The Other Red Baron

I haven't been everywhere in our Mooney, but I've been around a bit. After 5 years of random FBOs towing us around while on trips our local maintenance shop bent metal when towing it over for an oil change. They're taking care of us but it was the last thing I ever expected. After a few trips to random airports I even pretty quickly stopped telling FBOs about the turning radius cause they all acted like they were aware so I felt like I was being a bit over protective.

I'd love to be able to work on our plane but I have a huge knowledge gap which isn't getting any better because we don't have any A&P buddies to sign off on any work that we would perform. For the longest time I was under the impression we couldn't do anything other than oil change, tire change, etc. but it seems quite a few people do work on their own aircraft then have someone else sign it off.

That is what is driving me nuts is this shop doesn't seem capable of basic troubleshooting. If someone told me their computer won't turn on and they just vacuumed around the power cables I wouldn't start by replacing their CPU I'd go check the power cables/power strip/ etc...

Correct, the alternator breaker trips within approximately 5 seconds of being pushed in.

The big ALT (50?) amp breaker.

Doesn't really look like there's another shop on the field unfortunately. Left a message with the rotary guys but I'm expecting a "no thanks" from them. Contacting AOG services at this point. edit: Anyone know if Savvy would be worth it in this situation?

TN

I'd love to get someone else to look at it unfortunately I think they're the only shop on the field and I read a review where someone got their on AOG service to the field and the FBO was charging them a $300 fee for not using their shop. At this point we may need to just bite the bullet and find a mobile service.

Stuff like this is making me want to go experimental... Over a month ago I had to make an unexpected landing as I was getting low voltage warnings and night was coming soon. Earlier on that same day I wasn't getting a mag drop on my left mag. This has happened quite often previously and we thought tightening up the screws behind the ignition switch was fixing it. I asked the local mechanic if he could have a look and possibly tighten up those screws. He mentioned all the screws were tight then had an idea. Popped open the oil door and reached way back behind the mags and kinda shook the wires back there a little bit. He gave me the reasoning behind it but I couldn't remember. Something about the frayed wire shielding. Regardless I was now getting a good mag drop. I probably should have noticed this earlier but into the flight I noticed I was no longer charging and was getting low voltage warnings. I landed at the nearest large-ish airport I saw in hopes of getting decent access to a maintenance shop (I'm still kicking myself in the behind for this.) I explained what happened to the shop and they said they'd check it out when they had time. At the time I was trying to avoid thinking about the logistics of getting all my crap back home commercially or via rental car. When they were troubleshooting it I finally noticed the alternator breaker was popped. I pushed it back in and we all thought I'd be on my way. Well the breaker kept popping and they didn't have time to investigate further so I got a rental and drove home. They assumed it was the alternator, got a new one ordered, put it on, and now it turns out our original alternator is in fact probably fine and they still have no clue what the issue may be. I feel like they're ignoring the obvious where the previous mechanic that touched it fumbled with some wires and potentially fixed one issue and caused another. I'm about at my wits end with this. They have had the aircraft over a month and made zero progress from what it sounds like. Would any of you guys have a clue what may have happened so I can guide them in the right direction? I don't know how much they'll listen to me since they seem to have ignored everything I told them at the very beginning.

I used to live about 5 minutes away from our airport. It was wonderful. Now I'm 25 minutes away from the airport and it does make it harder to drag myself down there sometimes. I'd move for the convenience.

Same. I leave positive reviews on Foreflight too, actually most are positive, but if I'm leaving a negative review it's for a good reason.

I've heard airnav will delete negative comments so I never bother and it does seem like every single comment I read is positive. I do leave carefully worded ForeFlight comments to try and dodge any censorship.

Not impressed with my Delta Zulus unfortunately. Random popping from the ANC, irritating charging situation with that tiny uncommon connector, battery that I think is charging but doesn't seem to. Need more flying time with the battery to confirm. Wish I had just bought another pair of Zulu 3s.

I flew into HOU and used Signature and it was a surprisingly nice experience. Rental car was ready to go and they waived some of the fees for taking fuel. I was only there for two or three nights I think. Tower did want me to maintain best forward speed and being lower time pilot at the time I figured 100mph was booking it. Pretty sure I caused the 737 behind me to make a 360 but no one yelled at me.

If you're uncertain this is your forever plane I wouldn't throw a penny into the panel that you don't need to. Fly the hell out of it and upgrade. Unless you just hate money!