EricJ

I think the gear motor on my airplane is getting tired, and if I let the airplane accelerate too much it may pop the circuit breaker on gear retraction. If I get the gear up early (positive rate, no obstacles), it's easier to keep it at Vy and keep the gear motor reasonably happy and then once the gear is up drop the nose a bit for cooling, cruise-climb, whatever. It doesn't ever pop the breaker if I do it that way. My gear comes down faster than it goes up, and I have *cough* demonstrated that I can gear the back down in time to land on my home field runway if I really, really need to. In the Arrow I used to fly, the gear came up sooooooo slooowwly that I used to leave it down until I was completely out of runway or easy landing possibilities. But it didn't have a problem with either accelerating easily or bringing the gear up at cruise-climb, so that also helped.

I went in a whole different direction when I read that.

Typical dive tanks hold compressed air at about 3000psi, not O2, or other esoteric mixes that are not appropriate for aviation use. I'm not surprised they wouldn't touch it. The applications are very, very different.

I enjoyed my forty-year old Century III for a couple of weeks, and even figured out that although the alt-hold didn't work, the pitch hold did, even though my electric trim is inop. Until it all didn't. Now it just wants to turn hard left all the time and the pitch control is dead. I haven't had a chance to start debugging it yet, but I *really* like having those functions working.

OTOH, my A&P/IA says that once they start needing to be patched it's often an endless chase of repeated patches. That said, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the patch that Maxwell did on mine in August is the last leak for a long time. If not, I'll schedule a trip to Willmar.

I took a thirty-year break and came back into it by going through King's Private Pilot ground school, which helped me get back up to speed and learn everything that had changed, etc.. John and Martha are the OGs of GA, for sure. They are quirky and kitchy, but they are also very thorough and very clear and straightforward. I found their program very easy to navigate and very helpful. That said, I never tried any of the others, so I've no idea how they compare. But now whenever I see John or Martha in anything, or reading their articles in Flying, I feel like I know them.

Thanks tons for letting us know what happened and for your candor and openness. And most of all I'm glad that you and your family came out of it okay, that's the main thing. I hope you're able to get back in the saddle soon and everybody recovers better than ever.

I was just gonna ask that.

Much tighter tolerances in modern automotive engines than typical reciprocating aircraft engines, and different materials and assumptions about the oil chemistry. Basically, there's not much in common between a modern automotive engine and an ancient air-cooled aircraft engine except that they're four-stroke Otto cycle and burn gasoline.

I'm throwing this out hoping somebody has some pertinent thoughts: I'm on week two of ownership of my airplane, but it's history over the last ten months or so is known. When it was ferried from AZ to Maxwell's in TX the first leg used a lot of oil, it was refilled, and then it used more or less none the rest of the way. This has become a fairly consistent theme: it either uses a crap ton of oil (probably a quart every 1.5-2 hours), or very little. Last week I flew it from AZ to SoDak and back, with fuel stops both ways at about the halfway mark. In both directions it used two quarts during the first 3 hour leg, and no appreciable oil during the second 3.5 hour leg. That was always starting at 6qts. It does leak, but not that much. In SoDak a local shop found that the oil temp sensor had been over-torqued and the copper crush gasket was badly distorted. They replaced it, but there was still oil down the right nosegear door and in the nose wheel well on the way back, so there are other pending leaks. There's no appreciable filth behind the breather tube, and the exhaust pipe goes from sooty black to dark grey depending on how it's feeling (it's kind of a nice grey now, after the last 3.5-hour non-oil-burning leg). There are still leaks, but I don't think that accounts for the massive loss. I'm suspecting maybe a flaky valve seal? Compressions have consistently tested good to very good on the motor during annual in the spring and at Maxwell's last month.

That looks totally TSO'd to me.

There's a J model for rent at Carlsbad. I was looking at using them but wound up with other plans. I've seen the airplane, and it looks decent. http://www.pinnacleacademy.com/aircraft/aircraft.aspx?id=24

