Andy95W

The only reason that I suggested switching them out at 400-500 hours to @John Mininger is that there isn't any reason to do so right away, but if he was going to switch to the Bendix he should do so just before the 500 hour inspection came due, and save some money.

Yeah, but it annoys the people who are taxiing near you at night- just like the Cirrus guys without belly strobes.

Yeah, we get it Peter, you don't like Aspens. BTW, the GNS boxes are repairable, for now, unless you need a new display screen. If that's the case, it's a boat anchor. And as far as upgradeable to the GTN, that requires an avionics shop/Garmin dealer to rewire the radio stack and install a new tray. If you truly wanted upgradeable, you'd advocate for the Avidyne which is slide-in replaceable, by the owner, instead of shelling out big $$$ to the avionics shop. And you get a better trade-in value, as well.

Your cheapest option may be to just have your old cylinder overhauled or find a shop that will do an overhaul exchange. As for magnetos- the Slicks are good for 400-500 hours and at least a few years. My suggestion is to wait until 400 hours when you’d be looking at the 500 hour inspection coming up and swap to the Bendix then. You’ll get a reasonable trade in credit for the Slicks so the price will be close to a wash for the 500 hour inspection.

Thanks Dave.

This, and the fact that fatalities caused by drunk driving will drop to zero.

That really is a nice looking D/C model.

My M20C has about 7500 hours. Over 4000 of that was flying pipeline patrol in Illinois. Low power, low speed, low stress, low corrosion. It's in very good shape. Just like with pilots, hours aren't always the same. Quality, not quantity, are what matter.

That's exactly what I was taught 25 years ago by the really old IA that taught me. Not sure if it's true but it still sounds good to me.

That's typical/normal for the Lycoming/Hartzell combination.

Cliffy- here's all I know: -at WOT, leaned a little bit, my #1 EGT gets really high, and #4 is usually the lowest. 2 and 3 are in between. -pulling back the throttle so that the MP just barely moves (like a hair width) all the EGTs level out so my engine monitor looks like it was installed on a fuel injected engine. -if I add just a touch of carb heat, and lean a little more, I can almost get all of my EGT bars flat. No shit, like less than 20° difference from each other. With results like that, over the course of about 15 years of M20C ownership with an engine monitor, I really don't care about empirical data because I can see it with my own two eyes. And the engine smooths out, too, so I can literally feel the difference.

I imagine because you like redundancy for safety. But you're still in a single engine airplane. If you lose the AI, you'll probably still get down okay. If you lose the engine, you're dead. I suppose you pick your poison, huh?

Great products back in the day. The reason you don't hear of any being installed anymore is that LED technology has so far eclipsed HID, especially for the money and ease of installation.

I plan 10 gallons per hour because then I'm sure I won't screw up the math.

Along the same lines as Rich and Paul comments, I'm reminded of something I heard along the way: -If it's bad, go IFR. -If it's really bad, go VFR. (And, BTW, I'm not sure I would've done anything significantly different than exactly what you did.)

My wife and I noticed the same thing. What's odd is that a few years ago, when they were just restarting, they were great. Even gave us free shirts.

The bolt going through the pull bar is just a standard AN3 bolt. I'm not sure why it's so long, except it makes a handy place to attach my cable! Yes, the L washers create a little more space for the cable. The adjustment on the spring tension didn't seem to make much difference. My best explanation is that once you remove the baggage door interior panel, and start flipping the mechanism back and forth, you'll see how simple my solution was.

Of course not, Hank. I would expect us to talk about it and come up with a course of action, together, that made us both feel comfortable with the outcome.

I suppose lying to your IA is a good thing, so long as you get your way and can save a buck? This is why I do so few annual inspections per year, and then only for good friends that I know and trust. Others that ask me I invite to take their airplane, and their checkbook, to one of the big shops at the big airport 30 miles away.

I agree completely! That is why I said 4 hours ago the following: My only defensiveness is that everyone only seem to be talking about what they have to lose, and that the IA should trust them. Very few are talking about what the IA has to lose if he is dealing with an untrustworthy owner. And for me personally, I don't want to hold anybody's logbooks longer than the time I need to check the few entries I need to see. And I would much rather tell the owner what I need to check and have them look them up, not me. That way I wouldn't even need to touch the logbooks and I'd save a lot of time.

Depending on the AD, this is highly unlikely. Let's look at one that applies to your M20F: 98-24-11, Aileron Control Link weld. This is a recurring AD that can be terminated by welding gussets into the link. Most have been modified, so yours probably have been as well. I guarantee that if yours have been modified, there will be a logbook entry showing that approved, modified links have been installed and the AD now no longer applies. This is an example of an AD that is easily checked, since the modified links are readily apparent with the belly panels off, which would occur during every Annual inspection. Now let's look at one that might apply to your airplane, if you have O&N fuel bladders, AD 2004-25-04. This AD requires that foam wedges be installed under the bladders. How do I, as your inspector this year, determine that these wedges have been installed? I guarantee there will be a logbook entry if they have been, and last year's IA probably signed off your AD log. Am I supposed to trust him and blindly sign off your AD log again? HELL NO! I am going to either check inside your fuel tanks myself, or I will check your logbooks to see that there is an entry, with signature, saying that they were installed properly. In the case of those foam wedges, you can either show me the sign off in your logbook or you can pay me to look inside your fuel tanks. And no, showing me a xerox of a logbook page or a digital picture or a PDF doesn't cut it, unless I've known you for a while. Again, it comes back to trust on the part of BOTH parties.

The AD log shows the status of the ADs for the airplane. It is not the logbook entry that shows that the work was completed. If the A&P who did the inspection did not annotate it properly in the logbook I would make the assumption that he was either sloppy or lazy. Putting it in both places is the best method in order to have a record for AD compliance. Regardless, I would want to see a maintenance entry, with signature and A&P number, in ink, describing the work that was accomplished. Whatever document that was contained in must also have your aircraft registration number and the tach time. My point was about the trust between the two parties. Why is the IA expected to trust that the owner didn't falsely copy a logbook when the owner won't trust the IA with the maintenance records of the airplane? The IA stands to lose his license, business, and career by blindly trusting an unscrupulous owner.

It really comes down to trust between the two parties, doesn't it? I have two examples of ADs on vintage Mooneys that describe how I (and perhaps other IAs) might feel. -Aileron link reinforcement AD: I can look at that one myself to ensure compliance, so no problem -Control shaft cracking AD every 500 hours: I will want to see the actual logbook entry, from your actual logbook, not a XEROX or a PDF that could be from someone else's logbook, or I will feel the need to do the inspection again, myself. I would have no problem if the owner wanted to maintain possession of the logbooks in his hands and show the entries to me, but I'm going to want to see actual ink signatures, not copies. If you don't trust me to not "hold your airplane hostage", then I won't trust you to show me someone else's logbook copies.

My favorite thing to do on a BFR, as we join the traffic pattern, is to ask, "So, what are you doing for Christmas this year?" The reason is that most guys our age fly with their wives. A lot of our spouses, especially the ones that aren't regular right seat passengers, can sense the heightened state of our minds as we enter the traffic pattern, and seem to subconsciously think "oh, good, I have his attention". And then they start talking. If you tell me to shut up, I do. If you don't, I make sure to order a go around on short final. Either way, we have something to talk about after landing.