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Just thought I'd use this thread to share updates on a cross country flight I'm taking in the Mooney for the next ten days with my wife. Hope to share any useful information and just share the adventure. Follow along if you'd like or don't :). The ultimate destination is up in the air, initially it was going to be Mt + Rushmore + Yellowstone from Niagara Falls, NY, but with the weather patterns being what they are, I kinda tossed the plan due to Yellowstone being a mix of snow and rain for the next week. Day 1: 5/16 evening KIAG > I48 (fuel stop for cheaper CB fuel) > KOSU (Columbus, Ohio) [approx 2hr 30min, some headwind] The flight started off with a bit of an issue with an electrical smell that came and went. My strobes weren't working properly on landing (only have about 5% intensity). I talked to maintenance at KOSU when I landed and they think it might be the strobe box. Luckily, I had scheduled an oil change at KOSU (since I plan to fly for about 30-40 hours on this adventure) so they were at least expecting me for something. The bonus is they put me in a hangar and some nasty thunderstorms came through a few hours after landing. They switched out my Whelen power box (they somehow had one in stock) and my strobes were back up working for the next day and leg of flight and no strange electrical smells, so I think I smelled my strobe power box hitting the fan. Day 2: 5/17 In Columbus, OH - I had a fun day and ate lunch at Brassica (very delicious spot for fast casual food) and spent the evening at the Sonic Temple Music Festival celebrating my birthday and seeing System of a Down live for the first time. Saw Avatar perform too and they were very good live. The festival was lots of fun and my wife experienced mosh pits breaking out around her for the first time. I'm glad she put up with it :D. Day 3: 5/18 KOSU > KVLA (CB fuel stop) > KCPS (St Louis) [approx 3hr 15m due to 30+kt headwinds) Cruised over VFR at 10,500 to KVLA since I didn't want to deal with rerouting and let my wife learn to fly a bit in cruise (she did great with holding heading and learning turns on the way). Lots of buildups and a large wall of t-storms in front, but they should pass quite nicely through the night and leave some nice stable air in their path. KVLA was a nice small airport with avgas at $4.10 and a stocked fridge with a little pilot-accessible door. It was very quaint with rocking chairs up front and had a courtesy car parked, probably with keys somewhere--but since it was a quick fuel stop, we didn't bother looking for them. I had my wife pretend she was helping fuel the plane as a photo op (hint: she actually wasn't). KCPS seemed nice when we landed. They waive the ramp fee with 15 gallons of expensive avgas (but they were kind to make an exception and waive ours with a top off and we took about 10). Overnight parking is $15 and they charge a $7.50 security fee on top of it. They had a rental car on the field which we rented for the day. We did a little flyby of the city before we landed (our first time in St Louis): We got to St. Louis fairly late, but had an awesome day, which we started by eating a well deserved lunch+dinner at Pappy's Smokehouse (full slab of ribs with added brisket + two sides pictured): After our dinner, we spent about 3 hours playing at the City Museum, which we thought to be one of the most unique places we've ever ventured in. If you've never been, imagine a maze that you can climb through, slide through and even crawl into old airplane cockpits that are housed on the 8th floor. It brought us back to feeling like we were children (in a good playful sort of way) and we both enjoyed our time there. We capped off the night with an ice cream cone at Jeni's in St. Louis. Tomorrow, we think we will fly from KCPS>KHOT to check out the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas for a few hours before continuing on to Austin, TX (maybe the same day). We've been to a few cities in TX before, but never Austin so we are excited to check it out. Recommendations are welcome! The rest of the days we don't really have a solid plan and truly are winging this adventure, I do know it would be neat to fly the Mooney to Catalina Island on the west coast so ultimately hoping to make it that far west. Any suggestions, comments, etc. are welcome! If any Mooniacs want to meet up along the way, we are totally open to it!

Lobstah run! Belfast Maine, with my oldest son - brought the folding bikes and had a great time. Brought home lobsters and blueberry soda. There's one shot where the sky is looking like the scene from Dr Seuss' Lorax when he went away. And also you see there is still snow in the mtns and apparently skiing near Mt Washington?! NH. And for those who like Ben Stiller and his new tv show - there's Danemora prison - which is close enough to where we live here that we were told to lock our doors during that prison break.

There's no reason not to fully modernize the avionics on a C model, assuming one wants to keep it a while and use it as a serious traveling machine. I redid my panel completely upon buying my C almost 5 years ago, and I will make a couple more upgrades this year. After substantial upgrades, the fixed costs remain essentially the same, and it is the still the cheapest Mooney to operate and far cheaper than other certified aircraft of equal capability. Like the rest of the Mooneys, the Cs are very capable IFR platforms at their core and thus realize the full benefit of modern avionics. And some of the upgrades make the routine operational costs cheaper (e.g. taking out the vac).

You probably missed the big announcement (because there wasn't any) about the recent change to your FIS-B (ADS-B) radar depiction. Read more about this in my avwxtraining blog here.

Got to take a trip to bring the kids to visit their 94 year old great grandmother and her 3 x 90+ year old great aunties (who all live in the same senior apartment complex together). We were gonna go to DC for a couple of days, but my oldest daughter really wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, so we headed north, flew the Hudson corridor, and made a trip to NY instead.

1) Free is good 2) Oktoberfest beer is not free 3) Mooney Summit beer = free 4) Mooney Summit is good

A little encouragement for those of us who irrationally hope that manufacturing the M20 still has a place in the modern world https://airfactsjournal.com/2019/05/visiting-the-mooney-family/

I don’t have a C model, but I’m a fan of oxygen and a pulse oximeter. You’re basically giving yourself more options - topping clouds, higher cruising altitude (smoother air and more tailwinds) and depending on your physiology, it may have a huge effect on your fatigue. I personally think pilots underestimate the effect of prolonged mild hypoxia on their performance. If it’s a new plane, you’re probably going to be a lot “fresher” after cruising for 3 hours on oxygen than without. Most accidents are caused by pilot error, so oxygen is a cheap way to reduce your chance of making errors. I see hypoxic people almost every day. I have yet to meet someone who performs better with an SpO2 < 88%. But that’s just my opinion. I’m sure others will have their own.

After looking at a long running thread about cooling and fuel flow and seeing so much confusion on the economizer, I thought this thread on how the carb actually works might be of interest- http://www.insightavionics.com/pdf files/MA-4 Carb Manual.pdf This above is the best description of how the carb works from what I can find. If you'll go to page 1-3 paragraphs d an e you will read how the "economizer" actually works and how extra fuel is drawn into the engine at WOT and how the FF is reduced when the throttle is pulled back slightly. Suffice it to say that there is an air bleed in line with the fuel path to the discharge nozzle. Bleeding air into that path "leans" the mixture. How much is governed by how big the "air bleed jet" is. (NOT a field changeable jet nor legal to change because of carb model designation). Basic carb theory- the more air through the venturi- the more fuel is pushed through the main metering jet into the engine because the "pressure" in the throat of the carb with airflow is lower than the pressure of ambient air on the fuel in the float bowl. WOT means highest fuel flow. Now, a higher FF is needed to not only produce the rated HP of the engine but also the cool the cylinders at high power down low where 100% HP is achievable. This "extra" fuel flow is figured into the APPROVED carb design through the economizer system and air bleed jet size. Now, when the extra fuel flow is not needed and the throttle is pulled back for cruise the economizer air bleed is opened (it was held closed by a pin at WOT) and air is bled into the fuel stream going to the discharge nozzle thereby leaning the mixture by a predetermined amount (WITH A FULL RICH SETTING ON THE MIXTURE CONTROL). Once altitude is reached where manual leaning with the mixture control can be accomplished (less than 75% HP) then, the mixture is leaned (by the manual mixture control) further down the path to the main discharge nozzle and the economizer is no longer in the picture because the FF is now lower than the leaning provided by the economizer. This is why you can leave the throttle wide open for climb and cruise and still lean the mixture manually. It all flows through the same fuel channel. You don't need to pull the throttle back AND manually lean the mixture. The economizer only works, to lower FF with throttle position, when the manual mixture is full rich. Pulling the throttle back AFTER manually leaning the FF has NO effect on the FF to the engine as the FF is already below that predetermined FF that the economizer was set for. Hope this helps

Don't have much experience in any long bodies but I remember during an annual a fellow that was also getting some work done on his long body I think it was an M came over to visit and commented how he used to have a C and how much more fun it was to fly than his Bravo. He said the M was better suited to his mission but his C was just a fun airplane to fly. I concur our little Mooney is fun and if you don't need back seat room the size is really more like your in a vintage sports car like an early 911

