EricJ

A buddy had one and sold it a few years ago. Was a very nice airplane. I'm glad I didn't have to pay for the maintenance.

They're about half that at Harbor Freight. Same stuff. I use plastic ones as well, but I don't remember where I got them. https://www.harborfreight.com/rubber-strap-wrench-set-2-piece-69373.html

In my experience the pre-lubed Tempest filters are hardest to take off if you *do* use lube. I failed to wipe the oil off the sealing surface once and had a very, very hard time getting that one off. If you just follow the instructions and not lube it, they're generally easy to get off. If they do get sufficient oil on them they're harder to remove. Strap wrenches work well, but a 1" box-end wrench is my go-to when it gets difficult to get off. I bought a new Ford Ranger that has the oil filter in an odd location, and while I managed to get a strap filter in there to get it off, I discovered that a lot of people use these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SR53A Applying removal torque tightens the grip on it, like a strap wrench does, but this may provide access if there isn't space for a strap wrench or other tool. I haven't used it yet, but it might work on an airplane as well.

Fully mitigating risk means not flying at all, ever. Whether somebody is comfortable doing touch-and-goes or not is just a reflection of their risk tolerance and risk management and assessment skills. It is reasonable for different people to approach that differently. It is not, however, reasonable to expect everybody else to take a position that reflects one's own risk tolerance.

Mine will move around that much sometimes. It's a feedback control system that is not perfectly damped. If you are in turbulence or have the autopilot on altitude hold, there will be variance that sometimes takes the governor a moment or two to adjust. In my experience it's not unusual.

Only if extremely low, in other words, the oil supply to the governor is interrupted. On a Lycoming, that only starts happening when it's nearly out of oil, so if you have five quarts, that's not the issue. If oil pressure was good then the pickup or pump wasn't an issue, either.

The radiators for the liquid cooling have to go somewhere.

What was the oil pressure during the surges? Loss of oil is one thing that can cause this.

I don't know of a regulation to point to, but the W&B documention is supposed to be more-or-less integral with the equipment list. In other words, updating the W&B is supposed to include updating the Equipment list if it affected. The Weight and Balance Handbook, FAA-H-8083-1B, describes this throughout: https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/FAA-H-8083-1.pdf This suggests that the Equipment List is supposed to be maintained, and sometimes it is "maintained" only by notes on updated W&B balance sheets (e.g., Deleted Gizmo X, Installed Gizmo Y). When that's the case then those historic W&B sheets do need to be maintained if they're the continuation of the Equipment List. Maintaining the Equipment List to be current means only the latest W&B sheet that reflects the state of the aircraft is necessary. So that's kind of a good point regarding whether to keep all of the W&B sheets or not.

I suspect the drift that's happening on my airplane may be a ground or something changing, but it's strange behavior. The CHTs have been fine, the reported live system voltage has been consistent, etc. If and/or when it gets bad enough that it needs attention I'll try to figure it out.

Yes, any binder is fine. I got a replacement at Staples. The actual AFMS, i.e., the part that is required to be in the airplane, is usually a separate document specifically identified as the AFMS by the manufacturer. The first page or title page should identify it as the AFMS or something similarly named.

Do you mean the POH or something else? You should have the POH that was delivered with your airplane and is marked with the specific aircraft serial number. It should have the original equipment list, FAA approval signatures, etc. That said, a scanned electronic copy of it can be in the airplane instead of the original. Yes, that needs to be signed off by an A&P.

You really only need the last one. If there are questions as to the accuracy of the last one, having some of the recent history may be useful. If you intend to have multiple configurations, e.g., with and without the back seat installed, then you need a W&B for each case or at least for the case covering the current configuration. If you have a W&B sheet from before that modification and know what was deleted and installed, a new W&B can be computed from the last known "good" one. If that isn't possible, you can always weigh the airplane and start anew. Many people don't like to do this because all of the weight from accumulated dirt, grease, repairs, unremoved wiring, etc., etc., suddenly shows up. I did this a while back and started with the equipment list in the POH, which had the original list from the factory delivery, and just deleting stuff that was no longer there and adding stuff that had replaced the removed equipment or known additions. It was a lot easier than I had expected it to be. I don't know anything about Aero Space reports, but you can get the officially recorded documents directly from the FAA. The old process was to send in $10 and they'd send you a CD with everything on it, but now you can create an account on a new site and download the documents directly. Basically if it's not in the files they have, it doesn't exist. Go to https://cares.faa.gov/home and create an account (which was a little tricky for me for some reason). Once the account is created you'll be able to directly research all kinds of documents, including all of the files (337s, etc.), for any airplane. Usually manufacturers allow direct access of that sort of documentation, e.g., you can just look up AFM supplements for any installed equipment and download it. You can then print it out and add it to the POH. A more modern method is to keep all of the related documents, POH, AFM supplements, etc., etc., as electronic files in your EFB, on your phone, or at least on a thumb drive that remains in the airplane or readily accessible when demanded during a ramp check or annual or whatever. Given the large AFM supplements that come with a lof of equipment these days, printing them all out to add to the physical POH gets pretty ridiculous. The bottom line, though, is that you do need to have all of the relevant supplements in the aircraft, but they can be electronic. You only need the version delivered with the airplane, i.e., specific to your serial number. There is a document, I think a spreadsheet or something, floating around that shows every POH version related to all the models and serial numbers. I replaced mine with one from Staples. It's good that you're trying to do things as correctly as possible, and this place is a good resource to get info regarding that.

Likewise, something reasonably smart that was done on my airplane during the last avionics upgrade was placing a bundle of CANbus cables from under the panel to the avionics shelf in the tail. My GMU11 and GAD29B are both back there, so I guess they just took the opportunity to bundle a bunch of cables rather than just what they needed. Might be handy in the future.

I suspect McFarlane is the only actual source. I think they were the OEM supplier for Mooney for a long time. That's probably why they can supply cables with the Mooney pn.