chrixxer

Hmm, I have a feeling if I try to replace the carb heat cable, my A&P might refuse to work with me again...

Reviving a dead thread... The F has a couple of holes under the electronics shelf in the tale, left over from old antennae. Is there any sort of bracket / plug / receptacle that can be dropped into one of those for external battery tender hookup? While installing the SureFly, might as well...

I mean, I'm all about increasing reliability and modernizing my single engine, but the long term plan is still to add a spare jug... My engine builder won't install non-overhauled accessories, including the magnetos, even though they were gone over recently by Aero Accessories and are in great shape. At this point in the pain process, it's a rounding error... (The $650 price is after a $300 core charge refund when I mail back my existing mag(s).)

Thanks. Approx. cost? ( looks like about 200 per cable for the push/pull, but what about quadrant throttle?)

Assuming I should do the cables while the plane is apart for engine overhaul. 1969 M20F with the throttle quadrant. What do I need and where do I buy 'em?

Finally getting back to the "having a running Mooney" project. The engine builder wants overhauled magnetos (even though mine were IRAN'd ~200 hours and ~1.5 years ago). That looks to be about $650/each, plus ~$350 every 500 hours for an IRAN, each mag (more if parts are needed; Aero Accessories pricing, $240 for the IRAN kit plus $110/mag labor, and my most recent IRAN also needed a $185 coil, total bill $944). So, let's say about $2000-2400 over the lifetime of the engine, per mag. Or ... $1200 for a SureFly electronic ignition (ACS is running a 15% off promotion), 2400 hour lifespan, and all the bonuses electronic ignition is supposed to provide. (Let's say it saves 0.5 gph; over 2000 hours that's a $2,500 fuel savings...) My existing mags are the Bendix 200s (S4LN-200 and -204). What should I be looking for? 1969 M20F, IO-360-A1A, everything original more or less (I'm pretty sure it's still using the shower of sparks, etc). Which mag do I change for maximum modernization (eliminate the SoS, etc)? Looks like I'll need the SIM4N and a Slick wiring harness (about $500?) (Q&A): Q: Mooney utilizes the shower of sparks system and does not have an impulse coupler. Would I buy the Sim4p or the Sim4N? A Shower of Sparks system would be replaced by a SIM4N. As a side note, that is a Bendix magneto and will require the installer to change the spark plug harness with one that mates to a Slick magneto. All SureFly units mate with Slick style harnesses. Anything else I'm missing? (I'm reaching out to SureFly directly too, just wondered what the collective wisdom of the MooneySpacers had accumulated...) Thanks!!

They're not; I just tried the M20E checklist: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0iq7aqwqjrisagz/RPReplay_Final1587761951.MP4?dl=0 In Safari, tapping the link to the .fmd file opens Google Drive, which recognizes it as an unsupported file. But tap the menu icon at the top (the three dots) and select Open In, and then expand the list to see all the apps on the device to select ForeFlight. ForeFlight opens it and adds it to the list of checklists (and you can see it opens just fine, in the video). How are you trying to import it into ForeFlight? Maybe I can help...

I was summoned via PM ... Haven't been flying the Mooney lately, between (a) it not having an engine, (b) training in the Duchess, and (c) the whole "world shutting down" thing a few weeks ago. Meh. About to get back into it, though. Finally (!?) got forwarded the Divco invoices from January, paid them ... Let's get this project back on track!

Here are the checklists I used (RIP) for the M20E (manual/hydraulic), and use for the M20F (electric): https://flying-geek.blogspot.com/2020/04/mooney-checklists.html

One of my first flights on my PPL, I was taking a Warrior into McCarran. I trained on Hershey wing Cherokees. Tower had me keep "maximum speed to the numbers." I crossed the threshold at a blistering 105 kias, chopped power, and ... floated. I finally got it on the ground (at about 50 kias still indicating) maybe 100' before Whiskey (1L). Tower tells me to turn left at Whiskey. Yeah, that ain't gonna happen. (Maybe on two wheels, in KITT...) "Unable." I hear the tower controller audibly sigh on frequency. "Warrior Niner Bravo Zulu, turn left Sierra, contact ground. Southwest eight seven six five, go around."

