Bob - S50

I've actually heard someone holler mayday as they lost their engine and then a couple minutes report they were down safely. Sometimes its good to be able to tell ATC they survived and to send help. Another time we heard a solo student that was lost calling for help. We asked where he thought he might be, asked ATC for a frequency for him, and got him in contact with ATC. He was only about 5 miles off course. Another good reason to monitor 121.5. Bob

I'm pretty sure the A320 doesn't have selcal but they do have ACARS. Bob

"Guard" is the emergency frequency, 121.5 and/or 243.0 On military radios one of the knobs was labeled guard and we were able to monitor guard while talking on another frequency with ATC. We just developed the habit of calling it guard. Bob

Dan, The reason I asked is that I often hear someone making traffic pattern calls on 121.5, someone tells them they are broadcasting on 'guard' but they keep making the calls on the frequency anyway. I wondered if they knew what 'guard' was. Telling them they are on the 'emergency frequency' might be more effective. Then again, I'm not a member of the 'guard police'. There are those who have and those who will. I do enjoy listening to someone welcoming their passengers on center frequency though. Just heard that the other day on the way from SEA to MSP. Amazing constraint that time. No "That was beautiful man, now try telling your passengers; best PA I ever heard; etc" chorus. I too monitor 121.5 on #2 comm. I'm lucky enough to have a GTN650 for #1 so I use the monitor function of that radio to listen to the weather and can keep #2 fixed on 121.5. Bob

This question is for pilots who are pure GA. All military pilots and I suspect all commercial pilots know what 'guard' is. My question is: for those pilots who have never flown military or commercial, if someone (the guard police) told you that you were 'on guard' would you know what that meant? Just curious. Bob

I mostly agree with previous comments with one addition. In general I would say: 1. The missed approach point is at .8 DME. However, at minimums (400') at the MAP you would be hard pressed to be in a position to make a normal landing. 2. The 1.8 DME is the VDP and if you are at minimums and don't see the runway at that point, you should be prepared to go missed. 3. Timing is only there as a backup if you have no DME. If you have DME you can ignore timing. Bob

50 ROP should produce just about the highest CHT you can get. If you go either richer or leaner from that point the CHT should drop. I don't know about new engines, but if it were me I'd lean to about 10 or 20 LOP and see what the CHT's do. I was up flying the other day and one of my CHT's was about 390 and slowly rising so I leaned it another 10 degrees or so and it went down to 370. Works as advertised. At 2500' I'm assuming the OAT was fairly high too. Running 75% power at high OAT is definitely not going to help the CHT's. If you want to run 75% power, maybe try a higher altitude like 4500' or possibly even 6500' to get a lower OAT. You might have to use a higher RPM to get 75% power though. Bob

Just a question first. Have you tried using a different power setting for the descent to see if that solves the problem? I personally like 20" and 2200 RPM. If that doesn't give you the descent rate you want, maybe try 18" and 2000 RPM. See if the problem happens at those settings. If it solves the problem, I'm wondering if it could be a broken landing on a piston that only causes a problem when you use high RPM and low MP. I've read that can lead to ring flutter. Bob

Or I think you can... ..get the King KT-74 for $2595 (made by Trig for King) .. or the Trig TT31 for $2895 (mounting tray required and extra) .. one of several remote mounted ADS-B transmitters Just trying to muddy the waters. Bob

What are the EGT's on #1 and 2? If they are significantly different, it may be dirty injectors. Do they all peak around the same temperature? For takeoff I'd like to see EGT's about 200 to 300 degrees below peak. Bob

I concur. Bob

We installed the Aerospace Logic fuel gauge in our J. According to our A&P the instructions say to disconnect all other fuel indicators from the system so our stock gauges and annunciator indications are inop. Our gauge is accurate in smooth air in level flight but indicates high on the ground due to nose attitude and indicates low during descent. Only off by a couple gallons though. We set our "red" indication at 2.5 gallons for each tank and set the "yellow" level at 5 gallons. Obviously, in turbulence the floats bounce around and the fuel indications vary accordingly. Bob

I'm in the Mike Busch camp. I don't care about TBO and tach hours. If the engine is running well, isn't using too much oil, compressions and borescopes look good; I'll keep flying it. 2000 RPM will put more load on the main bearings but 2400 will put more reps on the cam lobes. Who knows which is better? Bob

Thought of something else. How about a sticky exhaust valve or weak return spring? If your problems occur mostly after start and go away after the engine is warm, I would think this could be the cause. Best of luck. Bob

