Paul - M20C

All good questions. My A&P/IA is a Mooney Service Center and he's following along on this. I appreciate the advice and questions

Close up of the gear motor during swing test. When the gear goes up it looks fine but when it goes down it finishes and then the motor reverses for a second. https://youtu.be/iklbnun4VhA

The video below shows the gear retraction and extension. It's kind of hard to see in this video but it's a lot more pronounced than the videos above. I will post a video of the gear motor next and you'll really see what I mean. It's that last second where the gear motor actually reverses. https://youtu.be/nw9rYPy7LZo

Yes it does have electric gear.

My landing gear springs back about 1/4" after full down. Anyone seen this and know what causes it? My A&P brought in an expert and they re-rigged everything but it still does it. The current thought is that the actuator may need replacing or the gears. Looking for your experiences. Thanks.

Good report. Mine is sitting on my kitchen counter and will go on during annual at the end of the month. I like the idea of wiring the nav lights to the avionics bus so that the nav lights and ADS-B out are always on. Then we could use the existing nav light switch for the strobe function. I'll discuss this with my A&P tomorrow. I don't currently have strobes so we're going to run wires for both sides for when the skyLight gets TSO'ed and shipping. I'm going to preorder as soon as the preorder link goes active. It's currently not an active button.

I cleared mine up myself. I tracked the lineage of the bank that had filed the 8050-1 in 1979 against my Mooney that I bought this last April. The bank changed names a bunch of times but I tracked it to SunTrust. I opened a case with them and asked them to show that the loan for my plane was still outstanding or to sign an 8050-1 that I had prefilled out for them. They researched and returned the 8050-1 to me. They then asked me if I wanted them to file it with the FAA for me. I had them file it which saved me the $5, waited 60 days and ordered my registration records from the FAA for $10. I got the CD 10 days later and the lien clearance had been filed by Sun Trust. I did though buy the lien insurance to protect my investment while going through this process. The lien insurance company offered to do the lien clearing for an additional $719. I choose to do the legwork myself.

Good to hear. Glad that all worked out for you. I sure enjoyed your landing videos DVD. I watched them over and over, did a couple of lessons in my new Mooney, then the first time I ever flew it by myself the gear didn't want to come down. I manually extended them and concentrated on landing exactly as you showed us in your videos. Best landing I've ever had and I owe it all to you. That was this last May by the way. I've been enjoying my Mooney ever since.

Please add me to the list when you have time. Thanks!

I used the measurements that Dan posted at They are perfect for my 26 gal tanks in my 65 M20C. If the link above doesn't work use Google and search for "site:mooneyspace.com homemade fuel stick" then go down halfway to the reply by Dan M20E '66.

No, not yet. I go down there to Peachtree City occasionally so paying $125 in shipping feels like a waste of money.

Thanks for the replys. I have the Lasar windshield STC and Dan at Lasar told me that a good fit would be the https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/mooney201.php I guess I'll buy it and try it out. Thanks. Paul.

Anybody?

Does anyone know if this glareshield works with a 65 M20C that has the Lasar 201 windshield mod? I know the Lasar kit comes with the glareshield but I am missing my glareshield. It didn't come with the plane. http://www.knots2u.net/mooney201glareshield/ Thanks Paul.

Good to know. We'll go back and inspect again. Thanks.

We have figured it out. Those that said a stiffer spring would only mask it are correct. In this case a stiffer spring wouldn't have even masked it though. The trailing edge of the skin on the wing at the outer most part of my left flap is slightly lower than the rest of the wing. By shining a flashlight across it you can see where it was bent and then bent back up leaving a lower portion than the rest of the wing. The forward seam in the flap skin catches on the trailing edge of the wing when the flap has pressure applied from below (air pressure in flight - simulated on the ground). My mechanic will be looking into this further and hopefully it won't be too expensive of a repair. Thanks for the replies. ---------------- My left flap isn't always returning all the way up in flight. My mechanic says it looks like the spring should be replaced. A quick Google search only resulted in one find from Texas Air Salvage from a 1966. I was hoping to locate new springs. Anyone have a source for flap springs "750019-7" for my 1965 M20C?

