EricJ

I've been told by local controllers in this area that space violations are automatically flagged, so it's not even necessary for a human to notice it. Even without ADS-B, your transponder ID is unique to your aircraft, so with or without it they can find who it was. Processing these things apparently takes time so it can be quite a while before you're contacted *if* they decide to bother with it. Apparently there's enough much crazier stuff going on that a lot of inadvertent incursions don't get attention. Let us know what happens or doesn't happen. The ASRS is a must-do for stuff like this. That's what it's for.

Cavemen developed fire with COBOL.

This came up recently locally. My hangar neighbor has an M20A and says that an earlier neighbor with an M20A that was an engineer did the analysis on the aero forces from the inner doors and determined that a different-sized spring was needed and had one fabbed. This allowed addition of the inner doors with a Johnson bar, apparently successfully via 337 with a field approval. On my J if I wait a little too long or am faster than I think I am on a go-around, pulling the gear up above about 90kts will consistently blow the breaker. When I was doing my IR training I'd have to pre-brief instructors that on missed approach go-around I have to pitch up quite a bit before I can pull the gear up, so don't be alarmed. I didn't fully appreciate until recently that this is probably largely a consequence of the aero forces from the inner gear doors.

What lubricant did you wind up using on the cables?

A leak in the line or hoses from the engine intake to the gauge will do that. If the line/hose breaks or becomes undone completely it becomes an ambient pressure gauge, a leak will produce behavior somewhere between normal and a broken line, depending on how bad the leak is. If the leak is bad the idle speed may go up.

Maybe a collapse? Looks like the doors are partially open.

Just make sure the plastic in the bucket isn't soluble in gasoline. Either test with a little bit of gasoline and make certain is doesn't dissolve or use a plastic that is known insoluble to gasoline (like a red fuel jug). Learned that the hard way long ago.

When my buddy had 10 gallons taken out of his airplane at a remote field one weekend we figured one security strategy would be to wrap a ton of that stuff around the wing over the fill caps. At a minimum you'd be able to tell whether anybody had messed with it or not.

Brice and Paul are dealing with the snow in Arizona.

That was my feeling as well. The 540 still has synthetic vision, too, so I couldn't see the value given the additional cost. Maybe there's something I'm not seeing, either.

Everything is awesome!

Aicraft spruce still sells alodine, though, both the 1201 stuff as well as the 1001 that dries clear and apparently people use on unpainted/polished airplanes. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/alodine1201.php Maxwell's shop fabbed a new belly piece (the one right behind the nose gear) when they did the PPI and initial work on my airplane, but didn't prep or paint it. I've been meaning to get it off and scotch brite and paint it, but how best to do the anti-corrosion has made me wait a bit. Plus I'm lazy. Been leaning toward the 1201 stuff, but it's kinda pricey for no more than I need to do. Right now it gets continual preservation coatings from my oil leak.

That's very evident around here, where we have a large number of large flying schools, filling our airspace with school planes and students. I spend my days in close proximity to one of those large schools and have some friends who've been through them. The process, as one might expect, is that as the students move up and accumulate ratings, a CFI and CFII are among the ratings that they can get. They're motivated to get those ratings, because the moment they do they'll start instructing at that school, in that system. This meets the school's needs for CFI/CFIIs, but it also means that a lot of the CFI/CFIIs out there have the bare minimum training and experience to have those ratings. One of my friends that had been through this particular program flew with me in my airplane with another pilot friend of ours on a lunch trip to celebrate his completing the program and getting hired in Alaska to start his professional flying career. He pointed out on climbout that I needed to be careful to not run the engine oversquare. When I told him that's not really a thing he initially got a bit indignant about it, but let it go. He's since sorted out that it's not really a thing. He also flew with me a bit when I was time-crunched during my IR training since he's a CFII, and he was actually one of the better instructors I've ever flown with. I'd have loved to finish my training with him but was just on a break from his pro gig in Alaska and had to go back. So, there are a ton of CFI/CFIIs out there with really minimal experience, because the big schools are cranking them out to meet their own needs. As soon as those guys finish the program they head off to their next jobs and then the school backfills with the next crop of fresh CFI/CFIIs. As might be expected, this means that there a ton of CFI/CFIIs out there with a lot of misconceptions about things for no reason other than they're inexperienced. As also might be expected, some of them might still be decent at what they do. I've also run across the old, highly experienced, gold-seal, grumpy instructors that I wouldn't trust to teach somebody how to open a door. It's definitely an odd time in the industry.

