MBDiagMan

Modern fuel and much more so, lubricant, is a wonderful balance of additives. An additive of any kind upsets that balance. If you or your mechanic know more about additives than the company that blends these great fuels and lubricants we have today, then you are probably capable of coming up with an improved liquid for your tanks and crankcase. For me, although I have done quite a lot of reading about fuel, lubricants and additives, I don’t consider myself qualified to improve on what the oil companies produce. In extreme situations, like HEAVY carbon or slushing in an engine for which I do not depend on for the life of myself or my family, I will take extreme measures. That rules out experimentation with the fuel/lubricants in my aircraft engines. My $0.02, P.S. There is much good information and myth busting to be found at: bobistheoilguy.com. The forum there is filled with opinion, but there are articles there that are written by folks who know a massive amount about the subject. MB

Okay Kyo, I posted as you requested, but now that I look at it I don’t think it will help. I made progress when I simply deleted the entry I had and started over with the tail number. If you will delete whatever you have entered and start over following oldguys instructions I think you can get it to look like mine. hope this helps

Thanks for all the counseling. I appreciate it. Yes, with full tanks and this load she would be almost 100 pounds over gross. I can leave a few gallons in the truck and take care of that although I have done a good bit of flying over gross although not in a Money. My concern is being on the edge of tail heavy. That could kill us. My main question is how close can I get to the aft limit with confidence that she won’t be tail heavy. I understand weight and balance just fine. I am seeking Mooney specific experience from those who have flown on the edge of the envelope. Hearing of any such experience will be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all.

Okay folks, thanks for the help getting this to work. Now that it is working I am looking at the reality of flying a fully loaded C. We have some friends that we owe a favor and they want to fly somewhere with us. They are not obese, but they are not a small couple. I am real close to 200 pounds clothed, my new wife is probably about 160. The other couple are probably 200 each. Add full tanks and a handbag or two puts me very slightly over gross, but more concerning is that it puts me REALLY close to the aft limit. So what say you? How critical is the aft limit on these planes? Do I have a little bit of fudge factor to work with? How is the C for hauling at the aft limit? Thanks for sharing your experience.

The mechanical portion could be done best by an old fashioned watchmaker if you can find one. It very well could have a broken balance staff which would require a watchmaker and a staking set.

If you want to fly in a Mooney transition instructor, I know of a great one whose specialty is Mooney transition. He will work with you to keep the cost as low as possible. He is in the Kerrville area. If you are interested PM me for his contact info.

One time in the early nineties, I came into a WWII bomber field that is now a muni. Three runways, but none east/west. The wind was crazy high from due west, a very unusual wind in my part of the world. The airport was completely deserted. Due to the three runway arrangement, the east/west taxiway is probably 3,000 feet and I was in a 150. I will not state my ultimate solution, but what would you have done?

Kyoshiskip, if oldguys instructions don’t get it for you let me know and I will try to capture a screen for you.

This is very simple! Jack Hooker is a fellow member of the Cessna 120-140 and I know and respect him. He is a pro at what he does and a great guy to visit with. Simply call him and talk to him. He will provide the STC with the harness. He has personally analyzed all applications for which he provides harnesses. If he says it is good to go, have complete confidence with the installation and sleep better because you know you are properly restrained in the event of an incident. I have a set of Jacks harnesses in my 140 and feel much more secure with the Hooker harness in my 140 than the one side shoulder harness that was already installed in my Mooney when I bought it. If my Mooney didn’t already have the harness it has, I would not consider any harness system other than Jacks system. Install a set and you will never have to look back.

Thanks old Guy! Thanks very much to everyone who offered help. I had tried to make it all too hard. I erased the whole thing and started over with the tail number and it was easy peasy. I do have current weight numbers, so I added those and that was it. Now I need to get the numbers for my Cessna 140 and put it in. You guys are always patient and helpful!

Old guy (sounds like I am talking to myself) thanks very much for all your postings. Could you show me the fore aft limits you entered in foreflight to get that shape envelope? thanks a bunch!

Yep carusoam, that is what was messing me up! I will report back when finished.

The chart in my books is MUCH different than the one in the examples above. I have everything loaded correctly in FF EXCEPT I don’t think the fore aft limits from this chart are correct.

I have no way to scan the paper, but I might can capture the fact screen. I will probably go to the hangar and work on that today. thanks!

