Ragsf15e

A new one for “only” $35k?! I wish.

Fair enough. As I said I’m in general agreement. Maybe some manufacturers are still thinking about it? The Meridian is only 5 years old and they still suggest a reset. Your point about not needing to troubleshoot while airborne is solid though. I definitely agree with that.

I’m in general agreement, especially if there’s anything accompanying the popped cb (especially smoke smell), but most airplane manuals allow for one reset of a cb in flight in absence of other fire indications. In military airplanes I flew we always used the one reset rule, in the Meridian I fly at work, almost everything is electric and it allows for one reset as well. The Mooney? Well, they don’t really go into that in the ‘68 poh! I agree, there’s likely a reason the cb popped, so sometimes it’s worth looking into, but sometimes it just popped or the cb is getting old and warning you that it will eventually need replaced.

I might also check the gear motor CB. Especially if this happens after several cycles. That CB getting old may increase resistance, heat, etc and fail. Old grease or something catching/binding might be even more likely, but the CB can’t be ruled out. Ive had issues with my limit switches, but they didn’t give me electrical indications like lower voltage or popped breakers. The gear just didn’t move when i moved the switch. About 10” later, it moved normally. Lubing the switches with LPS1 seemed to help. With a ‘76, do you have an airspeed switch or a squat switch? Gear pucks (discs) shouldn’t be causing what you described. If you have an airspeed switch the gear pucks don’t play in gear issues. With a squat switch, old pucks or a poorly positioned switch can cause gear to fail to retract. This usually happens in cold weather when the pucks remain compressed after takeoff. Doesn’t seem like your problem. If you have a squat switch it’s a small weight on wheels sensor in left wheel well. Airspeed switch is a brass colored thing behind your airspeed indicator. Neither of these seem part of this problem.

Brave wasn’t exactly what I was thinking, but you’re right, it’s his airplane. Just don’t plant it in a subdivision and give us all a black eye.

I’m all for “on condition” maintenance, but this just doesn’t sound safe to me. If big chunks of metal are in your finger screen, I think most responsible airplane owners would probably want that situation fixed. I guess it’s up to you as the pilot if you have an IA signing your annual as airworthy, but I don’t think I’d be going around telling people that’s a good way to maintain an airplane.

Seems that “speed tape” was also used to “seal” Under the fairing between the fuselage and wing that covers the wing attach bolts. I’m not really sure it’s the best choice for either application these days.

Well are you gonna change it at all or just get new hoses at the correct length? Im interested to know if any of this fixes your oil temp issue!

Jpi 900 is the best bet instead of reworking the 50 year old technology.

Well if it makes you feel better, when I “pull” the prop back for cruise, I wind it back about a turn or two. The movement of the control is almost imperceptible. It doesn’t move much. sucks that your fuel flow isn’t working. I agree you’re probably getting 21” MP at that altitude. You don’t need the FF to be working right to lean properly though... your jpi900 has a lean find function “LF” that runs off the egt. Even if you decide not to do anything else, you should use the jpi to lean more accurately than “lean to roughness then back a turn”. Right now you’ve got a nice iPhone, but you’re using techniques from the 90s “cell phones”. Push the LF button, it should come up “ROP” which means it’s doing Rich of Peak. Lean slowly until it senses a peak on an egt and flashes. Then richen back until the delta temp reading shows 100. Much better. I might try 2500 rpm too. It might be smoother and it’s slightly faster. Nothing wrong with 2400 though.

Seems fine to me too as far as how much the prop control comes back, but @Shadrach comments are spot on... why 24/2400? 135-145 is a big delta? Whats your fuel flow? You have an F, are you Rich of Peak, Lean of peak, or at peak? At 8,000’, you can probably do any of those safely. Well maybe not peak - probably want to check that you’re below 65% for peak. As you get higher, you’ll find that you’re giving up a few knots by running 2400 vs 2500 or even 2600 if you’re higher. Also, just confirm that you’re running wide open “full” throttle? It doesn’t sound like you’re running the engine poorly, but there’s a lot of experience on here that can help you safely optimize your choice of power setting. Like are you after speed? Lowest fuel burn? Sightseeing? Etc. Are most of your trips around 8000’?

