AlexLev

That video really helped me when I was going for my CPL.

I think it would sell quick for 25K. 30 might take longer. I’d prob price it at 27,500.

Had a unique experience at a pretty popular chain of FBOs yesterday. Stopped in for a break on a 4-hour flight home, asked for a top off, grabbed their crew car...on the way back, the CSR casually mentions "the line guy said to check your left fuel cap." I go out to the plane and see this: I try moving it and the arm portion sticking up is pretty much stuck. I am concerned that I'll break something if I try to force it any further, so I go back to the CSR -- the two line men come out to the plane. One guy tries blaming it on the "older fuel caps." That pisses me off - are you kidding me, buddy? I tell them - it's an expensive part, if they break it, they fix it. Eventually and reluctantly, they called a mechanic out. I'm sitting and waiting. A few times, I notice the line guys coming up to try to fix it (remove the stuck cap that's probably cross threaded) on the plane. I immediately come out there to watch. The third time they do this, I ask the CSR to not have them work on the plane without me being present. As I walk over, he cheerfully exclaims that he got it off. I don't really share his joy at this point and go to examine the cap. It looks like it's fine. There was a slight bend in the metal piece underneath (not on the cap but the part it threads into), but it didn't look significant. I told them I'd have my mechanic take a look at the next service cycle if it was and left it at that. He apologized, said he learned a lot and I departed, a little over an hour delayed. So what are your story of line employees screwing up? Did they take responsibility? How did it get resolved?

Seems like a great price for a J model if there are no red flags. Do keep in mind you'll likely have to overhaul the engine in the perhaps very-near future as that has been one has been in service for over 20 years. Even with an overhaul necessary in the next year or two, the price seems right to me.

Bendix. I’m tempted to keep them or send them in for overhaul or IRAN to keep on the shelf, but we converted from terminal style to ring style connection so not sure if it makes complete sense. For those that have had mags replaced, how much labor does it usually take your mechanic? I have an older vintage Mooney without a ton of room, so I thought the 4-5 hrs per side or so was a reasonable amount of time.

Thought I'd close the loop...ended up going with Aircraft Magneto Service to do two overhauled exchange units. The timing on the engine was already a bit off and each mag was just around the 500hr mark, so I decided to bite the bullet and just do both. Cost-wise: it was about $2,000 for the two mags with $300 going back after I send them the core (so 1700) Labor wise: 11-hours to R&R both mags, convert from a harness to ring-style connector, change oil, manufacture new oil breather hose (exhaust ate into mine), clean+gap spark plugs + boroscope+ compression test each cylinder. Downtime was only 1-day. My engine purrs now though and I'm really glad I did it.

Looking to service my mags. Do you send them for a 500-hour IRAN? OR Swap them out for an overhauled exchange? Curious if anyone has recommendations for the overhaul exchange option as far as who they use?

I've had my M20G for about 4 years. I like it. I get about 144-145kts at 6000, about 140-141kts at 8500 TAS.

On a recent weekend trip to Montreal, had the plane sitting outside in 2F for 3 days while I was out there. I had the line crew plug in a Tannis heater for the entire duration, but the plane was still super difficult to start. On top of that, one of the fasteners for the oil panel was missing :-/. The flight back had it flapping half open, unfortunately. See picture below. Any idea where I can order a replacement and what this fastener is called? I do believe my plane has one of the cowl mods: Attached some pictures of fasteners:

I have the same fuel pressure on climbout in my M20G, so you're not alone. I dealt with a mag failure a few years back and also made a precautionary landing not at my home field. Was down for a few weeks, but the field did have a shop that took decent care of it. About 5 hours for a mag R&R + the part, which for an exchange came in at about $1,000+.

Great news: was a just a loose alternator belt, which proves that neither me nor my CFI knows what a loose alternator belt feels like! Edit: Mooney maintenance manual is on point as well - it calls for a retorquing of a new belt after 25 hours of flight operation. My belt was replaced exactly 25 hours ago and definitely needed to be tightened.

Yup, definitely through the headset. I hear it more pronounced with the avionics switch on rather than off. and @Ragsf15e - yeah if you have the links handy to the threads from last year, that would be helpful. Thanks!

Thanks, Dev. Helpful diagram. Hope you've been well!

