7741M. Couldn't believe it!! While I liked the Twin Commanche and a super solid bird I always missed 41M. Lots of great memories, nostalgic trips from TN to New England, lots of learning and upgrades over my 5 yrs of ownership. Cutting to the chase.. I couldn't resist and made an offer to buy her back. The seller and I went back and forth a few times and finally came to terms. The contracts are in transit. Looks like she is coming back home in as good of condition as I sent it her. A few more hours on her, but she's got new bladders and that's a plus. Maybe some things are just meant to be.. I'll keep you updated as it moves along!! -Tom
    19 points
  36. I purchased my '67F N9611M a few years ago and have flown the pants off of it, going from my home base of Mexico City to Airventure (2x), Victoria BC (6x), the Caribbean, lots of places all around the western US and all the way up to Yellowknife NWT via Saskatchewan. I've flown N9611M over 650 hours and that means I've spent a bit more than that inside of her. As cozy as she is, she was in need of a little help. While the seats, carpet, and lower upholstered panels were re-done by the previous owner, they left the plastics as-is, cracked in some places, ruptured screw holes in many places, and a general yellowing effect which didn't look great with the brighter upholstery. Below is a photo of the original interior: As you can see, the previous owner decided to leave the original upholstery on the arm-rests and the "vintage" plastic panels look a little dated. Frankly, had the panels been structurally sound I probably wouldn't have touched them but hours of long x-country flying had taken their toll on the arm rest seams and from time to time my elbows would get pinched from the open seams. I also had a theory, still to be tested, that the panels in their condition were letting a bit more noise into the cockpit than originally intended. With all this in mind, a couple of months ago I began the process of disassembling the interior of the aircraft in order to move all of the pieces to my workshop and begin the restoration process. This was the second time I had removed some of the interior, the first being during my pre-buy, but this interior removal was certainly more thorough and involved more electrical connections and visits to Mooneyspace to figure out how to get those darn circular vents off. The de-install went well and I found an airframe still with zero corrosion and only mildly decaying foam fiberglass insulation and foam, generally in pretty good shape for an old bird! Once at my workshop, I surveyed the damage and found that there were three intact panels in total, all window frames, and the rest had some form of cracks, punctures, or other deformations with the worst offenders being the footwell side plastics, the ceiling panel, the door, and the pilots side lower panel. In my research, I had found that there were two main schools of thought when repairing and re-beautifying the panels. One, was to follow the Aero-Comfort system of reinforcing the panels and then covering with a fabric or leather. I had spoken to Hector a couple of times and was impressed with their product and found him to be knowledgeable and helpful, however I really enjoy my 1000lb+ useful load and wanted to add as little weight to the aircraft as possible. While super-lightweight coverings do exist, and would have solved another problem with the window joins (which I'll get to later), the weight consideration, getting FAA approved products into Mexico, and cost all played a factor in deciding to restore the panels via option two. Option two, which I went with, was to fix the panels from behind, and then paint. The trick would be to figure out how to fix them so that they wouldn't break again, at least not for a long time, and then how to paint them in both a color and sheen which fit with the existing upholstery scheme. First thing to figure out was what material we were working with. According to the manufacturer, Spartech, it's ABS plastic. Yes, there are some special mixes and flame retardant elements in there but it's ABS. The next thing to figure out was the best way to repair ABS plastic. After exhausting the interior plastics threads here on Mooneyspace which all offered different options for plastics reinforcement including glue, fiberglass, and tape(!) solutions, I turned elsewhere for inspiration and found it in a lovely video from an Australian gentleman. It seems that the best way to reinforce ABS plastic is with ABS plastic! Being in Mexico City, it can be difficult to acquire the right, certified materials for any job and while they do exist, proper caution is wise. Case in point, after visiting a construction market to purchase ABS welding rods, I tested the rods and found that they were smoking considerably on a piece of test material. When I returned to the market to ask the vendor about the product he'd sold me, he confessed it wasn't pure ABS and instead had a PVC mix at somewhere around 15% which was causing the smoking and would have resulted in an inferior repair. I had read somewhere that Lego blocks are manufactured out of 100% pure ABS plastic, and so went off on a hunt to dig up some white Legos. Luckily, Mexico City has a lot of Lego and just around the corner from my house was a Lego seller with several 40 gallon drums filled with