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there are times when it seems like alot. Then I go fly and get that little yipee on take off and it makes it worth while.

If Garmin is monitoring this thread, and they have been known to do so, they are in big trouble. Before i knew that it was illegal to change the settings on the G5 for a certified installation, I changed mine and was raked over the coals by Trek. I quickly changed mine back. These systems are significantly tested through all sort of tests, and, although it might seem to correct the problem under a certain set of circumstances, that doesn't mean it couldn't be unsafe under another untested set. Bottom line, if you value your license, your insurance, and maybe your life, I wouldn't make ANY changes to your system that is not approved under the STC.

A Mooney mate took me to retrieve Lil' Sister from annual today. Topped us both off with go-juice considerably cheaper than at our home drome. Good to have her back!

No.

I've been flying for over 22 years. Probably no where near as much as some of you I'm sure. Lately I'm thinking maybe I'm done with this. If you think about all the things required to stay in the game, it makes your mind spin. Regular maintenance, fixing crap that breaks, as well as stuff previous mechanics didn't do correctly, annuals, IFR certs, keeping proficient, keeping up on your approaches, medical stuff, insurance, keeping Nav data current as well as your electronic charts and apps. I'm sure there's more that I'm not thinking of. Ah yeah, and it's expensive! Lol Flying can be fun and challenging and that's what I've always enjoyed about it. Just doing some soul searching. Thanks for your time.

And then there was that year I got on a spark plug reduction program. Several four wheelers went away and other engine devices went away.

Sometimes, but what else are you gonna do with your time and money? It takes a lot of both, but I can’t think of what I’d do with them that would give me as much satisfaction.

Hell no! 42 years now, over 20 in my current Mooney. The accident statistics scare me away from considering experimental even though I have a uncompleted Lancair. Loss of a couple friends at no fault of the plane stole my enthusiasm for completing it, and long since I bought a more capable certified aircraft. Plus i have the credentials to do my own work and enjoy doing it - not just as much as flying for sure. But love the Mooney, and love traveling with my instrument rated wife in it!

+1 on triple checking grounds. Both for solid mechanical connection as well as clean electrical connection. It might be grounds around the electric gear system or somewhere unexpected. I'd suggest putting it up on jacks and trying it during gear swings. It might take taking the belly off and trying manually engaging the down limit switch while the gear is up or things like that in order to try isolate what is different about the gear being down.

Humm... What is different with the gear down? Electrically, not much. The only thing is the gear down and gear unsafe lights go out. Saying they have checked all the grounds, is a lot to ask of an aircraft mechanic. Most have limited electronic skills. Are the grounds grounded to the engine or the airframe? Is the engine well grounded to the airframe? What about the avionics? Are they properly grounded? Ideally a star ground to the steel tubes. Mechanically, the only thing I can think of is the nose gear puts some stress on the steel tubes near the motor mounts that may influence the engine grounding.

A lot of people will dive right in there and start throwing parts at it by changing things out but they are not autopilot experts. They usually make things worse and harder to diagnose. Talk to @Jake@BevanAviation OR @Bob Weber first. A lot can be done over the phone with the right person to steer you in the right direction.

@EricJ Great observation ... made by few! A good yaw damper can take care of the issue. An autopilot may or may not handle the maneuver as it is very subtle. A yaw damper would need to be tuned well to handle it if the motions are small. PS. It not a Waltz (1..2,3) but rather a Somba with a figure-8 motion of the hips

Mine basically says if you don't catch it while the Tubo is still spinning, take a quiet ride down below12K and try again. At altitudes above 12000 feet engine restart will take 13 seconds or longer when switching from an empty fueltank to a full fuel tank. 1. Throttle - Full Forward. 2. Low Fuel Boost Pump - On. 3. Fuel Selector - other Tank. 4. Mixture - Full Rich. 5. Magneto/Starter Switch - Check Both On. 6. If Engine Starts - Retard throttle as MP approaches 40 in. Hg. Boost Pump Off. 7. If engine does not restart - Attempt restart procedure with high boost pump on. 8. If engine does not restart - Descend below 12000 ft and repeat.

There is DEFINITELY some signal damping in some electronic instruments. I have both a primary EI FP-5L and a JPI 730 hooked up to the same Shadin fuel flow transducer, and mine spikes +/- 0.3 gph about 4-6 times a minute on the JPI, but only 1-2 times a minute on the FP-5L (it's irregular, not a fixed frequency). That means the FP-5L clearly dampens the input, and while the JPI may or may not, I suspect it does, just less so.