I had to replace my alternator belt only a few months ago...today I went up to practice maneuvers and see a slight discharge and a bit of a more-than-normal whirring noise in headset. With the landing light on, it seems like the ammeter shows a discharge, but ALT INOP doesn't light up. Bottom line, something doesn't seem to be working right. If I turn the load off, I can maybe get a positive charge in cruise, but not super consistently. Any experience to share? I have a plane-power generator to alternator conversion.

Hope to be able to make it next year.

Any considerations for using all these chemicals around the wing spar back there??

Mine are on my 68 M20G.

The carpet on the right side got unglued and the foam backing beneath deteriorated quite a bit. I am thinking of pulling both left & right carpets and replacing them with an SCS-interior carpet. Or should I just find a carpet store and have them custom cut something vs using SCS-Interior pre-cut? As long as the carpets have burn certificates, it's fine, right? Few q's: 1) For those that have done this, what are some good supplies to use to clean up all the crap once the carpets are out? The spar is out in the back so I want to make sure I'm extra careful and clean it without promoting any corrosion. 2) Should I go with the ensolate foam backing again or will it just cause more problems down the road? Does it add extra protection? 3) Any other tips + tricks appreciated.

Anyone still at Oshkosh this weekend? I'm planning to fly in tomorrow evening (about 6:30pm arrival), be there all day Saturday and leave Sunday AM. First time flying in myself, although I did go a few years ago with a friend in his 210.

Haha, no - thank YOU, you're the one doing the real work in building community here. All I did was some mental masturbation.

I agree with you, but I also think the Mooney brand needs to have a strategy to empower the Mooney community and work with us to foster that goodwill and brand evangelism. We are their greatest asset, but their marketing strategy is probably outdated and not community-empowering focused. It's definitely a tough challenge for any Community Manager as Mooney-owners probably aren't the easiest group of people to engage in a way that is strategic and in service to their company goals. If I was Mooney, I would consider these initiatives to build community: 1) have a social strategy that encourages legacy Mooney owners to show off their aircraft, awards free parts to best voted aircraft, with the message and branding being that "Mooney's last forever." 2) have a strategy to empower Mooney owners to host Mooney-specific fly-ins and fly in new aircraft for display for those flyins. 3) reassure Mooney owners that they love supporting the fleet with parts, etc. 4) listen and be transparent. we want to see the return of something like an M20J at a competitive price point, but there are probably real reasons why Mooney can't do that and remain profitable. it would be nice to have someone from Mooney address these concerns in a customer-facing way that protects their interest (obviously they can't be completely transparent and give us #'s and data), but at least be listening to the community and thinking about real ways to address the needs of them. 5) find a way to empower the Mooney community to grow the GA market as a whole. tell the stories of those Mooney owners whose lifestyle has been transformed thanks to their time machine. more time with family, friends, etc. 6) although the pilot population is mostly male and it makes sense that their marketing appeals mostly to men, I think rethinking that strategy and broadening the horizon as the industry is becoming more diverse and being a proponent for that diversity. 7) inviting some Mooney owners to give feedback, some form of beta-program to help develop better feedback loops and help people in the community feel included as a result. 8) put a program in place where MSCs can host Mooney-specific events/fly-ins/etc to increase education among Mooney maintenance among owners. they should have some leverage in order allow these repair stations to use the Mooney logo and be a "licensed repair station." Just some ideas from someone whose job it is to build communities around brands (not aviation field).

@Alfredosorry we didn't get a chance to meet - glad you had a great adventure out here with family and got your JPI fixed. Next time I hope you visit and stay with us Very cool that you decided to land at JFK too, what a thrill!!!

Sweet tip! I'll definitely investigate next time, although the problem seems to have been fixed w/the shims so far.

A guy not in the cockpit telling someone to put the gear up and flaps down based on what he sees and interprets in a different airplane than the one he is flying? This would drive me absolutely mad. I also hate the guys on UNICOM who tell you anything but the wind. I remember landing in Vermont once and the UNICOM guy was basically telling me not to land the runway I was landing at because of a 20knot crosswind. When you're flying, you can make all the decisions you want. Unsolicited advice, unless it's something like hey dummy, your gear is up...isn't welcome.

Update: Took it to Weber and they installed a few shims, which I think corrected the problem.