gmonnig

It's electric gear. It probably is just old wiring that got pinched. I should just get it all rewired

That is exactly what I need to do! Annual coming up in December so looks like this needs to be on the list.

I recently did a new panel on my 65' E. Everything was test fit and flew it to Oshkosh. I recently had to remove everything again for powder coating. Now the gear up light won't come on. Its not the bulb because the press-to-test lights up. The gear down light works. So this issue was not know until the first flight and I retracted the gear. The gear window (on the floor) shows the gear up. I also did a low pass and had the line guys out there to verify the gear is up. So we checked wires for connections and can't even get a flicker of RED light with the gear up. Could it be the ground, even though it was working prior? I guess the last thing to check is the gear up switch in the belly. Seems super unlikely that it would go out on the very flight that it all goes back together... ugh

What kind of ELT is in the plane, and does it have a remote switch? Do you monitor guard frequency while flying? My plane had the two remote wires going to the test switch come out of the pins. When the two wires ground out, basically touch anything, they'll trigger the ELT. I noticed because I heard a loud beep coming from the back of the plane with the battery off. I turned on my handheld and heard the ELT going off. The sound from the plane sounded like an autopilot disconnect from STEC or something.

I have a 65' E. It's a great "couple plane". My wife and I are empty nesters now and ended up with an E model after selling our beloved Comanche 250. My plan when the Comanche sold in April was to buy a Cessna 310 (deice boots, hot props etc etc) but that deal fell through due to insurance requirements. I felt gutted since I had given up the 250. I ended up having this beautiful "E" come up (not advertised). It was a great decision to skip the twin Cessna and go with Mooney. I never felt the fuel price increase since it burns 4gph less than the Comanche and 14gph less than the 310. I do 150kts on 10-11gph, have the fold down rear seats (which are always folded), 4hrs range with reserves, and it's a great IFR platform. I do think it's a weird move to own both Turbo Arrow and an E Mooney though. Why now sell the Arrow and get a 231 with the engine you are already familiar with, TSIO-360?

Basically spot on. I didn't want to list a price to deter someone from making an offer, and it's only worth what someone wants to pay for it. It sold almost immediately. Woke up this morning and already had a serious inquiry. Took their offer and the prices you listed are accurate, including the reduced rate for non-yellow tag gear.

I am also looking to do this. My Airtex interior should be done in a couple months, with headrests. So I want to use something like a VW Touareg or something with headrest that move forward and are adjustable! Good luck!

1965 Mooney Brittain autopilot removed from my M20E. This is the complete system with the BI-805 Servo Control valve, 11900-25 Gyro, two aileron servos, two rudder servos, control head with all connectors and switches, DC Adapter that plugs into the control head, all filters and I'm throwing in the DG that worked perfectly with the system. The bellows all work great and do not leak. One of the rudder bellows has a small dry area but it does not need resealing yet. This was the rare version with a dedicated gyro mounted on the rear avionics rack. It tracks two nav sources, tracks a heading bug, or can be just a wing leveller. I had this hooked up to my Garmin 650 and a Narco Nav radio. It was working great but I am in line for the GFC500 so I've decided to remove this system. This is for someone who is looking to keep their Mooney in its true classic form or for someone that has this system already and may need the spare parts. The BI-805 valve alone is a unicorn. I want to sell this as a complete set, so not wanting to break it up. Make me an offer.

Here it was in the center stack before everything started to get taken out.

Honestly, I'm not sure what it'll all go for. I want to sell it all together because the 65' Mooney autopilot is a unique beast. I removed it in preparation for the Garmin GFC500. That process is starting next month with my first round of avionics. The bellows work great with no leaks too. Here's some pics.

Any luck on your autopilot? I have the entire system out of my plane now and will have it listed on here as soon as it'll let me post an ad (I donated to Mooneyspace but can't post yet). I was hoping to post it here before letting it go on eBay. I have the BI-805 servo control valve, the gyro, four bellows, heading computer and all connectors. It was working well and connected to my Garmin 650.

Nice! I too am doing the same setup. GI-275s on the third week of October. Waiting for my metal bits to get back from powder coating. I’m ditching the turn coordinator for the AV20 though. Adds way more functions to the plane.

