David Lloyd

About 35 years ago, I flew into an embedded thunderstorm near San Angelo, TX. This was while receiving vectors from ATC to avoid. Wife said later that day we weren't going to do that again. Next week we ordered a Stormscope. Summer in the south and east coast, if you don't plan to weave around activity, you won't be doing much flying. What worked for me, learning over a period of time, was to avoid any area of convective activity as indicated by the Stormscope. Cumulus clouds that were 12000 feet tall or so, I would fly through. Taller they are, the bumpier. Wife's tolerance was less than mine. Other passengers, more so. I used that Stormscope for 23 years and staying away from convective activity, never got more than moderate turbulence. Look up the definition of light, moderate and severe. Many people overstate the level of turbulence. Light, the approach book stays on the seat. Moderate, the approach book levitates, then falls to the floor. Severe, the approach book leaps to the windshield, bounces off your head and hides in the baggage compartment. Severe, I had my car keys come out of my pants pocket. The OP said towering cumulus. To me that indicates a tall cloud my airplane can't climb over. 18000 Or more, if not a building thunderstorm will still have up and downdrafts and be more turbulent than you will try a second time.

I remember a few years back a C150 “cut off” an F16 over Monks Corner, SC. The Cessna wasn’t talking to center during their climb out. Poor SA on his part... Go read the report. C150 was pretty much going straight. F16 was being vectored but slow to respond to turns given by ATC. That slow response resulted in the F16 hitting the Cessna. If that 90 knot Cessna driver had known what was taking place, it is unlikely he could have taken any deliberate action to get out of the way of a 250 knot jet.

Yeah, what else was hidden?

Best gift for him would be a year from now telling him that thanks to him, your instrument rating is one of your most useful of tools.

Bob, I'll stop by Ace Hardware and ask for some more scraps. Will bring tools, supplies and make you a couple lenses when I'm up to see Lynn and Tamara on July 11 to have a nose truss installed. https://mooneyspace.com/topic/30224-landing-light-lens/

Bleep! Didn't think of that. Maybe. I don't think the crank had been adjusted in years. Scared I would break the handle if I tried too hard. Works great now after a little TLC and grease.

I recently removed some late model articulating possibly undocumented seats from an older C model. Front and rear cotters removed, front rollers off the rail...what the heck. Could not remove the rear rollers from the rail. Seat backs are about an inch thicker at the base than the original, preventing the seat from sliding back far enough to be removed. Only way to remove the seats were to remove the seat back at the hinge.

Clock work? How much/

1975 M20C with the individual rear seat backs. Missing one lever that fits up on the sidewall. Would like two so they will match. Any ideas? Pics of the lever and post it is mounted.

I used 15w50 in my Bonanza all the time I had it. I0-520 1950 hours, the next 2350, both replaced because they were getting old and I did not know better. I0-550 1550 hours, the next 1250 when sold. Never, not once had a starter adapter problem. Never slipped even once. I know people blame the oil but maybe something else is going on. As an example, the engine that only went 1550 hours was a Conti reman. Valve guides would wear, cylinders replaced. Replaced 6 over a few years one or two at a time. Two needed repair when I gave up and bought an engine with Superior cylinders. Never touched a cylinder on the other engines. Was that a manufacturing problem or should I blame the oil?

A well known couple in the experimental world have decided to improve on the in-the-ear sets available. I like my Halos but a better mic is needed. They address that. Hmm, maybe the wifey will get a Halo for her birthday. Their site is cqheadsets.com.

What Andy said. I had a custom interior put in my Bonanza when I was flying several days a week on business. Several thousand hours later, the front seats were worn out again. Had Airtex install an interior that looked just as good as the custom job. For thousands less. Some shops do beautiful work but I would not spend more than 10% of the aircraft value on an interior. Airtex is a great value for our older airplanes, that is why I am in the process of installing one in my new (to me) ride right now.

I feel like my DG is spinning!

Forty years ago I flew our Cherokee to New Mexico to visit the in-laws. Got home, slammed the door, sold it and bought a Mooney.