used Legos, sorted by color. Scoop! After bringing back the legos and verifying with a test piece, I started to weld the panels back together. Some photos below showing the extent of the welding pre-sanding. Below you'll see a before and after sanding of a hole repair. And a couple of shots of the footwell panels which were quite damaged from years and years of use. Special note: these panels were especially de-formed and I was able to straighten them using a heat-gun on the low setting before then welding them. I'm not sure how to post my own videos here but I have some nice ones of shaking the panels and flexing them to try to break them again and they're flexible and strong as can be expected. The only time I managed to re-break one was when I flexed it on a non-sanded weld. Maybe it was the thicker plastic section hitting the thinner section at an angle? With all of the panels welded and sanded, it was now time for paint. I chose an oyster white to soften the appearance of the interior and went to work. In the first picture, you can see the difference in color between the yellowed original panel, the original color seen where the strap covers had blocked UV exposure, and one coat of the new color. And below is all of the panels laid out for painting, with the floor panels in the bottom left playing around with colors. After rattle-can coats of paint on each panel, they were ready for install, and yesterday I went out to the plane to begin assembly. I'm re-doing the headliner but have been itching to fly so thought I'd put together the plane to see how things look before final assembly. And once again, the before picture for reference. Installed, the panels look very good. There are a couple of paint imperfections, mostly in deep corners, and I think a better paint product (or maybe more skill on the part of me, the painter) would have solved this issue. That's where I've gotten for now, next up is: headliner and ceiling panel install de-install of the panels to upholster the arm rests with the same material as the seats install of freshly painted passenger headphone jack covers (more on that next time) sourcing and install of those thin window joining strips I'm looking for help with adhesives recommendations for both foam to aluminum and foam to vinyl, as well as if anyone knows where to find those little strips which go between the windows?
    18 points
  37. First thing: This is NOT a paid endorsement. I am compelled to write this post based on my personal experience as a first time Mooney Buyer/Owner and want to share that with other potential buyers. Second: The Back Story. I started flying late in life, in my early 50's, and have fallen in love with it. My first purchase was a Cessna 172G that was rotting on our field in the same tie-down spot it had occupied for over a decade. We finally convinced the old codger to let it go, so it could see blue skies again. After a lot of money and time, it was in great shape again and I flew it 300 hours in just over 2 years. I loved that plane, but when it was time to upgrade I was faced with the BIG Question...what next? I watched a lot of videos and took all kinds of advice from dozens of people. Ultimately, it came down to a Cessna 182RG or a Mooney. For me, I preferred the Mooney, but was cautioned by a number of hardline Cessna boys about the slippery Mooney and small interior space. I had never flown in a Mooney and desperately wanted to try one on. Looking at Controller weekly I noticed a lot of Mooney's for sale listed at one location in Texas. I thought, why travel around the country to see one plane here and one plane there, when I can go to San Antonio and see several models at once. No intention to purchase yet, just wanted to see a few up close and maybe get a ride in one. Late last year, I contacted the broker/seller, Jimmy Garrison and made arrangements to stop by while visiting San Antonio with my Girlfriend. He said to stop by anytime and take a look. Very casual and not pushy at all. When I arrived, I looked around the hangar and told him I was interested in a J model. He had several and offered to take me for a ride. Exactly what I was hoping for! Located at a tiny little airport north of San Antonio, Kestrel had a short strip with a steep elevation differential from end to end. I thought, If you can land a Mooney here, you can land it most other places. He let me take to yoke and I was amazed by the tight controls. The difference between rods and cables was obvious and I was further convinced. The next phase was impressive. Without feeling pushed at all, he asked me about my mission. Not in those words, but that was the question. I told him I was based in Florida and wanted something to get me up and down the east coast relatively fast, to visit my girlfriend in Washington D.C. That's when he introduced me to the 231. The J model was a great plane but he said I might want to consider the K model. The turbo has a reputation for being expensive, but he said if you treat it right, keep it cool and let it cool down properly, it will give me years of service. He had a 231 that was a trade in. It was beautiful! Relatively new paint job, brand new leather interior, onboard oxygen, good avionics and lots of extras... the previous owner obviously loved this plane too. Only problem was it had recently been converted to a glass panel and that scared the S#!