larrynimmo

This afternoon I looked it over with my AI and spoke with Don Maxwell( who examined pics) and believe a suitable repair can be made in place…the Ai was quick to point out that my measurement of almost 2” difference in height was inaccurate because the plane wasn’t level…less than 1” of horiz stab height difference…and it may not be perfect, but above all it needs to be safe. The existing empennage is extremely rigid (not broke loose) I’m still going to have to get an elevator regardless as if I need a whole empennage they are typically picked clean. tomorrow we are going to drill out rivets and see where that takes us…no promises and if it had to be perfect, I would send out the empennage and have it rebuilt in a jig…and likely be without my plane for 6+ months.

Luckily, the elevators for the J model are the same throughout the production cycle…but still hard to come by. Reskinning of the one elevator through beagle is over $4,000 plus 12+ weeks.

That is a great story…I only hope my resolution is as pleasant…be glad that female flight instructor got away as the cost of that relationship likely was greater than the value of the plane…you just failed to realize that at the time!

Hopefully it can be easily resolved…if not there are remedies. The driver is a very responsible person

I do want it fixed right and to be safe…if AI feels he can’t do it right, or if he can’t straighten it like new, then we will shop for a whole empennage

From the inside it looks like this…. it’s my thought that we can drill out about 12-18 rivets and put back in place and re-rivet…it looks like most of the shock was absorbed in the crushing elevator, and then the empennage attempted to twist,and rivets snapped my AI will give the final verdict of how we are proceeding…my background years ago was repairing ships. picture should be turned 90 degrees to the left the bulkhead of the empennage looks absolutely perfect with no damage …of course pilots side fairing will need to be replaced. as for the elevator, I am hoping to find a suitable candidate.

I discussed with AI and we will likely remove empennage…really doesn’t look that difficult…frankly there’s no way that any of the bolts were significantly stressed, but stress was relieved by popping several rivets..in this pic the angle plate is now about 3/16” out from its original position…picture should be rotated to the left…passenger side of plane

On the other side there is 1/4” gap where originally likely 1/16 -1/8” gap

I spoke with them…they will quote me

He agreed to pay for repairs, plus both of our AI witnessed him backing his car into it

A fellow pilot backed into my elevator…. ideas please

Ok…what’s the hill value and how much?

I have the same issue, but I looked at it years ago, and there are a few “U” standoffs that actually give you that critical alignment. I think if you were to remove the “U” standoffs and resend them you could correct the alignment

All I can say is that many of you are going to a lot of trouble…if your in the hanger and you have a Harbour freight stool the lower cowling easily comes on and off in 5 minutes …single person. the stool costs less than $50 and is handy in the hanger

In my hanger I use a harbor freight spin stool to support the lower cowling as I remove it….and reinstall it very easy, safe and can be done with confidence.

Good advice….it was that way when I bought it approaching 5 years ago…I didn’t know better…whenever I leave the plane somewhere I “educate” the handlers for the best results

Both…it’s in that 1/32” range….

And let’s face it, the paper magneto gaskets don’t leak…and unlike other gaskets areas they have only two spots of compression, and is critically adjustable…paper gasket is the only solution for a mag

It’s not hard to find the flight data on flight aware….plane was doing a lot of maneuvering and a lot of slow flight….perhaps a biannual flight review…not really sure a very sad loss

I bought the 81 M20J before I started lessons. Except I did learn to fly in the 1970’s but gave up for several reasons. I took lessons and soloed in a warrior…then the rest of my flight training was in the Mooney….paid 65k…insurance was $2,750… that was back in 2017 a year after my wife died. In the next year I fixed up the plane, valued at 135k (but actually spent 100k in upgrades…after I got my license insurance went down to 2k…while everyone’s rates went up, my premium stayed at 2k because I got my instrument ticket…that’s where I am today with over 800 hours

Very true….new sensor came with a solid stamped copper gasket…one difference, old sensor did not have a centering ridge for the gasket to sit in….new sensor had this ridge…as you tightened by hand til finger tight, you then have to shift the copper gasket over the brass ridge built onto the sensor…then torqued up. No leak

I like 35 on the mains to reduce wear…my tires have always wore out on the outside…a little extra air seems to really help…and I’m not worried about hard landings as the LHS makes soft landing normal…and I don’t brake hard.

For months now I’ve been chasing down an oil leak….every flight I get a light film of oil on the front gear doors, but haven’t used a quart of oil in 9 hours….every chance I get, I’ve been removing the cowling and tightening up and looking for oil leaks (all with the supervision of my IA). AIs point was it’s an airplane, you will have oil leaks… And every trip still yields oil. Finally today I discovered oil on the oil temperature sensor…see pic…the only way I could photograph it (because of the odd access is with my borescope…) then I removed it…gasket apparently didn’t crush correctly… that sensor was installed when we installed the engine Lycomming factory rebuilt in sept 2018…so we went over 4 years before it stated to leak… also, the oil did not appear to track down on the engine where the sensor is mounted hopefully I found the real culprit…as you can see my nose gear is well lubricate and will be forever rust free!

First time for me to see one…what a great looking plane!

These tubes are made of high tensile steel