Guitarmaster

In order to have LED lights, you need a PWM to dim them. You can find them on the market or your hanger fairy might be able to prototype it. Of course, rarely do hanger fairy do TSO work though. The existing rheostat won't do the trick. Check this out though.... http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/fiberlite.php I am going to do this in my plane at the annual. Really cool stuff.

So, there I was doing my preflight....

It sounds to me like my gremlin may have jumped to your plane. Have you tried the the proper chants and dances?

All fixed. #4 PK and blue loctite. I replaced two of the eight screws with aluminum rivets just to make sure they don't come loose again. There were several screws in the other door looses as well. Took all those out and loctited those as well. Now I shall await the next thing to fix....

Crap... I was told there would be no math!

I am beginning to think that! Lol! [emoji12]

Thanks Clarence! There were no Tinnerman nuts to be seen. I will do some digging behind the exhaust fairing. This airplane is like an archeological dig. You never know what you will find. Hopefully I am coming to the end of the surprises shortly.

It was being held by ONE #4 screw! Clearly I will be sticking my head under the wheel well more often.

The last few flights I have felt a slight vibration. So slight that if i didn't know the airplane so well I wouldn't have noticed. Admittedly, I didn't think much of it. Well... I landed in MDW this morning and found this during the postflight. . Needless to say, I am exceedingly happy it didn't depart the airplane! 70% of the screws are missing. I think I am going to replace a few of the screws with rivets.

Ha-ha!! Love it! I have always been a fan of "go big or go home!"

I need to get an engine monitor so I can do LOP safely. These calculations are based on the 1975 F manual. My plane seems to run right at book speed... now that the rigging is in tune.

The J IS considerably faster than the F. I wish I was going 165KTAS!! I am using tach time. There could be a math error. Obviously if running 60% you should not be burning more fuel... unless there is a strong headwind. Did you change the headwind calc in the spreadsheet? The whole point though is; as efficient as these airplanes are, there really is not much savings to be had by flying slow on a cross country flight. The actual numbers surprised me too!

Hey TJ, The extra dollars came from the "$/maint/hr." That's my made-up term! LOL! When I say flying slower, I mean "carson speed" slower. Essentially L/D max or slightly faster. You are right, the fuel cost goes up by flying faster, but there comes a point where you break even fast or slow. Even flying fast, the difference in OVERALL was very minimal. As an example: For a 500NM flight, using Mooney book performance at 5000ft, 75% yields 143KTAS at ~10.8GPH. Assuming no head/tailwind, in 209 minutes with a total burn of 32.5g. Fly @ 60% and you get 229 minutes with 34.7g. I assume a $25/hr maint override, yours may be different. At $25, and assuming 5.50/gal fuel, a total difference in OVERALL cost is $8.65. If we go to 45% power, roughly L/D max, we end up with a negative return. $-1.83. So over a 500nm flight you actually lose money by flying slower. In addition, it's going to take you 74 minutes longer. At that point, you might as well buy a 172. Change the head/tailwind factor and, of course, the numbers change again. I usually fly at 70% wherever I go, unless I am sightseeing. To me, saving $8.65 is not worth getting there 20 minutes later with the wife and kids complaining about their butts hurting. Your mileage may vary! I made the spreadsheet in "Numbers" on my iPad so I don't know how well it will transfer to excel, but here are the files. Range compare.xlsx Range compare.numbers

Someone at Mooney must have had an interest in a screw company, they used just about every type of screw made. Clarence I have often wished I was in the screw business and exclusively contracted with Mooney! I would have retired years ago!

Overall, I figure ~$100/hr. I made a spreadsheet comparing speed/overall cost. The results were somewhat surprising. I run about 70% to achieve the above number. Flying slower actually INCREASED the cost/hr. Anyway, I have found this to be a pretty good number for me flying about 100 hours/yr.

I got to check this out for real last February when the gear didn't come down on the way to work. Heated hanger for the night solved the problem temporarily, but I will be replacing the limit switches at annual. According to Don Maxwell, they are very cheap ($40 each). Glad I checked the emergency extension at annual!!

That looks great!!! Can't wait for the flight test data! Burlington, WI? Wow! I am almost right next door at Poplar Grove! I stopped in there for the cheap fuel the other day. Had my exhaust "rebuilt" at Dawley...

I will be doing this at the annual. I cleaned out some hard grease in the boot area that was blocking the full trim movement. I would lay money that the same problem exists inside the jackscrew assembly.

That will be a point of investigation at the annual this year.

I have wondered about it being slightly worn. It only has 1800 hours on it. :/

Sounds like a fairly common complaint. I have thought about removing, cleaning and lubing the jackscrew assembly at the next annual. This would be a huge PITA. Right now, I just pack the jackscrew and lube the chain. That is the only place I can think where a problem could exist. I like the idea of a grease fitting on the assembly. Looking at the exploded view, there are four universal joints. I am wondering if one (or more) is bad. Hmmmm.

Hey Guys. I want to see if anybody else has experienced this. On the ground, the trim moves freely in its full travel. However, with an airload on the stab, the trim seems to get "stuck" and requires either quite a bit of force, or rolling the the opposite direction then go the direction you want. Sort of like getting a running start. The problem seems to be toward either travel limit, but mostly nose-down probably because of the high speeds associated with nose-down trim. The jackscrew and chain have both been lubricated and the torque tube does not seem to be binding anywhere. Ideas??

Sounds like up-limit switch or the actual gear handle switch. If the limit portion of the up limit switch doesn't close when the gear is down, the circuit isn't completed and it will just sit there.

Gravel strip??? Boy, you must have more money than me! It would be a good catalyst for buying a new prop though...

Bahahahaha!!! ROFL!! nice...