Mooney in Oz

This guy virtually overflew a military airport (Richmond) at close to 7,000 feet that has a 7,000 foot runway and is ILS equipped . ATC offered him Richmond, but he declined and elected to return to Bankstown, which is where the maintenance base was. Never made it. Human Factors - decision making under extreme pressure....This is where we learn.

Thanks Cris, I don't have that problem. What is happening to mine is when the unit is off on the dark screen, near the top right corner a small triangular shape has appeared similar to some type of delaminate. When the unit is on, the fault can't be seen so I assume it is on the inside of the glass screen.

I agree with you Robert and I didn’t mean to sound as though I was casting aspersions. I have some time in Navajos, although many years ago, hence my question. From memory, operation of the fuel pump was no different to our Lyc engine Mooney’s. I assume she was just guessing it was the fuel pump. Having said all that I can understand the speculation as fuel exhaustion is the first question which comes to mind when a twin is the subject of a forced landing.

Cris, can you please elaborate on what this looks like? I think it’s starting to happen to mine.

How would she know this for sure?

Compatibility I assume. With regard to the 440, if you access the Avidyne forum you will find a plethora of information from smart contributors and Avidyne Techs who are more than willing to help. To ask the question you need to register and the link is http://avidynelive.com Having said the above, I don't know if all the info you want is available given the GFC500 is only certified for installation on a small number of aircraft such as certain Beechcraft, Cessna and Piper models at this stage. The Mooney M20 cert program is planned to start within the next 12 months. It might be worth a try accessing the Beech Talk forum and posting the question there. You might have better luck as there may be contributors who have one installed. The link is https://www.beechtalk.com/forums/

Not far from where I live, almost 8 years ago a Piper Mojave (Pressurised Navajo), following the shutdown of an engine was not able to maintain altitude or make it to back to the departure aerodrome resulting in an attempt to land in a street. The aircraft struck power lines, crashed and burst into flames. Two souls perished. http://www.atsb.com.au/media/4058105/ao-2010-043_final.pdf By the look of the above surrounding power lines in the link posted by Dan, the people on board this aircraft were very, very lucky. If you have time to click on the above link and read the ATC transmissions plus view the photos, you will have an appreciation of what I mean.

The GMX200 is still supported and according to the Garmin website, you can still buy them new. https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/6422 I know you don't mention charts, but the unit displays Jepp charts as track up, which is a fantastic feature that I don't think can be done with a 750 or the G500 MFD. I have one and even though most of my gear is Avidyne, I will hang onto my 200 for as long as possible. It integrates well with my IFD540. Forget about the MX20 - Unsupported and as mentioned, screen issues. There looks to be plenty of used 200's on the market.

If none of the above works then it might be worthwhile adding static wicks. Worked for me years ago when I had a similar problem. My antennas were in good shape with no need to change.

Nothing to do with my autopilot, but I'd fly my J from Australia to Texas if I could! Years ago when I went to Homecoming, I visited Fredericksburg including the Airport Diner. Loved it. You live in a beautiful part of the world Lance. I see Century and S-TEC are both located in Mineral Wells. Must be the GA autopilot capital of the USA.

I suppose it would depend whether the wing was designed to flex. Not a good comparison, but a B787 wing was flexed upwards to 25 feet during testing.

I know that JPI has a bad rap sheet for service going back many years ago. I recently needed their assistance with my 830 and found the tech guy to be nothing short of excellent, even after having to call him back a couple of times and spending some time with me on the phone. He was patient and professional with the problem eventually solved.

At a guess, probably Hank. However, company SOP comes into play. I had a quick look at the NTSB link and the three causes it cites is - Contributing to the accident were the flight crew’s (1) impaired performance resulting from fatigue and the situational stress associated with the intent to land under the circumstances, (2) continuation of the approach to a landing when the company’s maximum crosswind component was exceeded, and (3) use of reverse thrust greater than 1.3 engine pressure ratio after landing. Note No. 2. Company SOP's with regard to crosswind (or other limitations) do not exceed the manufacturer's numbers, even if only demonstrated and I can't see any country's regulator permitting this. Gust factor has to be taken into consideration too. For example, the company I work for considers wind gusts to 45 kts (or any wind speed in excess of the SOP limit) as a solid figure, even though its a momentary occurrence. The wet runway in this accident made it worse.

Thanks for the link Brad. A worthwhile read. In the MD-82 accident, the pilots ignored two of these automatic go around cues: they lost sight of the runway and the crosswind (which was 50 degrees off the runway at 30 knots, gusting to 45) Well illustrated in the above details. After a long, busy and at the end tiring duty the crew were confronted with the above and probably just wanted to get down and finish for the day, a normal human trait. I believe the max demo crosswind of the MD80 is 30 kts dry runway and 25 kts wet runway.

That looks so neat. Is the MP and RPM the same size as OEM's?

Nice pics there Chuck and thanks for sharing. From the above photo it looks like you had a strong crosswind to contend with. What was it?

I have a copy of The Al Mooney Story by Gordon Baxter. On page 149 it reads that Al left Kerrville in 1955 to work for Lockheed. The M-20A was introduced in 1958. Later it reads, "In 1960, Ralph Harmon, formerly of Beechcreat, Cessna and McDonnell, joined Mooney Aircraft. Harmon metallized the wood-winged airplane, creating the M-20B in December 1960." I also have a hard copy of Larry Ball's Those Remarkable Mooneys. In part it reads Al stayed around until September 1955 when his M20 was certificated, although the M20 prototype first flew on September 3, 1953. I love reading about Al and Art. I just wish that they had have been successful at operating Mooney from a business perspective. It's not fair their most successful design, the M20 ended up out of their hands following certification. I also wish I had the privilege of meeting them both. Their legacy lives on.

The Arrow had over 7,600 airframe hours, which is not a lot for a GA trainer with evidence of fatigue within the structure of the wing root area. It will be interesting to read about the past history of this aircraft. I can see an AD release in the future for Piper wing inspections.

Paul, I'm also glad it did not happen when you were airborne. How ironic is it when we are well into a major discussion about engines failing on takeoff?

I also watched the AvWeb video. The Bose rep stated the A20 is their most popular aviation headset and expect it to remain that way, implying continuity with no change to sales. A20's are safe.

I'm 6'3" tall and had right knee replacement surgery 4 months ago and that is exactly how I started to egress. I did the reverse to enter by opening the door, sitting between the open door on the wing walk then sliding up onto the passenger seat then across into the pilot seat. This is also how mechanics do it. I liked it so much, I do this most of the time. I find it quicker and no chance of slipping.

I don't touch anything on the climb out, except the mixture when appropriate, until reaching top of climb (as espoused by Bob Kromer).

+1 and this: 3.8. Other Limitations This autopilot has not been evaluated to meet certification requirements for coupled instrument procedures, including coupled approaches. Therefore coupled instrument approaches and procedures are not authorized without further approval.

Had this happen to me too a couple of years ago. It turned out the roll servo over time had somehow loosened and come off it's mount in the left wing.

Thanks TJ. I did not know the switches were even available for our Mooneys.