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afward

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Everything posted by afward

  1. Ok, we’re going to try the bolt first. If that doesn’t work, I guess we’ll have to check the fitting and bushing… Hopefully it’s just the bolt! Thanks for the advice everyone! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  2. I think I need some help; We’ve found that the copilot side horizontal stabilizer has nearly out of limits movement up and down. My IA thinks it’s the bushing in the upper attachment on that side. Looking at the ipc (67 M20F) there’s hardware labeled as 1, but no bushing. What do we need to be looking for? Any ideas? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  3. Well... I'd disagree on that. A fixed timing electronic magneto can be built using some power supply circuitry, hall effect sensors, a coil, a set of power MOSFETs (I think; may need SCRs for the high voltage), and a handful of other minor components. I've also looked at using an Arduino to do that (plus some), and the code involved really just isn't that complicated. Once prototyped it's a triggered timer with lookup tables. Just about any 2nd year CS student could code that to a decent level of functional. All that said, I'm not jumping on the EI bandwagon anytime soon... I literally just put new mags on (haven't even spun the engine yet) and would prefer to wait for possibly a better option later on.
  4. What you are describe is E-Mags: https://emagair.com/ Sadly, they have specifically declared they will not pursue PMA / STC for certificated aircraft.
  5. Auto's Aviation @ KSUZ. He's still full time Air Force, but I've been happy with the communication and work I've asked him to do so far. Good to know. That said, this is after we (mostly my avionics guy) pulled out and organized a bunch of stuff... WTF has been uttered more than a few times thus far.
  6. It started as a GPS install... But after some serious consideration we decided to do more. Bye-bye vacuum system!
  7. "not recommended" is not the same as "prohibited". Something to keep in mind: The manufacturers can only make recommendations that are supported by hard data generated as part of the certification process. It would cost extra to certify LOP operations (plus add liability concerns due to past guidance), so they don't... And probably won't. Thing is, they know LOP is a valid and useful operational mode... They just won't directly say as much (though if you look at all the charts they publish, LOP is absolutely in the valid operational ranges... as is under square operation). I do think it's interesting that their idea of "Peak" means your richest cylinder could very well be running at a much higher CHT than if you ran 150F ROP, even though it's making less power and burning a lot less fuel... Like I said before, how you choose to run your plane's engine is up to you... As long as you aren't abusing the engine (like full power 50F ROP!) it'll get you where you're going. Heck, the M20F POH actually _calls for_ 50F-100F ROP fuel flows for certain settings, and they aren't exactly known for falling out of the sky...
  8. To some degree, changing the guidance with newer (but derived!) engine designs would be admitting the old guidance was wrong. Considering attorneys nearly always advise against admitting fault, no one should be surprised... LOP, done correctly, won't hurt the engine. Even at relatively high power settings (>75%). The trade-off is that you cannot get rated power that way (must run too lean to maintain detonation margins). The benefit is lower CHTs, lower oil temps, cleaner oil, and lower fuel burn. There is some concern for turbo health on such engines (hot oxygen may not be good for them), but I don't know that anyone has actually studied it yet. Now, whether you choose to run LOP, peak, best power, or fully ROP is up to you... All will get you there, just with different trade-offs. I personally like to run LOP in most cases. That gets me at least 17 MPG in cruise (TAS/FF), which is better than my truck so I'm happy.
  9. I think there's enough circumstantial evidence visible to indicate there really was a crash as depicted in the video... As pointed out above, model planes don't move like full size (Reynolds number cannot be scaled, among other things). Faking the wreckage would be prohibitively expensive. There's no reason to hide fire extinguishers in your pants legs if it's fake. Those are just off the top of my head. I can't imagine how he wouldn't be up for enforcement actions in short order (FAA timescale).
  10. Ok, it's fixed now. Turned out to be a bad crimp on one of the wires connecting the field switch. Amperage and voltage are now both rock solid. Thanks for all the pointers everyone!
  11. Thanks for all the suggestions! I did go through the PlanePower troubleshooting guide and found that the switch/breaker/enable wire need replacement (I'll figure out which one in particular once I go to fix it) and the aux wire from the alternator isn't driving the aux input on the regulator (which is wired to enable & sense??). Voltage drop across the VR is minimal so I think it's ok. Once those items are fixed I'll test and update here.
