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Given how much I suspect it cost, I would have thought you'd installed it deliberately

Mechanics who are not type experts and retired airline pilots are, in my experience, a very poor source of objective guidance. Their experience is limited in both breadth and depth, and their opinions lie somewhere between the received wisdom of old wive’s tales and untutored prejudice. You did come to the right place to learn about Mooney operations from Mooney operators. My $0.02 follows, and it is based on 4000 Mooney hours, 1200 Acclaim hours, and 0 Bravo hours PIC. Both are good engines. The O/H cost is similar. You may or may not have to top the Continental or the Lycoming. A top overhaul is neither life-changing money nor horrific downtime (CMI cylinders are available. Dunno about Lyc.) CapEx lower for Bravo. Bravo isn’t (generally) locked in to G1000. Acclaim is. Doesn’t bother me at all, but opinions differ. Climb, Cruise, Range are better for Acclaim, which runs very well LOP If you can afford an Acclaim, get the Acclaim. Now, about your proposed mission…. This is not a realistic, reliable, or economic plan. I’m based in Chicago or the Florida panhandle. I will take the acclaim pretty much anywhere east of the Rockies, but beyond that, I’ll probably be on the germ tube. There was a member here who had a new Acclaim that he ran back and forth between Miami and Puerto Rico. The plane could do it, but it was a drag, so he went turbine. That is maybe one third of the distance and one tenth of the hassle of what you’re proposing. In a previous life, I was a coffee trader and spent a great deal of time in South America on crop tours, though none of it was in Columbia as that place was a bit spicy for North Americans in the mid 90’s. But having flown over a lot of it, I have zero desire to fly a piston single down there. Maybe where you’re going is more arid than what I was in, but even so, airports can be few and far between for someone with 90% experience east of the Mississippi. @Oscar Avalle can probably elaborate more on the nature of flying in South America. It is a big, diverse place. But if I had to do what you’re proposing, I’d base a Baron in Columbia and suck it up on the germ tube for the long leg. -dan

I “echo” that as well. Many of the forums or posts wander off topic, they also devolve into petty arguments or attacks at times. However, with very few exceptions, there is almost always more value than vitriol. I think you have to take the good with the bad. I’ve been on a few other forums from time to time and have found them to either be a great lack of interaction, or much much worse than anything I see here. The Aerostar forums are really dead comparatively, likely just a function of the number of planes flying, but it’s all business with those guys, no chit chat at all. I enjoy almost all of the personalities here, even a few I’ve tangled with. I try not to harbor grudges at all in life, and I definitely hold zero on an Internet forum. It’s way too easy for all parties(myself included) to read into comments and take things from them, that were never meant. I may get agitated in the moment but 10min later I’m over it. I’ve loved all my mooney’s and can’t wait until I get the next one, and everyone here, regardless of their posts love them as well, and I’ll take that camaraderie any day.

I got a thermometer for my hangar. That was a mistake….

I just fly earlier, higher or sweatier, no magic

I tried to find it, but somewhere on faasafety.gov or somewhere else, Scott Fohrman of the FAA Chicago Air Certification branch has given several webinars on VARMA. He's one of the guys that helped create it, and I think the more recent presentations may be better, but I couldn't find an archive copy. If you are an EAA member they have a copy of the webinar from August of last year here: https://www.eaa.org/videos/vintage-aircraft If you get the webinar/seminar notices from faasafety.gov, keep an eye out for any potential upcoming events on the subject and you can get the latest. VARMA is Vintage Aircraft Replacement and Modification Article. It doesn't leverage any new regulations, all of the previous regs and ACs for vintage aircraft parts substitution apply, but the VARMA program established a process by which you could formally apply for a "VARMA letter" from the FAA which documents the approval of a part for the installation on an individual aircraft. That FAA document then serves as the "approval" for that part to be on the aircraft so that it can be shown to maintenance personnel and inspectors. It is not outside of any normal process, no new regulations or permissions are necessary, the only purpose of the letter is to provide a formal documentation that the part is compliant with existing regs and can be installed on the aircraft. A number of examples were given in the event that I attended, including installing a starter solenoid from NAPA on a C150, stuff like that. Note that a VARMA letter is not required to install any part, it only serves as formal documentation of approval of the installation if the owner desires it so that future IAs won't make them take it out. It was amusing to me to hear them describe this as an IA education program, and that if ultimately successful the program would put itself out of business once IAs stopped removing allowed parts.

