mike20papa

I've given up on making this point .. for my flying, CHT's reaching 400 at any time are reason for concern. No reason a plenum equipped o-360 should "self cook" - unless instructed by owner/operator. I bet the rings are coked, with no temper left.

Solution is popularly referred to as "the dog house" or "aplenum". Easy to maintain and functions with CHT's never above 350 WOT in climb, and that's in Texas. Nothing chaffing the upper cowling, either.

At College Station, TX (KCLL) the Lonestar Flight Museum had a Pearl Harbor Day fly over. I meet the pilot flying the Spitfire named Warren Pietsch and introduced myself as a lowly wood wing Mooney pilot. Warren went on to say he regularly flies a M22 - N66179 and how his father was an early Mooney dealer in north Dakota. Warren flies one of the few Zeros in the world (and M22's) and you can find him on Youtube. For some reason ... we didn't talk much about Mooneys ... standing next to the Spitfire!

My 2 cents ... the relationship between bank angle and vertical component of lift are often misunderstood or disregarded. We get preached to about bank angle and stall speed, bank angle and turn rate, but understanding the simple geometry of the disappearing vertical component that keeps your ass in the air when you bank the wing over to near vertical should scare the Bejesus out of a rational human being. Add to it the centripetal force of a tight turn and you soon end up with ZERO vertical component. I admit ..those high bank slow turns are pretty, but sometimes not for long!?

My opinion - when transitioning to the Mooney is the amount of attention the aircraft requires transitioning from cruise descent to pattern - compared to your 140. The wing and drag on the Mooney is so much different, you will find power adjustments and speeds much more dependent on descent angles/speeds. The Mooney can appear to require very little power in a mild descent, then enter the down wind, change the angle of attack, lower the gear, and it feels like you've deployed a drag chute. My other comment is to really understand the effect of trim vs. elevator authority and yoke force during landing. The best landings in my A model require full back trim or else I run out of elev. to make full stall, no chance of a bounce, landings. There is no reason to hear the tires squawk , or else your too fast. As a tail wheel pilot, you probably will not like the linked nose wheel steering and rudder. The Mooney has such little rudder authority, that roll out in a X wind will send you heading for the leeward side of the runway - the instant the nose wheel settles. Different is putting it mildly. It does respond well to adverse aileron yaw at low speed and that's a help.

I replaced them on my A model. The entire job is all about accessing the several #4 sheet metal screws that hold the alumn. bent plate down that the booties are glued to. You will need to remove the seats, put the trim all the way forward to get the yokes out of the way. Then wedge yourself in the foot compartment with a small screw driver .. if your mechanic (or you) are over 6 ft and 190 lbs .. there may not be enough cuss words available to get the job done. I found myself having to invent a few ..

Very surprising & sad news. I would have never guessed business/patron volume was a problem. I've always heard that the restaurant business was tough, but never imagined this place having a rough go of it. In Bryan at Coulter field we looked at 11R as a model airport, wishing a restaurant on field was possible. I do believe the down turn in the Texas economy has hit everybody, especially oil business & construction. The decline in pilot population and the graying of those of us left with the aptitude and devotion for this kind of mechanical/physical based endeavor is evident everywhere.

I don't recognize these on my woodwing. Are these located in the wheel wells or in the fuselage?

Yes, but what about the washers? I'd love to replace the metal ones with nylon. Considering the curved surface of the spinner, to me they make more sense. Or with the washer head AN525 screws, do you need washers. I thought washers are technically used to adjust grip length, only.

Mr GEE BEE - When are you going to make us a replacement induction boot for our 180hp mooneys?!

I designed and built my own electric towbar. I have to pull my A model up a 1 to 2% slope and it's absolute hell without an assist. I repurposed an electric winch rated at 2500lbs and converted it over to a chain drive on a repurposed trailer dolly. The dolly was an excellent test bed for the drive unit, but all that repurposing was suppose to save me time and effort, but since then I have redesigned the dolly to a custom fabricated unit especially designed for the Mooney nose wheel. It now has a single drive wheel and tire, like other tow bars. You simply push down on the handle to leverage the weight of the aircraft for tractive effort. The clutch disengages for fee wheeling the unit and the winch has this hell for stout planetary gear reduction. I use a 12 volt garden tractor battery. It pulls it at a slow walk. I've built four of them, meaning to offer them for sale, just been busy with other projects. I tried a heavy duty handrill unit and found them lacking for the slope I had to deal with coming out of my hangar. Here's a photo of the unit (upside down).