  12. Hmmm... Sounds like I need to work through the troubleshooting flowchart. Hopefully it's something easy (and cheap!) to fix.
  13. Just want to double check things... My 12v system tends to run around 15v in-flight. It used to run lower, but has always bounced around quite a bit, especially the amperage. The alternator isn't the issue. Any ideas why and if I need to replace the regulator?
  14. I think the point is mostly that a typical "weekend warrior" pilot isn't going to be consistently sharp enough to ensure proper and timely reaction to EFATO in a twin. I know I personally am not flying enough to feel comfortable operating a twin... End of the day, in the hands of a proficient pilot a twin will be safer (if noticeably more expensive). I'm still keeping my single.
  15. Ok, gotcha. I'll pass all that on to my IA. Thanks everyone!
  16. On the one pictured above I'm pretty sure it's just surface level. On the other, it's deep. I'll see if I can get a picture of it. What blows my mind is it's obviously a steel part attached (with rivets!) to the aluminum spar. Did the factory really do that? And if so, why don't we see that problem more often?
  17. My IA is doing an annual on a '67 M20F (not mine) and found what appears to be a steel doubler on the spar, outboard two(?) ribs from the fuel tank on the right wing. It's very rusted and needs replacement. He couldn't find the right part in the IPC so he sent me pictures of the one in the other wing. Does anyone know what this is? Inboard side: Outboard side (sorry for the poor quality): Thanks!
  18. Personally I raise the gear as soon as positive rate is confirmed (J-bar). While I recognize that makes landing on the rest of the runway harder, that's such a short window it's not worth optimizing. I much prefer adding energy as quickly as I can to minimize the length of the "no turnbacks" window.
  19. Ha, yeah... Pretty sure we agree there. I'd rather belly in a flyable airplane than pull the chute below limits.
  20. The plane was swinging under chute at the time of impact. From the video, it appeared to be in a tail-low attitude and swinging backwards. Assuming that is the case, I highly suspect the tail was broken off by the impact (probably saving the occupants from back/neck injuries since the landing gear is part of the CAPS cushioning system design). THAT SAID, I can't tell if there's any damage prior to ground impact. The plane "appears" to be intact, but looks (especially on the low-resolution video) can be deceiving.
  21. I can corroborate this: Having a single cylinder not producing close to the same power as the rest is a very uncomfortable experience with a Lycoming IO-360. In my case, I could run about 75% power with a full rich mixture and get a smooth-running engine. That put the lean cylinder right at the bottom of the red fin (safe, but barely) and the rest well above the top. Pulling back to land was not pleasant, though. Very rough running. 6 cylinder engines do have the benefit of having overlapping power strokes. That makes them far more smooth just in general, so losing a cylinder really just makes one feel like an average 4 cylinder aero engine.
  22. So for the debrief... A few things jump right out at me: If hearing pops like you're bumping transmit, move your hand so that's not possible. If hearing pops while getting banged around in turbulence and #1 has been accomplished, get out of the turbulence. If on flight following when the panel goes dark, just go where you need to go; ATC will clear a path and give a heads-up to your apparent diversion airport. ... but be reasonable; Going to Tampa Intl would not have been OK, even if it was a legal option. Lakeland should've been my choice. If the engine stops making full power at low altitude, _don't_ touch its controls until a landing site has been identified and prepared for. I got lucky; I didn't have to practice an engine out landing that day. I think I'm going to be a bit more circumspect about trying to get a few more knots by flying full cruise power down low in the bumps... Going to 8500 would've probably only slowed me about 10kt overall, but it would've been smooth the whole way. That would've still saved me a few hours vs. having to do all the above. Making a checklist for myself on this reseal project would've saved me time at FXE as I would've remembered to contact Manny for the leak checks prior to my arrival. Fly more often! I felt a bit rusty when I first started at FXE... Didn't take long to knock it off, but still not a great feeling. It really hasn't been by choice I've not logged a lot of hours over the last several months, mind you... But still not something I want to repeat. But in spite of it all, I got home safely with a newly repaired and now (once these last squawks are addressed) reliable airplane, so I'm going to call it a very successful day.
