Ragsf15e

Ominous looking 13k peaks across the valley from kmmh as we got ready to depart this morning. Took off at ~745 am and the DA was already 8800’! Planned a short flight, so we only had 30gallons of fuel and she climbed out real nice even with four of us plus baggage!

Stec has a 30 year old analog option (I have an stec 30a) which nobody installs now. The newer digital stec is not approved for Mooney. If the stec30a works as mine does, it’s great but it doesn’t fly a “coupled” approach with or without gps. So sure, the autopilot will work without gps but it’s not a good comparison. The gfc-500 is head and shoulders above any of the older autopilots and likely much better than the other new ones (doesn’t the Aerocruze have a pretty high minimum altitude on approaches?).

Thanks, that helped a lot.

I had it pulled back a bit because of the bumps, but usually I do descend under full power if it’s smooth although I don’t normally change the mixture until entering the pattern. If I started LOP, and add a little through the descent, I guess I wouldn’t know exactly where im set? If I don’t change mixture during descent it stays lop even though the servo is slowly increasing ff during the descent. Do you start lop descent and then start adding a little mixture as you descend?

Awesome results, enjoy!

I agree it needed to be leaner on landing, however, i cruised lean of peak and left it there during descent. That works fine during the descent and lower power entering the pattern, but it needs to be set richer (not as much as i did) to set up for max power in case of a go around. If i just left the mixture at cruise setting it would be much too lean if I tried to go around. Hard thing is having a better guess for the optimum full power position that high. I agree I probably was way too rich but don’t have a way to set it perfectly in the pattern without going full power and setting target egt like on takeoff/climbout.

Thanks. I guess I missed the part about high DA in the other thread, but I remembered you guys saying yours idles ~600… I actually checked mine at home today before takeoff and it was at 500-550! It ran ok there for a second and I just thought my surefly was awesome! Well apparently that high DA thing is real.

Fun flight today! 617nm, KSFF to KMMH (Eastern Washington to Central Calif), fully loaded with wife, two kids, maybe 50lbs below mgw with 58gallons of fuel. Still landed with ~18! First time running a tank dry too… watched for the pressure to drop and caught it without even a stumble - thanks MS! Weird thing for me though… density altitude was very high on landing. Say 9500’. I didn’t go full rich in the pattern but maybe 1/2” from it. On rollout the engine died. Wife and kids were a little freaked out but I’ve heard that can happen. Was a little embarrassing (although I had enough smash to roll off the runway and turn onto the ramp). The fbo called on ctaf and said, “when you get the engine started, follow the golf cart to your parking spot.” Thanks for noticing . Thankfully the engine started relatively easily. So what happened? Throttle all the way closed, too rich, flooded it is my guess?

Also, there’s a circuit breaker for the gear warning on mine which will shut off the alarm if it gets stuck on. I’ve had to use that once because the alarm is brutal.

Or, if you wanted to shut off your gen/alt, pull the field CB (or shut off the master, but obviously that kills a lot more). Most VRs (at least newer ones) have built in over voltage protection too.

It seems that the throttle switch is working, but the one on the downlock is not. That’s where I’d start.

New cylinder or door handle? I think it makes a difference…

Many of us do appreciate you going through all this and dealing with the naysayers/complaints/negativity. Hopefully there is eventually a way we can keep these Dukes planes going (without significant $$ to convert to something else).

12 yo shock discs on an F are practically new…

Gns355 is real nice and will be supported for a long time. Cheaper than a gtn 650 but that’s another option. Finally an avidyne 440 would work as well. Personally I like garmin.

It can possibly work the other way too - if all your accessories are old and run out, then factory maybe makes more sense instead of adding in oh of each individual accessory.

Make sure you compare like services. New/reman usually comes with all new accessories (fuel servo, alternator, mags, etc). Overhauls maybe some, maybe not.

Yeah I agree with that in cruise. I had a significant exhaust leak and it just barely raised my cruise CO. It was very noticeable on climb and on the ground though. I did have a few old “pass through” holes in the firewall that are now sealed. It might have been the big dog of “leaks” too as an exhaust riser came completely disconnected from the cylinder…

One other consideration… since it’s only in climb, it’s most likely exhaust going out the exhaust pipe that’s getting into the cabin through one of the ways discussed above. If you were seeing it in cruise or on the ground, I’d be looking for an exhaust leak before it exits the engine compartment. However, looking through the exhaust is a reasonable step. It can be pressurized and soap bubbles if needed too.

As @PT20J said, throttle and mixture full in when priming. ~4 seconds when cold, a little less when it’s warm outside. After prime, reset mixture to cutoff, throttle just open enough so you get 1000 rpm when it starts.

Well they are also salespeople… go in knowing what you need and what else you might want. What you need to be legal ifr is the navdata in the 530 and legal charts (paper or digital) in the cockpit. You don’t need the terrain, business/services, obstacle data, etc. Maybe some of that is helpful but it’s optional. Terrain data and obstacles don’t change often, so maybe you don’t need a subscription with monthly updates? We are all different, but i get the navdata only. I have everything else on my foreflight. I do have a recent terrain and obstacle database from a year or so back.

The door seal is the most obvious place, if that isn’t it, there are other leaky spots in the floor (esp near rudder pedals), gear wells, and even old (unsealed) holes in the firewall.

Hydraulic flaps, correct?

I’m sorry this happened to you. I’ve been given the same story before “it left our shop airworthy, must have happened on the ramp when you were picking it up.” Not fun. I won’t go back there either. You can/should definitely find a better shop. If you can afford the time, participate in the annual (pulling inspection panels, cleaning things, being gopher, etc). It gives you an excellent education and you’ll get your airplane back much quicker and cheaper.

If it’s nice out, come in vfr below the class b (it’s at 9k and above there) with flight following through approach. They hand you off to tower. Easy. Yeah seeing that hershey bar wing turn and realizing they are going 200kts slower than my corner velocity was pretty eye opening the first time I tried some Hawg popping!