Thanks for the comments. I am using the current weight and balance numbers. The problem has something to do with how I am entering fore and aft limits into foreflight. I am getting the limits from the graph in my paperwork that came with the plane. It is not in the primitive POH. i understand weight and balance of an aircraft quite well. I DONT Understand the fore/aft limits as presented in the Mooney graph that I have and how they relate to the foreflight entries. I am not sure what to make of the comment about a CFI. Luv’s examples I am sure would help, but I am unable to open them on my IPad, but I will continue to work on that. I have calculated weight and balance for the aircraft. It is just that I can’t get the foreflight calculator to work. Maybe I am better off doing it as always, with a pad, pencil and calculator. Thanks again.

Having trouble making foreflight weight and balance work from the numbers I have for the aircraft. The envelope plot that I have gives fore and aft limitsmtathat are far from what the loaded cg should be, I am not understanding foreflight or the POH numbers. I think the problem is understanding the POH.

Thanks a bunch Mark! I have my tail number changed and ready to check and modify if necessary.

Thanks! I got it into FF but I haven’t figured out how to change the tail number.

Yeah, something tells me it is not a manual gear version.

TWIST the handle while pulling down and I bet it will come down.

I am not big on touch and go’s, but if there is plenty of runway I will do them if an instructor is wanting me to. I did my BFR Saturday and he pulled the power near the airport. I brought it in power off good enough to walk away, but he had me take off while still rolling and then he pulled the power again after we climbed out. I was on a 6,500’ runway so it really wasn’t a problem. I am beginning my instrument work with this guy and still getting used to him. He pushes you hard which I like, but it will be interesting if he gets carried away with touch and goes. My plan is to let him take me through IR, Commercial and ME, but with everything going on in my life, something might get in the way.

This thread makes me want to go lookup a similar thread I started before beginning my Mooney transition training last February. Almost all my flying previous to buying the Mooney was tailwheel. I even started threads on here and another pilot forum asking if I was biting off more than I could chew with such a wild idea as the unobtainable goal of learning to fly a Mooney. In the course of my lack of self confidence, I saw that there was going to be cross wind on the day my C was to be delivered and thought I was doomed. At the time there were two schools of thought regarding crosswind and everything else about the impossible task of a non Mooney pilot being so brazen as to believe that he could ever transition without an instructor with a thousand hours or more and at least 100 students successfully transitioned to the impossible to fly and mysterious Mooney. The other school of thought was those who shrugged their shoulders and said something like “what’s the big deal it’s just another airplane?” I read all the posts about the early C’s not having enough rudder authority and all the other warnings implying that I would die in a crosswind. All the time while selecting flowers I did not consider my own landing technique in my little Cessna 140 in which I had logged about a thousand landings to include gusty and variable crosswinds. My crosswind technique from the very beginning was “ just enough rudder to keep it parallel to the runway and just enough aileron to keep it on the centerline and not drifting one way or the other.” As luck would have it, the day my instructor delivered the plane to my home field and began my transition training the wind was forecast to change to a gusty crosswind. In addition, it was a day of pretty choppy winds. After all the you will die advice from the naysayers that doomed the lowly Cessna 140 pilot to sure death I notified the funeral home of the assured business and got in the plane anyway. We started doing landings and I worked to learn the landing gear and getting the feel of the airplane in the flair. After most of the day of landings less than perfect, but acceptable, we knocked off for the day, had dinner and I put him in a hotel for the night. Once I got to the house that night, it occurred to me that I had been crosswind landing in a 13 knot or more gusty crosswind all day and was still alive and really the crosswind was a non event not noticed due to focusing on everything else. Although I was not greasing it in as I would have liked, this thing was much easier to deal with in a crosswind than the little putt-putt I had been flying all this time. NOW!.... I said all that to make this point: I realize that there is a school of thought and even verbiage in Airman’s manuals that pretty much dictate crab into the wind and straighten up at the last minute, BUT using the crosswind technique I was taught by the old school tailwheel instructor allows you to handle all the crosswind that a normal human being would want to fly in. I join those who recommend transition training be done by a Mooney savvy instructor, but if you are experienced at crosswind landing with the technique I described, crosswinds will be nothing new at all and if you can do them in a taildragger, or the same technique in any airplane, you won’t even know there is a crosswind.. You will just put her down. Landing a Mooney in a crosswind is like anything else with a Mooney. Just learn the right techniques and go enjoy yourself. As I recall Mooney indicated that an 11 knot crosswind is not a crosswind in an early model. I contend that the number is much higher than that if you use the right technique.

Both my planes have the same carb temp gauge. I developed the habit of checking upon my descent and on downwind. If it is not yellow, I don’t use carb heat. This has worked well for me.