0TreeLemur

I opened up the tail and looked around today. No signs of entry, forced or otherwise. As per @FlyingDude, I'm guessing up the nose gear and into the belly by way of some magical acrobatics.

How do they get in through the tail? It's in a hangar, not tied down.

In the category of "it's always something...." Yesterday I went to the hangar. When I opened the door to our J I was greeted by a surprise on the right-front seat. A little mess of paper shreds and mouse poop. It seems the last time I flew I left something behind that a mouse thought was tasty. Both the cabin and baggage doors were closed and locked. Cowl flaps were closed. This happened since Monday. I've been in this hangar for six years, first time I've seen mouse turds in the cabin of my airplane. Got on a creeper and inspected the rodent socks in the main wheel wells. No deficiencies noted. Ain't nothing bigger than an ant getting in that way. Crept under the nose gear wheel well. There are some openings but they don't seem a likely entry pathway because they would be awfully difficult for a mouse to get to unless they jumped. Anybody have an idea how they entered the cabin? I removed everything and didn't see widespread signs of occupancy. I don't think that they've moved in (yet). I've seen that some folks put down rodent rings around the three wheels to impede entry. I might start doing that. Can anyone recommend a source for those? Thx. Fred

A link to another thread discussing this very issue. Highly recommend folks read what @whiskytango wrote.

Several items that I've sold or wanted to buy in the last year have attract scammers. I love them. I like to mess with them. Sadly my "WTB Turbo Encabulator" ad didn't generate any offers. "My dad has one, send money to prince@nigeria.net"

Most excellent outcome. I've driven that stretch of highway many times. At about 3:00 on a Sunday afternoon it should not be too crowded. However, in the news video you can see an overhead power line across the road right where the airplane is parked. As @whiskytango's experience has shown us, they can cause an easy emergency landing to become a difficult emergency landing. There are lots of good fields to land in around there. Many.

I fly 1000 mile cross-countries several times a year. At first did it all in my C by hand. Arrived at my destination too tired. Then like you I gathered the parts and installed an Accutrak II first in our C. It was a fantastic magenta line follower. But, after I finished my IR and started asking for diversions around buildups I started to covet the Accuflite. Installed that my nav problems were all solved. Life was so good, except for altitude hold. Next I pieced together the parts for the Brittain AH system, and with the help of some resident knowledge here, got it working. Ended up with a full two-axis autopilot, all done by tubing and rubber bands! Now I fly a J with a "modern" autopilot- the 1980's vintage Bendix-King KFC-150. Honestly, the Brittain wing leveler does a better job than the BK at keeping the wings level in turbulence because it is more responsive and smoother. The dynamics of the Brittain wing leveler are just unbeatable it seems. The altitude hold on the BK system is very aggressive at maintaining altitude within 20 ft. The Brittain altitude hold had more like a +/- 60 ft variance, and provided a much smoother ride. In mountain wave turbulence I just have to turn the BK altitude hold off or it will make my passengers (or me) puke. The Brittain altitude hold, while responsive, seems a better match for the flight dynamics of a small airplane. The Accutrak II would sometimes wander a bit. Seemed random, but more likely to happen after several hours of a long trip. The Accuflite of course depends on the rate of gyro precession on your DG- that would make long distance flights without the Accutrak a little zig-zaggy. If you can find all the parts, I'd recommend putting in both. You can use the Accuflite to help in maneuvering (e.g. holds) too if you need to look at an approach plate or weather data on your iPad while shooting an approach. It's all great for workload reduction.

I got the following info- From Honeywell data sheet: Catalog Listing 21SX39-T (MS24547-1) Mil Spec.: MIL-PRF-8805 Max. Op. Temp: 82°C [180°F] Electrical data and UL Codes: 7 A Note: it says that Prefix 21SX is the same as a Prefix 1SX with MIL-approvals They are a single-pole, double throw switch. Normally, pins 1 and 3 are connected together and pin 2 is open. When depressed, pins 1 and 2 are connected and pin 3 is open.

I've got a business trip coming up in late May in SLC. I see a good opportunity for a nice long XC in my Mooney with a stop to see my son in Los Alamos. I'm looking for a recommendation of a good field to land and tie down for four days from someone with experience in SLC.

When I owned a M20C it used massive plugs. I carried around a spare plug and gapping tools in my tool bag. Since I sold the C and bought a J that uses fine-wire plugs, I no longer need them. It's all unused. I'm asking $60 for the lot, and I'll pay shipping to CONUS addresses via UPS ground. That's essentially half price for my MS friends. If OCONUS, you pay shipping. If you want these send me a DM. I'm not interested in splitting it up- all or nothing. Thx. -Fred

^^ This is what we use too. Except we don't have those exotic tiger stripes!

The gathering on April 8 for eclipse viewing at 42A (Melbourne, Arkansas). The crew of that large grey military airplane (single engine turboprop) landed just before the totality started. They landed long and filled the air with tire smoke as the pilot slammed on the brakes with the end of the runway rushing towards him. I've never before seen an airplane fishtail like that! There were four Mooneys in attendance, including @Pasturepilot and family!

I had the cowl plugs in place. And while I didn't check the wheel wells, I suspect when when the gear came down arriving home that probably cleaned out any nest material in there. I'll give it a look though. The spot next to my tie down had a huge amount of nest material on the tarmac where the nose of another airplane once was. Obviously someone didn't put in their cowl plugs and got nested. I learned from their misfortune.

