nightmoves

I can answer some of these questions (it's my aircraft he's referencing). The symptom is that it cranks and cranks (cold start / hot start / flooded start procedure, doesn't matter). Eventually fuel starts dumping from the cowl after the 4th or 5th attempt. Occasionally when I let go of the key it acts like it wants to fire but never does. One way to get it started is to unhook the left mag (which is brand new). If he does that the plane fires up immediately but runs super rough and is almost impossible to get stopped (I apply full choke and it still runs for 30 seconds until it finally dies). After he replaced the mag it was started 5 or 6 times over 2 days and fired up each time. As a matter of fact it started more easily than it ever had, maybe 2 revolutions of the prop and off we go. I arrived to fly it to home base, it fired right up, no issues at all. Flew it home and parked it for 2 weeks. Went out to fly it and here we go again, will not start. Just cranks and cranks then fuel starts dumping. Unplugged left mag, starts and runs extremely rough and won't stop until it finally does. As far as more detailed troubleshooting, I'll wait on 7thprez to respond.

Good Morning. My mechanic is still trying to chase down the reason my PC system rolls right. Hoses have been replaced but we are still seeing the issue. He spotted a small tear in the servo boot and we are thinking that might be the cause. Can someone tell me where one might find replacement parts for this system given that Brittain is unavailable? Attached a picture of what he found. Thanks for the help!

Got mine on the 24th, installed and did my certification flight for the rebate yesterday. The entire process, including a few minutes trying to download the FAQ PDF, took 10 minutes. I was just positive the test flight would be a waste because it just seemed entirely too easy and surely something wasn't working right. Got my ADSB report and incentive code 1 hour after the flight. What great technology.

Has anyone actually received their units? I have less than 3 weeks to complete my verification flight for the rebate and I'm starting to suspect I will miss the deadline. There are a couple of commenters on Youtube stating their units are in-hand.

Great pics, Thanks! Do you have any experience with the various GoPro units? I would assume the smaller the camera the better. I think GoPro makes a smaller unit called the "Session" but I dont know if its any smaller or lacks key features of the "Hero" line. A quick search on Amazon yields plenty of cost effective helmet mounts for these units. I'm glad to see its as easy to find as that!

Hiya, I am considering getting a camera to mount on the exterior of the aircraft and was wondering what everyone uses for that? It's all foreign to me so I haven't settled on any particular camera brand / type. I am most fascinated with the views from horizontal stabilizer or top of the tail. How is this done without creating aerodynamic issues? Hopefully this isn't a stupid question. I tried searching and really couldn't find how its done. Thanks!

The cost to refurb appears to be about $165 each. This is likely the route I will take here in the next month or 2. My plane almost always burns between 9-11 GPH but this was an unusual flight. I was near gross, it was hot and the clouds were in my way the whole way. Constantly climbing and descending to get around them. I had to constantly re-lean, which isn't super efficient using the single EGT gauge that came stock on the aircraft. So, with all the non-cruise maneuvers I had to make there was just no way to know how much I was burning... I just know the gauge was telling me "there's about as much as you think there should be in there". I don't need anything that is accurate to the 10th of a gallon. I just need to know if there's 3 gallons in there or 10. Thanks to all for the feedback!

Hi Everyone. I fly a '69 F with essentially no fancy stuff on the inside. Short version of the story is, I was on a 3.5hr leg recently and must have been running very rich as I had calculated I should have burned ~22 of 32 gallons in my right wing. My fuel gauge was indicating between 1/4 and 1/2 at landing. I landed, went to fill it up and I put 29.5 gallons in. Whoops..... (other wing had 15 gal available). I would have thought with 2 gallons available the gauge should have been pretty close to reading E. I have been planning to buy an engine monitor as soon as the next JPI (or EI) rebates come out and install during January annual. I haven't been considering replacing the fuel sending units but my mechanic suggested that happen when we install the new engine monitor equipment. Can someone tell me how to go about this without it costing a fortune? I know CieS sells units for about $450 each. I also understand that I have 4 of these suckers. Are there other options other than buying from this company? Can I somehow have mine refurbished? I will say when sealing my tanks last year the A&P said my units looked "original and very tired". Sorry for the long winded question and thanks for the help.