I've had my '65 C model for nearly 9 years. It was fairly heavily modified prior to my ownership. A physician in Atlanta had it modded with 201 upgrades at Mooney Mart in '98. Last year, I realized that I'm probably keeping this plane until I can't climb up on a wing, so I bit the bullet and started updating the panel. Still a work in progress, but it suits my mission well. Plan on going vacuumless in the near future, just waiting on the Aspen MAX upgrade to be available. It's arguably one of the faster C models with a TAS in the 152-157 knots range. The downside is it's probably one of the lowest useful loads in the fleet. After the bladder install, I'm sitting at 550lbs of people and bags with full fuel.

That's awesome and please do call if you're ever visiting Buffalo, NY or Niagara Falls, NY which is where I am based. Always happy to help out with whatever. Today was a long day of flying. Day 4 5/19: KCPS (St Louis) > KHOT (Hot Springs, Arkansas) (2.55hrs) - Pretty turbulent flight with lots of headwinds. Although, given the weather coming, esp with the 55knot winds over the Rockies, I guess we probably shouldn't even call the bumpiness we experienced turbulence. We started at 4,000 and 40 minutes in couldn't take much more of it and went up to 6,000 to trade comfort for headwinds. Fairly smooth at 6 and a nice flight over. KHOT was a nice little airport with a crew car and it's only 10 minutes to the National Park from the field. We took the crew car into town and walked around the bathhouse museum part of the National Park. After the museum, we walked over to touch the hot springs on display and had a quick lunch at the brewery inside the National Park (apparently the only brewery inside a National Park). They brew their beers + root beer with the water from the hot springs, which was pretty cool. I don't drink, so I didn't try the beer, but the root beer was tasty and the sandwich and salad were both good. We were able to accomplish this all in 2 hours and then run back to the airport to fly our next leg: KHOT > KEDC (Austin, TX) (2.75hrs): Landed right as the sun set. Didn't have reservations for anything. Oops. Decided to try Turo for the first time (it's like Airbnb for cars) and found a Porsche Boxster for about $80 for a day. Decided to give it a try. Never driven a Porsche before. The logistics were a little messy. Took the crewcar to the guys house (about a 15 minute drive from the airport) to pick up the car and wife then drove the crew car back. Get to drive a cool car though so it's worth it. It's fast and sits low just like the Mooney. Wife even commented that it feels similar to a Mooney. We got to our hotel (we booked all of our lodging on credit card points for this trip. when that runs out, we will start airbnbing/couchsurfing/hosteling/staying with friends) pretty late and neither of us really felt too up for experiencing Austin music nightlife after a full day of traveling. Just taking it easy to catch up on a few things in A/C comfort (it's hot!). We will adventure around Austin a bit tomorrow. Not sure yet what the plan will be moving forward. Looks like weather might be challenging with some of the lows and fronts. Not sure if continuing on to cross the rockies will make the most sense given some of the time constraints and need to be back by Memorial Day, but will dig deeper into some of the systems and think about what may work. (lot of hot sun beating down on the flight to Texas at 4,500ft)

Who is the independent lab? There name isn't Theranos, is it?

https://sensorcon-sensing-products-by-molex.myshopify.com/products/portable-carbon-monoxide-detector-meter

How much transition training are you planning and what's your aviation background ? Do you have a Mooney specific and knowledgable CFI lined up or just some guy that says he is an expert since he sat in a Mooney once ? Things I think about in cruise . . . mostly just one. How is this son of a bitch planning to kill me today and where can I put it on the ground quickly if I need to. But that's just me

Give yourself four days and be very pleased if you arrive in three. With no IFR capability, and a new to me plane ( I wouldn’t be flying it at night x-country), give yourself as much time as possible. You might even enjoy the trip a whole lot more. Congrats on the new plane!

