bob865

Finally found it. The blue light is supposed to be the tail number. @Philip mentioned he had it as the tail number on his F and we finally got in touch with the seller and he confirmed it was the same for our E. He said the lens fell out a while back and he just never replaced it. How myself, the partner, the ferry pilot, and the pre-buy inspection all somehow missed it, I'll never know. Cool feature I think! Now I just need to find a way to get a replacement lens, it's blinding at night. Trying to schedule flight instructors in Greenville with Mooney experience is much harder than I expected, but it all worked out and I finally got to fly her. Boy! she is a rocket ship compared to my little 90kts Cherokee I'm used to flying. As a side note, if you are not proficient with a complex plane, don't pick night for your first lesson. It was brutal! The instructor got back later than expected from his previous flight so we ended up not launching until sunset. On the bright side, it was nice and smooth. On the other, trying to focus on procedures in the dark and look for things is a plane you are not 100% familiar with at night is not the best learning environment. I won't do that again. Biggest take away was I have to get used to the lighter/tighter controls. I kept over-controlling (too much flare) on approach. Either way, it was still fun and can't wait to go again. Now I'm just waiting out weather.

Sure enough! Thanks. I had just looked the other day and the later models were missing, but it's there now. (just 11 days old now)

I have. The downloads stop for the E models in '64. I would love to get my hands on the whole manual just for reference. I like to know what my A&P is doing so I can keep an eye on it vs just assuming it is done right. Don't misconstrue that statement. I fully and 100% trust my mechanic, but I'm the one getting in the plane and flying it after the work is done. I like to be a little more informed than just making sure it's signed off in the books.

Nothing specific as of this moment. I'm an old USMC avionics guy (F/A-18s) and currently a robotics guy. Heavy in the electric side and want to be really familiar with my electrical system. I would prefer to be the primary guy working on the electrics vs my A&P or even a avi shop, under their supervision of course.

Does anyone have the maintenance manual for the '75 M20E's? Specifically I'm looking for the wiring diagram for the plane. Thanks! --Adam

As far as I can tell. It looks just like it shows in the POH. I've seen it in some videos on youtube and the like, but since I've been trying to figure out what this light might be I can't find it anywhere.

We are GMU.

Hey guys, You may remember me from a while back asking some questions about a '75 M20E that we found for a really good deal. We put her through a pre-buy at an MSC and did as much due diligence as we could possibly do and all came back good. Well, as good as to be expected for a 42 year old airplane that has been sitting for a bit (about 6 months). For the price asked and the squawks found she was just too good to pass up, so I am now (with a partner) officially a Mooney driver! She's not perfect. She will get some upgrades over the next few years, but for what we were looking for she is absolutely perfect! As soon as we can get the weather and schedules to cooperate, we'll start our transition training and finally get her back in the air. I'm sure I'll have many more questions as time goes on, and look forward to joining the community. I'll go ahead and start with my first question right away If you look at the last picture, the annunciator panel is missing the cover with the text. From the POH I can't figure out what it should be. The only reference in the POH says that the panel has "Aircraft Registration, Landing Lights, Fuel Pressure, High and Low Vacuum, and High and Low Voltage." Is it really supposed to have a light showing the Tail Number?? The light, other than when testing the annunciator panel, only comes on when the panel lights are turned up and dims with the control. It makes sense with the list shown in the POH and I also wouldn't expect a caution and warning light to be Blue. Either way, does anyone know where I can source a replacement? Oh and I guess I have another questions too, anyone interested in a 1/4 share of a piper cherokee? --Adam

Found it faster than expected: https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/pic-archive/aircraft-ownership/incorporation-for-aircraft-owners

I'm looking for the article now and will post it when I find it. But per the AOPA using an LLC to register a plane doesn't make sense in most cases. It doesn't shelter you from taxes and it doesn't actually shelter you from liability. If you have an accident, you, the pilot, are liable for the accident regardless of the ownership of the airplane. The article mentions that it isn't even practical to do it for partnerships. Also per the FAA, taxes are on where the plane is based, not on where it is registered. It might actually increase your taxes in states that have use taxes. If it is registered out of state you will have to pay a use tax where if you register it in state you just have to pay personal property tax.

A Former Marine Aviator wanted to show off his new twin-engine plane. His friend was riding along as he put it through its paces. Suddenly, they were caught in a violent thunderstorm, with lightning crashing all around them. Next, they lost the radio and most of the instruments. As they were being tossed around in the sky, pilot said, “Uh-oh!” Fearing the worst, his friend asked, “What’s wrong now?” Pilot replied, “I got the hiccups. Do something to scare me.”

Oh, and did you notice any lights (instrument back lights, landing light, nav lights) dim when this happened?

Voltage drop would definitely be the cause, but an alternator/generator should be supplying enough power to run everything AND charge the battery. What did your ammeter show? Was it showing current going to the battery/electrical system?

