Yooper Rocketman

Ok, got it. Been there, lived in Havre DeGrace (sic?) just outside of Baltimore back in 74/75 while stationed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and toured a bunch of states while there. Just never made it there in my own plane yet. That's a pretty serious flight to just fill in a blank, but then 3 of the 4 states in the Continental US I have not visited are in the East (RI, NH and VT).

That is actually an "E" model. My hangar partner is an A&P and has owned and maintained that for 33 years. He is helping me on the IVPT right now and has a crazy medical condition that the FAA requires about $10K in tests every year to get his third class medical. Amazingly, he gets a special issuance every time, and the issue would have never been even discovered had he not done a voluntary "calcium test", as it appears his issue was from birth. So........he's working on all the tests to submit his medical again, thanks to being a Nam vet and the VA Hospital. If not for that, he would have sold the plane by now. We repainted not too long ago, after extensive speed mods ( I did one fuel tank reseal for him, after doing 2 on my F model) and he redid the interior and added a Garmin 430. It is a pretty sweet E model, flying 155 knots on 8 gallons an hour. Another clear case of why the third class medical need to go away!

Ok, you lost me on that one? NJ ?

Guess look at the subject line. I admitted stupidity. :>)

I don't fill it to the top often, but when the fuel pricing is good, and I use Airnav for all cross country flights, I top it off. Before extended range tanks were installed, almost every flight required careful fueling to ensure a good top off. When I dropped the Rocket off in Salina, KS (2001) for the TKS install, I gave explicit fueling instructions to the FBO. When I returned a month later to pick it up, they had only fueled to the bottom of the filler neck. I called them over, (different business than Cav Aerospace)and told them to finish fueling the plane. They were not happy, but installed another 8.5 gallons, which was just enough to allow for a non stop flight back to the U.P. That 8 gallons has to be fueled slow, as you need the vents to allow the air to come out of the tank. It can't vent out the filler neck due to the stupid baffles.

Don, Good to know. Not sure why this issue has only come up over the last several years, as I have owned this bird for 14 years.

Hank, I thought about that, but since the flapper overlaps the bottom of the filler neck, I would need to get my hand down inside the fuel tank. With tendinitis in both my wrists from way too many hours on the working side of hand sanding tools, there is no way I could do that. Unless something else comes up from another Mooniac, I will likely take a notch out of the o-ring. I clearly know the problem is not a vent, as there is no vent between the cap and the flapper plate. I will try to ge a picture of this set up tomorrow. I had no clue that most K models and newer didn't all have this option.

Yes, we have done it on my other project, but it requires some skill and patience. We just were not expecting the flapper to be stainless. I have for years called those flappers "dumb shxx" valves, for the dumb shxx that doesn't check his caps during the pre-flight. When I got the Rocket, it had chain lanyards on the fuel caps. That would be something, leave the cap off and have it beat the wing to death before getting back on the ground. Needless to say, those chains were one of the first things removed upon purchase. A replacement cap would be far cheaper than the skin work required from the chain holding the cap on the wing in flight.

Eric, I learned something pretty valuable in regards to a vey expensive repair to TKS systems. Will post that experience soon.

The only way that fixes the problem is if the fuel cap will leak air into the chamber. Not a solution I would desire. The whole reason this is a problem is because the seals on the fuel cap are working.

If I had known it was stainless, we would not have been trying to drill it.

Ya, if I could just do without the lead crap coming out of the exhaust, cleaning the bottom would be a piece of cake.

Thanks Jose

yep, flying in the Great Lake area it is almost a requirement. I have my fourth TKS system ordered from them right now for my project. Getting to know those guys pretty well.

Ya, I should have thought of that. Next year I'll wax the panels I DO take off on the bench. I DID say stupid, didn't I?

Ah, not you're not reading the problem close enough. There IS NO vent between the cap and the anti-sipon baffle. It's just a small 2" area under the cap.

Just finishing up my annual this year, and thanks to recent joining of this forum, I am more motivated than I have been in a while about my Mooney. (Must confess, working and spending a pile of money on another project pretty hard right now). First I installed vinyl on the window corners for the "newer look", which I DO like. Then I washed it and decided to wax it, doing the blue sections with some special "blue tinted" wax, left over from my Chevelle, that will fill and cover small imperfections. Have yet to do the white on the top of the plane (wings, horz, vert and fuselage), as I am waiting for my order of spinner and regular "California" wax products this forum so nicely made me aware of. Anyway, once I got the fuselage sides and tops of the inside and outside wing surfaces waxed, I thought, why not do the bottom since it's nice a clean. I had some regular car wax good enough for the bottom. Well, I worked from 7 PM last night until 1 AM waxing the entire bottom of the aircraft. I had never done that before and never realized what a project that would be. My wrists are pretty sore today. Water spots were on the camera, not the plane. Think I'll gain a knot in cruise?

During my annual this year my A&P and I looked at options to fix a nagging fuel cap removal problem. I have the spring loaded baffles inside the fuel filler neck that must be to keep fuel in the plane when someone is stupid enough to take off without the cap on. When I fly up in the flight levels, the air gets thin enough that the area between the cap and the baffle must reduce to altitude, and then when I get back on the ground, the baffle and cap are so well sealed that I have a vacuum on the cap. Sometimes one of them sticks so bad I need my fuel sump tool with the screwdriver to pop the cap off. I've had times line service has called me asking why the cap won't come off. We thought about drilling a VERY tiny hole (1/32") in the baffle, pulling the little bit of drill shavings away with an air operated vacuum, but it's stainless steel, and that effort put a broken drill bit in the tank. Thanks to luck and a magnet, we were able to retrieve it. I did look inside with a mirror and there is an o-ring in the lower face of the neck that the baffle seals against. I thought about pulling the o-ring and cutting a "nick" in it, but it doesn't look easy to re-install "if" I can even get it out. Anyone else had this issue and have ideas how to cure this nagging problem?

You don't want to do that with a turbo!

We had an amazing story about 50 miles east of me. In January of 2013, a CAP plane landed on a road in the middle of a town, at night, when the engine quit, and no injuries to the crew, and very minor damage to the plane. The pilot had flown for the Michigan DNR (Department of Natural Resources) for many years, doing fire patrol and I think wildlife studies. But that kind of outcome flying at night. He's got my respect! http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=844975#.VRw3k_nF-Xg http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=152347

Really? I didn't realize that wasn't the common type. I really like them manual.

When I picked up the Bonanza at Tornado Alley, after the new engine install and turbo upgrade was completed for Northwoods Airlifeline (a mercy flight organization I fly for), I had to fly it and be signed off by their test pilot. He was very specific about the leaning process, and taught exclusively LOP operations. We leaned until the engine almost died immediately after start up, and only went full rich as we rolled on to the active. Once leaned in cruise, he said don't touch the mixture again unless you are going missed on a landing. I had no problem with the process of mixture-throttle on missed, as I had been doing this all along on my Rocket anyway. I've run fine wire plugs a ton of hours on both my Mooneys and have had lead in the bottom plugs, needing to clean and rotate them every 100 hours, so can't say that problem will go away just by buying fine wire.

Agree with this. I've used my O2 a lot, and have never had an issue. That said, I've never installed the tubing to the ports without the flow meters dialed for flow. If we are done using them, we pull the tubing out of the ports. When the needle valve on the flow control is closed, the tubing will have to withstand regulated pressure, at best, and possibly much more if the tank regulator is not 100%.