Not a mechanic. Backfire would indicate to me incmplete combustion prior to the exhaust valve opening. Anything that causes a late ignition or slow burn would contribute to that. I would guess late mag timing as the primary cause. Leaner or richer than peak EGT would cause a slow burn. Bad plug(s) could cause late combustion too. Good luck. Bob

I always lock mine before flight

Rotorcraft don't fly, they just beat the air into submission. Bob

What?!!! Enjoy yourself? Good plan. I don't sweat the small stuff either. I like a compromise of speed and efficiency. That's why I have a Mooney. I just level off somewhere between 6500 and 9500 on long flights, set the RPM to 2400, and lean to about 10 to 30F LOP. Then I sit back and enjoy the view. Bob

There are so many variables... All power settings should be at the same number of degrees LOP. All should be adjusted to get the same IAS. However, except on a calm day, changes in the wind, updrafts, and downdrafts as you fly along will vary your indicated as you maintain altitude. In order to maintain a given IAS you would have to add MP as you decrease RPM. That requires less than WOT for all but at most one RPM. You then have changes in efficiencies caused by the throttle plate, engine friction (RPM), and propeller. You would have to set a starting RPM and MP and then lean. Read the IAS and FF. Change the RPM and MP then lean again and wait for the speed to stabilize. If it wasn't the same then adjust the MP and lean again. Repeat until you get the same IAS and then read the FF. When I look in the performance section of my POH (78J) and look at 55% power at 6000' for example, for the different RPM settings, they all show the same airspeed, but the lower the RPM, the lower the fuel flow. That tells me that lower RPM is more efficient than higher RPM. Bob

The manual for our '78J lists ...lots... of over square power settings. That makes it legal, however, I don't like to use them. I'm not concerned about the red box at low RPM/low power settings, but I'm not sure about the stress on the bottom end. Running low RPM moves the peak power point closer to TDC because the crank will not have rotated as far after the ignition event. This will put more axial force rather than tangential force on the rod which means a higher percentage of load on the bearings. Running LOP (or more than about 75F ROP) has the opposite effect. It moves peak pressure further from TDC so it offsets the lower RPM somewhat. How much impact those two have, I have no idea so I play it save and avoid OS. If I want more power, it may not be as efficient, but I'll push the RPM up to avoid OS rather than add more load at the low RPM. Of course, this is only a problem at low altitudes where MP is available to go over square. Bob

I agree. Our J burns about 18 or 19 GPH at full power at sea level. I would not expect to see fuel flows down around 15 GPH (like you had) until I was above 6000' (normally aspired). Since your engine is a turbo and produces full rated power to a much higher altitude, I would expect to see 18 or 19 GPH all the way until the wastegate is fully closed. That is, run full rich until that point. If full rich only provides 15 GPH you need to have your mechanic adjust it higher. Here is a link to a John Deakin article. If you don't want to read the whole thing, scroll down until you see the part about takeoff: http://www.avweb.com/news/pelican/182179-1.html And here is one on climb: http://www.avweb.com/news/pelican/182176-1.html Nice job of catching it before you lost the engine. Bob

Probably a good decision. You'll definitely save money in the long run if you end up spending a bunch of money on upgrades on each airplane you get before your last one. And like I tell my wife, better to spend a little more now and get what you want then to go on the cheap and end buying the good one later anyway because you hate the cheap one you got. Bob

We had a similar situation last year. We bought our '78 J through LASAR. When we did the title search it turned up a lien by a bank from the original owner. The bank had changed names but we tracked them down, contacted them, and got them to release the lien and send us paperwork to that affect. Of course they kept making mistakes on the paperwork because there were not paying attention to details (wrong names on the paperwork for example). We finally got what we needed and bought the plane. Bob

Don't put too much stock in that. I'm an airline pilot too and have 18,000+ hours, but I only had 50 hours in piston aircraft until we bought our Mooney. I read everything I could find on how to operate a piston. Until I did, I would have been about the last person you would want to ask about how to fly a Mooney. Read all you can and ask for multiple opinions. Don't be afraid to disagree with your partner if you have good reason. He may know lots about how to fly IFR, talking to ATC the entire time, and how to program an FMC to get him from point A to point B, but he may or may not have much experience flying a piston aircraft into uncontrolled airports. He may or may not have much 'hands on' time. As we sometimes say in the airlines, "I can't fly any more, but I can type a 1000 words per minute." Bob

Sorry, what was I thinking ?? Bob