I know I'm digging up an old-ish thread here, but this is now relevant to me. I took out my first policy last summer as a 0-hour pilot in my F through Falcon, who is supposed to search multiple providers. My premium last year was about $1,900 and that was to use my plane for my PPL training. I figured "it can't get any worse than this" - I was wrong. My renewal came back today with Star and the increase was about 25%. They cited "low time pilot" as reason for increase. I have about 60 hrs as PIC right now. My agent said 4 of the companies declined to even quote me and Star was the only option. So, I decided to try and get some quotes hoping there are more than 5 insurers out there. After turning in the quote forms from various places, like EAA, I get an email from my agent saying "these are all going to me, so stop it" (paraphrased). What insurers exist that are independent from these "5 or 6" that Falcon shops? I would like to see numbers from someone else. Sorry for the long winded post. Thanks for the help.

Yeah, I completely agree it didn't happen overnight. I do a visual scan on the blade as I run my hand around it to check for something uneven but I honestly rarely look at the inside of the spinner area. I'm not sure I would have seen that area without removing it even if I was looking. I know the prop was removed at annual a few months ago for a crank seal issue so I would like to think that would have been seen at that time. Ugh.

Made a fuel stop after a 2 hour leg yesterday, taxied out after getting fuel for a quick run-up and noticed a bit roughness when I increased RPM. I allowed the prop to spin at 1900 for about 20 seconds and the roughness evened out so I assumed I was good to go. Was 100lbs shy of gross and the climb out seemed normal for being heavy. When I was pulling the plane into the hangar I noticed the damage. Mechanic says he can fabricate a new piece but I'm wondering why this happened and if anyone has had this issue before? I'm guessing I need to have the prop balance checked as it seems logical it would cause this sort of thing but maybe not. The scrape on the prop isn't very deep. Mechanic says maybe a little filing and some paint and should be good to go.

Thanks for the replies thus far. My plan is to try and get to the hangar tomorrow afternoon to try and chase this down. Anything you have to add will be helpful. I do have 3 or 4 spare fuses that came with the plane when I purchased it. I was wondering what they were for, maybe this is it.

Hello All. I've had my plane for almost a year now and the instruments have never illuminated, even though I have the factory knob at the top/left that turns them on/dims. The plane has overhead LED lighting which works fine but I've had a few times flying longer stretches at night where I've thought having illuminated gauges would be easier than the broad lighting. Anyway, are there any suggestions on where to start? I promise I did a lot of searching on the forum and couldn't find a specific answer. It appears there are some 5A fuses, somewhere, that could be the problem. Is that true, and if so where would one look for those? This is a 1969 F. ++ may or may not be related, but I had a Garmin 347 audio panel installed about 6 months ago and the backlighting does not illuminate. I am assuming the pins were properly done so that it would turn on lighting when the cabin lights were turned on. I'm hoping this is all related. The unit does briefly illuminate when it powers on during the self test ++ Thanks everybody.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I located a bulb for my plane and it still seems to fly OK. Thanks again for all the help!

Hi all. I know I'm on a roll with my 2nd question of the weekend, so please forgive me. My tail light beacon (?) is burnt out on my F. Anyone know what to order to replace it with? I did try searching the forums and didn't find anything relevant. I remember seeing some suggestions not to long ago about so me $15 LEDs that weren't aviation. I don't necessarily have a problem with that but I wanted to see if anyone had recent experience with replacing this bulb. My lighting system is stock if that matters. Thanks!

You guys and gals are great! I will probably hand this over to my mechanic but at the very least it should save him some time trying to hunt it down, which saves me money. Thanks to everyone for their input!

I think what I'm asking is, where is this switch and what does it look like? I'm not super excited about digging into wiring so if its a wiring issue I will have to defer to the mechanic. If its a "check this switch to see if its freely moving" issue, that's more my speed. So if someone can tell me where it is that would be awesome. Sorry for not being clear. I wasn't sure this mystical switch existed, my A&P has just suggested looking for one since he's seen that issue with Arrows before. Thanks.

