Ragsf15e

Losing 25 gallons in a sudden leak would be almost unheard of. Losing that much without resulting evidence is even more intriguing. Look around carefully.

As opposed to the one in the G3x which can be used for navigation (vfr), the one in the g5 only there to help stabilize the ahrs… i.e. it’s not able to be used to navigate. or am I remembering that wrong?

This has turned into a dumb internet debate.

Is it a “real” p40 or a replica? The prop looks real skinny to me?

Thanks. It also doesn’t help that interior design is far from being my wheelhouse…

Dress to egress… nothing more fun than wearing a “poopy suit” in March flying out of warm North Carolina just in case you ended up in the pretty cold Atlantic.

Hey Skip, does the “Phantom White” actually look beige or very light brown when done on the abs panels. The SEM color chart doesn’t look white at all.

One other thing I learned… don’t touch 100ll when it’s that cold (like spill a sump jar). If it gets on your skin you have immediate frostbite.

Ive flown down in low single digits (f). The engine was at ~65f though after being on the heater all night. At times I tried a small ceramic heater on low in the cabin as well for the instruments but never felt safe with leaving it on (although I did a few times). Honestly, if you preheat the oil and cylinders to an acceptable temp (say a good bit above the 20f lyc recommends), you’ll be fine. I did struggle to get enough cabin heat when OATs were ~-20c. I was wearing a lot of clothes too. My new 252 seems to have more heat though.

Its funny how all these very similar airplanes have slightly different manuals. My original 1987 252 manual and the upgraded Encore manual both show 112kts as the flap operating speed. No differentiating between t/o or full flaps and I looked at that same graph, but it doesn't have that t/o flap higher limit. But they must be very similar to your 1989 J, right? Weird.

When you get the 830 installed, you can start leaning as you climb to keep your takeoff EGT values constant (they will drop as you climb full rich), however, it is a very small adjustment. With your current gages, I would just continue to stay full rich in the climb. Glad you figured it out.

Where is this guy?! Im happy to travel at this point! Did you get new foam as well? My foam is shot.

No doubt. I just got a quote for $12k just for doing my seats!

You really need to try full rich, full rpm, 120mph, cowl flaps full open in the climb. It will be hard for you to lean in the climb to target egt as the others do since you don’t have an engine monitor. I definitely wouldn’t try lop in the climb without an engine monitor. How do you know all 4 cylinders are on the lean side? And even if they are, how far past peak? The red box for lean of peak is pretty big at high power and you have no idea how far past peak each individual cylinder is or what temp each cylinder is running? Your gage only shows one cylinder. Also you should definitely get the timing checked. There were some models set to 25 degrees btdc and then lycoming recommended 20 degrees which is cooler for chts. It would be nice to know your mags are the same and what they are set to. I also had a Surefly mag and I didn’t notice any increase in temps. It shouldn’t advance timing at high power in the climb, but maybe if you’re pulling back the power somehow by trying to climb lean of peak. I don’t think that’s healthy.

That little microswitch right behind the panel on the throttle cable can be testy. Fiddle with that first. Sonalert “speaker” second. It really should be an easy fix. To get it to sound, you need gear up and roughly idle throttle position.

Yes, agreed. I should have caught that more quickly. However, it was surprisingly subtle. The autopilot was captured on the GS and coming down for ~a minute nice and stable. I looked outside at the wing, back inside and everything was continuing down nice and stable except now there was no magenta GS arrow on the right side of the pfd. I was still descending and the flight director was perfectly lined up, only now it was in pitch mode. It was a pretty subtle change and took me longer than I wanted to find/fix it.

Yes, I’ve seen quite a few Mooneys in his shop. There’s an Encore in there right now actually.

So it appears all that stuff happened and there’s no audio warning. I should be more cognizant of this in the future, but I will tell you, in the soup with any distraction, it was subtle. Im pretty glad (lucky really) that I had the FAF altitude set as normally Id have the missed altitude set, but the FAF altitude was the last one I had been given before getting on the GS. When the airplane leveled off, I realized it was doing something I didn’t like!

Thanks very much. I think I’ll try the gasket on the vacuum pad first with my mechanic and then go from there. Funny you recommended Craig! I know him well. Just saw him two weeks ago as we have our corporate plane maintained at his shop. If it’s still leaking at the thread seal I’ll talk to him. Drew

Just to add a little more detail... I read through the installation manual and there are (available) tones for the G3X "msg" alerts, however, the "msg" I got was from the GTN750, so different. Displayed in a slightly different place (also not flashing yellow, just a blue msg box). I could not find anything that says there's an audio alert for a msg from an external device. Now I'm wondering if there's some way to have the GTN750 annunciate that message? From what you guys said before though, it seems that only the G3X is supposed to be connected to the audio panel. I get that I should be very closely monitoring the AP during the approach, and there were some cues, but downgrading the approach and changing AP modes at that critical time (FAF) seems like an audio tone or message could be quite helpful there! It was all pretty subtle when it went down (or stopped going down).

I've got a question for you guys from a recent "experience" with my G3x and GTN750. I was on a GPS instrument approach into Spokane, AP tracking GPS laterally and GS vertically, just outside the FAF, all was well... except that I was dropping through a layer that potentially held some icing, so I was monitoring the approach and looking outside at the wings. Unbeknownst to me, the GPS dropped WAAS at about 1/2nm from the FAF and reverted to an RNAV lateral only approach. Yes, the GS disappeared and the (very small) "msg" flag on the HSI popped up. I do not remember any sound at all. Meanwhile, the AP reverted to pitch mode and continued to descend so it was not noticeable in aircraft control. I had the FAF altitude set in the altitude window though, so at that altitude it reverted to ALT (sel) and then Alt Hold. I realized what happened about .5nm after the FAF (and now high and late to descend) but was able to descend to MDA and all was well, but I didn't like it. Looking back at the G3X data pull, the whole episode was about 45 seconds before I disconnected the AP and hand flew it. Question... shouldn't there be an audio alert for the message trigger or potentially for the AP changing to PIT mode from GS? I don't remember one but maybe missed it. Pilots guide isn't helpful on this. Thanks, Drew @PT20J @Pinecone @Max Clark @Rick Junkin

Just be careful about total ff. If that’s not set at the upper end of the takeoff range, you will quickly end up too hot. Yes, balancing ff with injectors is nice, but you need max ff at full power to keep these engines cool. Too low will also be evident in a higher tit as @kortopates mentioned.

I should have taken a picture... however, I covered approximately a third of my oil cooler with hvac metal tape. I then flew in medium cold weather. ~0c at takeoff. (inversion) ~-8 c at 15,500' cruise. Oil temp held about 145f which for me is warmish. I then removed about 1/2 of the tape so only a small part was covered and I was back around 130f. Yes, yes, I know, it should be 180f. However, the probe is right after the cooler, so I'm not so sure that's the hottest point of the oil. I'm going to try covering just a little more and see if I can bring it up another 10 degrees. The tape was pretty easy to remove too, so that's good.

I flew it this weekend and got some pictures. There doesn't seem to be any oil on the shaft that drives the alternator. There is oil below the (closed off) vacuum drive pad - that has a gasket between the SA and cover plate. There also seems to be a drip below the seam where part 42 (diagram above) seals to the SA. It doesn't look like that joint has a gasket (from the diagram above). Is this where you mentioned the silk thread and sealant? Any recommendations for someone who is really good at this in the Northwest? Thanks, Drew

The two hose clamps (#3 on diagram) are responsible for a lot of leaks. They are also hard to get at.