Ragsf15e

Your hangar and maintenance costs seem low. If you flew 100 hours, that’s only 2500 for mx and inspection. At 200 hours, that’s only 5000 which is still low.

I only have an F, but Id say it costs more like $220/hr for my ~90 hours/year and I own my hangar and only pay $2k for full insurance. And I help in my annuals and oil changes to keep those costs down. Nothing in aviation pencils out. Don’t go in thinking it will. However, getting reimbursed for some of the expenses would be awesome for you! Don’t insure for less (or more) than actual hull value. If you have an incident, they can pay the lower hull value and take the aircraft (which was worth more).

Any “leak” that uses a measurable amount of oil is likely a gusher. It only takes a dribble of hot oil to spread a very thin, very messy patch along the gear doors or belly. Less than can be measured on our caveman dipstick for sure. So just be careful thinking “I have no leaks” because I only burn 1qt/7 or whatever.

That’s a really common sight and that’s not much oil. Impossible to tell where it’s coming from. The return lines from the valve covers are common leak points. As are stuff on the back around the accessory pads. There’s also likely oil coming out from your breather and maybe the sniffle and/or fuel pump drain. You’ll need to clean it real good and see if it comes back to the point where you want to really look for it. They all leak a little (even the people who say they don’t).

These problems can be super frustrating. I had a buzz during taxi and searched all over. Turned out to be the top cover on my instrument panel. The 3 screws wiggle themselves out and start vibrating. I now know when i hear that, time to try to wedge a phillips bit in there and tighten the really hard to reach one. So it could be something important like motor mounts or a loose screw on your panel. Tough to say, but good luck!

Aeromotors usually has exchanges available too. No dice?

Thanks for your story. Yes those switches can wear. Probably wise to replace them. Couple things to keep in mind too… on these old Dukes actuators, there’s no stop other than that switch and the circuit breaker. It’s possible (as just happened to someone else on this site) that the gear rods in the belly get bent before kicking the circuit breaker. Might want to make sure yours are still straight. Other thing is that (at least for my model’68F), pulling that cb is the first step of emergency extension. That could be a cue before actually doing the manual extension. Could you not see the lines painted on your floor indicator at all? I’m interested and surprised if you couldn’t even without the light? Thanks again for sharing.

I like them too but glad I only need 8! Some people have luck just running them on the bottom plugs or maybe id just run them on my SF, but it’s easier to keep them all the same. And whats $1000 in spark plugs over 1000 hours in aviation terms? Not much.

How many hours on that engine now? That’s awesome!

I agree. I’d like to know as well. I’m going to try the different Vy next time out.

That’s 100% the best procedure!

Ha! We had procedures for dealing with jamming in 2003…

Spoofing gps for airplanes or even jamming (which is easier) is actually pretty tough in cruise. The jammers/spoofers are usually on the ground and need to cover a large area. The aircraft antenna is on the top of the aircraft, providing some shielding from ground based signals. I’d be more worried about someone tactically spoofing gps near an airport where an ac is on an approach in low weather. In these conflict areas they are warning about, there can be many powerful jammers covering a wide area. I think that’s unlikely outside a conflict zone.

Unless you’re on fire…

Next time I go fly I’ll try 100-95mph and see what I get. My engine is older but very smooth and produces consistent cruise speeds. The gear tuck up nicely. Now I’m curious…

I’m interested in what you get as you’d think they’d be closer. Mine did indicate a vsi approximately what I calculated. I held 110mph (poh Vy) the whole time. I guess I should have slowed to ~100 by 10,000’. I had almost full tanks, me, and some random gear. The only time I see greater than 1000fpm vsi is taking off with maybe 20gallons and very cold.

I tried to match your climb today, but no dice. Maybe your F climbs better than mine, or maybe there’s something else going on. 2c at takeoff, 2000’ field elevation. 9:50 to 10k. So ~815fpm. Still not bad. I was ~510lbs shy of mgw. Maybe takeoff, acceleration and cleaning up added more time but it seemed quick.

So I emailed ack and they suggested the 5 beep code could definitely be the battery (mine is good for another 18 months) and they suggested I test it. Reading through their manual, the battery must be at 25c for a valid test! I kept it overnight at home at room temp, installed it in the airplane and magic, it worked perfectly! Not a lot of confidence if the temperature at cruise around 10,000 feet is -15 C and you need your ELT to work….

There’s a reasonable chance your grease is getting “firm” in the chain, or trim mechanism. It should turn freely. I would want that fixed as it’s not going to fix itself. There are some great descriptions on how to fix that on this site. Shouldn’t be rocket science. Maybe @N201MKTurbo remembers where he posted that last?

Just remember, lots of people threw out numbers that included owner assistance for removing and reinstalling the 1000 screws that are on the inspection plates and belly. It’s a pain (I just did it). Also, that’s only the inspection, no repairs on anything.

Unlikely that you find a nicely equipped j/k that low. Id look at E, F and C depending on your needs. Should be able to get one with really nice avionics and reasonable engine time for your budget.

$2500-$3500 in my experience. There are large differences in what different IAs decide to inspect. Obviously there are regulations and a Mooney specific guide but there’s still a lot of differences.

I think some people have had success at Houston tank specialists, but it’s not a lot closer…

Here’s the thread I was looking at. Last post seems to indicate it’s optional.

I think there is one as an option but it’s not required… but I don’t know for certain. It’s advertised as a dg though, not a compass or hsi, so you’ll have to set it. There’s another thread where a guy was talking about installing without the magnometer option.