What I've gathered from reading: Doing a touch a go like I learned during primary training; touch, roll, reconfigure for takeoff, full power, take off; is risky in a Mooney. Risks include, but are not limited to: Running out of runway Re-configuring the wrong control i.e. pulling up the gear instead of the flaps Added workload could cause problems (GU landing) on the next circuit Treating a touch and go as a failed landing/emergency procedure is potentially dangerous as well because the maneuvers are close to the ground and high power changes without re-configuring the aircraft causing potentially unexpected reaction of the plate. However they seem important to learn: botched/bounced landing recovery emergency takeoff for the proverbial deer on the runway or other pilot pulling into the runway ahead of you Last second go around for any other reason My take away->Nothing wrong with any of the above situations. They all have risks all flights are normal or practice have risks. A touch and go executed like 1 above seems like a pointless risk but many risks can be mitigated. Touch and go's executed like number 2 are important and should be practiced to understand the reaction of the airplane, but are still risky, maybe more than option 1, but still a safety thing. Understand your risks and practice good ORM/ADM. BTW: The discussion started getting more and more heated the further into the thread it got.

I've seen the stories in dozens of posts but no summarized explanation. It just seems like tribal knowledge. Thought I would ask and see.

That makes perfect sense to me. And @jetdriven mentioned that if you are looking at it as a cost savings, it's less than $1 to just taxi back and go again.

I'm not yet a Mooney owner, but trying to learn what I can while I go through the buying process. I have pretty much decided a Mooney is the plane for my mission. I've been reading the forums to learn what I can and I keep seeing references to touch and go's being the equivalent of jumping off a bridge without a parachute in a Mooney. I did a search to try to find a thread before that would answer it, but didn't see one (If I missed it, I apologize). So is a touch and go really a death sentence to the pilot and plane?

What is the manifold pressure at full power? Are you actually developing full power and not getting the RPM expected or are you not getting enough power to get past 2000 RPM. i.e. is it the propeller keeping you at 2000 or is it the engine not getting past 2000.

My two cents is that you were able to manually extend it and get the down lock indications I would bet that the indication system, i.e. switches/wiring, are all fine. You said you mechanical indicator and your indicator lights shared the same indications, almost but not fully locked. This seems to me like it has to be mechanical adjustments. Good luck. Let us know what he finds.

May be a challenge to find blue stains on the blue carpet. I'll take a look and see what I can see, or ask that it get checked during the pre-buy.

So I finally got a chance to look through the books to find some more information on the plane. The 'overhaul' that the owner spoke about was due to a prop strike. So not an overhaul at all. The engine is a 1600-ish hour SMOH engine. The prop however is truly 300-ish hours SPOH as it was replaced with an overhauled prop at the time. New blades and new hub. The inspection/repair was done by G&N aircraft in Griffith, IN. The repair is well documented in the logs and seems to be pretty extensive. So not a 300 hr overhauled engine as originally suggested, but 300 since prop strike. It did receive new (rebuilt) magnetos and new (rebuilt) lifters, new bolts and seals as required for a tear down and necessary magnaflux inspection. There are the matching log entries in the airframe log for mounts, etc that were inspected and replaced following the incident. Talked to the mechanic about it and he shared that the incident happened while the plane flying at a local field doing touch and go's and the strike was so minor the pilot didn't know he had even tipped the prop till he returned the plane home. Is this likely? Seems like a prop strike would be a violent event that you would always know it happened? I've talked to AGL Aviation as suggested by @Bob_Belville about a pre-buy to get someone who KNOWS mooney's to take a look. In the process of trying to get insurance arranged to get the plane up there. The owner has lost his medical and neither myself or my partner can fly it, but I have found a ferry pilot who has agreed to do the flying and working with the insurance to make sure they will allow it. As soon as that clears, I'm going to get it scheduled to get into AGL for a pre-buy. Progress......Slow Progress.......but still Progress.

Not the best picture, but a quick one I took at the airport when we first started looking at her. This was taken before she was washed so the paint is still pretty dull. We did a quick wash and slight buff to check out the paint to see its real condition and it shined up really well. No (or very few) chips and cracks. A serious wash/buff/wax will maker her shine like a new penny. Tanks were full and the ground was dry, so no fuel leaks that were obvious to speak of. Took her for another flight and the only squawks that I found were: 1. ammeter doesn't seem to read. Had the mechanic check the alternator and said it was working find. Had to be gauge. Mechanic/seller have already ordered a replacement combo ammeter/voltmeter to replace it. 2. Intercomm is shot. The noise on the pilot's connection is terrible. Suspect something loose inside the box because it was find until we went full power for takeoff. Going to use our intercomm out of our cherokee to verify that it's the intercomm and not the radios/audio panel. On another note, the glass in the picture is really milky from sun exposure. All of the glass has already been replaced. The owner insisted he replace it before we flew it. He had already ordered it before we approached him about selling, it just hadn't been installed. That has been done now.

I worked on F-18s in the marines and you could always spot a sticky contactor. It would be covered with dents where the line guys would smack it to get it to run during startup.

I agree. Main reason I'm here asking questions. Looking for the experience of the group of owners to try to help me find any red flags. I know the seller and I know the mechanic and the plane was not for sale, we asked if he was interested in selling. I can partially explain the low price tag, but I still don't want to put money down on a time bomb.

To be honest, I'm still vague on this topic as well. This is just what I was told by the seller. The mechanic said that it was basically a rebuilt engine but not a legal rebuild so not a 0 time rebuild. I'm expecting to get the logs this week to shed some more light on this topic. Cam shaft seems suspicious to me as someone else mentioned, but as of this moment, I'm just passing along what I've heard so far. I'm still early in this buying process as of now and starting to verify seller/mechanic claims.