Skates97

I don't know if there's a procedure, but you could check and see if there's a couple washers on the screws between the cups. They keep them spaced apart. It's possible if someone has had things apart that the washers fell out on disassembly allowing them to pinch together. @M20Doccould probably say if they were there on all the C's, I don't have the parts manual in front of me.

I tried my friends at his hangar and bought one myself. I recommend getting the locking wheel option, it rolls so smooth that without the locking wheels you're all over the place when trying to work. Another thing to consider, I went with the heavy duty 3" casters that increases the height by 5/8". That makes it a tight squeeze under the Mooney, if I had a belly on me I might not fit....

You might be surprised. I know the POH for my D which I would think is the same for the rest of the short bodies, has the ground roll at sea level at 550' at 2,200 lbs, 595' at max gross of 2,575 lbs. If you put it down on the numbers you don't need much runway. If you float it for awhile that is a whole different story.

Oceano is the shortest one I have been into and didn't need nearly the whole thing. I routinely make the turnoff at Delta which is about 1,200', I can make the turn at Foxtrot at 1,700' without really touching the brakes. A few times with a decent wind down the runway I have made the turnoff at Charlie and that is about 650'.

They make a silicone gasket which does much better, just do not over tighten it. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/basegasket.php My O-360 has had various leaks over the 5 1/2 years I have had it but I have always been able to eventually track them down and eliminate them. I don't fall in the "they all leak" camp, even with high hours. Mine is almost to 2,100 hours and currently (finds a piece of wood to knock on) not leaking and hasn't for the past 5-6 months. The last leak was a stripped clamp on the oil return line from the #3 cylinder. Didn't do enough to be obvious but just enough to annoy me.

The easiest answer is to run one tank dry, or if you aren't comfortable with that close to what you think is dry. Then fill it and see how much it takes to fill it and do the math.

Yes, they have a caveat that if you don't fall into the "normal" use they will notify you and you have to make changes. Is there a way to tweak settings that allow for inserting images from Google photos? That would be an easy way for users to put in pics without using up space similar to embedding a Youtube link. There is an option to "Insert image from URL" but if you upload an image to Google photos, select share and get the link the forum here doesn't recognize it as an image link and so it can't be inserted. For instance, this is a link to a pic I was trying to post in another thread but the forum won't recognize it and insert it. https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZdEiEwvgpLk6ieFMA

I'm curious what the hosting plan is? I'm not criticizing, just asking. The hosting service where I have my site has unlimited storage,. email accounts, unmetered bandwidth, and runs me $180/year.

I have flown that one before. We stopped in KPGA and flew up that leg and then low through monument valley enroute to KPSO, it was a beautiful flight. The previous mentioned instance was a little further south. They were low enough that ATC lost them on radar so couldn't tell us exactly when they would be passing or how close, just their direction, approximate altitude below us, and speed. I would add a screen shot, but apparently can't add pictures anymore and adding it from a url doesn't work either....

There is an option to add a photo from a url, but I would love to know what the secret is to making it work. I tried uploading a pic to google photos and getting the link to it, but when I use that link it will not add it.

The last time we flew to our place in Colorado we were just west of Ship Rock, NM when ATC advised us to keep an eye out for a pair of F-16's moving from our right to left. There is a charted military route through there, IR126. We were at 9,500', the ground is about 6,000' MSL. We were told they were about 3,000' below us doing about 600 across the ground. Never saw them.

We were on flight following once and pacing a Cherokee in my M20D, within 1-2mph according to ADS-B. Same altitude, same direction of flight, about four miles apart so winds were the same. Having done all my PPL in Cherokee's I was very familiar with their performance and I kept thinking "There's no way that's a Cherokee." I was low enough for a cell signal and looked up the N number. It was a Cherokee Six, that made me feel better about the speed of my Mooney with its little 180hp O-360.

The next time you have smooth air on descent just push the nose over and let the speed come up. Vne in mine is 189mph, I want to say it alerted at 184mph but I don't remember.

Yes, a tone for altitudes. The airspeed alert is voice, not a tone.

I did not get the alert when I only had the G5's in my plane. With the GFC500 added I do get the alert. It also gives and "Airspeed" alert when approaching Vne. I agree with everything you said here. I didn't fly for 16 years but did fly for 5 without an autopilot or even the wing leveler. The GFC500 is amazing, and does handle the bumps well. On a recent flight from CO back to CA it was working constantly through the up and down drafts. You can see the speed variations as it held altitude. We had a fairly ugly headwind the whole way back.

I wrote an article for The Mooney Flyer in April 2021 and list all the parts to make a similar mount that just attaches to the tie down. There's also a bunch of information about different cameras and cables to use for capturing audio. https://themooneyflyer.com/issues/2021-AprTMF.pdf

My wife keeps telling me she wants the plane painted (yes, I realize this is a good problem). I think I'm going to have to wait for the new cowling to replace it and then get the plane painted.

I was just browsing on my phone earlier and couldn't find the thread that I started but finally found it browsing on my computer. Here is all the information in one post, hopefully it is helpful.

Or it is completely random... Flying at 10,500' over the middle of nowhere New Mexico, cell call with crystal clear audio. Flying at 3,000' over the LA Basin, spotty service...

Tom, great to have you back, although I wish it had been for different circumstances. I'm glad I got to see your plane in person on the line at Oshkosh last year.

Let me see if this helps. Here is the log entry, in bold are the numbers that correspond to the picture from the M20R parts manual, illustration below. "Replaced control wheels, shafts and yoke control tube assemblies with PN LH Control Wheel Shaft - 710064-509 (#5), RH Control Wheel Shaft - 710064-510 (#5). Yoke Assembly - 710065-503 (#2), Control Tube Assembly - (2x) - 710083-501 (#11). Verified no binding or rubbing on any pieces throughout full range of motion. Wired push-to-talk switches on both control wheels and verified proper operation." For reference here is the illustration from the M20D parts catalog, it is a little easier to see how it all goes together. I think the one you have a question about is #11 in the M20R catalog, #9 in the M20D catalog. I don't think that you have to replace it, but I had the new pieces so went ahead and replaced them. I figure they are 30 years newer than the ones that were in my plane so I might as well replace them as leave them sitting on the shelf.

Don't just look at the front of the oil cooler. I was replacing the cooler lines in my plane a couple years back and decided to do the oil cooler while I was at it, it was getting old but still looked ok from the front. The fins on the backside however were falling apart.

I have read a lot of your posts and know you have had a lot of issues since acquiring the plane, probably more than you have documented here over the years. That is generating the anxiety. However, focus on what is in bold above, "what an albatross this plane was" with "was" being the most important word in that sentence. You have done so much work to take it from a problem plane (understatement of the year) to the beautiful airworthy plane it is now. It is just baggage hanging around in your mind thinking of all the problems. The silver lining of all those clouds is that you know your plane inside and out, I don't think there is any unknown factor for you anymore. Stay on top of the maintenance, and enjoy flying your plane. The irony is that if you sold it for another plane that is supposedly all sorted out, that even if it had issues you weren't aware of you might feel more comfortable in it "not knowing what you don't know." One of the things I take comfort in whenever I fly my plane is that I have been all though it and know it well. I can say that over the years when something has failed I have a twinge of nervousness on the next few flights after the repair wondering "what is going to be next" which may be similar to what you are feeling. However, I continue to rely on thorough pre-flights and ongoing maintenance and that I will find anything that could be catastrophic before it gets to that point.

Thanks! The Hudson River is on my bucket list. @201er has some great videos of flying it.