It had been getting water in it due to leaky fuel cap o-rings, and I'd been draining the sumps until no water showed up. It subsequently still swallowed a slug of water (is the consensus) and caused a bit of a moment on takeoff. The o-rings were replaced and I haven't detected any significant water since. Yesterday I did not check it at the fuel stop (flame away). It started and taxied fine, and ran up fine, and then ran like crap when I tried to advance to full throttle. Taxied back to the ramp and checked the sumps and didn't see anything, but it eventually cleared after an extended run up period. I switched tanks, it ran like crap again but cleared after an extended run up again. Checked the sumps again, didn't see anything. Did more extended runups with no issues. I've no idea what it was, but it definitely prevented me from taking off. It'd consistently hold around 2300 rpm but just ran rough and wouldn't go any higher. After running whatever it was out of both tanks it was fine. There wasn't much of it, but enough to be an issue. If it had done it during climb out or something it would have been a big problem. To the OP's question, both of these instances in my personal experience happened at takeoff or attempted takeoff. The only other instance I know of personally (to someone I knew) also happened at takeoff and resulted in a successful impossible turn. That case was the result of the fuel truck being left out during a rain storm with one of the hatches not fully secured. Fuel contamination isn't really engine failure, but power failure and has pretty much the same effect.

Another source of trouble is fuel contamination. For the most part the times I've personally had significant issues or people I've known personally had issues were due to fuel contamination (either water or something undefined from a truck/pump, whatever). I had an issue yesterday that, fortunately, manifested itself just when I was pushing the throttle forward to take off. I had just refueled at that field about a half-hour prior and I'm pretty sure I got some nasty crap from that pump. A return to the ramp was necessary. I had an issue last week that was nearly certainly water contamination, so I'm not doing well lately with fuel quality. Some fluorosilicone O-rings in the caps have, hopefully, fixed the water issue, and checking the sumps after every refuel is now highlighted in my brain. Somehow this was all easier when I was renting.

Yes! Everyone stay away from AZ! Nothing to see here! Truly an awful place! DO NOT COME HERE! YOU WILL DIE IN A TOUCH AND GO IF YOU MOVE TO AZ! Actually I think many of the airpark properties here are cheap because there are a LOT of them and some are fairly remote. Some are kind of ratty, too, but if nothing else there's a lot of variety to pick from. The two in/nearest the Phoenix area are both quite nice, though, and pricey. Kirby Chambliss, of Red Bull Air Race fame, lives on a very remote airpark way out in the desert here with only two or three houses, and a big Red Bull logo painted on the runway. Some new lots and development just opened up at the north end of Stellar Airpark in Chandler, but I suspect the lots are expensive.

Mine is the same with the original two wing strobes and no beacon. I think the strobes had to be of the type that had 180-degree view or a tail strobe was needed. What LEDs did you go with?

The one on the left looks like an on-off switch in the ON position. You could flip it and see what stops working? EDIT: Wait, never mind, it looks like a double-pole double-throw that switches between two things. You could still just flip 'em and see what happens if you're bold.

What fire types is it rated for (e.g., ABC)? If the contents aren't corrosive or nasty to clean up and you're okay with carrying it around there may not be a downside, i.e., why not? Unless a significant downside is identified it looks like a good option.

Especially from the back seat, unless you want a lot of pics of the wing. I think this is why the Bonanza A36 is so popular for this application. Take the back doors off, strap somebody back there, and they have completely unobstructed view up and down, and about a ninety-degree lateral spread.

My guess would be that buffeting, etc., at the higher speeds might make the plastic flutter and fail. But, then you'd have a clear view to take pics out that side.

Update: Huge kudos to Robert Garza, a local Longview, TX, CFI and overall Good Dude, who stepped up and rearranged his schedule to help a Mooney refugee. Flew a full non-stop checkout mission this afternoon and met my minimum insurance time and feel comfortable flying home from here, so I call that a success. Airplane is not squawk-free, but I would have been shocked if it was. It'll be a work in progress for a while yet, I think. I'm not gonna name the original guy because I totally get that he opted for where he gets his bread and butter, and I really can't fault that. He did spend some effort today trying to backfill the position, which I appreciated. Robert got recommended from multiple sources and it worked out well.

Thought of that, but it looks like we may have it handled. Fingers crossed. I think in the future when I book a CFI, even one that asks for and acknowledges confirmation on the day before, I'll check whether they have higher priority gigs like charters or whatever that can bounce you on pretty much no notice. That said, it was fun to hang out at Maxwell's for a while this morning. I like those guys.

Unfortunately, that's who bailed on me.

I'm here in Longview, TX, at Maxwell's shop to pick up my airplane and the CFI that I had scheduled with and confirmed for my transition time just bailed. Is anybody with a CFI in the area available by some miracle or know somebody? Kinda in a pinch here. I hate to do this, but my cell # is 480-363-9937. The ringer is often off, but I will respond to texts.

Much of my tailwheel training was short-pattern touch-and-gos out of an 1100-ft dirt strip. I was amazed at how many you can do in an hour when you're the only one in the pattern and you keep the pattern short.