* out of me. We are talking a big jump from my 172 on at least 3 different levels. Going from Steam Gauges to Dual Aspen's with an Avidyne GPS was overwhelming. I even asked if we could put some steam gauges back in it for backup and he looked at me strange and said Why? Jimmy said I would learn to love it and he even agreed to install a G5 for me as a backup. I left that day, still thinking I wanted a J model, because it was in my price range and the 231 about 30K more than I wanted to spend. After a long road trip to Guadalupe Peak and back, my girlfriend and I discussed the pros/cons. The 231 was a lot more money, but also a lot more plane. I called Jimmy and said we had decided on the 231 and we discussed a few final details before signing a contract. I didn't ask him to discount his asking price, rather I asked him to take care of a few things I intended to do anyway, like replace the nav lights with strobes. He was very accommodating and easy to talk to. He helped us arrange financing, since we were going above our budget. We agreed to split the annual/per-buy and he took care of the resulting squawk list. No more money out of pocket. I appreciated not getting in the weeds. A true benefit of paying asking price, especially when it's fair market. He arranged a CFI to do my type ratings and 10 hours for the insurance company. I flew to SAT and after 3 days at 1T7, I was ready to take her home, solo. Unfortunately, on the way to DC I lost the #5 cylinder they had replaced at the annual and landed safely at CHA (a Huge benefit of the EDM-900 but that's another post). I called Jimmy when I landed and told him what happened, he said not to worry and he would take care of it. I grabbed a commercial flight home, disappointed, but glad I didn't nuke the whole engine. J&J made good on the cylinder and I eventually I made it home to Florida. Since that time I have flown over 200 hours in my Mooney. Several trips to KVKX in Maryland (inside the Freeze!) and even my first trip to Oshkosh last summer. I love the plane and just finished the first Annual since my purchase. During the first few months of ownership, I had a few issues that popped up and suffice to say, Jimmy Garrison made it right. He treated me fairly and was always willing to communicate. I never felt like he was "done" with me and had moved on to the next sale. So many brokers I hear about only care about you until you sign on the line, then they don't remember your name. I always trusted Jimmy to do the right thing, even though he could've said it's your plane now, not my problem, good luck! The point is, he didn't. He stayed in contact and followed through on his promise and that's hard to find these days, so if you are ever in the market for a Mooney, I encourage you to give Jimmy Garrison a call. I know I will the next time I'm ready to upgrade. Chris N231JY
    18 points
  38. Here's an idea; limit your legs to 2½ hours. Never had a bathroom issue with that. New airports, new experiences. Quick stops, get out and stretch your legs. You're refreshed for the next leg.
    18 points
  39. We just completed "Phase 2" of a 3-Phase modernization of our 1965 M20E. The first phase was redoing the panel last year which included a JPI 930 install, CIES senders, all new circuit breakers, new Garmin GMA 345, new Garmin GTX 225, IRANing the 430W, new engine controls, all new switches, a new, powdercoated and laser-cut 1-piece panel, new headset plugs, new antennas and digital coax, and a few other odds and ends. Phase 2 is the interior, and we chose to go with AeroComfort due to their stellar Mooney reputation and first-hand experience with one of their planes and oh man am I glad we did. As most here know, Hector is absolutely fantastic to work with, and the whole project was on-time and on-budget. We did a full interior with them and dropped the plane off at SAT to let them do the install. Along the way, we installed Alpha Aviation inertia reel seatbelts, replaced all the insulation & soundproofing with new, and had a custom leather wrap done on the yokes Hector recreated from a picture. I'll let the pictures do the talking... PICTURES BEFORE / AFTER COMPARISON
    18 points
  40. My wife and I had a great time at Air Venture. After having the plane painted I decided to have it judged this time around and we came away with the Lindy Award for Outstanding Mooney in the Contemporary (1956-1970) Category! More pics over on the (newly redesigned )blog. https://intothesky.com/2023/07/30/oshkosh-2023-in-the-books-with-an-award/
    18 points
  41. Just wanted to throw up some pictures of my 65’ E interior job. I’ve been working on this on the side while I was doing my panel upgrade in 22’. I ordered SCS carpet in brown and Airtex upholstery in biscuit (ordered at Oshkosh, delivered in Dec). Seatbelts were down by Aviation Safety Products in GA who did an awesome job and about one week turnaround. My wife did the vinyl work using our Sailrite sewing machine including the boot around the controls (post 65’s got that plastic cover), wind lacing around all openings, and the armrests. My aircraft did not have the headrest built into the seat structure, so I fabricated them out of a square tube, 1/2” diameter aluminum tubing , then riveted it all together. All of this was way more work than anticipated, but that’s airplane sh#t for ya…..