Try using alternate static to see if it goes away. If so, you have water or some other issue in the static system. also, try configuring the AP to run without engaging it and see if the FD is commanding the pitch up and downs. If not, it could be a servo or control lube issue. It’s also worth a call to Garmin to ensure it’s configured correctly from a software standpoint.

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

I'm not claiming that V-tails are better or worse -- it's just another way to design an airplane. Like high wing vs. low wing. Most of low speed aerodynamics was well understood by the time Harmon designed the Bonanza. I have no idea why he chose the V-tail. Maybe it was just his 'thing' at the time. Like Thorp and stabilators. Here's an interesting NACA report from 1944 that concludes that they are pretty equivalent to convention tails in most respects. One interesting conclusion is that a V-tail requires about the same wetted area as a conventional tail so the parasite drag is equivalent. Any drag reduction is likely small and derived from reduced interference drag since there are only two junctions with the fuselage rather than three. Skip 19930091901.pdf

I agree.... I have even seen them disappear in the model aircraft world... Specifically sailplanes, which are highly competitive and at the absolute cutting edge of composite and aerodynamic design. Yes you can find V tail designs, but none of them are competitive... And believe me when I tell you if they could save even a gram of drag or weight by going with a V tail they would, they are fanatical about it and it has led to 156 inch span models that have an empty weight of 26 ounces.

NO!!!!! IT WILL TIP OFF THE JACKS, IF THE GEAR ARE UP THEN PROP STRIKE. IF THE GEAR ARE DOWN PROBABLY FIRST STRIKE THE PROP AND THEN CAREEN INTO SOMETHING OR KILL SOMEBODY

this reminds me of an pitch servo fault (not the strain guage )of the position sensor provided by a small moter but wired as an rpm sensor....mid continent provided rebuilt 272 \274 servos rebuilt for about 1200..Im sur e its much higher...but last servo maintance /repair was to a roll servo...that ended up as a cold solder joint that executive autopilots did in house as a board level repair...300 bucks....I have been hearing reports of servo failures on brand new Garmins that were supposed to put and end to ap problems....so im keeping my kfc 225 for now...two servo repairs (1 occurred when i first bought the plane) in 10 years ...I have found it to be smoothest most reliable ap ive flown behind

One of the reasons I started flying again about six years ago was that the hobby/passion/pastime at the time, auto racing, was starting to decline in my realm of interest. I had noticed that I was no longer poring over technical data for setup, performance, etc., and that periodicals that I normally scanned regularly were just starting to accumulate unread. Some rule changes at about the same time made my current car no longer competitive, and I just wasn't interested in going through the whole "build another car around the current rules" exercise. I started showing up just for fun rather than to compete, and even after a couple of years of that I was continuing to lose interest. I still have the car but haven't been to an event since lockdown started. So it happens. I suspect one day it'll happen to me for aviation, too, or it'll be forced by a medical issue or some other event that perturbs the ability to continue. I'll actually prefer if I stop due to losing interest rather than having to stop for some reason while wanting to continue. I would not advise forcing oneself to continue with something if the interest really isn't there. Sometimes we hit bumps and it's just tough for a while, but sometimes it's really just worth taking the memories and moving on to something else.

It does. The documentation is not clear about what it's used for. As far as I know, it is only the disconnect tone and the "Engaging autopilot" voice annunciation when ESP activates the autopilot in LVL mode.

I know and I am really sorry for his health issues. But he has been giving false hopes to many people by telling them that "next month" they will get a kit when he should know by now that he cannot deliver on this promise. I called him every month for most of last year before giving up, and everytime he would promise a kit for "next month"

I'm good I'm in a hotel 40min away which was my destination anyway. We were headed to midway between Cincinnati and Falmouth anyway so it worked out that family was same distance from either airport. I'll be calling a few mechanics tomorrow, sort this out and go do some testing. Thanks everyone for the help, I'll try and post an update if I have time.

I have to a certain extent, i lower the RPM and the MP rises but the fuel flow decreases. Speed drops off. But what i think i need to do is get some preset MP RPM and FF combinations that all equal the same calculated HP and then see what combinations are coolest on the TIT. Theoretically if the HP is the same the speed should be too but will have to wait until i can test in the plane which is down waiting on a fuel pump overhaul.