  23. So this is a bit of a continuation of the story from my last PIREP... Before I tell how I got there or the rest of the story, I need to really speak highly of the Director of Maintenance at Wilco Aviation Services. He and his wife (Jeff and Barbara? I didn't _quite_ store away their names) were there unloading a refrigerator and would be leaving in a few minutes at the time I arrived. Both took a good chunk of their afternoon to make sure I was OK and to take care of the plane. He is also a very diligent and observant mechanic, which helped me have confidence in the plane to go the rest of the way home. To top it all off, I almost had to twist his arm to pay for his time with more than a token payment (sure, saving money is great, but piece of mind is worth a lot on its own). So, if you're in the area, and don't have something exceptionally Mooney-specific (he professed to not being a Mooney mechanic), give them a try! So here's the rest of the story: I departed KFXE planning -> LAL -> CTY -> KMAI for a fuel stop to stretch my legs, at 4,500' to stay out of the strong headwinds up higher. The ceiling kept me at about 4,000', but I was making great time. I was also getting banged around pretty good in the turbulence. CAS was easily below Vno and the bumps weren't so strong I would worry about G limits. No worries... ... until I passed Lakeland airport. About two miles north of their class D, I lost all electrical. My first real in-flight emergency (if for no other reason than I have no engine or fuel indications without the JPI). My first thought is that I'm safe, but need to get down. Second is that there's a great airport right behind me, so I made a big descending left turn towards it. Watching the tower, though, I don't see any light gun signals... OK, start flying around their airspace (to the East). I was on with flight following, so certainly they know I'm here? Still nothing. Try to find the phone # to approach, no dice. Tower? No dice. Grrr... Screw it, flying to an uncontrolled airport. Tappity-tap-tap and my tablet tells me KGIF is a likely candidate, so there I go. Flew a standard pattern and landed 05; on rollout I notice a larger hangar on the South ramp with its door partly open. As I get closer, I see Wilco Aviation Services. Jackpot! So it turns out I probably have a short somewhere on the alternator enable wire behind the panel. We didn't find it (everything powered right up after I had shut down and walked around a few minutes), but I made it a point to stay out of the bumps the rest of the way home and didn't have any further problems. The JPI data showed some spikes to 15+V that would've corresponded with the pops I heard in the headset and falsely assumed were me accidentally tapping the transmit button in the bumps. The field breaker was also open when I landed (didn't notice that in-flight, but I gave up on the system pretty quick since it wasn't necessary to get safely back on the ground and I was solo; troubleshooting got deprioritized). Once Jeff had zip-tied and wrapped a few cables that "could" be a problem in turbulence, said my farewells to he and his wife, and had checked that everything appeared fine, I refilled the tanks and took off for home. That lasted about 5 seconds after rotation. Raising the (J-bar) gear, it felt like something was impinging a bit (not like direct metal-on-metal; more like a tire rubbing but without the vibration)... Just enough for me to decide to lower the gear again, but before I'd even stopped moving my arm the engine demanded all of my attention by ceasing to build full power. Oddly enough, it seemed to correspond with moving the gear, so "put back the last thing you changed". Nope, still not right. Holding altitude, just not climbing. Need the cleaner aerodynamics, so gear up (still doesn't feel right). Now we're climbing, a little. And here's where my memory is fuzzy... I remember pulling back a knob (mixture?) a bit to see if I could clear whatever was the problem. That killed a cylinder (as well as making the others suddenly have much lower(?!) EGTs), so I pushed the knob back in and got full power back. Not willing to push my luck, I immediately flew a tight pattern and landed (oddly enough, the gear felt fine at that point). Jeff looked everything over again and couldn't find any problems. He hopped in and we did a pretty good runup. Then we flew a lap around the pattern, and the darn thing ran flawlessly (including the gear movements). So I dropped him off at the hangar and, without having shut down, took off for home. KGIF -> CTY -> KSUZ. Absolutely no issues and landed (with about 11 gallons left!) fully 13 hours after first getting into the plane that morning. In the morning, I'll add a debrief reply to this. There were lessons I learned from this day.
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