The only two times I have had an annual and not de-cowled prior to flying off was my first and the last annual. After flying home, post first annual, I smelled a heavy oil smell when I landed. I removed the upper cowling and found a pile of rags under my oil filter. Every annual until the last one with Brian Kendrick I have de-cowled, started, runup, shutdown and reinspect. I have found a few minor things but nothing shocking. After the last annual I went through with Brian K. I did not bother because he test flew the plane three times prior to my pickup and his work is impeccable. I have also been fortunate enough to have great service with only a few surprises with all of my annuals except for one in Ft Lauderdale at KFXE, by a criminal enterprise, which most of you know but I will not name publicly. I will likely assist with all of my annuals from this point on, so hopefully the post annual inspection will be much simpler.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Primary "learners" had some exercise to show how that worked. Maybe we should create some practice maneuver where they went and, I don't know, maybe kept turning around one point on the earth?

When my strobe quit working it was the power supply that had gone out and the price of a new one was damn near the price of an LED strobe and since the left quit after 35 years I’m sure the right was not far behind so got LED for the right side too and that boys and girls is what scope creep is all about. At least i got 5lbs of useful load back those power supplies are bricks of gold by the price of them!!!

I find some of them useful, some of them not. When there is no information about a well understood accident (such as an inadvertent gear-up) other than a bunch of personal information about the pilot and cries of "These A-holes are making my insurance rates go up!" I find those posts distasteful. If we just want statistics, we should publish statistics. There is no real value to be gained by posting the personal details of the accident pilot unless there is something new or exceptional or something that is useful in terms of changing behaviors in a way that will increase safety. If there is something we can actually gain from an accident, let's discuss it. But the pilot's name is hardly ever something we can gain from.

I, for one, really do like to know what's going on with the global (or mainly US) Mooney fleet and what is happening with other pilots and owners. I very much appreciate all the effort @1980Mooney puts into laying out the information available and sharing with us what happened. Even if the discussion doesn't go further than some observations from MS members that have visited the field or know the pilot/owner, it's really helpful for me to be reminded that these things happen pretty regularly and to not get complacent in my own flying.

The Shaw caps are excellent if they are maintained. One issue I see for you is that in the future if you need to maintain/replace/repair those fuel caps, who has the parts? One small business? Shaw fuel caps are everything. They are not only on Mooney aircraft but found on Bonanzas, Barons, baby Beech aircraft (Sierra, Skipper, Sundowner, etc.), Aerostars, Kingairs, Citations... I have seen them on drop tanks for F-16s. I can get parts for them readily if needed.

Honestly, in retrospect, I should have diverted sooner. By the time I asked for a higher altitude, I would have been out of it before reaching the top. Probably not my finest example of ADM.

I've had the opposite problem this year. Rain and TS basically every day. If I'm not available for the maybe two nice hours in a three week span, then I don't fly for weeks on end. Last year was so nice! I've flown less than half of the hours I'd flown by this time last year. It's so frustrating that I'm also wondering if maybe I should just do something else. It's almost impossible to stay current with these weather conditions. But I really do love to fly and can't imagine life on the ground. Maybe next year will be nice again.

I had folded up my canopy cover before leaving and it was a little damp with dew so I took it out at home and laid it out to dry...There were crickets! jeez!

Yeah, here ya go: "The diameter of an O2 molecule is 292 picometers, and that of N2 is 300 picometers" And, as I always tell the 'only nitrogen in my tires' crowd,...well, AIR is already nearly 80% nitrogen!

I think the horse died on page one of this topic. If not for sure by page two and I definitely didn’t see any movement by page three, for sure no breathing by page four, no pulse by page five, flies and rotting smell by page six. Only bones now on page seven.