I spent a few minutes looking at the current PMA8000BT Pilot Guide and we completely missed that opportunity. I have gone in and made corrections, made it Rev 11, and I think you'll see it is considerably better than before. Always looking for ways in making things better, so we will look at how we describe the special functions and hope to have a different approach in the future. But for now, at least our graphics align with the text ... http://www.ps-engineering.com/docs/PMA8000BT_NUI_PG.pdf Thanks again Mark

Thanks for the very clever "cheat sheet". I have forwarded this on to our manual publisher/editor. Would you mind if we adopted your work in future publications? I have asked him to review the current PMA8000BT manual (there have been some changes since 2014) to find these incorrectly embedded buttons and place them in the correct paragraphs. If you have specifics, I know he would very much appreciate your help. Please feel free to call me anytime, I'm at 865-988-9800. While engineering is what we do best, we try really hard to put out quality documents but it's not as easy as one would think. Sincerely, Mark

every time I see something in the store for sale without a price I assume it's free.

It wasn't beyond my skill set. The freezing level was 8000. the MEAs were 7700 and 3 737s reported moderate ice and moderate turbulence at 8000 within 10 miles of the airport. There was no way to get out of the valley VFR and the forecasts just kept getting worse as the day went on. That being said, I'm not being paid to fly IFR in bumpy icy clouds....

No matter how this turns out you SO did the right thing. I'd ratherobe driving to pick up the airplane than flying in wx beyond my comfort or skill set.

So, the photos are of my 1963 C model. We have owned the airplane for over 12 years. Instead of paying for a wedding, my wife and I bought the airplane, flew it out to Santa Fe from Texas and eloped in Taos, New Mexico. Photos are of the original paint, new paint, original panel and new panel. Well, the photos got out of order but you get the gist.

Great flying with you all today, here is a short bit of video https://youtu.be/-8fBWeaqyKg

1964c

A blast from the past. My favorite M20Charlie. RIP

One of the quickest ways to locate a misplaced item is to replace it, the missing one will surface shorty after

It’s sensitive to the Engine an plane. That Propeller on a J has a Different Low pitch, but the same High pitch(I have no clue why, no engineering blood in me). What I have learned over the years with the Low pitch of a propeller, it’s a very Critical angle to setup properly. We will say your 200hp engine at 2700rpms +14.0 degrees is all that engine will twist. Meaning it slowly gains RPM above 2700rpm on the roll. That’s what you want, cause it’s basically a seamless transition to the Governor taking full control of the Propeller. No surging as the Gov senses the upcoming Overspeed an smoothly adjusts blade angle to hold RPM. NOW!!! Same Prop/Blade, Same 200HP But with +13.0 of Low pitch, or even +13.5 of Low pitch, when the power is advanced the propeller will meet an exceed the 2700rpm causing the Governor to get “surprised” with rapidly building RPM, so it sends a large amount of oil to the prop cylinder which it most cases pulls the propeller down 50 or so RPMs, then the Governor will release causing the surging you hear on takeoff of sometimes. On to the High Pitch. Anthony is sorta on the right track(till he derails..lol). The High is configured around where the plane is going to Operate Altitude wise, an the Vne of the aircraft in a power on decent. In Most cases in optimal conditions most CS piston Propellers will hit the high pitch stop in a nose down attitude power on 10-15knts from the Vne, at that point the propeller will “ go fixed pitch” an the Governor is no longer capable of controlling RPM, an you will see a rise that is only controllable with aircraft pitch. Take Bryan’s build sheet for his C221 McCauley, it’s shows +38.0 of High Pitch so At 15k Ft he’s cruising somewhere in the area of +25 to +30 degrees @ 65% 70% power. The other 8 degrees is for when the nose gets pushed over with that power setting an ATC asks for “No-delay thru 10K” an you dial in 1000--1200fpm so you have a buffer of blade angle to utilize to keep off the high stop. Now to the M20S an it’s Original Prop an Blade angle. The McCauley “toothpick” 2 blade that graced the nose of the S an some of the R’s was an engineering disaster. Trying to Derate the engine via RPM an hooking a small Propeller to it , you have to turn up the Low Pitch in order to even get it to move. Once it got off the grd an in cruise on step it was fast as hell. It could pull a more aggressive blade angle while corkscrewing through the air. But the HP increase an 3 blade turned them into a well rounded machine.

I haven't landed with the landing light for about 30 years. My old F would burn out the landing light on landing, so I started turning it off before I touched down, and it never burned out again. I guess it has something to do with jarring the hot filament. Anyway, I did it so much that I found it very weird to land with the landing light on. The tower sometimes freaked out when I turned it off, but I would tell them it was OK. I just used it to taxiing. Some airports don't have taxiway lights and it can be hard to taxi without a light. My breaker would blow after about 5 minuets and it was getting very annoying, so I went out and bought a Whelen light. I leave it on all the time now and it never blows the breaker! It makes a great taxi light! I still turn it off on final. I will learn to land with a landing light one of these days.