Personally I don’t use that but I would if i was departing close to straight out. I normally fly off a busy, tower controlled airport with shortish parallel runways and terrain on one side, urban area all around (ksff). There’s no way to offset and nowhere to land. It’s uncomfortable. I don’t practice patterns here but my hangar is here. Instead, I turn crosswind as early as possible within reason. That gives me a few more options. At non towered fields I suppose you could but be careful you don’t end up a conflict with someone else who’s expecting you to be in a normal part of the pattern. Also the AIM says we should turn crosswind within 300’ of pattern altitude, so I usually turn there to remain predictable and seen. Always think there could be an airplane without a radio or adsb or transponder operating legally in the pattern with us. If there’s good fields for landing around, I’d fly a normal departure and pattern as much as possible and keep the fields in mind, turn around is pretty dangerous at low altitude without power even if some of the turn is out of the way.

To be fair to the CFI, most are taught this way. Whether it’s right or wrong may depend on the situation. That’s why we all need to use our brains and community experience to develop safe techniques and then think through situations that require different techniques. Sticking to a technique that is good in a particular situation just because that’s what we were taught is a bit too rigid thinking. Maybe the Cfi trained at “All Atp” on a 12,000’ runway with flat terrain and no obstacles in a Piper Arrow. Leaving the gear down while a landing on the runway is possible might be a reasonable technique. It’s also possible that’s exactly what the faa examiner wanted to hear. The best instructors know the difference between technique and procedures and can listen to reasonable arguments to come up with new techniques that apply to different situations.

I think my current retraction technique is similar. I have to admit that when I was a young buck I got to takeoff in front of a (small) crowd once in the Mighty Strike Eagle. Full afterburner was the norm and I planned to be at 30’ and 450kts by the end of the runway for the pull into the vertical. I yanked it off the runway early, maybe 120kts, sucked up the gear and had that sinking feeling... apparently, 50,000lbs of thrust only goes so far. Somehow didn’t scrape it back down (like the F-22 at Fallon a couple years ago). When I cleaned out my shorts later, I remembered that the gear goes through significant gyrations during extension/retraction (Including turning the mains sideways) and increases drag a lot! Oops!

I’m no mechanic, but that bolt has a castle nut and cotter pin, no? If it’s loose doesn’t that indicate the rod end is wearing out?

Heck, that probably cost you at least half a knot! Tell me you fixed it?!

I put the gear up quick too! If I blow an engine and land straight ahead, I may get it back down, maybe not. If not, at least I’ll stop fast! I want to get airspeed and altitude quickly after takeoff to increase options. To the OP, I have hydraulic flaps too. My technique is to retract them at 100mph. I feel the “settle” slower than that a bit uncomfortable.

Interesting. I haven’t heard that and I have a GTX345. What is this patch supposed to do? We’d need one of our avionics folks to answer this.

You should probably see weather and traffic on the g3x too from the adsb, does that work?

I want to do this! What “power tool” exactly and what type of applicator was on it?

Do yourself a favor, get the ADSB traffic and weather working right first before throwing money at XM weather. Try it for a while. If you don’t like the free weather, you can always add on XM. You should not need any new equipment to currently get free weather and traffic.

Not sure how the original gauges were on the B-707s, but that’s similar vintage to our 60s Mooney. There’s plenty of good equipment for that these days and it’s not even cost prohibitive, but I wouldn’t wait for the Mooney Corporation to fix it for you...

The GTX345 should supply Adsb traffic and weather to the G3x (hardwired) and the gtn750 (Hard wired) and your ipad (via Bluetooth). If it’s not working the avionics shop probably needs to finish setting it up correctly.

You and your airplane definitely need to fly more. Something around 60hours a year depending on your prior experience is gonna be required for both of you to remain proficient and mechanically sound. Additionally, I’m all for new techniques, but tell me more about this “controls full aft” thing on normal takeoff and “getting more altitude quickly”... generally you want to accelerate in a normal takeoff attitude if there’s room because an engine failure at low speed and high pitch angle is less likely to end happily than one at a slightly lower altitude but higher airspeed and lower pitch.

In my opinion, a minimal oil leak that’s been stable for a good long time is not reason to open the can of worms involved in any type of MOH. I’m as anal as anyone out there, but clean it religiously and get use to it, then enjoy your engine for a couple hundred more hours until it actually needs OH. Just my 2 cents.