moontownMooney

I'm doing some digging to educate myself on the fascinating development history of Mooney's over the years... can someone point me toward any references (or just describe any awareness they have) regarding the structure of the wing, such as what alloy it is made of and if all Mooney's (C-Ultras) have the same wing design/structure? I know the fuselage has changed, along with belly surface, but wasn't clear on the wing. Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

I have an M20F based at a ~2200 ft grass strip surrounded by hills. Agree with most of what has been said here. You will have to pay more attention than at a paved runway. I would only land at a maintained airstrip that id personally been to or had a direct PIREP on. Note the 3-bladed prop can have a smaller diameter, helping with prop clearance, which can be one of the concerns at a grass strip. Slope, moisture, grass length/thickness, ground firmness/smoothness all play a large role on your performance. You have to give yourself more margin as there is not good specific performance data unique to your plane and any specific grass strip combined with the conditions of the day and that combination matters. There is no ATIS or AWOS to give you the grass length or how moist/soft the field is from the rain 3 days ago. The details matter. Your takeoff performance at a given field could change by 50% or more based on how recently the grass has been cut and how moist/soft it is. A dry grass strip will usually have a shorter landing roll, but any moisture can dramatically increase the required distance due to limited available friction for braking. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

So... After owning our plane for three years we figure out that we apparently have an oil quick drain (surprise puddle of oil on the ground was involved). It appears to be a little leaky and contributing to the oil mess in our engine compartment (and oil "consumption" rate). Ive seen in other posts that this can be an issue. Can anyone help me identify the brand and model of quick drain this is? Any advice for stopping leaks or replacing with a better brand/model? Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

As a point of reference... We just went through our third renewal with this plane. Our rates went up ~40% despite the last of our named pilots getting his IFR and all of us getting good time in this year. We are hangared, have four named pilots, all IFR, all over 250 hrs total, over 100 RG, all under 40, all over 30 hrs make and model. Our premium for $65k hull value is $3750. Apparently our biggest issue is that we are based at a short-ish grass strip. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Our cowl flaps have always been a little difficult to actuate. During a prior annual we realized that part of this was due to the mechanism rubbing on the firewall as is a somewhat common problem. We fixed this and it made a notable difference. However during some recent inspection we noted that our oil cooler lines were hanging low enough (where they pass back from the oil cooler toward the firewall, pictured below) that the pilot side cowl flap touches them and in fact must slightly lift them to achieve the full closed position. Is there a (best or easy) way to fix this? I've considered strapping them to the shielding plate above them, shortening the oil hoses to eliminate the droop (not sure how easy this is), or shifting the hoses the other direction in the hose clamp they pass through near the firewall (again to decrease the droop, this assumes the hoses have room to shift that direction which may be inaccurate). Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

We are having issue with our cowl flap actuation. When we activate the push/pull in the cockpit, it doesnt really move the cowl flaps because the cable shroud is simply slipping through the firewall pass-through (instead of being held firmly in place) and the actuator linkage doesnt actually move. The pass-through is the type shown in the picture below. Is there a way to tighten the pass-through onto the cable sheath so that it can't slip or is this some kind of integral unit that is now busted and must be replaced? Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Anyone have any advice (pros and cons, recommendations, beware of's) regarding the different instrument bezel lighting options? We are looking to redo our panel and incorporate bezel instrument lights in the process. I've seen the Nulite, UMA, and fiberlite options. I believe all three of these are approved for certified aircraft. Nulites use traditional lighting, UMA requires a DC to AC converter, and Fiberlite use fiberoptics and LEDs. I think I'm iinclined to go with the Nulites, to avoid the converters and fiberoptics (extra boxes to find a spot for and slightly more complicated wiring), but I suspect there are considerations im missing. Thanks for your help! Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Thanks Hank! Not sure how I missed that. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Just found this much better article: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2020/september/03/pilots-aircraft-owners-buy-mooney-international US ownership by pilot Mooney owners passionate about the brand and connecting with the owner community (including vintage). This sounds ideal! I sure hope they can pull it off... Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Have folks seen this? Anybody have details or thoughts on what this means? https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/mooney-under-new-management/ Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

We encountered the same issue for the sane reasons described above... but only with one prospective underwriter. We discussed the concern specifically with two other underwriters and they didnt care. Counting an aircraft ownership arrangement as a club for insurance reasons isnt a universal legal definition, it is up to the underwriters to set their terms. Some consider 3 owners a club, some allow 5 without club rates, some dont have a big club/no-club premium cliff, but have a progressively larger premium per named insured. Not an insurance underwriter, but speaking to a first hand experience with multiple underwriters when we shopped around this spring, as we have 4 named insured, two are owners, two are not. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

FYI, this requirement from your insurance company is unique to specific underwriters, and isnt necessarily common. We ran into it when shopping around our policy this year. Perhaps you could get your friend to switch insurance to one without this requirement. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Thanks all. To follow up, we confirmed that our flaps are retracting too quickly (5.5 s on the ground) which is causing the uncomfortable rapid pitching/climb-pause when flaps are raised at appropriate speed (80-90 mph). We have tested being prepared to rapidly counter the pitch (until we can get our flaps adjusted) and our experience seems to confirm that raising them sooner (80-90mph) allows you to accelerate to Vx and/or Vy quicker. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Thanks for all the good thoughts. I hadnt considered that perhaps our flaps are retracting too quickly and need adjusted. It is slower on the ground, but in the air they seem to substantially retract in a second or less and completely retract in under two seconds. What should it be? Our Vfe is 125 mph so that isn't a concern. For the folks talking about keeping flaps until 1000' and not changing configuration low... Vx and By are specifically with no flaps and I need that performance. Our home base (at least until a hangar opens up at a nearby field) is 2600' grass surrounded by 500-700' hills. This is why I care about being able to accelerate to Vx as quickly as possible. We currently derate our max gross by 200 or 300 lbs in the dead of summer to maintain reasonable safety margins. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

For folks that have the manual/hydraulic pump flaps, I'm curious what speed you retract your flaps on take-off. We used to wait until reaching Vx (94 mph) because retracting at lower speeds seems to cause a breif drop (or perhaps it is just a pitch up that feels like a drop?). However, it does seem like the plane accelerates (to get to Vx or Vy as quickly as possible) much more quickly if you get the flaps up sooner. We just noticed (not sure how we'd missed it before) that the manual prescribes retracting between 80-90mph. Is this where most folks actually retract? Is there a noticable pitch or drop for you? Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk