Andy95W

Sorry, I should have tagged @bob865 in my answer- he said he had a KX-170B that just died.

Jay @jaylw314- I disagree with your conclusion that you needed to do a test flight after an engine overhaul, or, in your case, after the installation of your new propeller. I'm not saying it isn't a good idea, and I would do it myself, but it isn't required and doesn't need to be logged. --------------------- 14 CFR 91.407 continues to another subparagraph, c: (c) The aircraft does not have to be flown as required by paragraph (b) of this section if, prior to flight, ground tests, inspection, or both show conclusively that the maintenance, preventive maintenance, rebuilding, or alteration has not appreciably changed the flight characteristics or substantially affected the flight operation of the aircraft. ---------------------- So therefore simply installing an overhauled engine or propeller would not require a test flight because it would not have appreciably changed the flight characteristics or affected the flight operation. Installing a completely different propeller would be different, of course. As I said above, I would still do a test flight, I just don't see that it is required to be logged. Or was there another interpretation or reference that I missed?

I don't really like second-guessing a shop's labor estimate, but I'll throw in a couple of observations from when I was actively working in a shop. Engine air filter dirty- 15 minutes should have been part of the Annual work, and it really only takes about 5 minutes (1 minute to change, 4 minutes to clean the gunk off your hands) -BUT: I would have charged a lot more to tighten your alternator belt, like probably 30-60 minutes- so you came out ahead. Replacing fuel tank o-rings should have been 15 minutes -BUT: I would have charged a lot more for your brake caliper than .5 hour- and then I would have charged to bleed the brakes- which, if you've read some of the threads around here, can take half a day- so you came out ahead. R&R for the turn coordinator might be 1 hour- UNLESS it's connected to your PC system- in which case 2-4 hours might be reasonable. 5 hours to replace your flap line is about right, probably 3-5 hours depending on which line. If it's the supply line, then you have to remove part of the interior, which is a bitch. If it's the pressure line, then you have to bleed the system- which, if you've read any of the threads around here, is a bitch. Bottom Line- if you're happy with the shop and how you're treated, I don't think you got screwed. If the work was shoddy or they're a bunch of dicks, maybe go someplace else. BUT: if they're the shop that lets you come and help on the annual, and gives you a break on the price, PAY THE MONEY and resolve to do more helping next year, and thank your lucky stars you found a shop that lets you help.

The TKM MX-170C has been around for years (decades?) and has been TSOed the whole time, as a slide in replacement for the KX-170/175 series of radios. It isn't the new look and functions of the 155 replacement, but is digital with flip/flop frequencies. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/MX170C.php

A previous owner of my M20C had installed Airtex vinyl seats. Made my back sweat, a lot. They looked good, but getting out of the airplane with a sweaty back in January, in Michigan, convinced me to go with fabric. I just installed a new interior with premium fabric from Airtex and it's great. No sweaty back. They said the Duralife Premium was actually their best wearing fabric, so I used that. Very happy.

And this is where José is absolutely correct in his implications. For many General Aviation twin-engine pilots who do not participate in regular recurrent training, twins do have more fatal accidents than singles. Percentage-wise after an engine failure, A LOT more. But José doesn't differentiate between those pilots and professionals who go through difficult and demanding recurrent training every 6-12 months and operate in a crew environment on very capable turbine powered airplanes. He lumps them all together and comes up with the outrageous conclusion that all multi-engine operations are less safe than single engine operations. If his conclusions were correct, then why don't Airlines here in the United States operate single engine airplanes? The answer is simple- the FAA knows that José is wrong in his conclusions, and would never allow a Part 121 certificated Airline to operate an airplane with only one engine due to safety considerations.

5606 also does a great job of collecting dust and getting gummy. After breaking up the rust and dirt, I think I'd follow it with Tri-Flow or LPS-2, for that reason.

Excellent post, Byron. You don't really think you're going to change Josè's mind, do you? He's got a Wikipedia entry supporting his argument.

So that you can taxi around at night with only the belly beacon, instead of blinding everyone around you like some mook flying a Cirrus.

I got my private license in 1989/90. Nobody wore headsets. After being stationed in Korea for a year and a half, I got back to the US and started Instrument training in 1992. My instructor wouldn't fly with me until I got a headset. It's still a bit unreal to me how quickly everything changed. A big drop in headset prices, as well as portable intercoms, helped a lot.

Ross and rbridges- thanks for the information. I had a pretty good understanding of the hydraulic flaps before, but it's even better now.

Unlike most threads, this one didn’t turn out stupid. It started that way.

Don’t tell Josè that. His Mooney is safer than a C-130.

That the pistons in the master cylinders had returned to their full extended position.

You guys probably already thought of this, but did you take the cap off the reservoir to ensure the air hole wasn't blocked by some foreign matter? Also, what happens if you crack open one of the bleeder bolts? Does fluid shoot out under pressure or just dribble? You don't have to worry about introducing air into the system, gravity will pull the fluid out from the top of the system down. And are you sure the brake pedals were completely released?

Any chance you were trying to turn on the cabin heat but pulled the parking brake lever by accident?

Anthony's right, the original name for the M20M was the TLS- for Turbo Lycoming Sabre. At that time, the M20J was the MSE- Mooney Special Edition (but it was still referred to as the 201/205) And the M20K was the TSE-Turbo Special Edition (but it was still referred to as the 252) It makes you wonder: how did they come up with Sabre for TLS?

The whole point of being on flight following is that if anything bad happens, you’re already talking to the people who will help you. You’re not transmitting in the blind hoping someone will hear you. You’re not blindly squawking 7700 hoping someone will notice you. You’re not waiting for your crash and then a few hours of hoping someone will hear your ELT. You’re already in radar contact so they know where you are and you’re already on the right frequency. The whole point is that help is on the way before you crash, and you don’t have to waste valuable time or effort when you should be dealing with your emergency.

If you end up having to remove the actual landing gear truss itself, you don't really need the spring tool shown in the maintenance manual. A neat trick is to load up the spring with cheap washers that are 1" wide or so. That will hold the spring in the extended position so you can get it unhooked from the gear. Quarters (25 cent pieces) work also but you'll probably need $7-8 dollars worth.

Fred, this isn't uncommon. You'll most likely need some new bushings and hardware. Your A&P will be able to figure out exactly which ones. LASAR is probably the best place to get the parts. There is a guy there, Dan, who's been doing it for a LONG time. He probably knows the part numbers by heart. LASAR makes their own PMA'ed bushings that are harder than the originals. Also, just in case any of your trusses or fixtures are worn, they have PMA'ed oversized bushings. Also, if you have enough forward/aft slop in the links, a thin AN960 L washer of the appropriate size can help as a shim, where needed.

Your G5 is a little obvious from the side, but how is it to fly behind? Is it even noticeable that it isn't flush mounted?

I visited Bruce in Willmar and he showed me that. I also used the ty-wraps with my airplane. Since I didn't use his panels for my forward seating areas, I fabricated my own and decided where I wanted to split them based upon structure and access to things behind those panels. But I had to add those 4 screws to secure those panels to each other, which are DualLock'ed to the frame. The Airtex "option" is just that they sell bulk material, so I bought a few yards of materials and sewed and covered my window frames myself. It's definitely a custom interior that nobody could pay me to do on any airplane that wasn't my own!

Yeah, I really need to start a thread and post all of my pictures. I used Bruce's side panels for the back seats, I bought an 8x10 piece of .060 Kydex for the side panels. I used a bunch of the DualLock pieces that Bruce sent to hold the panels in place, but at the junctions they just weren't tight enough for my liking. So I decided that a single screw at the center of an overlap would have to be acceptable. I used a rivnut installed in the Kydex and a 6-32 screw. I think it looks good and it is tight. My window treatments are the original 1964 plastic pieces covered in fabric from Airtex so that it matches my seats. The plastic used before 1965 is not thin ABS, so it is still hell-for-stout, just with a lot of holes in it. In the picture, it may look like I sewed the covering together, but the window frames were actually covered with 4 strips with a hem I sewed to make it look like a seam. The lighter colored fabric is actually wool headliner from Airtex. The pre-1965 airplanes had a cloth headliner like old cars.

The airplane I was talking about in my original post was flown for about 500 uneventful hours by @gsxrpilot. He sold it when he bought a 252. The new owner's mechanic adjusted the landing gear at annual and shortly thereafter the gear collapsed while taking the runway for takeoff. That's what made me scared when I read your post. It sounds like you guys are doing the work right. There can be a tendency to adjust the gear and not re-check and double check. For example, I've seen an adjustment to one nose gear rod change the preload on the main gear. So my suggestion is to adjust it until everything is right, tighten all the nuts, take a soda break, then check them all again before taking it off the jacks. And spray some silicone spray on/into the slider handle when you're in there. It'll stop you having some of the stiff gear issues that @steingar has described recently.

Fred- the pre-load test tools are the ones. And if I hadn't said it before, good for you for helping with your annual! There's no better way to know your aircraft's systems than to do what you're doing.