0TreeLemur

I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. Bob, but I thought that his column in the MAPA Log magazine was fantastic. He offered medical advice that in my opinion was not only accurate, but courageous, by helping us pilots to know our rights and responsibilities. He will be missed.

In WX speak, CB= Cumulonimbus Buildup aka "aerial concrete" not to be flown into.

Today I went to the airport and investigated further. It turns out that they are some kind of upholstery barbed buttons. The shaft kind of looks like a ring-shank nail except they are plastic. Pull as you may, they don't come out. The only way to remove them is to cut them off. Now I need to find a source of new ones.

When I put in the LED bulb, I cleaned the area well and put a couple of small beads of silicone to keep it from vibrating/rotating. The incandescent I removed did not have a rubber seal behind it.

I need to take this cover off to replace the fabric. Before I mess something up, I thought I would ask if anybody knows how these fasteners work? What is the best way to remove them? Can they be re-used? Thanks

Thanks a bunch! Those are taller than I expected, but I get the gist. I can whip some of those up. I'm better at metal work than sewing Is there any way you could send me a scanned copy of the 337 that you filed? That would really help me with getting approval. Between you and @M20Doc I really appreciate the excellent help/advice!!!

Not if you're me. No machine, and worse yet- no sewing skill.

Does anybody know where to get colored windlace? The new interior is going to be claret & tan colored. Aircraft Spruce has any color you want as long as it is black.

Nice thread. Thanks for all the info @bradp! We're doing the same stuff to our bird now.

Clarence, ( @M20Doc) do you have any photos of this setup? I'm getting ready to start looking for shoulder belts for the back seat in my M20C and I would really like to see how you did it. Thanks. Fred

I had a Yaesu that came with my aircraft. When I had radio problems in June, I needed to rely on a handheld, which I discovered is useless in a loud Mooney without the ability to plug in the headset. Shortly after that I upgraded to a newer Yaesu that has plug-in adapter for use with a headset. I sold the old handheld for a bit over half the cost of a new one. Highly recommend you get headset capability if your a/c is loud.

AI probably needs overhauled. I've seen that kind of jumpy behavior in a MP gauge before back when I had one.

I agree with you @bob865 The problem as I see it is lack of clear guidance and fear of the gov'ment. There are different decisions/interpretations of the FARs written by different FSDOs at different times that folks can choose from to support their personal opinion. Sadly there is no ultimate decider. If the FAA wants to get you, they will almost always find a way. I replaced the energy wasting/heat generating rice grain bulbs in my post lights with LEDs. Getting rid of any source of ignition in the cabin seemed like a great idea, as did going with bulbs that are not vibration sensitive. The 'owner approved maintenance list' was just reinterpreted by the FAA to allow us to do more stuff than what is black-n-white in the FARs. Common sense works until it doesn't. Interpretation of the regulations is an inexact art. The stock answer in certified aircraft is to pass the buck up to the appropriate level and get it in writing to reduce finger pointing ambiguity when something goes wrong. Sad but true it seems.

Putting a colored LED behind a colored lens will make it difficult to verify required brightness. Colored lenses attenuate colors off the desired color by almost 100%. They also attenuate the desired color. With a colored LED there is no reason for a colored lens. In fact the colored lens might cut the brightness enough to make it not meet brightness requirements. I bought clear polycarbonate lenses for the Grimes position lights for about $25 ea. These made a huge difference with the red/green LED bulbs that were installed. They cast large red and green lobes of light on the ground below the wing-tips that were not there with the colored lenses.

There are much cheaper solutions for sale on eBay. Use picclick.com to search for "Grimes model E" and "position lights"

All that reflectiveness needs is a disco ball and some spot lights.

What kind of camera did you use for that? Pretty cool to see.

Wow. My younger self would be tempted to zip off a zinger. My current self just says "delete" and ignore. It's weird that he somehow thinks that he's entitled to money for a deal that fell through because he withheld key information. I've never heard of anything like that. Feeling entitled is a curse. Great thing you ran from this "deal".

Agreed- the shotgun panel was less-than-optimal. That is the first thing we 'fixed' after we acquired our bird. She's cherry now in that regard. According to what I read on this site, the C & E didn't get the larger rudder until 1969. The only times I wished that I had a larger rudder were those times that I forgot to use adverse yaw on crosswind takeoffs. Not sure if that extra ~1 ft. of rudder down below the elevator in the wake of the fuselage adds much yaw authority. Must add some though or they wouldn't have done it. Gear speeds are the same aren't they (125 mph)? I think you mean higher flap speeds? Also, '67 was the last year that the C model came from the factory with a dorsal fin that connects the top of the fuselage to the tail. Later versions were often modified to include this fin because of its perceived addition of yaw stability in turbulence.

I'm reading that '67 is near-optimal for a C?

Thanks for sharing that video @flyboy0681. There was a lot more energy expended in friction sliding across the ground than the image above suggests given the relationship between the fuselage and separated engine. Maybe the rescue crew separated the engine. That guy in the video was lucky to be missed too! It is always great to see accidents not turn out horribly.

Incredible, but two occupants weren't hurt??? Good news! From looking at the condition of the airframe I have a hard time believing it. The way the engine mount snapped off the firewall and the engine is just laying there, I would expect that this was a near pancake landing which usually means fractured vertebrae for those inside. This looks miraculous.

time travel. backward.

Did you install a refurbed generator or did you convert to an alternator? The generator on my C doesn't really seem to contribute many electrons until about 1700 rpms too. -Thx.

A more recent photo. This panel upgrade was not that expensive. Compare with an original or even 1990's updated panel, there is no comparison. The amount of technology available provided by early 2000's GPS upgraded to WAAS plus ADS-B in/out and a certified engine monitor is really cool, and makes her a much more capable and interesting aircraft to pilot. Those of you considering buying an older Mooney with the older panel should consider doing something like this.