toto

Yeah, that's how I do it. WFM The notifications started again today, so I'll stop panicking.

I subscribe to all the forums, so I normally get an email every time a new topic is posted. I notice pretty quickly when they stop. I usually get dozens of MS emails in a day.

Email notifications stopped again.. this is the second day with zero. Anyone know what's going on?

I used Gill batteries for two decades before trying Concorde, and really I became convinced of the Concorde superiority by the good folks on MS. But three new Concorde batteries in less than one average battery lifespan definitely has me scratching my head. It certainly could be a problem with the testing approach or whatever, but the same shop does the other plane with a Gill battery, and I honestly can't recall it ever being flagged at annual.

Ha. Yeah - except, of course, by my shop

Unfortunately I didn't hear about it until I got the invoice for the annual and they were signing the books. New battery already installed, and I assume (though I don't know) that the old battery is long gone.

The tough thing for me is that in both replacements, the battery failed shop tests. I never actually experienced anything less than perfect performance in the airplane.

I try never to go more than a week without running it, but weather doesn't always cooperate. The shop told me that Concorde batteries work best if the engine is run every day - but that's certainly not realistic for a weekend warrior. I have a lot of positive experience with Gill batteries, and my experience so far with Concorde has been awful. But I honestly don't believe that the batteries can't function in an aircraft that is flown 3-4 times per month.

All good questions. The battery was working perfectly for me. I'd never had a moment's trouble with it. But the shop said that it maxed out at 46% of expected capacity on the stress test. I never had a single incident of a slow crank or low battery indication. As far as I knew, it was working as well as the day it was installed.

Aircraft just came out of annual, Concorde battery failed stress test. So I now have my third Concorde battery in two years. Shop said that they are no longer recommending Concorde batteries due to persistent recent reliability problems. Anyone else have similar experience? From this board and elsewhere, I have understood Concorde to be preferred over Gill, but this is getting old. The Concorde batteries are quite a bit more expensive than Gill, and I've always had good luck with Gill - so this is disappointing.

On the plus side, you may be the only person on MS who gets to take home a new Mooney every time you go to lunch

I'm not the first person on MS to raise this, but somewhere on your checklist should be the condition of the hangar. This is far from an exact science, but I have definitely seen a correlation between hangar condition and aircraft maintenance. If you can eat off the hangar floor, chances are that the owner doesn't defer maintenance in other areas of aviation life.

I suspect that they don't spend any money on the flight planner. Their old version was a "lite" edition of Jeppesen FliteStar, and after Boeing bought Jeppesen, that product was decommissioned. The new one is a "lite" edition of iFlightPlanner, and my best guess is that AOPA actually makes a little money on the deal. Jeppesen or iFlightPlanner or whoever gets a fair amount of exposure and can offer upgrades to the paid version of their software. AOPA gives it out as a member benefit, and probably charges the flight planning partner. https://www.iflightplanner.com/

Where on earth are my manners? Welcome to MS, @fatlasercat

Not to be overly pedantic, but this isn't an STC. It's the original type certificate. But Mooney requires completion of a service bulletin to verify rudder balance tolerances and then adding the AFM supplement (and remarking the ASI if required). I have no idea about the approach speed - sounds like it's semantics between "final" and "approach" speeds. Iirc there isn't a change of more than 2kts in the AFMS.

So I guess you have to drill a hole in your wheel covers to add the plugs?

I just looked at it, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at - are the little white circles plastic plugs? Do you remove the plugs and then check pressure through the hole?

The one big caution I would offer to a first-time airplane owner is to have a buffer in your budget for the inevitable first-year unknown expenses. Sometimes it’s a maintenance issue that wasn’t obvious in the pre-buy, sometimes it’s an avionics upgrade, sometimes it’s safety equipment (shoulder belts, 406mhz ELT, etc). No matter how much effort you put into finding the perfect plane, you will have expenses that you didn’t expect. And those expenses could easily run 25% or more of the purchase price. So if $130k is the max you’re prepared to spend on this venture, you might confine your search to the best $100k plane you can find. Or plan on spending $160-170k total in the first year if you go with the $130k purchase. In my mind, the worst-case scenario is having a nice new-to-you airplane sitting on the ground waiting for the money to “get it right.”

The only one I've seen that allows you to check tire pressure with the covers on is the Hubba Hubba hub caps from Lopresti.

It's about 13", but I believe it's actually based on the throttle position and not the MP.

I put duct tape all the way around the spinner, sticky side away from the cowl, and use a nylon strap over the top of the engine. I open all of the camlocks with the strap in place, and then I sit on a creeper and pop the plastic clasp open so the lower cowl just falls in my lap. And the duct tape prevents scratching things up on reinstallation. Here's the strap I use... I'd get one with a stronger clasp if I bought it again, but ymmv. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BSJVW59/

NFlightCam has an interesting offer. If you buy a new GoPro camera directly from GoPro with the Black Friday discount and send your receipt to NFlightCam, they will give you a nice camera mount for free. Directed email promotion below. Hope this is at least semi-legible..

Victory

Well, there goes that idea. Any idea who Maxwell uses now?

I'm in the same boat, with less than a year's flying before hitting 500 hours. The note I wrote myself last year says: "Dual-mag overhaul: Select Aircraft @ Lancaster TX, technician Aaron." That note was my conclusion after reading 239471289357218 messages on MooneySpace about mag overhaul shops. I believe Select Aircraft is Don Maxwell's preferred overhauler.