0TreeLemur

While flying my '67C with a Vietnam-era USAF veteran pilot of C-141s then airliners, the green light didn't come on when I lowered the gear. I triple checked that the J-Bar was in the "gear down position" and locked by pulling down hard on the collar. Deferring to his many decades of seniority- I pointed at the dark green light asked him what he thought. He said "your gear are down and locked" without hesitation... A Johnson bar is a better indicator that a wire vibrating in the wind, IMHO. It it is up in the vertical position and the collar is locked, your landing gear are as down as they are going to get.

My bird has no static drain. The alternate static source on when we acquired her was a push/pull valve installed on the back of the VSI. It was impossible to get to in flight. We installed an alternate static switch in the panel https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/togglevalve11-12168.php?clickkey=9489 Any time I open the alternate static valve in flight there is a slight deviation indicated on the VSI, and a twitch of the altimeter that quickly goes away.

You are correct, @jamesm, the SI does not mention location of the drain valve. As I read the SI, moving the location of the tee is sufficient to prevent water from being trapped in the static system. Oddly enough, I can't see any mention of a sump drain valve, but seems to show something like it. The problem I would have with installing a sump drain valve is that in cold climates, undrained water will freeze and damage the valve.

Cool story. A buddy of mine is fond of saying "It's a small world, but I'd hate to have to paint it". There are so few small aircraft in the air most of the time in my experience, I'm not surprised you would encounter other MS-ers. Last August while flying Mooney 2903L on freq. with Denver center, I was warned, "Caution- similar call sign on frequency, Mooney 2905L." That was cool.

It reports a "parallel" connection, which is what the old Terra AT3000 would support. Those are 1970's encoders. Might be a broken wire/connector issue. The problem is, as I said, the one Avionics shop within a reasonable distance of me is too busy.

I hate it when this happens. I just typed in a long explanation of my problem and it disappeared... Grrrrr. In late June my mode C and ADS-B reported elevation became a random number generator. I bought a used working Terra AT3000 encoder off eBay, plugged it in, and it made no difference on a test flight. So it is the cable/connector or Appareo xponder. Here is a photo I took yesterday evening in my hangar, which is at 175 ft elev. Obviously something wrong. I don't think that is the correct Gray code for -1100 ft either. Something is seriously wrong. Any ideas? Wouldn't the Appareo throw and error flag if it detected an internal problem? I don't see any error flags. All the avionics shops in my area are busy and/or focused on high $$ upgrades, not minor repairs to 52 y.o. Mooneys... Any help appreciated.

Howdy everyone,

Thanks. I subscribe, didn't put 2+2 together. Look forward to reading your articles.

Please tell us when you publish articles and where.

@Pasturepilot thanks for your XLNT writeup- now I have a new beach destination! We've hung the Sensorcon CO detector on the unused co-pilot's microphone hanger forward of the door. It actually stays there real well, and gives the co-pilot a bit to operate and monitor. The contrast between GA and Airline Pilot perspectives you offer is really fascinating to me. If my career choices had turned out just a bit differently, I would be a professional pilot "livin' the dream", not just a weekend guy schlepping around below the flight levels at M=0.18.

If you search the interwebs using: "av-20s site:mooneyspace.com" and you will find a lot of commentary similar to that by @gsxrpilot

Ok, not in a Mooney- but pretty high altitude for a Toyota Hilux. Last week in northern Chile.

I really enjoyed the first video. Congratulations Cap'n on a fantastic and fulfilling career. The "Livin' the Dream" series not so much... Maybe I"m glad I went to truck driver skool instead...

Jeremy, here's a summary of what I did with the somewhat antiquated panel in my bird after we acquired her. The cost was not too great because the only upgrade was installing a used 430W and transponder for ADS-B out. At least I didn't have to deal with Loran...

Stall speed of Cessna 182 is 50 kt. A M20C stops flying at about 56kt in a full stall with full flaps, but it takes a bit of float to get it to the stalling AoA unless you approach real (too) slow. Your 2300' grass strip would scare the heck out of me. Disclaimer: I've got about 200 landings in a Mooney M20C, none on grass.

In a model C Mooney, nothing is easier to ignore than that six-pack of tiny little gauges over near the co-pilots' left kneecap. I think there is a reason why later models moved those gauges front-and-center. In the original C the ergonomics of the Garwin gauge cluster is terrible. With a modern engine monitor placed in a more visible location and with its greatly improved legibility, I can include it in my scan without having to put my head in the co-pilot's lap. The use of numbers and bar-charts eliminates parallax effects in interpreting gauge needles. I can see important stuff, such as that time that I was told to expedite my departure, skipped a few items on my checklist, and started to take off with lean mixture. The engine monitor EGT bars turned yellow and I pushed in the mixture. I'd say that is perhaps a good example of that engine monitor "earning its keep". Oh, and a certified engine monitor allows you to remove a bunch of antique gauges, and keep all the flammables firewall forward. During a recent airshow I spied pressure transducers in the nacelle of a DC-3. I asked the maintenance guy about it- he said the pilots love not having fuel dripping on their shoes when some fuel pressure fitting starts leaking. Antique taildragger maintenance guy says that he really likes having a modern engine monitor...