You likely have an induction leak somewhere... Troubleshoot that first. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk

If the readings suddenly increased something has changed. There is a lot more airflow around the exhaust system when the cowl flaps are open. The safest thing would be to assume it's a leak in the exhaust somewhere until proven otherwise.

I certainly wouldn’t delete the forum. I don’t comment much because so many of you fellas are more learned and astute on the various subjects than am I, but I learn and am often refreshed on things I know but have not thought about in a while. Even the whiners provide a bit of entertainment until they don’t. Then I just stop reading their posts. Most of you that contribute provide some good food for thought and I am grateful for your insights. I don’t think we want to throw out the baby with the bath water.

I was flying back from Hillsboro OR a few years ago. I had planned a fuel stop in Carson City NV. The TAFs said clear skies. When I got there all the airports in the area were below IFR minimums because of smoke. So I continued south, there were a few more airports along the way. as I approached them they too went below IFR minimums. I was finally able to land at Bishop CA. I only had 4 gallons of fuel on board when I landed. Not good.

The tubes normally fail from transferring too much metal from the electrodes to the inside surface of the tube. The tubes turn black. Yours are not black.

Does anyone know how many of these incidents occur at towered vs non? I ask because I was on approach a few days ago, and tower informed me that my gear was not down. I knew this of course because they vectored me all over prior and then instructed a short approach, but I am not able to put my gear down while in a bank and had to bleed off speed as well. However, it was a pleasant surprise to be reminded by the people watching me land. I do realize towers may not have the ability to watch every single plane landing, and my intention is not to make it their responsibility, but training controllers to look seems to be a pretty easy way to help reduce these incidents.

Still that’s not bad in Seattle. I found a local welding place that has been taking care of me. $25 hydrostatic test and $25 fills. They don’t do “aviator breathing oxygen” all the time so I have to leave it for ~2 weeks.

Thanks - I consider myself a careful planner and quite conservative. This was my first foray into something this big. In retrospect, I also think I was suffering a small dose of get there itis combined with concern about the howling winds throughout Las Vegas on my arrival (which didn't happen due to the diversion). I've been told by another pilot that flew the area that the smoke tops were at 22k. and I would have had to make a multi hour detour to fly around it. I probably should have just kept the plane at Hawthorne and hopped on a Southwest to get home. Come back a couple days later and pick up the O. Luckily, nothing other than a dry throat and a dirty plane to serve as a reminder (although my buddy will fly me back to IFP on Saturday to pick up the plane). The outcome could definitely have been worse.

Just posting an update to my original post. I received the new tire and tube on Monday. Mechanic took care of it on Tuesday. There was a tiny pinhole in the tube. Not sure where the hole came from. The tube did not appear to have been pinched.

