skydvrboy

According to the mechanic they did this and the SOS runs. Per DMax publication referenced earlier in the thread I may just verify for myself by following these steps: 4. Remove the spark plug leads and top plugs of all cylinders. Remove the bottom spark plug leads. 5. Rotate the prop, by hand, until the number one cylinder is at Top Dead Center, TDC on the compression stroke. 6. Make certain that the starter has been disabled and cannot be activated by the ignition switch. Some early Mooneys (M20B and M20C) have a starter disengage switch located beside the starter vibrator switch. This switch was installed so that the starter relay could be disengaged to allow hand propping. NOTE: Whenever hand propping a Mooney or any aircraft with Shower of Sparks system, be sure and disconnect the starter relay. The SOS must be activated during the hand propping and you don’t want the starter to engage while someone is near the prop. 7. Hold the #1 spark plug lead by the insulation and place the spring at the end of the harness lead, very near the cylinder. Have another party in the plane turn and hold the key to the far right past “both”. The vibrator should be buzzing and a constant arc of electricity, “shower of sparks” should be seen between the tip of the lead spring and the engine cylinder. Sometimes it may be necessary to move the prop back and forth a few degrees to find the exact spot where the “retard points” will open. I'm not exactly sure how to find TDC, but I think I can drop a rod down the spark plug hole and just feel for it. If no sparks, I may be on the exhaust stroke, so rotate to the next "TDC" and try again. If I get no sparks on two successive strokes, then I know I'm not getting my SOS at the cylinder. Sound like a plan?

I just ran my numbers through @Shadrach's spreadsheet and they are pretty much spot on for what I do. On normal landings I fly final at 70 mph when real light, or 80 mph when real heavy. From there I just estimate where I'm at in between. It works out to 1 mph for each 10% of capacity for passengers and fuel, but I never think of it that way. Average load is 75 mph, above average, somewhere between 75 & 80, etc. For short field (which I consider less than 2000') I subtract 5 mph and don't go in with over average size load. So my short field finals are flown 65 mph to 70 mph. Also, I don't have any idea what my "over the threshold" speed is, by then I'm looking at the runway and glancing out the side to judge height and stay on center line. I can't say I've never had a bad landing, but this approach has worked very well for me. On a side, I'm going to throw out a bold statement. If you don't at hear the stall warning at all when landing, you are either doing it wrong or your stall warning is INOP.

That's a great question. It used to start perfectly when the engine turned over. They added a new starter and it still wouldn't turn over. That's when they found the switch contacts were arcing. Replaced the switch and now I have a fuel problem? It makes no sense, but I think the only way to get to the bottom of this is going to be to take it to another shop. GRRR!

That's what mine did before giving up the ghost. I didn't know it wasn't supposed to be so slow because it always started in just a few blades. Eventually, it wouldn't overcome the compression stroke and was replaced. Now I can almost taxi with the starter.

Make no mistake, I have one of the slowest F's out there. My square step is stuck out in the wind and the rigging is still a little off. Second, I like running it quite lean of peak. I can go faster by running it richer, but I don't have an engine monitor to keep an eye on the engine health, so I choose to go slower and cooler.

For the useful load, it's hard to beat the F, unless you are willing to a) spend a lot more, b) burn a lot more fuel, c) go slower, or d) some combination of these. Useful load in my F is 1067, so full fuel (64 gal.) leaves 683 for cargo. Fuel burn LOP is 8.5 gph, which lets her stay aloft 6.5 hrs w/ 1 hr reserve. I plan 165 mph at that fuel burn so range is just over 1,000 miles on a single fill up... if your bladder can hold out that long. As for your work trips, that's a LOT of flying. You'd probably be better off taking the Mooney only when you can get there on a single tank and only when the weather will cooperate. Otherwise, fly commercial... or up your budget. +1 on the manual gear over the electric. Simple, bullet proof, low maintenance, and fast to operate. IMHO, the only reason the electric would ever be an advantage over the manual is if you have right arm/shoulder problems.

I wouldn't worry about which model. With your mission, 2 most of the time and 4 occasionally, any of the pre-J models would be a good choice. Look for the best equipped airplane you can find. Focus on the equipment that will help you to be a better, safer pilot (GPS, ADS-B, Engine Monitor, etc.). Next up is the low time vs. frequently flown debate. Everyone wants their 50 year old plane to have 1000 hrs TTAF and have been flown 100 hours for each of the last 10 years. Good luck finding that unicorn! In my opinion, it's far more important to find a plane that's been flying regularly than it is to find one with low airframe hours. Don't buy the low time plane that has been sitting for 20 years unless you have REALLY deep pockets. Also, knowing what I know now, I don't think I'd ever buy another plane without an engine monitor. Yes, you can easily put one in and get exactly what you want, but you have no idea how the previous owner ran the plane. Neither does the previous owner really, and that is the point. At least with the engine monitor, the PO had the proper information to fly it correctly. Caveat, if it has a recently overhauled engine, I may let that requirement slide.

Well, the mechanic had a chance to look this over. Said the first time they tried, it started perfectly. They checked wiring of the recently installed ignition and everything matched their schematic and the one that I proved that was posted above. They then tried starting it again and it did just what I had described, wouldn't start until releasing the key and then fired immediately. They tried a few more times with varying degrees of success by moving the throttle, getting it to start without releasing the key. They now think it is fuel related since they were able to get it to start a few times without releasing the key. I've flown it once since. The first start happened relatively easily, right as I let go of the key. I let it set for about an hour at my destination and then had some difficulty starting it, but it did start and NOT when I let go of the key. I think I'm more confused than when I started!