SR20s climb like dogs. Gross weight, ~500 fpm sea level, dropping to about 300 fpm by 2000' on a 20°C day. BTDT.

I only fly the same two (now three) planes all the time; M20F, SR22, and now (training) a BE76. All the checklists all the time (ForeFlight for the Mooney and the Duchess, and the one built into the Avidyne for the SR22). Even when I'm "just" flying the Mooney regularly and nothing else, there's always some stupid little thing I forget (like setting the DG to the compass, or resetting the fuel totalizer) if I don't run down the checklist. I love the electronic ones, too (I spent hours crafting the ones in ForeFlight), as it removes the possibility I'll accidentally skip over something and not realize it. It's marked "checked" or I didn't do it. It also lets me delay some checks (like, switching the mechanical fuel pump on, when I'm going to be sitting ~20 minutes waiting on an IFR release) and then go back and check those items off without forgetting them.

The hydraulic flaps on the M20E had a Vfe speed of 100 mph. The electric flaps ('69 and newer) went to 125 mph IIRC. Not sure what they are on the '66 (sure it's not a '67, built in late '66? Didn't think the F debuted until the 1967 model) F, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were 105 mph.

I wish they had a more diverse product offering, too. I wish they still made the J/K, for those of us who still value efficiency and don't like the (TS)IO-550 engine. I wish they had a light twin on par with a Baron (or even a Duchess; a FIKI "Twin J" would have been my next plane; fuel injected 200HP IO-360s competing with the Seminole...). Even Cirrus has pushed to have four basic models in their lineup (SR20, SR22, SR22T(N), and now SF50).

When I toured the factory in October 2017, they discussed openly how they were contracting out their unused capacity to other businesses. (Also, the production lines sat idle for about 9 months while the Ultras were being certified, IIRC.) To the poster before who said they'd filed for bankruptcy - that would be public record, and I've searched PACER and don't see any Mooney filing in the Western Texas Bankruptcy court ...?

Okay, the engine guru is back from England and my A&P is finally caught up enough to, hopefully today, remove the engine. Setup a Google Docs file where I've collected my thoughts and available information, so far (including valuable suggestions and information that came from all y'all, thank you so much!). If anyone wants to follow along, or comment on anything I've overlooked or just have plain wrong, here you go: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PXFKVeMgVDzpArThbZkRpvGP3hgKSb3QKHLbJ51KCBY/edit?usp=sharing

Two years ago I was all set to buy this weird, kinda cool, Trophy Mod '67 M20F with a TCM IO-360-ES, extended range tanks, a cutting edge (in 1998) panel, and flames painted on the side...

If I was going to pull the trigger today, I like this: https://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-sale/32785019/1982-beechcraft-58-baron Thoughts?

Yeah, there's that, too. But I've learned all I need is about 10' of pavement and a tree...

All good things to know. Is there a piston single you like? I'd love IO-540s... Later Senecas are also TCM. Piper Aztec?

How does that compare with a FIKI Ovation? (Some of those numbers are optional; $30K radar, $30K G600, $20K radio stack...) I know overhaul on an IO-470 or -520 or -550 will be significantly more than the IO-360, but that would be true for the Ovation as well (albeit doubled for the twin). (And honestly I just don't trust the IO-550s that much. I would if I had an online "spare," but as a single engine ... Skeeves me a bit. YMMV.) Fuel cost, roughly doubled. But that's 35% of my hourly operating cost. Hangar, database updates, etc., will be the same. Insurance: TBD. The maintenance of the de-icing system will be the same on either bird (if TKS). After 30 years of ownership, including engine overhauls (with reserve set aside for them) etc., "we" have calculated "our" C340 is $300/hr to operate (dry). With fuel (38 gph) to feed those blown Ram VII TSIO-520s, it's about a $500/hr airplane. But it's a turbocharged, pressurized, heavy "light" twin, with significantly more complex systems, requires a huge hangar, etc. (I don't have an ownership interest in the C340, but I work for the guy who does, and we use it on firm business regularly and I'm privy to the particulars.) I expect a Baron will fall somewhere between an Ovation and a C340 in operating costs... The nicely upgraded, well maintained one on the field rents for $289/hr wet.