Me and my butt simple A model have no idea what this subject "'tis about."

Hello My name is Daniel and I just joined this forum today after some quering on Tapatalk. I am a low time pilot with fewer than 200 hours. I attached pics of my plane, her name is Ms. Thang. Long story. One aspect of the aviation community that sets itself apart from others is the feeling of brotherhood. Many people I've met since becoming an airman have been helpful, friendly, genuine.. It's hard to describe how gleeful I am being a member of the community. Anyway, I'm out of Sacramento, CA and my plane is hangared at KSAC. My initial training started at a flight school there and, later, at O61 Cameron Park after I had a chance meeting with an independent CFI. I hired him instantly. Cameron Park was a great place to learn. There was nothing simple about the environment with surrounding hills and constant variable wind conditions. Had my checkride up in Chico, CA and it was a glorious day getting the congratulatory handshake. For the near future, I'm looking at various adsb solutions for 2020 and looking forward to the AOPA fly-in at Livermore KLVK. Anyone going? That's all for now. D Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

Continuing to improve the airplane by installing a new main relay and finished up replacing all the original battery cables with copper. Replaced a bunch of old vacuum system lines, filters, etc. Also replaced all the rod ends back on the rudder which eliminated any slop/play there. The flight controls are near perfect and the plane holds trim very well. Next up, the Power flow exhaust, which should be here late July/early August. After that, assuming TruTrak comes through, remove all the PC components, replace the turn coordinator with electric AI, and install the TruTrak so I will finally have an autopilot having flown nearly 1700 hours (1600+ cross country) in vintage Mooney airplanes. Next year, I intend to replace the DG with the AeroVonics unit(acts as standby AI as well) assuming it gets certified by then. I’ll then only have a single vacuum powered instrument, the primary AI. This should give us a nice vintage IFR airplane with plenty of redundancy for all the cross country flying we do. This weekend we will fly to KS for the Memorial Day weekend and put our 190th flight hour on the airplane. Not too shabby since we purchased it last September 28th. All gave some, but this weekend is about those who gave their all. Fly safe, God bless the USA!

It does get easier, but it never goes away, just ebbs and flows. If you buy a vintage plane from an owner that was not mechanically inclined/aware (god forbid also a CB), then you are buying from someone who doesn't know what they don't know. The quality of the mx is entirely up to an A&P that does not fly the airplane. That A&P is in a tough position. You're here, you're getting good advice and you're learning more about what keeps these planes safe and in the sky. I think that all of the challenges you've faced will make you a much more savvy operator in the long run. When I became partners in my aircraft it took one annual to make it airworthy, but years to find all of the minor things that needed to be corrected to make it the fine flying (it's not a looker but it flies beautifully) plane that it is today. It still has minor squawks (non airworthiness issues) but they are known and there is a plan to address them. You are thoroughly trouble shooting issues that probably would have gone unnoticed by pilots a few decades ago. This process will make you way more perceptive of the operational condition of this plane and any that you fly in the future. This will make you a better pilot/operator.

Regarding the question whether you should have O2 with you, I would say yes. Long flights like this, even with the best of avionics and autopilots can be tiring. The use of O2 above 8,000 or 9,000 feet will help hold off fatigue and will help with night vision. Go onto e-bay and buy a used 2 person system. Get it checked and filled. The cost will be negligible compared to the costs of the rest of the trip, you will feel better after longer legs, and if you want to go higher to avoid weather or rocks you will be able to. John Breda

Welcome. Having a wooden wing means you can hang out here. There are a few M20A owners on here that have a wooden wing also...

Here's an update from a couple of years after fixing the broken wire in the magneto secondary coil and switching to Tempest fine wire spark plugs. I have had zero starting problems since doing those things. Hot starts, cold starts, warm starts. It's all great now.