FYI... if you are replacing a skytec, you can send your old one back to the factory and buy one from them and they'll give you $175 loyalty rebate. I just did mine in January. Details can be found here: https://skytec.aero/aircraft-starters-loyalty-exchange-program/

I installed a magnetic mount on my panel for my iphone and have it there while I fly. So in a way, you could say my backup is panel mounted. I don't always have it on and ready to go with the gyroscopic attitude indicator, but I will certainly do that if flying at night or if I may encounter reduced visibility.

It’s one thing to have wing drop that happens only after 10 seconds or so and can be corrected with rudder input. I don’t think that is what the OP is talking about though. He mentioned he can’t stop it with the rudder. That seems more like what I was experiencing, 20 degree or more of roll per second when letting go. Now that it’s fixed , I’ll still get a wing to drop with no control inputs, but loading determines which one and all can be stopped with rudder input.

Welcome aboard. This question has been answered at least once a week since I've been a member here. Use the search function or just browse through and find a thread where someone else is asking if a particular plane is worth buying. In short, there is no way to answer that question with the information you have provided. Low times should throw up a red flag as it's often code for "not been flown in years." Have the seller send you a copy of the logbooks and get to work reviewing them. If you are still interested, get a pre purchase inspection done. If it's been flown 500 hours in the last 5 years, you could be looking at a good deal. If it's been flown 50 hrs in the last 5 years, run. If I were to guess, it looks like a plane that has sat for a long time and has not been well loved. Someone probably got a hold of it, cleaned it up good, put in a cheap ADS-B transponder and is looking to double their investment.

I had this exact same problem with my F. It flew pretty decent, but during my first annual the A&P noticed the rigging was out of spec, so he broke out the travel boards and rigged the flaps, rudder, and elevator to spec. After that, the wing drop was really bad. He "fixed" it by dropping a flap and it flew slightly better. Before you start "fixing" it, you need to know if they ailerons or the rudder are the problem. With your feet on the floor, hold the plane level with the yoke, if the ball is centered your tail and rudder are fine. Repeat with using just the rudder pedals, if the ball is centered, your tail/rudder is the problem. At Oshkosh I talked to Don Maxwell about this and he said he sees this commonly with A&P's who are used to working on other planes. My rudder was fine and only the ailerons were off, so he offered me the following advice: First, put the flap back where it belongs. Fixing this with the flap adds a lot of drag and does little to stop the roll (that whole moment arm thing). Second, check the ailerons with the yoke level and see if one is higher than the other, if so, get them level. (That fixed my problem, so I stopped there.) Third, bend the trailing edge of the aileron on the "heavy" wing up slightly. This will act like a trim tab and push the aileron down raising that wing. A tiny bit of bend goes a long way, fly, rinse, repeat, until it flies straight. If the rudder/tail are out of alignment, I can't offer you any advice... other than call DMax and see what he recommends. Oh, your step has virtually no bearing on this. I've flown with mine up and down and can't tell the difference other than it flying a lot slower (again, that whole moment arm thing).

Since we’re all throwing out baseless speculation, I’m going to say they were both making radio calls. One announced left and the other right and one was mistaken.

Ok got to talk with the mechanic today. They are going check it out but weren’t able to today. The part number for the kit was A3650-2.

If you want to be really advanced, count on your fingers in binary. You can count to 1023 before you run out of fingers! Which reminds me of my favorite math joke. There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't.

We had to do a fair bit of imaginary number calculations in IE. They were pretty simple really, just keep the imaginary numbers with the imaginary numbers and the real numbers with the real numbers and you won't have any problems. It's just like with friends... if you let your imaginary friends mingle with your real friends, that's when you start getting into trouble.

I suspect you are probably right. @Andy95W Thanks for posting the schematic. I have printed that out and will take it with me when I go see the mechanic tomorrow.

I have an industrial engineering degree and now work in the electrical industry, so I know what you mean about those crazy EE's. For instance, I learned Joule's law as P=IV (Power = Current x Voltage), but they want to use P=IE (E being electromotive force). I don't know if they feel like they have to be different all the time or if they just like PIE.

The way it was wired before engaged the SOS and the starter at the same time, I just don't know if it still does or not. I'll see if I can find the P/N on the receipt, if not I'll get that from him tomorrow. All I have right now is the receipt, as the repair has not yet been documented in the log book. I'll get that done tomorrow as well.

It was that way when I bought the plane, done by a previous owner. Up until the starter was replaced, and the "guts" changed out on the ignition switch, I had no starting issues, hot or cold. The ignition switch itself is the same and operates the same way, the mechanic repaired it with an overhaul kit. I'll get it down to the mechanic tomorrow morning, on the same field so no need to start the plane. After reading DMax's shower of sparks article referenced earlier, it seems it should be pretty easy to just disconnect the starter relay and verify if the shower of sparks is connected. I'll reply with our findings when we have something definitive.

@Shadrach Yes, but mine was replaced with one that doesn’t push in. When you turn it past “both” it engages both the stater and the SOS.

I don’t know if the shower of sparks is working or not. I didn’t specifically listen for it last time I started it. It’s pretty hard to hear even when I do. My ignition was replaced at some point with one that starts when turned and doesn’t push in. I’ll read the Don Maxwell publication and see if that answers some of my questions.

If that is at Meadow Lake (KFLY), make sure you check out the airport and hangar location first. When I was there last summer, the taxiways were crumbling and had potholes so big I was worried about getting a prop strike.