Sorry, some clarification. '69 with Electric gear. The light will sometimes flicker and each time its "off" when flickering I will hear a blip from the horn. Sometimes it will just go off and its a full siren, just like the gear is still up. The indicator in the floor shows gear down the whole time. Its so random that it seems like either a loose wire somewhere or literally the mechanism that indicates the gear is up/down is stuck or loose. I can be on the ground taxing, hit some bumps and it will go off/on 5 or 6 times and then shut off. I've also been on the ground and the gear down just sounded for 10 minutes until I took off. Very annoying. Mechanic said something about on an Arrow there is some sort of switch that depresses, indicating gear is up, that he has seen get "stuck" and need some attention so it calls down when the gear comes down. He is thinking the Mooney may share that technology.

Hi everybody. My F started having issues recently where my gear down siren will sound sporadically even when the gear is down - sometimes when taxing around even. The light on the dash will go off when the siren sounds, then back on when it stops. This can be quite alarming when about to flare and you are 99.9% you checked the gear 5 times but the siren goes off anyway. My mechanic mentioned a switch or relay of some sort near the nose gear that might be getting stuck in the 'up' position or having a short of some kind. Does anyone know where that is and what to look for? I am really hoping this is a simple fix. Thanks to all.

Hi everyone. I have a '69 F which is having issues with the original coffee grinder anti-collision beacon. This has been an (expected) expensive first year of ownership so I'm looking to get out of this repair on the cheap. My question is, If I wanted to replace this with something that is 20 years old or so (non-LED), does anyone know what I should look for (on Ebay, Facebook, etc)? From time to time I see people selling their belly strobes on here when they upgrade to LED but I'm not sure what fits that hole / wires and what doesn't. While I'm at it - does anyone have a said "new to me" replacement they want to sell? Thanks to all for the help and suggestions.

Hi everybody. About 2 months ago I started getting the lovely smell of fuel in the cabin after my M20F sat for any period of time and our on-field A&P immediately located the lovely blue streak near the wing root. Interestingly this wing had been "completely sealed" not 9 months ago (I purchased the plane 6 months ago). Well, once inside the tank we found where the new sealant stopped in the area near the fuselage and only super old, crusty sealant was in place. The A&P spent hours removing all that old stuff and applying the new sealant (not the quick-dry version, took 3 days or so to set). Afterwards we gassed it up, flew it around, landed and let it sit for a few days and when I returned, no smell!!! So, that problem is fixed but now I'm noticing that every time I sump during preflight I get a sample with small red/brown flakes. If I sump 2-3 times it clears up. I go fly, land and sump again and the fuel is clear. I come back a few days later after it's sat, there are flakes again. TLDR: Is this considered normal for a tank that just received a patch sealant? Is it dangerous? Will the fuel screen catch anything large enough to cause a problem? I tried to get a picture of said screening but my camera didn't want to focus. The fakes ranges from brine shrimp size to very, very tiny. Any input is appreciated.

Hi everyone. I just completed the purchase of my first upgrade, the Alpha Aviation front seat shoulder harnesses and that got me to thinking, are there any options for the rear seats? Specifically, do any of you have harness solutions for your children? I have a 6 year old who is probably too big for a car seat and booster seats use the shoulder belts from your vehicle, so that doesn't help. I see there is a FAA Approved harness that is more for commercial travel and will not work since this in a bench seat. Does anyone have any suggestions for me for a child restraint? Thanks to everyone.

Spoke with the banker today, he said "I don't care what you do with the money so as long as its adding something "new" to the aircraft' - so a new harness for the front seats it is. Does everyone suggest doing with Alpha fixed harness? I've been searching and can't find a good answer on whether there is something from Hooker or AMSafe that would work. I'm going to keep researching engine monitors. There are a couple options available in that $2-3.5k range that I really think will pay for themselves over time with maximum efficiency. Thanks to all.

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like your accident made you a believer and I'm guessing your story alone will cause me to do that immediately. Whether or not my banker will consider that an 'upgrade' is the question since their angle is that I do something that increases the value of the plane (to them). Whether or not it counts, I am looking into doing it.

Going off topic slightly, but, I do see several generic "AMSAFE" harnesses on Ebay. This may be a silly question, but are there certain units that will fit? I see some that are inertia units that are reasonably priced assuming they fit. The listings really don't give much info other than they are used and pulled from other (generic) aircraft.