Nada. PM me an address. Sent from my Pixel 5a using Tapatalk

I'm a big believer in sticking the tanks. I would love to have one of those placards. How much?

How old is the mag and the plugs

If its TC? I was at 3500 at the time and its a 1978 M20J

Folks, thank you for your help. Got a quick shipment from LASAR and put it on the plane last night. Cowl flaps operational again, oil back to proper quantity (other story)!

My take on the POH, is if you follow it, it’s safe, don’t and you are a test pilot, now I had that job from 1989 until 2017 or so, but I’m retired now, no more test pilot. Its real hard to justify operating an aircraft not IAW the POH to an accident investigator.

Some health issues take longer than two years to overcome… We all hope things are getting better for him with time… Best regards, -a-

Every time my insurance comes up for renewal. It's in May. Want to buy a couple of airplanes?

I don't have a K Service manual but you need to remove the first panel outboard of fuel tank Rib (just outboard of Fuel cap). SM pictures would help...

Mountain High Pulse-Demand is the only system worth looking at. The other systems cost less money up front and then you spend more money and time in the long run.

I am very happy with my Mtn High set up. Carbon fiber tank, O2D2-G2 for the front half of the house and cannulas running off the other three ports for the back half of the house. Im up high, on O2 fairly often as I like to cruise mid teens. I looked at all the company’s before I bought and I much prefer the Mtn High regulator; the demand air system is perfect.

Ever try to get voted off the Mooney island? What’s it like having to fly a Mooney, because you can’t fly your favorite plane? If the other plane is so good… your current Mooney can’t achieve forever-plane status… When other machines look so good… you don’t know how good your machine really is… Some posts are better launched on BT… PP humor only, things that come to mind after some posts… Best regards, -a-

Agree with @Hank. Turf is not a problem.

My Mooney does grass fields very well.

I used to fly regularly as a passenger on a corporate Embraer and often observed the wingtip making a slow, periodic elliptical track in the air. It was a constant occurance at cruise. I mentioned it to one of the pilots once and he called it "the Embraer waltz". I'd have thought that that could have been fully damped by the autopilot, but maybe not.

@Jonny any chance you can check on the status of MLG retract tubes (for 97 M20K Encore) on order since Jan/Feb? I've emailed with Frank Crawford and spoken with my local MSC (Arapahoe Aero) for the order and initially was told 12-14 wks but "likely much sooner than this." Feel free to DM me if you have any information. Thanks! Marc.

I will be flying to San Diego this weekend. I could stop by and put them on. Do you have tools, or would I need to bring everything?

Yes. Dan remains in Lakeport

I have an oxy meter but recently bought the new Apple Watch version 7. I know earlier versions of the watch were not good at O2 measurements but my 7 version is always 1 % up or down from my oxy meter or it gives a could not measure warning which is usually from me moving my arm around too much when it is automatically taking a measurement. If I start the reading and hold my arm still it works. Over the past couple of months every low reading would correspond to a commercial flight I took or flew my Mooney above 10k. Sitting up straight and taking deep breaths can raise my O2 by 5 to 7 % points alone. Bad posture and shallow breathing = lower O2 readings for me.

I doubt you will find much discussion as to how to land a Bonanza. But while my model 35 was great, but I wouldn’t trade my C model Mooney.

You may want to rethink that… Or think about it a little more… Many threads come alive when the next guy with same problem awakens the thread… could be a year or two later… Often a new guy with a new2him plane arrives… and awakens a thread to better understand the discussion… Very few threads ever get locked down… usually a tragedy of writing… Starting a new thread loses the history of what has been discussed prior… Best regards, -a-

Very good to hear that! Everyone is going to be a LOT happier.

Hey Chris - Just picking up on your thread now. The shop rate is $120/Hr. But as for your specific situation, if you have a mechanic you love that knows your airplane, you should definitely stick with him. Especially for an older plane like a 1967 C. On a separate note, if you did reach out to the factory and didn't hear back, please let me know. That would be a problem. Jonny

Great follow-up T_E! Let’s invite @73767 to see how you sold your plane… He was looking for some insight… Good luck finding the new dog! Go Long Body! Best regards, -a-

Man, I wish I was in the market for an airplane back in 2018…