Time for an update. Got it all back together and weighed it - got 1778 lbs empty weight. It's pretty much ready to fly minus some paperwork. My I/A friend is working on paperwork and in the meanwhile I'm continuing to fix little cosmetic things. Most recent was the cowl. Lower cowl is in pretty good shape, but the top half had a crack up front near the spinner and lots of little cracks on the top surface. Seems this is a pretty common problem: Here's what the top looked like. Everywhere there were cracks, I sanded down the paint to glass. I scarfed out that darkened area and put a single layer of glass on top. Later on I sanded everywhere down to the gray primer - sorry forgot to take pics of that. Someone had glued a curved piece of aluminum tubing around the lip of the spinner. Obviously wasn't doing the job: So I ground all of that out and got down to clean glass, then put a couple layers of glass behind it. Once that was set, I scarfed out the front of the crack and layed multiple layers of glass in there as well. Each time I do glass, I paint on epoxy, then the glass and get it wetted out, then peel ply, then paper towel and finally some method of holding things tightly together. Usually clear packing tape but sometimes have to get a little creative. So that took care of the lip around the spinner. There were also spots around the air inlets that were delaminated and worn through: So using similar techniques, I cleaned it up down to clean glass and then built up layers of new glass. Didn't get a very good pic but this will give you an idea. Later on I scarfed in glass on the outside as well to make that lip square. Then I took care of the cracks along the top of the cowl. The glass wasn't really broken through but kind of flexible, with the epoxy kind of broken loose from the glass fibers. There were some old patches done over top of the stiffener channels but they had way too much resin in the glass and it was real stiff and breaking loose. I ground all that off carefully and got down to clean factory glass, then started laying new glass on top. I did one layer just over each stiffener, then two layers over the whole area: That pic only shows the start but anyway, after getting all the glass wetted out I used a simple vacuum bag setup to squeeze it all together. I wrote about the process in more detail here: But it worked very well, highly recommend this if you do a fiberglass repair to the cowl. I can't think of any other way to hold this much area tightly against the surface while squeezing out excess epoxy. I ended up with a very thin, light and stiff patch that is similar to the factory glass. Here is the finished result (disregard the painting overspray): I know two layers (3 over the stiffeners) doesn't sound like a ton but as far as I could tell, the original cowl is only 3 or 4 layers total so I figured a 50% increase in thickness is significant. I'll let you know how it holds up After that I sprayed the whole thing with primer to fill in the weave on the new glass. Sanded and got that all smooth, then paint: Now it's the nicest looking part of the plane I used Lumabase primer (sandable) and Limco single stage urethane paint. "single stage" meaning you don't need to put a clear coat on it - just mix with a hardener, thin and spray. I have used this on other aircraft projects (including the wheel wells on this mooney) and been impressed with how well it's held up over time. It's also easy to spray and get nice results (no orange peel). I get it from a local automotive paint store.

Here’s what mine looked like post repair and paint.

Good Day Mooney Owners, This is Ruth Griggs. Griggs Aircraft owner of the Mooney Bladders STC for C, D, E, F, G and J models. We currently have a set of 8 bladders in stock 64 usable gallon. P/N B800 Models C, D, E, or G If interested please contact me asap, they will not be here long. Thank you Ruthie Griggs 570-836-5757

Here are some helpful links toward maintaining your Shaw 431 fuel caps. First, I supply the full fluorosilicone fuel cap kit. It includes the big o-ring, little o-ring, and cotter pin to outfit one Shaw 431 (or 531) fuel cap. Second, the Marsh washer kits are worth it. They stop the metal on metal wear of the plunger handle on the metal washer that is in the fuel cap. These caps are over $2500 new from Textron last time I checked and you can't get new parts for them. They also make it much easier to open and close the fuel cap because they have a self lubricating property as the material wears into the plunger handle. Third, attached is a nice article from the American Bonanza Society magazine about taking care of the fuel caps. James ABS May 2017 Article.pdf

I've learned that the rabbit hole is really deep.

If it is below 100º, fly. 100º-110º, only if I have to. Above 110º I really don't want to go.

If you are going all Garmin, a lot of the goodness of the G500TXi is not used. The G3X is cheaper. I used the savings to put a 7" G3X on the right side.