I guess where I'm at is, I love my Mooney. But once you start getting into planes like a FIKI, glass panel Ovation, you lose most of the fuel efficiency and cost/benefit you get with the mid-body birds. Starting to plan ahead to the Next Plane, which will likely be the Last Plane (though I said that about the F ... though that was before I pushed the envelope of my missions, with mountain flying and cross-country winter travel). Unless somehow I can afford a TBM-700 at some point. (I'd put the PT-6 in roughly the same category as redundant pistons.) I'll have a significant amount of time in a Baron before I take the plunge. There's a very nice (G500/GTN750/etc) one on the field for rent, and the wet rate is "only" about $100/hr more than the operating cost I calculated for my Mooney (based on 150 hours/year, and including fixed costs) - and only about $40/hr more than renting an underpowered (but shiny) SR20. But it doesn't really make sense to me to put six figures into an airplane that doesn't fundamentally change the calculus. $250K can get me a G2 SR22 with old, failing Avidyne avionics and ever-more-expensive chute repacks every 10 years, etc., for a plane that's not all that fun to fly (really hate the bungee-linked side yoke and the electric-only trim that can never be quite dialed in), doesn't have great range, doesn't easily fit the dogs or equipment (I have the rear seatbacks pulled out of the F for crates for rescue dogs, or for the fluffy nest I built for my pups for long X/Cs - also makes transporting skis effortless). It might get me one of the rare Bravos or Ovations with FIKI TKS, or maybe a TKS FIKI 252/Encore. But then I still have the single engine concerns. Our MEAs around here are high, the terrain is unforgiving (I'm not sure I'd expect to survive an engine out over the Sierras even with CAPS, especially at night in the winter...). Or, you know, multi-engine... I've found a couple of FIKI BE58s with "decent enough" avionics. I'd be shut out from a lot of the cheap stuff that's starting to come out (I think Dynon was going to have the SkyView HDX for the Baron, but IIRC the G3X, G5, etc. AMLs only include ASELs so far?)... A lot to consider.

Counting engines ... One ... One.

Yeah, I know they're out there, I just haven't seen any come up for sale. (I'm not in the market yet, but I'm starting to look at it ...) TKS vs. boots: Anti-ice vs. ice removal? The reality is, ice scares me, even properly equipped. There are low risk situations where I'd use it to be legal, but that's about it. Case in point, I was three days delayed leaving St. Louis after New Year's this year because there was a thin layer (<1,000') of clouds sitting about 700' off the ground, and freezing levels were to the surface. I would have been out of it in less than a minute, and could have used FIKI equipment to punch through that layer. But that's about the extent of what I'd do with it. (Other than get out of unexpected icing. Same trip, east bound, weather reports were clear when I departed ABQ, but several hours later a small pocket of precipitation had popped up. ATC advised I was heading right towards it. It was night, and dark (no moon), but I could see city lights below and ahead crystal clear, wasn't thinking about weather really much at all. Popped on my landing lights and - oh, hey, I'm already in rain. Plotted a course to divert around the pocket and cleared it with ATC (I was IFR). Checked my wing with a flashlight and it was clear. Pulled up icing levels in ForeFlight and saw 5,000' would put me out of risk. Asked ATC for that and got approved, started my descent. Checked my wing again - light rime forming. Only picked up a few crystals, but it freaked me out a bit.)

There's a lot to like about the TwinC, but it doesn't really fit my mission.