ziggysanchez

It is mounted on top. I think that is my favorite angle to record from because it always gives me the feeling of flying while watching. Glad you enjoyed the video.

I'm thinking it really may depend on the insurance company. I'm not sure what the differences are between the insurance a shop would carry and the insurance we carry on our aircraft but I'm sure there is some difference. I once slid on the ice in my car and ran into the prop of my Cirrus SR22 (the prop wasn't spinning). I ended up with a bent blade. The engine and prop both had 1900 hours on them since new. Without going into a whole lot of detail, I ended up claiming it on my car insurance and decided on an engine overhaul from Western Skyways and new prop in lieu of a teardown and inspection and prop repair because of the high time on the engine and prop. The insurance company paid all but approx. $10,000.00 of the entire bill (which was in excess of $69k). I'm sure I wouldn't have been paid that much had I claimed it on my aircraft insurance but the car insurance handled it much differently than the aircraft insurance would have and it benefited me. I'm guessing Don may do a little better based on the fact he's not claiming this through "aircraft insurance". I could be wrong though.

Meant to post this Sunday. It was a bumpy day down low in Oklahoma but still a beautiful day to fly. Caught a video of my final approach into my home airport KGOK (Guthrie, OK).

How much for the rear seats?

Like everyone else said It can definitely be done and without removing either mag.

That airplane is incredibly fast!!! I enjoyed being there yesterday. Unfortunately I could only be there for one day. I didn't get to meet you @MrRodgers. Maybe next time.

@Ah-1 Cobra Pilot I sent you a PM.

Are you offering it for sale here? If so I would be interested. I would also be interested in how much you want to sell it for? I'm not much interested in purchasing through ebay.

That's how it reads but nowhere near exactly how it happened. Again, I gave a very abbreviated description of what was done to find the issue and after it was all said and done it became apparent that we didn't find what the real issue was until it happened a second time. Unlike when I was in my Cirrus. There was a puff of smoke from behind the radio stack in it one day. An inspection was done behind the panel that revealed no issues. A systems check was done that revealed no issues. An attempt was made to repeat the issue to no avail. After not finding anything definitive an educated guess based on the experience of the Cirrus service center was made but couldn't be confirmed. What was determined was that they believed it wasn't a safety of flight issue. It turned out to be what the service center thought it was. That took me ten minutes to write. Less time than that for you to read. But took an entire work day to play out in real time. In the case of my Mooney on that day there were ideas exchanged, inspections made, tests run, one piece of equipment removed (a Nav/Com radio), conclusions drawn and an educated guess and determination made that it was not a safety of flight issue. All of which took place between 11am and 6pm. The oversight of the chafed cable on that first day came as a result of the location of the smoke. The bulk of the inspecting was done behind the panel and the evidence of the arcing forward of the firewall was not visible. Were the conclusions and guesses that were made by Don and his staff wrong? Absolutely. Was it a result of incompetence or a desire on Don's part to deflect wanting to fix the airplane? Nope. Just a failure to find the real issue the first time around. I'm sure none of you have ever had a mechanic or avionics guy replace parts while trying to fix an issue you are having only to find that the work they did, didn't resolve your issues. Stuff happens.

You're right. It does. But not for the reasons you think. But because my post doesn't tell the entire story. I stated as much when I started the post. I didn't tell the whole story for the sake of time and length of the post. Some details were definitely left out. Probably some important ones. Just as details have been left out of the story you were told and have told us in this thread.