Thanks a bunch for this! Gave me chills to listen to it again. At the time it just seemed surreal. The kid (ok, I'm obviously older than him so I can call him that) flying the Lancair did a fantastic job of staying calm! I really appreciate @whiskytango's perspective here as someone who has lived this experience.

Great insight based on your experience. Thanks for sharing this.

And I followed your instructions as written.

While flying on an IFR flight plan last Thursday over NC, talking to RDU approach, I heard the following (more or less): aircraft: "Mayday Mayday Mayday 360XS has experienced a total loss of power, the pump is broken and I'm going down" <I guess loss of oil pressure?> controller: "Aircraft calling Mayday please repeat" aircraft: "360XS has an engine failure and I'm going down, where is the nearest airport?" another aircraft: "Allegiant XXX 130 for 10" controller: "I want everyone on this frequency to be quiet. Break. 360XS the nearest airport is TTA. You are six miles north of the field." aircraft: "Can you give me a heading?" controller: "fly heading 200" aircraft: "I'm at 2900 ft and think I can make it 360XS" < minute or two later, after controller talked with trouble aircraft and urged new arrivals on frequency to stand by.> aircraft: "360XS I'm not going to make it to TTA. What is the highway below me? I'm going to try and land there. controller: "That's highway 1." <that's the transmission I heard from that pilot> Today I used the google machine to learn of the outcome. The pilot walked away, but he did impact one vehicle, causing debris to hit another. https://wset.com/news/local/photos-airplane-crash-lands-on-north-carolina-highway-after-leaving-lynchburg-regional-airport-moncure-fire-department-chatham-county-flightaware-april-2024 Photos show a broken propeller blade. Maybe I misheard and the pilot actually said "...the prop is broken..." This raises a question- in this situation is it ethical to land on a busy highway in the case of an engine out? Looking at google earth, there were not a lot of other options. According to the TV station reports, it everyone walked away, a fantastic outcome. But that was far from a guaranteed outcome given that it was 3:40 p.m. on a Thursday and there was traffic on the highway. Not sure that I would have done anything differently from what this pilot did. Is it ok to risk the lives of what are essentially uninvolved people to try and save your own? My first experience hearing a Mayday call. It sure is attention getting.

Where exactly? When I preflighted the elevator control area was clear. They can't get in anywhere else right?. Is that what you mean?

Update: the warm water did the trick. Surprising what a difference water temperature makes. Cold water does not do the trick.

@t42dor I have an extra spinner. During the annual on our J in January, they discovered a cracked interior bulkhead in my spinner. Needing an interior bulkhead, I bought a spinner that had a good one 'cause that's the deal that was made. So I have an extra spinner w/o a bulkhead. I'd sell it and you could move your bulkhead. It's for a McCauley 2-blade prop. If you are interested I'll send photos. It's unpainted aluminum with a few scratches but looks serviceable.

Thanks everyone. Some good ideas here- I hadn't considered hot water. Cold rain did nothing to help. I'm due for an oil change, this will fill those gaps while waiting for oil bottles to drain.

On a trip this week to coastal Maryland, my Mooney sat tied down for four days, and was shat upon multiple times by birds of unknown species. Yesterday after flying back through continuous moderate turbulence with occasionally heavy rain, much remains. Even on the prop! Can anyone recommend a good technique to remove this scat? Thought I would ask and save some time. This stuff seems to have some super adhesive properties and I don't want to damage the finish. Especially bad on the tail where the towel rack makes a great roost, as well as the propeller. Thanks! Fred

Today flying from Eastern Maryland back to Alabama, I was forced by icing to take a more southerly route. Took this photo looking south-southeast towards the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The Patuxent NAS is lower right. Horrible turbulence and headwinds all they way to the GA-AL border after which things smoothed out a bit. The shocker of the day happened when CLT approach allowed me to fly over the field at 5,000.

You nailed it. I learned on steam gauges and flew behind them for almost 40 years before my first experience with tapes and intermittent indicators such as rate of turn and VSI on the Aspen. My scan is much more in tune with pointers. A quick glance at an altimeter, ASI, or VSI just gives me all the info I need. A tape requires reading the numbers. An intermittent indicator requires a lot more mental activity (1) is it there? (2) is it changing? (3) how fast? (4) if I push/pull or turn the yoke does it react? (5) how much? My neural network can scan steam gauges three or four times while doing all that stuff. I am attuned to interpreting rates of changes of needles. I miss that with the Aspen. Because my panel has only one Aspen, it retains 3-1/8" AI, ASI, Altimeter, and VSI. In a pinch those are still my goto. Under normal IFR when things are pretty steady, I can stare at the Aspen and feel quite in sync with the airplane. But when I go through a bumpy cloud wondering which way is up, I rely more on the round dials.

I agree that the turn rate indicator on an Aspen is hard to read in a scan. The Aspen VSI isn't much better. I had one open 3-1/8" hole in my panel and decided to go with a VSI. For me, that is a better steam gauge to have for flying a stabilized approach compared to a TC. It seems I'm always flying in turbulence lately and holding a standard or half-standard rate turn is impossible anyway!