    18 points
  42. I don't know what to tell you Walt. Sorry you are having those bad experiences. Not all shops are out to rip you off. I have worked in aircraft maintenance for over 35 years mostly on the airline side as a Chief Inspector/Director of Quality Assurance. Now I run a part 145 repair station maintaining a fleet of flight school aircraft as well as doing outside customer work. I try to run our shop the same way we ran the airline maintenance department. We have a great budget and no reason ever to cut corners for any reason. The outside work is really just filler and to keep things interesting for my maintenance personnel but we approach maintenance on those aircraft the same way. We don't need the outside customer work to keep the lights on or make payroll so I try to be very reasonable (actually more reasonable than I should) on everything. We don't up charge parts or charge extra fees for anything. What has really been an eye opener for me are the aircraft owners. Someone has an expensive nice aircraft, pays thousands of dollars in hangar rent and insurance every year (I know this because I have my own aircraft), wants their aircraft fixed NOW, and then gripes about every little thing on their invoice. Meanwhile they are buying things like a $3200 EIS system on a carbureted O-360 so they can save gas because they went to Oshkosh and the salesman told them they would save 10%. And don't tell a customer a flight control bracket that you found cracked and broken during an annual inspection costs $400 (Used. Again my cost, no up charge). You would think the whole world was going to explode... Even after you show it to them I get asked, "Well isn't there a cheaper alternative"? One would think they would be pleased it was found before it let go in flight. You bought a 50 year old aircraft for goodness sakes for over $100k and you pay over $7 for gas for it! You want to it ready to fly every minute of every day. Did you really think it was going to be inexpensive to maintain it? Do you really want the maintenance on your single engine aircraft to be "cheap".
    18 points
  43. While Frank's intentions may be good I would be way more upset with the person selling him these items who had already found out from Avidyne that they were on the list. I would spend my time working to get my money back rather than wasting time trying to destroy Avidyne. The title of this post is completely inappropriate. There is no secret. Their response to his inquiry let him know that they needed his serial number. As soon as he gave it to them they told him it was on the list. Checking with them before the purchase would have eliminated all of this. He may not like the policy but it's not their fault he bought the units. Aviation Consumer back in 2016 quoted Avidyne’s Tom Harper on this policy - there is no secret. They aren’t trying to hide anything. Avidyne has also clearly spelled out what type of accident they are talking about (49 CFR 830.2 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/830.2) Frank said earlier on Beechtalk that if you had a flat tire and then cut yourself getting out of the airplane your avionics are now worthless. Total exaggeration - absolutely not true. First google response when I did a search : http://www.aeapilotsguide.net/pdf/09-10 ... ionics.pdf Frank buys and sells salvage airplanes and has done so for decades. Whose fault would it be if after selling a rebuilt airplane where the buyer insists on not doing a pre-buy and then afterwards the buyer finds some un-airworthy items? It would be the buyer's fault unless there was deception involved, then Frank may bear some of the blame, but It certainly wouldn't be Cessna's or Piper's or Mooney's fault. In this case Avidyne didn't sell him anything bad, in fact they didn’t sell him anything - the Seller did. Making it Avidyne's fault removes all responsibility from Frank and the deceptive Seller. Avidyne didn't get a dime on this sale nor did they get the equipment. But they get hassled for a policy that they've had for years and feel is in their best interests. It's also in writing in their original warranty which is between them and the original purchaser. If he thinks it's worth his while go after the seller or never do business with him again, focus his energies on that. Had this been avionics just removed for an upgrade it would not have been an issue. Had he checked with them ahead of time to see what their policy was it wouldn't have been an issue. Playing the blame game doesn't get you anything except a whiny reputation. We’ll see who takes the high road here. Does Avidyne go on all of the online forums and tell everyone not to buy Franks previously wrecked airplanes or does Frank go on all of the forums bad-mouthing Avidyne for a policy they’ve had in place for years?