This is a bit long. I'll try to shorten it up as much as possible. In Oct. of 2016 I traveled to Longview, TX to pick up my 231 from the Maxwell's after purchasing it from them. Just before I took off for home there was a puff of smoke in the cockpit that came from behind the panel on the co-pilot side. After shut down Don, Paul and myself searched for what the culprit could be but to no avail. Don started and ran up the plane and there was no indication that anything was wrong. No more smoke, no indications of any failures, nothing. So he told me to let him know if I ended up having the issue again. I launched from KGGG to OKC without any issues on that flight. About two or three weeks later after putting a few hours on the plane I turned on the master switch and had another puff of smoke from behind the panel larger than the first one I had experienced in Longview. I pulled the cowl and found a place on the firewall next to the heater box where it looked like a wire had been arcing but didn't see any wires that looked like they could be the culprit. After speaking with Don and sending pictures he suggested I bring it back to them to look at again. It ended up being a chaffed battery cable. After replacing the cable everything was put back together and I was sent on my way. Taxied to the runway, accelerated for takeoff and just after rotation lost electrical power in the aircraft. Everything went offline that was electrically powered. I didn't retract the gear thinking it may not come up and if it did I may not get it back down so I left everything as it was and flew the pattern to land and taxied back to Maxwell's. Everything did come back online before landing. There was an electrical burning smell in the cockpit when I landed so I suspected it must be connected with the issue that I had flown in for them to fix. While troubleshooting the problem Don put his hand over the starter and it was too hot to touch. Anyway, turns out to be a starter solenoid failure that Don said he had never seen or encountered before. I won't get into all the details because it would take too long but It ended up frying my starter and completely draining the battery. By now it's after 6pm so I end up having to stay in Longview overnight at a hotel (which I had planned on possibly having to do anyway not knowing if my first issue was something they could fix in a day.) I was given a courtesy car and Don and I were able to have dinner together. It was cool to be able to talk aviation with him. The following morning Don locates a starter and solenoid and sends someone to pick it up in Dallas. By later that afternoon the starter and solenoid arrive and are installed in the airplane. It's getting late in the afternoon, so Don does a run-up on the plane and I can tell he doesn't like something he is seeing. After spending a considerable amount of time in the airplane he shuts it down and tells me he was getting an amperage indication on the JPI 900 that doesn't make sense. We go in his office, he makes some phone calls and I don't think he ever got the answers he was hoping for. Again, its after 6pm on my second day and a Friday night in Longview and he and Paul are still there trying to work out the issues on my airplane. Don suspects the battery may have been affected by the incident i had the previous day so he wants to run another battery test and let it charge overnight again. He told me He didn't want me flying it home at night until he knew it wasn't going to give me problems. I agreed. I didn't want to fly it at night either...lol. I called and made a hotel reservation again for that night before heading out to dinner with Don and Jan (his wife) who decided to join us. Again, I enjoyed getting to spend time with Don and Jan, (who I had only met that day) and getting to know them. You learn a lot about people when you spend more than just a few minutes with them. They were both extremely apologetic for the problems I was having, even though these were problems they neither created nor could have predicted. Sometimes these things just happen. At dinner Jan insisted that I stay with them in their home that night so I wouldn't have to incur the expense of another night in a hotel. I respectfully declined because I had already made a hotel reservation and I didn't want to impose. The next morning (on a Saturday) I show up at the shop. The battery has already been installed and Don has done a run-up and determined that everything is ok. Thirty minutes later I'm in the air and on my way back home to OKC. This isn't the only time Don and his staff have provided me with this level of service. When I had two cylinders fail earlier this year and was AOG in Idabel, OK. Paul (Don's son) and Tom were there within 12 hours of the failure diagnosing the problem and pulling the two cylinders. The cylinders failed on a Thursday night at around 11pm. I sent Don a text at midnight which he responded to immediately. Paul and Tom arrived the next morning (Friday) in Idabel between 10:30 and 11am and I was back in the air by the following Wednesday before dark. This is the reason it's difficult for me to believe that we have heard the entire story from some of the posters to this thread. I have no doubt that Don and his mechanics have missed some things on a PPI and unintentionally overlooked some things on an annual inspection and probably messed some things up. Every one of you on this forum who are aircraft mechanics have made those same mistakes while working on aircraft and will make them again. We're all only human. But having a failure after some sort of maintenance or repair doesn't automatically make it maintenance induced (like in my case.) Don Maxwell Aviation is the best shop I've ever dealt with (I'm sure there are others....I'm just speaking for myself) and after having spent a fair amount of time with Don and his family he has definitely earned and is worthy of the respect and admiration so many have bestowed upon him in the aviation community. Just my 2 pennies.

Yup....I'm much larger and a bit taller than Paul at 6'3" and 285 lbs. Looks like this myth was busted....lol

I want to give a big shout out to @gsxrpilot Paul Steen for giving me a lift back home yesterday from Maxwell's after dropping my plane off for a tank reseal. I enjoyed the ride in your 252. Fantastic airplane. It was nice to sit right seat for a change and not have to push buttons and pull levers.....lol. Thanks again Paul. You're an awesome guy and great pilot. Look forward to returning the favor someday. My plane should be done in approximately 3 weeks. If anyone is planning on dropping off their plane at Maxwell's in that time frame and need a lift home give me a shout.

A few are speculating but I've already spoken to all the people I need to in order to find out when and where to drop off. No need for Paul to respond to this thread. We've already spoken to one another.

I may be able to do it Monday morning. I'll text you tomorrow so we can coordinate. Thanks again Paul.

OK. Thanks. I'll let you know If I decide to go later in the week.

Let me know. I appreciate your willingness to help me out.

Thanks Paul. I'll let you know.

I'm dropping off my Mooney in Longview next Tuesday at Maxwell's. Any chance someone is free and could give me a lift back to Oklahoma City on that day? Of course I would be willing to cover your fuel costs.

Don Maxwell Aviation did an EDM 900 on a my 231 for approximately $5800 if I remember right. That was for the part and the install. So I definitely think they are charging too much.

I've got a couple Bromptons that fold up smaller than most. Great bikes. They don't fit through the baggage door of the Mooney but I can definitely slip them over the top of the rear seat with the headrests removed.

That’s fine

I’ll be in Antlers tomorrow evening and all day Saturday. Just let me know what works best for you and I’ll try to work around it. My schedule is pretty flexible during the day. After 5pm I have meetings.

I’m in SE Oklahoma every week at the Antlers airport (80F). You are more than welcome to check out my Mooney. Message me if you want to meet up. I’m 6’2” and 280lbs and I’m pretty comfortable in my plane. I’d be willing to meet you at the Idabel airport. I was flying into 4O4 every week up until about a month ago.

I had this happen shortly after taking delivery of mine. Puff of smoke behind the circuit breaker panel and electric burning smell, the whole nine yards. What it ended up being was the battery cable had been rubbing on the air box and exposed some wires. It was intermittently arcing on the firewall and would produce the smoke in the cockpit and smell. It may be worth it to take a look and see if there is any evidence of arcing on the firewall in that area.