Lycoming mechanical fuel pumps as pictured have two diaphrams one sealing the engine oil, the other fuel, with the space between connected to a drain. If the upper leaks, engine oil comes out the drain. Other, fuel. Either way the pump continues to do it's job. Let it go and have the other fail and bad, sad things will happen. Continental engines have a completely different arrangement.

In the Bonanza I lost 10 pumps over 24 years. No vibration, no noise, nothing. Just the vacuum needle laying over to 0. Only one did something different, would only get a couple inches vacuum. Next startup it worked fine. Next leg it died in flight. A couple failures were noticed at startup, one while shutting down, the remainder were in flight. A couple less than 100 hours, most 5-600 hours, one went 1100 or so. The last failure, I was on the ILS at Little Rock in low weather. Wife saw the vacuum indicator needle flicker a time or two, go to 0. She tore part of the cover from an approach plate book and handed it to me to cover up the attitude indicator. Good woman. I've watched the attitude indicators run down after a vacuum failure. They will bob up and down, show banks. You got to catch it within a minute and cover up the indicator. Even after the AI quits moving it is impossible to ignore, cover it up. The Mooney I have now has a low vacuum light, a small gauge and an alternate vacuum source. If Dynon every gets their ducks in a row, I will have a new panel with no vacuum pump required.

Yesterday I ordered carpet, sidewalls, leather seats, 3 sheets of soundproofing material, 200 screws & washers, 3 pints of glue, 22' of weatherstrip welt. $4021 plus shipping. A few minutes after sending pictures, Airtex owner Dodd Stretch called to discuss a few details, color of the arm rests, etc. He told me I did not need the strap material under the seats, asked about the door pulls, the split rear seat backs and hey, those front seats came out of a late model. Need more pictures, we want to get it right the first time. This is the kind of customer service I expect! Same as what I experienced from Airtex 15 years ago. Dodd took over the business from his father 18 years ago and expect to have a business to pass to his early teen sons in the future.

Shimmy and tracking problems are most likely two issues related by the nose gear. First, good the steering horn has been recently replaced. Download from this site a copy of the Mooney Maint. Manual. Read everything about shimming the steering horn and lubrication. Get your mx to read it. Search this site. Just last week one of our knowledgeable contributors wrote about lack grease wearing things and then needing shims. Other issue mentioned was tracking. Don Maxwell's site, read about SB202 and the 8 second ride. http://donmaxwell.com/the-eight-second-ride-sb-m20-202/ If you wonder if you have this problem after reading about it, you don't. Many years ago I kept having my steering worked on by a supposedly knowledgeable mechanic. Replaced the steering horn, shims, rod ends and I continued to have problems. Lost control of the airplane in Odessa, TX one windy morning. Gez, I was only rolling about 20 mph and could not control the nosewheel. Couple weeks later in Richmond, VA I broke the steering torque tube trying to control it. Then I read about SB202. Like a new airplane within a few days.

Thanks Hank. Knew I had seen those numbers somewhere.

I have the current weight and balance numbers for my airplane but can not locate the examples the POH mentions nor the arms for front and rear seats, baggage, fuel, etc. Can anyone provide these numbers?

Aviation fuel pumps have two diaphragms with a drain between. If the drain is leaking oil, the diaphragm nearest the engine is leaking but the pump continues to function. If the drain is leaking fuel, the other diaphragm is leaking but continues to pump. With either failure, fuel does not wind up in the crankcase, oil does not wind up in the fuel.

I did get one private message right away and then found after calling LASAR the 1969 and later trunnions are slightly different using different bolt diameters. In the meanwhile, LASAR received a late model core and have put my name on it. Three weeks ago when I called, nothing was available, it pays to check back.

Anyone have a dented nose trunnion I could use as a core at LASAR? Don't want to be without flying for 6 weeks while it is being reworked.

Dig thru your menus, System, then I think Nav/Com. There are adjustments to sidetone volume. Garmin site has manual online. In the pilot guide.