Mooney's up through the J's have trim assist bungees that bias the elevator as the tailplane angle changes with the trim. That's why the yokes move. On airplanes with trim tabs, the proper takeoff trim setting generally results in the trim tab being aligned with the elevator. On the J (and I would think this would apply to the C, D, E, F, but I haven't verified that) the proper takeoff trim setting results in the elevator being aligned with the stabilizer. It varies slightly with CG location, of course. Skip

Day 5: 5/20 Austin We stayed put in Austin for the entire day. Unfortunately, we didn't get to experience a whole heck of a lot of the city, its people or its culture--we spent some time walking around downtown in the afternoon and toured the State Capitol. Afterward, we had a very nice filling lunch at Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill. We thought we'd take a short nap after lunch, but dozed off for like 3 hours. Woke up at 8:30pm and didn't feel like going out, so just stayed in. Neither of us drink so we weren't super motivated to go check out the music scene and ultimately just spent some time recuperating. Day 6: 5/21 - Wiiindy flight! Lot of flying done today. Had a 40 knot headwind pretty much the entire way. Majority of the flight had at least moderate turbulence with some parts being moderate turbulence with a +/- 1,500ft mountain wave aspect to it. I was on an IFR flight plan, but completely VFR and asked ATC for a block altitude of 9-12,000 ft for the last leg. Departed Austin 10:30am: KEDC > 27R (Eldorado, TX) (1.75hr): Fuel/bathroom stop. Very nice little small town airport. Huge cross wind on landing, pretty much at all the 3 stops I pulled off today had a 25+ kt cross wind, but Mooney handled it well. Didn't venture into town, but the airport had a courtesy car and $3.95 per gallon avgas. Not attended when we landed around noon. 27R > KPEQ (Pecos, TX) (1.5hr): This was another little rest stop and lunch break. The flightaware description for the FBO entices you with "world famous burritos," and the best burritos ever. I'll tell you - it wasn't what we were expecting. Frozen burritos to be microwaved and you donate whatever $$ you want. Guess what though? They were AMAZING! The most incredible frozen burritos I've eaten :). A King Air came in front of me and I had a nice chat with the fellow pilot, who was a retired airline captain. Just trying to learn all I can about mountain flying before crossing into higher elevation. Even though winds were gusting to over 30, I decided to continue to destination (at my home airport I often have to contend with high winds and G30/G35, because hey it's Buffalo). I thought to be a little more cautious with the mountains around and was ready to turn back and had a few alternates in mind if need be. KPEQ > KTCS (Truth or Consequences, Mexico): 2.55hrs Oh boy. Had a block altitude of 9-12,000 and needed it for some of the flight. Very bumpy. Airspeed all over the place. All in all, the Mooney did well though. Was happy to finally land: Another 30knot cross wind landing with wind 230-250 25G32, landing runway 31. I chose it since it was the longest and the other were gravel (although in retrospect, that gravel looked fine, I just never landed the Mooney on it before so I wanted to keep what was comfortable). Touch down was fairly smooth but required tons of control input and throttle jockying on short final. So now we are here, but sort of stranded. No airport manager, crew car isn't allowed to be taken overnight...and we didn't make too many arrangements. I called one of the resorts and they thought they would send a ride, but they didn't when I called them after we arrived. About 45 minutes in, the airport manager gives us the phone number of an awesome woman who has a ride service and took us into town for like 6 bucks. We booked a fantastic Airbnb where we really got to relax. Rather than the hot springs resorts, this Airbnb also has an outside hot springs and is just very quaint and unique: Had a really nice and relaxing evening soaking in the mineral baths and enjoying the quiet town. Highly recommend checking it out. Definitely worth a trip out to KTCS!

He’s being a smart ass! His 231 has a 305HP TSIO520 with a full feathering McCauley hanging out front.

I fly behind the PMA450B now, had the PMA8000B in the Mooney and have spent a lot of time behind the GMA340's. No comparison, go PS the sound quality and squelch is great and the feature set especially on the 450B is really cool!

