PT20J

I used to fly float Beavers part 135. The fuel tanks in the Beaver are in the belly. You have to be circumspect about putting fuel in the aft tank due to CG considerations. On long flights with a light load, we would fill the aft tank to avoid a fuel stop, but it was SOP to run that tank dry for the next pilot. When the gauge got low, we would watch the fuel pressure and when it would drop you had a few seconds to switch tanks before the float bowl ran out of fuel and the engine would die. The problem was that it’s several minutes between low fuel level and low fuel pressure and it is easy for a distraction to take your attention away from the fuel pressure gauge. I can tell you from experience that passengers hate it when the engine quits. After that, I decided that a couple of gallons didn’t amount to enough to be worth it. Skip

Please go away

IA on my field needed a throttle cable for a Beech Sundowner. Textron quoted $20K to make one. He sent cable to McFarlane, they sent him a drawing to approve, and then made the part for a reasonable price. Every A&P I know uses McFarlane.

The pictures are kind of blurry, but a couple of them look like chromed cylinders. Are you sure you have steel cylinders? Chrome cylinders will be marked with orange paint on the cooling fins near the top spark plug or on the cylinder base. Chromed cylinders generally burn more oil. But regardless, 5 hrs/qt isn’t abnormal and I wouldn’t worry about it unless it changes suddenly. Oil is cheaper than top overhauls.

Good work! The AN392-19 is a clevis pin and common hardware. The AN numbers have been mostly replaced with MS numbers. I believe the current part number is MS20392-1C19 and should be readily available for less than $1. You are right to replace the tube as there is a spec on how deeply it can be scored. I don’t remember the number, but it’s not much. At some point, Mooney started using a 1” diameter nylon grommet for the holes. NAS557-16B. Mooney also installed a piece of heat shrink tubing over the tube at each point where there is a bushing. Even with the nylon bushing and the shrink, it should still be lubricated with a small amount of grease per my M20J service manual. Skip

Why don’t you ask Avemco?

That’s simple: The autopilot is flying and the pilot in command is monitoring. The PIC is responsible for the safety of the flight and acts accordingly including selection of the appropriate autopilot modes, monitoring the autopilot performance, and disconnecting the autopilot whenever it is doing something other than desired.

There is no doubt that a yaw damper will improve the dynamics of the airplane. Some airplanes have more Dutch roll than others. (it is not possible to have the tail wag only because the airplane will have a yaw-roll coupling). So, it's a matter of degree. The tradeoff for me is that you add both operational complexity (you have to turn it on and off) and system complexity (now you have another thing that can fail). My primary goal when I upgraded my avionics was to improve reliability, so I didn't add anything I didn't need. You can add the electric trim later, but there is wiring for the MET switch on the yoke and it's associated circuit breaker in addition to installing the servo and wiring it. A local flight school installed a G3X and GFC 500 in one of the C-172s without the trim servo and everyone hated it so they went back and added it.

The controllers generally advertise the ILS because the assumption is that everyone can use that while not everyone has LPV capability. However, the pilot gets to select the approach, not the controller, and they will happily give you whatever approach you want to the active runway. I have even requested and been cleared for approaches in the opposite direction of the active when I didn't want to circle and could accept the tailwind. You have to ask for that early because the approach controller has to coordinate that with the local controller, but they are happy to do it if they can. I prefer the LPV over the ILS because the workload is lower. All I have to do is put the GFC 500 in APR mode when cleared, rather than tuning, identifying, checking that the GTN switched from GPS to VLOC. Also, the missed approaches are often simpler with RNAV. It probably varies by approach design, but I've never found any substantial differences in vectoring for RNAV vs ILS approaches. Skip

It might be a stuck or broken oil control ring. I purchased a 1994 J that was burning about a quart every two hours. Don Maxwell did the prepurchase inspection which I witnessed. Compressions were all in the 70's, the oil filter had no metal, a recent oil analysis was normal, spark plugs weren't oily, the exhaust wasn't sooty. A borescope inspection showed very minor pitting probably because it hadn't been flown much in the previous two years. The belly was pretty clean. I flew it about 25 hours and it was running fine when I put it in for an annual inspection. The #4 cylinder had compression of only 58/80, there was metal in the filter, a piece of oil ring in the suction screen, and when we pulled the cylinder, the broken ring had taken out a piece of the piston skirt and scored the cylinder. I'm still not sure how I would have found the problem before it got this far. Skip

The IO-360 has an oil sump that is the casting on the bottom of the engine. The intake tubes pass through it on either side and the drain plug is on the bottom along with the sniffle valve. The fuel injector servo attaches to the front and the oil suction screen is at the right rear.

I’m thinking of Abbotsford and Northway going north and Whitehorse and Bellingham headed back. Might be able to go up the coast if I get a break in the weather, but it’s frequently low scud in SE Alaska in the summer with the MEAs above the freezing level.

Here’s one someone posted a while back. Flap switch logic.pdf

Planning a trip next month. Anyone with recent experience have suggestions (good or bad)?

I was kind of amazed on my last two 1000 nm+ trips how many VORs were NOTAMed OTS.

Mooney changed to the closed cell foam insulation when the 208 SB came out. I purchased some in bulk from a Mooney Service Center. Mooney buys the metalized foam from one company and has another apply the adhesive and then sends it out for burn cert. So, it’s not a product you can buy off the shelf, but you can get it from Mooney. I ripped out all the fiberglass in the ceiling and baggage compartment and replaced it with the foam.

The best way check the “voltage” is to use a DMM to check the voltage at several points. They should all be close. The regulator will adjust to maintain the set voltage at its sense point. This point probably varies depending on regulator and aircraft. In my 94 J with a Mooney regulator, it senses at the main bus at the CB panel. If the voltage at the battery is much different than the bus, the cause should be determined.

I would contact Joey Ferreyra, Garmin Sales and Customer Experience Manager (Joey.ferreyra@garmin.com) for an update.

The electrical system is designed to supply a constant voltage to power the electrical equipment on the airplane. The battery is primarily for starting and secondarily for backup power if the alternator or generator fails. The electrical system charges the battery by applying a constant voltage higher than the battery open circuit voltage. There is no float mode. Batteries self discharge. A battery maintainer (or a charger with a maintenance) applies a float voltage to the battery which is just high enough to offset the self discharge and maintain the battery charged at full capacity.

SEM color coat is highly durable. It needs to be properly prepped and sprayed on to create a wet coat. Your overspray might be too light a coat and, depending on when you hit it with the alcohol, may not have bern fully cured. For best adhesion, clean the panels thoroughly (SEM has a product called SEM Soap). Then spray with SEM Solve to soften the surface and promote adhesion and then spray with Color Coat. There are Youtube videos by SEM that have all the details.

I don't know what you mean by float. If everything is working properly, the voltage regulator will maintain a constant bus voltage regardless of load. When the load current increases, the alternator output voltage wants to drop and the voltage regulator increases the field current to maintain a constant bus voltage. Conversely, when the load decreases, the alternator output voltage wants to rise and the voltage regulator decreases the field current in order to keep the bus voltage constant.

From the Concorde battery manual…

BTW, your IA closing his shop but I know a couple of good mechanics that did the same thing but will still work part time for a few customers. It keeps their hand in it and provides beer money. If you have a good relationship with him, I’d make him an offer. He may be open to an arrangement if you offer to pay him him well and do the grunt work yourself.

Leaks are not usually the cause of high oil consumption. I quart of oil is a HUGE leak.

There aren’t that many connections. It might be an easiest to just check each one. You might also want to check the brushes in the alternator.