I installed the AV-20-S. Here are the pluses. It can display OAT, buss voltage, and TAS on the main screen. I agree with @gsxrpilot that the timers are nice. It has two user timers, plus an "engine run time" timer that starts counting when the buss voltage exceeds 13-ish V, which occurs during runup in a/c with generators. It also has a "flight time timer" that starts when it thinks the pressure differential across the pitot and static lines is enough for 40 kias. I use that one to time when I switch fuel tanks. It also has a mems-based attitude indicator that I find to be well in agreement with my vacuum driven one. I bought it for that feature because a good timer with a backup AI is cool. On the other hand, in the less-than-cool category, it has an OAT sensor that uses the DAVTRON temperature probe. It is calibrated using a menu-based "trim" setting. When I calibrate the temperature probe vs. whatever temperature source I can obtain at altitude, it seems consistent. But, when I compare the indicated TAS vs what the Garmin 430W tells me is the TAS when I change the temperature, pressure, and CAS on that menu, the AV-20-S indicates 4-6 kts higher. The Garmin 430W agrees with three-course groundspeed method of making TAS measurements within about 2 kts. So, whatever algorithm the AV-20-S is using is not that accurate. I have found that I can adjust the temperature "trim" setting to get the TAS to match, and then the temperature is off. Something is not right in the TAS calculation based on the air temperature. It advertises having a "probeless AoA sensor". In my experience, the probeless AOA indication on the AV-20-S is useless. In theory it should work at 1g based on measured V, dP/dt and nose angle relative to the horizon based on the mems AI. However, as g deviates significantly from 1.0, due to turning or some other acceleration, another variable is introduced to the equation that the probeless AOA sensor cannot resolve related to angular accelerations. I contacted the company and was told something to the effect that the probeless AOA has not yet been calibrated in a Mooney. I think that was a polite way of saying "fuhgeddabouddit", so I have. I turned it off because it was distracting. It has the ability to serve as a g-meter, but since I don't do aerobatics and I know to fly in the green arc when it is rough, I don't ever use it. My 2-cents worth. I'm glad I have it for the useful timers and backup AI with 30-minute battery life. The other functionality is of questionable utility in my opinion as a rank private pilot. YMMV. I do not recommend it for its purported ability to accurately indicate AOA.

Ok, I'm dreaming. Just in case- assuming a set of split rear seat backs from a 67E will install and fit in a 67C, I am looking to buy them. Impossible dream?

Resurrecting this thread because I have need to find a good source of certified upholstery material with burn certs. I have neither time or desire to get in the flame testing business. A long-term search of the interwebs turns up mom+pop operations that don't stock samples, or firms that seem to specialize in the interior of multi-million $ jet-propelled time machines. I see that Aircraft Spruce stocks vinyl. I need a good source of fabric. We're going to put sheepskins on the two front seats, so they will be upholstered entirely in vinyl. The bench back seat should be mostly fabric. Our a/c will ultimately be painted red over white, kind of like @Bob_Belville's bird that looks soooo good. So I'm thinking we need some kind of redish/brown fabric and tan vinyl. Finding a site to buy the fabric has proven elusive. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Yes, @Yetti raises a good point. Mooneyspace has a 1980's library era search engine syntax that is really cumbersome to use to find anything. It seems that one member, and only one member, has mastered it. It is not @Yoda but @carusoam. You can seek out his knowledge. Alternatively, you can do as suggested and do this in google (without the quotes): " LED landing light site:mooneyspace.com" Answers you will find. Old threads you will revive.

Our a/c has installed one Aero-Lites Sunsetter PAR 46. Four of the 18 LEDs have light dispersal gratings over them which makes it a combination landing/taxi light. It is so much safer when taxiing than the tightly focused incandescent energy waster it replaced. The picture below was taken when I was about 3-4 miles from the airport at dusk. I always fly with it on.

The prior owner installed this small satchel using two of the screws that hold the plastic window liner in place just above and forward of the pilot's left hand arm rest. It is a handy place to keep sunglasses/readers.

I use this for the U.S.: http://visitedstatesmap.com/ For Australia, I rolled my own from a gif of the country. I made them both to scale more-or-less.

Welcome Jeremy. A new engine monitor makes a great early upgrade- a certified one gives you the ability to take out a lot of old legacy instrumentation, and keep all the flammables forward of the firewall. They don't cost that much and are relatively painless to install in my experience with the support of a good A&P IA. Frees up a bunch of panel space too.