Be careful, Dennis Ramsey's old C with an IO360, J cowl and windscreen, Hi compression pistons and 2 blade is out there cruising around waiting for someone to race for pink slips.....

so I flew out last week to pick up the plane and the saga continues - the engine ran fine on the first flight (running it hard at low altitude for an hour) but the JPI 830 was reporting very high numbers on cylinder 3 and 4 - 1 and 2 were ok (my mechanic had previously run the plane on the ground for about 2 hours) on the second flight there was a small stumble on takeoff but a dose of boost did the job - still high temps on cylinders 3 and 4 - Now the mechanic says that these JPI probes are not the best and are quite fragile ( cylinder 3 factory gauge was showing middle of the green when the JPI was telling me 430 F, and cylinder 4 egt was stuck around 1400 constantly irrespective of power settings) So ok - I take off on a long flight across Germany(2 and half hours) - still at low altitude ~3500 feet and running the engine between 65 and 80% - I can see eventually that cylinder 3 actually breaks in I can see the temperature drop about 45F down to 370 (cylinder 1 and 2 were at 340), engine was running very smoothly though. Land and fuel - half an hour later the engine starts up no trouble and idles no issue but if I try to run it up its vibrating all over the place and anything over 1700 RPM cylinder 4 EGT and CHT disappear like the cylinder is not firing at all, so I found a hanger and thankfully being france took a high speed train home(still took several hours longer than flying though) My mechanic is gong to come out this week and look at it - good thing I am stubborn otherwise I would have given up a long time ago - once we clean these teething issues up we will have the nicest little J going. With the new governor and engine it is about 6 knots faster than the old engine - I think once we get it tuned in and running it will be a really nice ship

Have you verified that you have no intake leaks or a stuck sniffle valve. As you know the fuel servo is not field adjustable. However, it is adjustable buy a fuel service specialist during rebuild/IRAN. It may be possible to request that the fuel flow be set at the Max range of spec but I don’t for sure. As a data point, my 67F typically has EGT‘s in the mid to high 1100s at full throttle, full rich, when departing my field (701’). The servo is remarkably good at maintaining mixture the during climb. I only lean to hold takeoff mixture and then because there’s no reason to be that far ROP as power drops off. Our engine was torn down for overhaul into thousand, torn down again due to a case crack in 2010. Various intake tubes have been off at other times in the last 20 years for mx. All four injectors were replaced due to a ham fisted technician over tightening the B-nuts and cracking the injectors. EGT probe’s I have also been removed, reinstalled and/or replaced. None of those situations have had any effect on max power EGT’s, fuel distribution or how the engine runs in general. It’s post like these I think of whenever I hear somebody parrot the line that raw EGT‘s don’t matter. It is indeed true that the +/- 30-60 per cylinder means nothing. But when all of your numbers are in a place that couldn’t possibly be the desired setting, then it’s time for concern. If all of your EGT‘s are over 1400, How could you possibly be 250° ROP or better on takeoff? Normally aspirated Aero Engines of don’t generate EGT numbers in the 1600° plus range when properly timed with both plugs firing. The first thing I would do if I were you is take off and level of 1000’ AGL. Do a quick lean from full rich to peak on your leanest cylinder. That outcome will determine whether or not you have an instrument issue, an ignition issue or a fuel flow issue. If at 1000’agl (1300msl) at full rich it is not at least 250° ROP then I would stop flying the plane and have the fuel service sent out for maintenance. If you are able to get to 250° ROP (high 1500-1650° range), Then I would check the mag timing. If somebody used the wrong mark and the timing is retarded, that could explain your increased EGT’s.

This is how my C's panel looks like: Aspen PFD, 430W, Stec 55X, Shadin Fuel Computer. That is what she looks like airborne.

Since the owner previously wanted 50k which is what you offered then the broker jacked it up to 75k I'd walk on that principle alone. Then you have all these issues with the Avionics going bonkers, could be a easy fix or not. I'd walk but that's me. Depends how bad you want it and how much your willing to spend to get it all squared away.