    18 points
  44. Has anyone else noticed that it isn't possible to fly a few hours with the second radio tuned to 121.5 without being bombarded with unnecessary distractions like "let's go brandon", "meow", a lecture on radio etiquette, and an argument about politics. If you are one of those imbeciles that indulges in this childish humor, seriously shut the hell up! It could be you some day trying to get an emergency call out or hoping your ELT is picked up when it turns out pilots are muting 121.5 because they are tired of these distractions. I had to mute my 121.5 monitoring radio for a lot of my last flight because it has been an endless distraction. Stuck mic on guard for half an hour, an airline captain describing the weather at the destination and seat belt policy, a request for coffee and car rental, a discussion of the pros/cons of the president, and several pissing contests with the usual meows, let's go brandon's, and reprimands. Seriously, it got old before it even started. If you wanna screw around, do it somewhere else. Leave the emergency frequency for emergencies. Not to mention missed ATC calls on com1 because of being stepped on by 121.5 interference. Also think about the negative impact on our passengers hearing this kind of stuff coming from our radios. Doesn't exhibit the level of thoughtfulness and professionalism we want to exhibit to make them feel safer. It's bad enough that we have to deal with laser interference from the ground, but the last thing we need is this coming from other pilots!
    18 points
  45. Decided time to start building a compound and preparing for the revolution....... The only picture that shows my property is Afton3, the rest are just views. This is located in Afton Wyoming, KAFO, which is about 2 hours south of Jackson Hole. Now for the fun times of house design, approvals and contractors. Expect a lot more questions on hangar design, etc. in the near future.
    18 points
  46. Well it appears you can teach an old dog, new tricks. At 72 I just got my commercial (yesterday) in my J. Not going to do anything with it (unless that position at Uzbekistan Air, opens up), but I wanted to keep my brain housing group sparking. This isn’t about me though; I just wanted to thank all who posted commercial info on the forum. As you know the info out there is geared to Piper and Cessna. With your help I got entry speeds, power settings, etc., geared to a Mooney. We all know this is a great resource for all things Mooney, thanks again for the help.
    18 points
  47. In my information consumption of the Richard Mcspadden fatal accident, I came across this excerpt. I heard it, in his own words, in the last two minutes of the most recent AOPA Hangar Talk Podcast, dedicated to his memory. It was striking enough that I felt it useful to transcribe his words into text here. Please excuse the grammatical exceptions, used to enunciate his words. Well said indeed. "Gratitude, consumes me when I fly my Super Cub. This bright yellow magic carpet that takes me to wondrous places- physically and mentally. Morning flights are especially magical. The air is smooth. The Super Cub rigged so well, that it's akin to having an autopilot. I can take my hand off the stick to sip some home roasted coffee. Or adjust the satellite music flowing through my headset. I feel some warmth from the paltry cabin heat which knocks the chill off my legs in sporadic waves. I'm viewing an imax movie out my front windscreen but I'm not just watching the action- I'm in it. Immersed in this spectacular panorama. The smells and sounds are real, and I'm so grateful to capture it. well aware that it's transient; both in a moment, and in a lifetime. Flying has brought so much to my life. In many ways, has been my life. The feeling of gratitude to the many people who boosted me here comes back frequently. In ways, it seems unfair that I was exposed to aviation and given opportunities few have. And I feel a growing urge to give back. Cast a wider net. And expose more people to this splendid experience that can change the trajectory of a life. Flying inspires, and fosters connection- in a community. And we could use more of that now." -Col. Richard "Spad" McSpadden
    17 points
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