Very sorry to hear about your gear failure. That all three gear collapsed is suspicious. My experience is that the simple Mooney gear is converted into a complexity convenient to the overly inquisitive mind of an uninitiated mechanic. It is really just a simple over center linkage. The only complication is that three links are connected into one activating lever (the Johnson Bar) and a crude balance/adjustment between the three has to be made. The throw required to be adequate to position the linkage into an over center position is given a numerical/subjective number by Mooney following the A model. In fact, my A model's original maintenance manual suggests simple use of hand pressure to determine suitable gear "preload". Maxwell is probably correct. once correctly set, there's NO reason to adjust the gear as Mooney suggests (i.e. loosen them all and go figure it out..a new) If someone took your nose gear apart sufficiently to install the shim .. all bets are off. I would guess most J bar Mooneys have the preloads set too F'n high and without consideration to the consequences. Too high and you start breaking stuff. The preload is not what holds the gear down, the over center linkage does that. Preload is like insurance. The J bar should feel as it goes into the final 2 inches of latch down - the story. The preload is only intended to ensure the over center link is thrown. The same mechanism is what latches the door. Begin there, understand it, and then move on to the gear.

In memory of our fellow pilot I went on youtube and listened to his full mission recording. When I was a kid, I never will forget at the Smithsonian looking at his capsule and first impression - how it reminded me more of a rocket propelled garbage can - not a space craft! Interesting to listen to how he is constantly plagued with gyro & attitude control problems. Cages & recages the gyros and basically hand flies with visual reference to correct his autopilot and gyro errors. Really cool when he references the constellation Orion out the window as visual attitude reference! All the while he is constantly changing frequencies to talk to poorly received ground control stations flying around the globe and his "fly by wire" inputs playing into his headset. And when was the last time you went thru a "pre-entry check list" & adjust your clock for a one second deviation, then loose all radio contact as you ready for "the approach". Love his statement upon firing retro rockets, "feels like I'm going back to Hawaii". Then he gets the infamous command to leave his retro rocket assembly in place and with no explanation for the deviation. "Friendship 7, real fireball outside" - "Boy, but that was a real fireball outside" Splash down is within 6 miles of his recovery ship. God speed John. You'll be missed, but never forgotten!

Probably the old original gauge is more the problem than with a malfunctioning fuel pump, half the age. Any difference between electric pump on/off, engine running or not? I have an EI electronic fuel pressure gauge on my A model (same engine and systems as your C) and I get various pressure readings lot of times in the 6 plus, maybe 7 psi. It's the couple of times it has blinked the red LED at me and I see the pressure around .5 that gets my attention.

SAAB 900 Turbo's myself ... drove two of them ( first an '87 red one, then this black '87) for close to 20 yr.s I would still own one if parts were available. The 900 is one VERY unusual automobile! Even has sodium filled/cooled exhaust valves! And that A model is now 57 yr.s old.

I've tried reading this incident report and it is unclear that N423PS is inside the class D when he initially sights the Barron. It sounds like initial contact is made to the tower after sighting the Barron and only then is a squawk code given and clearance to enter the class D and proceed to the downwind. Sounds like most of the initial contact and set up for the problem is outside the class D.

Go down to Harbor Freight and pick up a "mini-me" He'll come in real handy doing all of the behind the panel work that you would have had to do lying on your back wedge into the floor board area. All you have to do is learn to speak "Jhinese" and hand him the tools. These are damned handy fellas, thank god for Harbor Freight.

I've used a Condor on the nose and it's given reasonable service, but the tube is not an Air Stop and so I am constantly checking/adding air. I bought some retreads from Dresser for the mains and use Michelin Air Stop tubes. What a difference the tubes make! The Dresser Elite Premiums are great tires. It's been a while since I bought them, but Dresser is great to deal with. You buy them direct, you can call and speak to someone on the phone and discuss their various tires. Great. If I remember correctly, I believe their STC requires they use Goodyear Flight Custom carcasses. I remember the Air Stop tubes were more expensive than the tires! http://www.desser.com/prodcat/aircraft_tires_and_tubes.asp

Heck, it's the panel placard with "drain & spin" that has me confused?!

Okay, I looked again - and to me the yokes you have put in are upside down and left/right are incorrect.

I'm enclosing a photo of my yoke end ('59 A Model) - shows the elev. control attachment and the aileron push/pull rod and end. That's what's puzzling about the photo you have - where's the elev. control attachment?

Yes, those original cowling flaps made out of two pieces of aluminum, riveted together are crap. They are host to corrosion and being fabricated out of thin material love to crack. Yes, some kevlar & S-glass replacements are long overdue.

Look at the piano hinges at Aircraft spruce & specialty. two types, rolled and extruded and different sizes. I think you buy them by the inch.

Where is the Nason paint (readily) available? Byron, you planning to go to Critter's Lodge Fly-in? Joe

Byron's attention to detail and his working to fit components to exacting tolerances .. well, you have to see it to believe it. Great looking Mooney! Joe