All this oil discussion is really interesting. On another recent related thread, I noted that I have for 40 years run 4 cyl 320/360 Lycomings between 6 and 7 qts. (start at 7 and add a quart when it gets down to 6). This is based largely on the SOPs for various flight schools I've been associated with. I ran my '78 J this way -- it got around 4.5 hours/qt, but it had some oil seeps -- and I've been running the new IO-360-A3B6 in my '94 J this way. The new engine started out at about 7 hrs/qt and has been improving, though it's only got about 35 hours on it. and I've been keeping it close to home. I'm planning to see how it does on its first long trip when I go to MooneyMAX. It seems that many find a lot of oil on the belly when running more than 6 qts. I discussed this with my Lycoming field rep who has a lot of experience. Takeaways from this discussion: 1. Oil consumption depends on the installation as well as the engine. This makes sense. The breather is necessary to vent pressure and moisture from the crankcase. The venting process will naturally carry some oil oil out the breather. You can imagine that if the end of the breather is located in an area or relatively low pressure, then there will be more flow out the breather and more oil loss. 2. Older engines with excessive blow-by will vent more oil. 3. Higher oil level brings the oil closer to the breather that is located at the top rear of the engine and may result in increased oil consumption. Extended climbs do the same thing. 4. For many installations, the optimum oil level is between 5-6 qts. 5. Running much below 5 qts may result in higher oil temperature and lower pressure. I've noticed this on one occasion when the level got down to 4 qts. Based on this, after I'm pretty certain that the oil consumption has stabilized, I'll try running between 5-6 and see how that compares to running between 6-7 qts. As others have noted, I've also observed that oil consumption is greater for the same engine time if the legs are short versus longer. I think this is likely because the airplane spends more time with colder temps (more takeoffs) which causes greater clearances and more oil gets past the rings and also it spends more time in climb at higher power which also pumps more oil. Skip

Morning, I have a minute for an update and to maybe get this figured out. I remounted the panel so I have a more vertical stance in level flight. I actually like it better for visibility. I did the math and recalibrated the G5s and taxing and ground maneuvers everything seemed good. So after a very long prayer and triple checking everything I taxied to the active and went for it. The plane actually took to the sky and everything worked, sort of! I have a crossed wire on my gear indicator lights and the locked light stay on even when unlocked. I know where that issue is. BUT the G5s are showing a nose down attitude in level flight. I keep getting a pitch up indicator. My question is if I level the plane and skip the not level calibration the manual goes by and physically level the plane perfectly will the G5s after calibration show level flight? I am going bat crazy over this and it is driving me nuts. THE GREAT NEWS IS THE GYPSY IS AIRBORNE ONCE AGAIN!!

I used to dream about a 450hp turbine bolted on the front of my Mooney. (Sorry lil ol rocket TSIO520NB - if a Rolls Royce shows up, then asta la vista avgas), but now.... I dream of a Siemens electric motor generating the equivalent of 400hp bolted to the front of my mooney, with the battery technology to match - so I will need to wait 20 years. But when that Siemens is ready for my lil ol Mooney, then the Rolls Royce turbine is going to the junk pile. Asta la vista jet A.

If I ever need that last little bit of fuel that is gained by bouncing the bubbles out...I will know that my flight planning sucked and I deserve to run out.

I really appreciate all of the kind words. I’m currently exhibiting at the AOPA-Frederick Fly-In and I must say, I am humbled. It is amazing the number of pilots who come by just to say thank you. When it is me that is so appreciative for the pilots who trust us with their audio panels. We are here to help, let me know if you have any questions. Thanks Mark

Almost never. But the main exception is to verify that the alternate air door knobs is working correctly on the ground during the run-up by pulling it and seeing the Alt Air annunciator come on and then see it go out when you push the knob. (be sure to do this on a clean ramp, and never on a dirt runway). Otherwise the alternate air door is reserved for emergency procedures dealing with power loss; either full or partial power loss suspected due to manifold pressure loss. But the alternate air door will/should open automatically before you need to manually open it if there really is induction blockage (ice or snow in the inlet and any blockage in the air filter). Its not a good idea to open it prophylactically because the warmer induction air will cause a small drop of 1-2" of manifold pressure just by nature of losing the ram air effect and the warmer air. Also of course its unfiltered air bypassing the air filter. Heavy rain in itself doesn't cause an induction issue. But if you really believe it is, the long induction hose (if its the original Mooney spec'd part #) has a water drain at it lowest point to allow water to drain out before going into the planes induction system past the filter. (but beware many though have replaced their worn Mooney alternate induction tube with cheaper Scat tubing that doesn't have this drain installed in it) Alternate Static is a similar in that it should only be used when required per the POH. But its use may not be limited to icing conditions but also if moisture has gotten into the static port and make its way into static lines. This isn't limited to rain but includes washing the aircraft and not being careful to not allow water into the static port. Opening the static port in the cabin will help unstick a sticky altimeter/airspeed etc. till you can get it drained. Back on the ground, pushing the static drain alone may not release the water till someone else "gently" blows into the static port to move the water to the drain. If you do use the alternate static port in the cabin, remember there is a correction table in the POH to consult.