I recently did some fiberglass repairs to my top cowl. I added several layers of fiberglass cloth to strengthen the area around the "bump" on top the cowl which always cracks. Mine had a lot of cracks and the fiberglass was "flexible" aka broken in spots. I went with fiberglass for 2 reasons; 1 I had it on hand, and 2 I figure the rest of the cowl is fiberglass and has held up for nearly 50 years, so why reinvent the wheel. They just made it a little bit too thin on top, which a couple extra layers will fix. I have done fiberglass repairs before and my experience is over a large area with curves (like a cowl) it's hard to get the cloth to both lay flat AND get all the excess epoxy out. (can usually do one or the other but not both). As others have said, more is not better when it comes to the amount of epoxy in the fabric. So for those reasons I chose to buy the stuff to vacuum bag it - it was not expensive but I had some of the stuff on hand. I'll give you a quick list in case you want to do the same: Vacuum pump & AC gauge/manifold. I had this already from doing car AC systems but you can buy for a couple hundred or rent from autozone for free. These don't pump a lot of volume but I was able to get a roughly 24" x 20" area sealed up enough to pull plenty of vacuum. If you did a much larger area it might be harder to seal all that and you'd need a bigger capacity pump. 1/4" air hose and adapter to go from 1/4 NPT to 1/4 flare to adapt to gauge manifold, you can get these at local HW store. I got the hose from harbor freight. Vacuum film: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pnpages/01-14805.php Vacuum port: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/cm/vacuumbagging_valves/vbvacvalve2.php Breather material: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/vb3450breather.php Release film (peel ply): https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/vb5201breather.php Sealant tape: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/tape01-01602.php BTW the sealant tape is key, I doubt another type of tape would work so if you skimp on anything, don't skimp on that. Or the peel ply. I used the other half of the AC gauge manifold to bleed vacuum off as needed to pull about 15" of vacuum. I paint on the epoxy (I used aeropoxy), lay on a layer of cloth, get it all wetted out, then paint more epoxy, next layer of cloth, etc. Then the peel ply. Then the breather material. Then put the sealant tape down around the area (clean a strip with alcohol right before putting down the tape) and put the inside half of the vacuum port somewhere you have a flat spot. Finally the plastic film, push it down tightly all around onto the sealant, hook up the port and then start pulling vacuum. As it tightens up you'll hear any leaks and I was able to seal them up by just squeezing the tape down more. It's thick and rubbery and tries to "suck" into the cracks sealing leaks as the vacuum pulls down. Anyway, I was very happy with the results. It looks as good as the factory glass. Definitely worth the extra effort.

That is what is driving me nuts is this shop doesn't seem capable of basic troubleshooting. If someone told me their computer won't turn on and they just vacuumed around the power cables I wouldn't start by replacing their CPU I'd go check the power cables/power strip/ etc...

Lifelong hearing aid wearer here... I'll second/third the custom earplugs recommendation, but make sure they are of a soft material. You do not want the lucite/acrylic ones - those end up being painful under extended wearing. @Schllc It sounds like you might be able to use some programmable hearing aids for flying. The idea being you'd get just a little bit of boost in the voice regions and the selective frequency programming along with the passive reduction in the ear plugs, would help with the background noise. Use those with a decent ANR headset and you'll feel like you are on the ground, idling. That's essentially what I'm doing and it works very well.

OMG!! I forgot to add any pictures!

The previous drawing, i.e., the one to the left of your thumb off the pic, shows the device installed without that jumper wire. Your installation doesn't have that, so the black wires are sufficient. Re-using that nice, white terminal cover might be nice, though.

Oh and I was once informed by a (female) coworker that it needs to be named Trudy because it is "just the right amount of slutty." I'm not too sentimental about these sorts of things, but even I have to admit that the name has stuck. She's always gotten me back down when we go up, Trudy!

The gear warn CB has nothing to do with the actuator. It is all in the lights and horn, and I think the primary side of the contactors. I suspect you have a short somewhere in a NO circuit in the limit switch. Should be able to find it with an ohm meter.

Big thanks to @Deb for showing me the way! I never realized how much these birds love LOP. I do a lot of X-Country (2 trips Vegas to Texas in the last 3 weeks alone) and after offering me advice and pointing me to to Pelican’s Perch I think I’ve got it! 20 LOP of thereabouts generally gets me 172-174KTAS at between 11.4- 12 GPH. WOT, 2550RPM. Climb is WOT and lean to keep at 1250 EGT all the way to altitude. Love to hear from others what you get LOP.

Thanks, so far we found an induction leak and that the adjustment blocks were way out, it has gotten significantly better, looking at mags next, going to a surefly on left side...

Look for avionics shops with small hangars and can’t have planes sitting around. ;-)

But, but....nitrogen particles are larger and therefore less prone to leak out!

thanks Shadracik will contact him. have one jerry

I'm quickly realizing that I'm just a caretaker or steward vice owner. My plan is to fly her until it's time to hang up the headset and then pass it on again.

That’s what the Highway Patrol said to me when he pulled me over last week…..”it seems red color on cars make them go faster”.

Ignore everyone else. Painting things red makes them faster. Even @201er all but admitted it!!

As Walter Cronkite used to say (if any of you are old enough to remember him:-) - "And that's the way it is"