I have been doing the same thing. Krylon Fusion spray paint works well on the plastic. I had fiberglass and epoxy sitting around so I reinforced the old plastic. I even had straight up holes in trim panels. I used aluminum duct tape to hold a shape, then laid up fiberglass. JB Weld has a two part filler for plastic (the black stuff in the pics) that flows good enough to get into smaller cracks. Carpets, I went with the SCS. They have a kit that fits really good. I bought an extra couple yards of carpet for additional work (side panels). My wife and I ordered Airtex interior to finish the seats. Should look like a new plane when I'm don't with it!

This also works by just filing a VFR flightplan. The reason we need the laundry list of stuff is purely for search and rescue. When asking "do you have a flightplan on file?" That does mean and IFR or VFR flight plan. If you answer "affirmative", then it's super easy and your pop-up IFR will be granted. As long as we have a way to find you or call you when you forget to cancel IFR, that's all we care about. Happens every single day.

Pilots do this all the time in the Center environment too. It's super awkward when a jet takes off VFR to pick up IFR in the air to bypass a departure delay or slot time. We have a team of controllers (TMU) that are literally watching for that. "Unable IFR to (insert busy airport), say intentions." Or the ones that try this but file a close airport and try to amend their destination in the air. That doesn't work either....

So weird, hahaha.

Looking back we should've definitely unabled the routing and just said that we will just stay VFR. By time we loaded up the box we were getting handed off to PHX TRACON. The second I checked in, I was asking for our original routing or deviations. They said we'd have to make our request for center in 40miles! I was like, "ummmm why"? She said that she knew the restricted areas west were active but Center wanted us on this route. Okay. Check back on with ZAB on the southwest side of PHX and immediately asked for a 90degree right turn back to our original route or deviations west for build ups over Gila Bend VOR. Got an unable from them due to restricted areas. My blood is boiling at this point because he calls out Moderate to Extreme precip over Gila Bend. "No sh$t, that's why I need to deviate or declare and emergency". After that, they asked about our original route we filed. He was like, "oh yeah, that's way better and would work perfect". You can imagine how two controllers discussions went for the remainder of the flight. When checking on with LA Center, it was like a breath of fresh air. Very cool and HELPFUL controllers. I attached a screen shot of the 90degree right turn to rejoin our original route!

I know in the Center environment, it's easier for us to type certain things. Approach doesn't like amending flight plans for some reason. Laziness, maybe? But most likely is has to do with the different facilities radar feeds and computer systems that don't talk to each other. We can type in VFR/055 in the data block that says "this guy is VFR now and cruising at 5500ft". Routing is a whole new can of worms. It gets complicated but our airspace does have a few "weird spots" that require routing to make the flight plans process to the approach facilities.

As a pilot and controller, I too get very irritated at all the reroutes. We had a similar experience last week when I flew from Kansas City to San Diego. Long way in a Mooney but the reroutes costed an additional hour to our already long flight. Twice I had approach (PHX and SoCal) ask "what is your destination and where are you going?" Well considering we were IFR, this made the two controllers in the cockpit very nervous. Like, "how the hell do you NOT know where we are going?"

Here’s mine. The curved paint on the tail is perfect for the trim on our planes. Doesn’t ever look like the paint lines are are off.

For sure but why pay more if you don’t have to. $11,200 for 2axis and electric trim. Figure 50hrs of work (if you already have G5s of gi275s) at $100hr. $16k seems fair but none of these quotes are near that.

Damn these are high. Approx $15k installed last year in a C model in Higginsville, MO. That was no yaw dampener though. They are doing my dual GI-275s in October and I will be certainly be going back for the GFC500 next year for my E.

I agree with what others are saying here. Mooney or Comanche 250-260. Flying over the mountains, I would definitely go with a little more horsepower. The Comanche was a load hauler, roomier, faster and had longer legs at the cost of a couple more gallons of fuel an hour. Being empty nesters now, our E model is a great two person, lots of bags plane. With a young family, you might want a little more plane to grow into. Bonanzas are great too but maintenance will be more.

I'll be removing my gyro and valves out of my '65 M20E in the next month (it's a working unit). If you don't have any luck, let me know and I can send you some parts...

I have a working 8day clock that I removed from my panel if you're interested