I have a G5 HSI and a Century III autopilot with alt hold. I don't know how different the Century IV is, but evidently a G5 will not drive the pitch/roll inputs of the Century III. The HSI, via the GAD29B, will drive the lateral tracking, but I had to keep my vacuum AI for pitch/roll. This still saddens me, as I'd love to have two G5s instead of just one. :'(

Perhaps, but that doesn't benefit me or your other local Mooney friends at all.

Is that the one that was at Cottonwood? Glad somebody got it.

J's are "mid-body" given that they now make longer Mooneys that are "long-body". The A1A and A1/3B6(D) also differ in the accessory case when the dual mag is used. It makes the packaging a bit different and is why there are some line/hose routing and baffle issues when changing from one to the other. For the most part, though, they're largely the same. The counterweight issues and the yellow arc in the tach, to the best of my understanding, deal with torsional vibration modes. I've been curious myself how much difference there really is, given plenty of each type have been flying around for many decades.

I'll just +1 that if there's a leak there'll be blue staining somewhere and/or fuel smell. If the cabin has been closed and there's no fuel smell when you open the door, that's good news. Even if there is, it's not necessarily bad news. There are guidelines published by Mooney regarding leaks, and they're evaluated by how much staining there is on the ground under the airplane. Unless it's actually so bad that it's dripping on the ground and leaving stains, I wouldn't get too alarmed just yet.

I'm sure we can round up three more local Mooneys to inspect to meet your mininum.

If only Richard Pryor was still alive I'd ask him.

As has been mentioned, the TCDS dictates the configurations approved for the Type Certificate, and deviating from that requires an STC or the filing of a 337 form with "approved data" for a major modification. For most early M20 models with fuel injection the TCDS specifies the IO-360-A1A engine. For the J model it says: "Textron-Lycoming IO-360-A1B6D or IO-360-A3B6D or IO-360-A3B6. (Bendix fuel injector, Model RSA 5AD1, P/N 2524054) See Note 12 and Note 20." So if you want to put anything else in a J model other than what is listed in the TCDS, it will require either an STC from somebody who does the approval work, or solicitation of a field approval for a 337 form for a major modification from your local FSDO, as @jaylw314 mentioned. The A1 to A3 conversion just reclocks the prop on the hub and can be done via a Mooney Service Bulletin (M20-206). The suffix D to non-D conversion is the elimination of the dual Bendix magneto for separate single magnetos. Apparently Lycoming no longer supplies D suffix engines, and even if you send them one as a core you'll get a non-D back. You can really go down rabbit holes on this stuff, e.g., I have a Hartzell top prop on my M20J, installed via an STC, and there is confusion in the logs as to whether it's installed clocked as an -A1 or as an -A3. Sorting out whether it really needs to be placarded for a tach yellow arc or not, or whether the propeller is okay to install in the -A3 position is confusing. The propeller TCDS says no. The STC suggests yes, but isn't specific. If it is not okay to install the propeller in the -A3 position, then the engine must have the Bendix dual mag as the -A1B6 (non-D suffix) is not on the M20J TCDS. Seems to fly fine, so I'm not too worried, but it's one of those things.

2018 - Instrument rating completed. 2019 - Airframe maintenance certificate, if things go as planned. 2020 - Powerplant certificate, assuming same. 2021 - Wealth and splendor.

Bummer. Club rental airplane, apparently. I hope that means it'll fly again. https://www.coastalskies.com/aircraft-1

No, there's still a yellow arc.

God jul!