neilpilot

I'll also be flying to Boston IFR this Friday, and staying/parking for 1 week. But will land/park at Norwood KOWD and take commuter rail into the city.

Reminds me of my first Angel flight many years ago. Picked up a passenger in Arkansas on first leg of flight to Houston. Landed in Monroe LA, and she had a bit of a problem exiting. Then she removed her prosthetic right leg, handed it to the lineman who had offered to assist, and easily shimmied onto the wing. You should have see the surprise on the lineman's face! Up until that point, I had no idea that she was an amputee.

Recommend either Starnes at KAWM or Jewell at KTKX. PM me if you want more information.

Our 6-pack cluster is the one with individual gauges that can be removed. We swapped our fuel gauges with a used pair and now both tank levels work fine.

Steering link was replaced and aircraft recovered. Post repair inspection reveals a dent in steering horn, and so we will be replacing that part as well. It's obvious there was an over steering tow that occurred, likely some time ago but after our 2012 prebuy. Rust on the end of the broken link indicates this is older damage that eventually caused the link to break. I'm currently in Madrid, so my partner is handling all the leg work and this information comes to me via email.

Suffered a loose mag on my M20E years ago Observed oil on the nose gear a few hours after the annual, and then found the mag literally hanging loose. That was the only MSC annual I had done in the 23 years I owned the E, and it was done at a MSC that has a very good reputation and that I returned to for the prebuy on my current C. Moral of this story - even the best Mooney shop can screw up securing your mag.

Do not disagree with your comment, but can you cite examples where an insurance company denied coverage on an aircraft with an unapproved part, when the loss WAS NOT RELATED TO THE QUESTIONABLE PART? In other words, lets say you have a loss due to off field landing due to a fuel or engine issue, or land gear up. Even if the in surance company later becomes aware of the unapproved position lights, have there been examples where a claim was denied?

Partner turned onto taxiway this morning, heard a bang. Then pronounced shimmy and no nose gear control.

Tony, you must be using a M20F manual. My parts manual is for M20B/C/D/E. I do think it looks like the steering link, but that's on page 117-118 (number 3) in my manual. Looks like P/N 7114. Anyone else have a different idea?

Mooney is AOG at KPWK, and partner is on the way back via airlines. We need to identify the broken part so we can have one shipped to A&P. This is on a 65 M20C, S/N 3042. Probably not pertinent, but a rebuilt LASAR steering horn was installed in 2004. Looking at parts manual it's likely 5032-9 (nose gear retracting link) but all I have to go on for now is the photo.

Yes they do. I was with the NTSB inspector when they did a tear down of my M20E in 2012. See final report on N1310W.

Brian, Please suggest to your A&P make only extremely slight adjustments to the control surface, using finger pressure only and not a tool. It's very easy to make things worse if too much adjustment is made.

"After reading some of the aforementioned studies, if it's an acute enough angle of impact with enough energy to rupture the fuel tank in a Mooney it's probably acute enough to be non-survivable regardless of the post crash fire. " The subject accident was clearly survivable, with the fuel tank ruptured. So much for your statement of fact.

Logically, wouldn't you want the pilot on board before the passengers? If passengers were to pre-board, it's more likely that they could alter panel configuration or flight controls before the pilot was present.

We carry a spare vacuum pump, and so far it's worked.

Don't you drain the sump on the fuel selector during pre-flight (on the ground)? As I understand the procedure, you need to pull the drain for both right and left.

Back in 2011 a local attorney picked up his C182 after having a BRS installed. He took off with his fuel selector OFF and reportedly got to 300-400 AGL before the engine quit. He had critical injuries but survived. C182 was totaled. He used the BRS before the check cleared on his purchase. http://www.thekathrynreport.com/2011/06/developing-plane-down-in-holly-springs.html

Owned a 64M20E for 23 years, and have had my 65M20C since 2012. Both aircraft had 3-blade props (let's not get into that discussion), and the C has a few additional minor speed mods (gap seals, 201 windshield, LASAR cowling closure). I honestly can say that our C is within 3-4 kts of the E. The 180hp fuel burn is 11 GPH vs the E's 10 GPH at similar performance. The C certainly is much easier to start, especially when heat soaked. The reason I have the C; the E was totaled after an off-field landing following a fuel injection failure led to loss of power at cruise. Look at full narrative report for N1310W. I suspect that the fuel injection system in the IO360 is more complex and less prone to failure. New cylinders for the IO360 are maybe twice the price of the O360. Either way, you will have better performance in the Mooney. I certainly doubt your Cherokee will out-perform my M20C.

I've used seat belts, but only rarely if outside and weather is expected. Usually in hanger. I'd be reluctant to tie anything to Johnson bar

Hi Urs, I do agree that you want caps that seal properly, but I also find it somewhat surprising that you attribute a leaking fuel cap to the accumulation of a gallon of water. If you leave the cap completely off, that results in an opening of approximately 3.5" diameter (maybe a bit more). Not doubting your data, but it would require a 24" column of rain to pass 1 gallon through a 3.5" opening. Please check my math on this. Have your fuel tanks ever been repaired, or do you have bladders? If, for example, fuel equalization holes in the wing ribs are blocked with sealer during repair or relining, as I understand it water is not free to drain toward the wing sump and a surprising amount of water can accumulate in the wings over time. This could present a real problem irrespective of the condition of your caps.

He cancelled (sick)....rescheduled tonight's topic for May. EAA sent an email earlier today

Appreciate the lecture on Isopropyl alcohol. Before I retired last year, I used to make about 120,000 lb/year of IPA. It was a byproduct, and we burned it in our steam boiler as a supplemental fuel. But suffice it to say I understand IPA packaging and handling.

Actually, common IPA found at Walgreens, CVS, etc is 91% alcohol. For a fuel additive to prevent ice crystals in 100LL, I use iso-HEET (red bottle), which is 100% IPA.