That's where I'm at right now. I have about 4 hours in my new C model and the vacuum pump failed on the last flight. I'd love to do 2xG5s and remove the vacuum pump but doesn't the vacuum pull up my retractable step and run the PC? I always intended to do that with my 172M but now I don't think I can with a M20C.

Let's make that four sidewinders (depending on the cost). Disregard bought a used Nose-Wheel Dragger today from a buddy for cheap. It's the Skyline Aviation model. I wish you guys luck on this venture. Turns out I need a new ELT and some other stuff so no new fancy electronic tow bar for me this year. I'll see how this gas powered one works out for me.

No water in the tanks. I sumped them thoroughly multiple times and they do not have bladders. It also ran for 30 mins on that tank between runup, taxi and the first lap around the patch without changing tanks. I'm inclined to think it's a venting problem like suggested above or that tank has clogged the screen in the tank or the fuel strainer. We'll take a good long look at both before she goes up in the air again. I intend to start with checking the screen in the tank and the venting. If that doesn't work we'll pull the fuel strainer. Thanks.

carusoam - I appreciate you taking the time to send such a long response. Apparently though there was a miscommunication and I'm sure it's my fault. When I say my mechanic picked up the plane - That is after we did a thorough pre-buy inspection and he picked it up and flew it to our airport after I finalized the deal. Also when I say I hired an instructor - That was for the transition training with an instructor that knows Mooneys, but I figured that was obvious since I said today's flight was with an instructor and while my insurance company would let me fly it with no transition training I realized that I could probably use some transition training. Thank you for taking the time to respond, but I'm not sure what you think I'm rushing into.

Great advice. Thanks.

Just purchased my 1965 M20C on Friday and had my first flight in it today (transitioning from a C172M). We went for 20 minutes in the pattern and on the second take off the fuel pressure went to 0 in/lbs and the engine started stuttering below 400'. She kept running and we continued to climb so we requested priority (we were currently cleared #2) and asked for the intersecting runway. Yes, we could have declared an emergency but there was no need since the controller was already working with us and we were continuing to climb. We made TPA so we requested the primary runway and made an uneventful landing. My second landing in her was with a hiccuping engine and was better than my first landing. You could say I was committed to that landing. She shows good fuel pressure at idle but if you run her up to over 2000rpms she reads 0 fuel pressure with or without the boost pump on and starts stumbling. I wish I'd thought to run her up on the other tank to see if there was a difference but I didn't think about that when we were testing her out after taxing back to my hangar. When I bought her on Friday my mechanic flew her to my home field for me since I bought it at a 2300' grass strip that was a little rough (my insurance requires 5 hours transition training for passengers so I decided not to fly it at all until I've finished that training). My mechanic had no problem with her, but he had her running on the right tank. The left tank was the fuller tank after I had fuel added yesterday so we used the left tank today. If we had more altitude or she had quit completely I would have switched tanks when she started stumbling, but in my mind a stumbling engine that still climbs is better than a quiet engine so I changed nothing and kept flying. The instructor (first time flying with him) was also telling me not to change anything and giving me instructions. Fuel strainer inspection/cleaning is considered Preventive Maintenance and allowed under Part 43 for an owner so I plan on taking a look at her tomorrow now that I've downloaded the parts catalog and the maintenance manual. According to the service manual a 1965 M20C has the strainer on the bottom side of the fuel selector in the nose gear wheel well. Looks like one bolt and it can be removed and inspected/cleaned according to the manual (Page 149 in the parts manual and 2-4 to 2-7 in the service manual). I'm glad we decided to do the first hour of my transition training at my home field before going anywhere else and I'm really glad that the problem didn't pop up on my mechanic while he was flying it back in between fields. It was only a 15 minute flight for him but putting it in a field would have been a bummer. When we get this sorted out I plan on requesting a VCOA for the first flight so we can stay above it in case it happens again. Am I on the right track on what probably caused this and what I should inspect first?