bonal

I agree Jim and Hank. We all hope and pray it never happens to us that being said this forum is at least populated by pilots that understand the different circumstances that cause accidents as opposed to the news media who really only care about getting a story and ratings and often like to put GA in a bad light. All of the comments I have read hear on the space have been about concern for the people involved and their well being. Also a desire to learn from it to make us all better pilots.

Windows 7

Finally, rough running mag was found to be a plug that just quit firing. Short test flight and seems all is well hopefully next year will be more routine. I am trying to be a good custodian of this fine 50 year old craft. Have replaced many items since I took ownership and even though it's a hard pill to swallow it makes me feel good to make these improvements and knowing I am doing all that I can to have a safe aircraft. And on a plus new carb rebuilt air box and landing light cover = 5 knots faster.

During my annual we saw about 1/8th inch play in the tail. We replaced the bolts that connect the saddle to the block and another trick my mech showed me was to flip the saddle and you start with fresh holes. Zero play after the change cleaned and lubed all joints. Nice and tight now.

My MECH at a mooney factory service station and the IA said the Bendix mags are more reliable than the Slicks. Made me happy cause thats whats in mine

When in doubt you must assume they are power and they are hot. Exiting can be fatal so it's always better to wait unless there is fire. I always find it interesting when they talk about first responders when power lines are involved and the fire crews usually wait until we show up to clear the lines. Don't know what happened but I'm glad no one was hurt.

So i think I should point out that the so called Power lines are in fact Phone and CATV cables as an electric distribution engineer its always the same with the news people they see wires and "OH MY GOD" power lines. I checked out the location on google street view and you can see where the electric primary distribution lines end on each side of the approach end of the runway. people always call them telephone poles until something is wrong and they call the power company. Glad no one was hurt.

Damn birds

Is that what that crank is for. I thought it was to put down the window and just broken. Kidding, I leave mine up all the time accept when I fly with my CFI then I ask him if he wants me to drop the old man step.

No 2 different shops for the 2 airplanes and the mech I work with on the mooney really knows how to work on these airplanes and they let me do the assist so I see almost the entire process when I did the first test flight there was no problem. I'm sure we will figure it out I just need to be patient and chalk it up to one of the 3 F's and the joy of ownership.

This is only my 6th annual 4 for the 150 and 2 on the mooney and out of those only one was good to go after the work. I'm going to try to clear it again today and if no good back to the shop. It seems that you bring in a great running airplane and get back one that needs fixed. Not to mention how much it costs. I'm sure the guys at LASAR will take care of it I just hope it's not going to cost more of my hard earned savings.

I did not know there was such a thing as "easy painless fixes" on an airplane. You might try heat and suction. If the metal is not creased it may spring back. Hope you find the easy fix and if you do please share.

Big Tex is correct on both points

Well they did replace the carburetor and Lycon said the old one was shot so that makes sense. Now I have to figure out what is wrong with the right mag check but I figure I'm just going to bring it back to the shop since they just did the annual. Really wanted to get up today. Nuts!

Thanks Guys

Test flight not a happy camper. Had a fouled plug on run up and it seemed to clear up a bit after a 2000rpm run since this has happened before and after flight would always be perfect after landing I decided to go ahead. Flight was perfect and checked all the numbers and all was good. One thing I noticed was a much lower EGT temp on climb out and I'm thinking its because of the rebuilt air box. In cruise it felt real strong and I saw an increase in air speed of about 5 knots above what I'm used to. Any way as soon as I pulled of the runway I did a mag check and was still rough on the same mag. I will un cowl it tomorrow to have a look see. I hate annuals!

So when referring to left and right mags is that facing forward or back? And since I'm not looking at the engine at this moment which mag fires the top plugs.

I don't think its fear that we might be feeling but the awareness and adrenalin that flows. A healthy respect for something that challenges us and our abilities. I'd be more worried if I did not have a little knot in my tummy as I'm getting ready to fly. I used to feel the same way just before the start of a race or at the top of a cornice. As for a problem with an airplane that's logic or just plain common sense weather or not to fly. If I saw a big oil spot on the floor after a service I would get it fixed first. Sadly there are too many cases when bad choices end up tragically.

OK Marauder I got the bill and it stung a bit are you ready to compare numbers. I'm real curious what the rest of you are paying for your annuals. I would think that the modern big motor normalized guys are in for big dollars every year. Hopefully next year I won't need any big ticket parts. I need to fly more hours to lower that cost per hour factor. Can't wait to get it up there to see how that rebuilt air box works out we figure that I have been running with a good bit of carb heat all the time even though I did see an acceptable drop on carb heat during run up. Bottom line I Hate Annuals!

Well I don't know all the facts yet but when I get my logs back I will look for the install on the GPS and see if there is a story there. First things first get another antenna and install it and connect to com 2 hopefully the cable is still in the airplane. Should be interesting.

The description of the carb from Lycon it was in bad shape the fact that it decided to show it self at the start of the annual is very fortunate indeed. Also we checked out the #2 comm to see why it was not working and the radio is fine and this is funny cause it was there for all to see it had no antenna. DUHHH. the antenna that I thought was for com 2 is my ELT seems when they installed the GPS they put the GPS antenna in its place. so now I have a new task. fun fun fun!

they wont have the bill ready till Friday or Monday. The OH carburetor will add about a grand and my sky tech starter got a completer OH but Dan said it did not increase the cost over the repair they were going to do on the terminal. that was sent out on the first day Monday and it was back all fixed on Friday nice work there in Texas. Last years annual my first for this plane was brutal. this time much better. I added one mod. one of the other Moonies that was getting a new engine monitor installed had the landing light cover on it and it looked real nice and I knew that it was a LASAR mod so I asked how much and it was $59.00 I said fifty nine for an aircraft mod sign me up. looks real cool and my AP said I'd gain 20mph in cruise. just kidding also I now have a polished spinner thanks to Mooney Space guy in Florida.

All done. Took it around the pattern for its test flight every thing checks out so far but will need longer flight to test all the systems. Nice to be back in the air again. Looking forward to seeing how the new carburetor and rebuilt air box works out in cruise.

Very nice 2000! Problem with doing those kind of projects is the time that your Mooney is out of service. I suppose in some parts of the country when the winter shuts you down you can do the work then and not miss any good days for flying. But here in the looney state of CA the winter flying is even better than the summer and I hate it when my plane is not ready to fly. But I do have panel envy.

Don't know they were that way when we bought the plane. They may be plastic and we're never painted I will be closing up the cowling today at LASAR think I will give them a close look. I'm kind of a "if it works don't fix it" type so I never paid it much mind.