PT20J

Suggestions courtesy of the Newport OR police dept.: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/us/newport-911-toilet-paper-trnd/index.html Skip

A few thoughts: 1. A good video on fuel pumps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYKoLUsTJU4 2. Whenever replacing a part, verify you install the correct part number (not just the same part number as the one that you're replacing - in case someone previously installed the wrong part). 3. Air in the fuel line should cause variation in pressure readings and/or low pressure, and it should most likely show up at high power settings. 4. Whenever a reading on a gauge is suspect, tee with a calibrated mechanical gauge to verify the accuracy. 5. High fuel pressure isn't a problem unless it gets very high in which case it can overpower the carburetor float and flood the engine (had a fuel pump fail in a Beaver and had to use the wobble pump and found out that if I pumped it more than a couple of psi over redline at cruise power that the engine would quit.) Good luck, Skip

First, congratulations on your purchase. And, for being proof that Mooneys are not hard to land. We discussed this issue a while back. It’s not you. Skip

Piper came up with a “clever” nav light switch. It’s at the end of travel of the thumbwheel rheostat for the panel lights. You cannot turn on the panel lights without turning on the nav lights. Pretty clever way to keep from forgetting to turn the nav lights on. Turning on the nav lights also dims the annunciator lights. During a daytime checkout in a Seminole, the instructor thought we should shut down an engine and land with it feathered. He didn’t want me to put the gear down until we had the runway made, so we put it down on one mile final. No green lights. Low, slow, didn’t want to go around on one engine. Quickly figured someone had turned the panel lights down all the way but not clicked off the nav lights. So, yep, I’ve been there. I didn’t know Mooney also dims the panel lights with the nav lights on late models; my J doesn’t do that and I cannot recall another airplane that does that. Seems kind of silly unless the later planes have really bright bulbs or something. Skip

Sadly, the Mooney trim system seems to be neglected by a lot of mechanics. It should be checked for freedom of movement and lubricated at every annual. Skip

Yep, https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_21-46A.pdf

All that seems very reasonable to me. The folks I worry about are those that think Mooney + turbo + TKS = go anywhere, anytime. They should really buy a Cirrus, because sooner or later, they’re gonna need the chute.

Every time Form 337 comes up on MS, ... oh, never mind https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/advisory_circular/ac_43.9-1f.pdf Skip

Call Greg Baker @Baker Avionics. He’s on the field in Grants Pass and will tell you what you need. 541-205-9141. Skip

Sound advice. Richard Collins used to use his P210 for transportation a lot year ‘round all over the country. I recall reading an article where he said that he only used the FIKI capability to escape icing and that he wouldn’t launch on a flight with FIKI that he would have foregone without it. These little airplanes have a lot of utility, but they are not airliners. Skip

Actually, I brushed against it when reaching around the left side of the yoke to adjust the CRS knob on the Aspen PFD. I’ve hit it accidentally without knowing it when doing stuff in the hangar, too. Scared the daylights out of me the first time it happened when I turned off the master and the speed brakes went CLUNK.

Yep. I once accidentally hit the yoke-mounted speed brake switch when in light rime icing. I immediately retracted them, but the left one didn't fully retract. Now I pull the speed brake breaker if there is any chance of ice. I didn't have TKS, but I would not expect it to get enough on the speed brakes to prevent this.

Clarence, A commercial copy or blueprint shop would have a large format scanner. Easy to try @EricJ's suggestion and see if you can get a better copy. Skip

Maybe @M20Doc or someone else here has an old paper copy that they can get scanned. Both the file I got from Mooney and the link above are mostly illegible for that page. If no one here has it, you might call around to some of the MSCs that have been around for a long time like Maxwell, LASAR, Top Gun. Skip

I would check the bus voltage with the nav lights on and off. It sounds like there may be a problem with the nav lights causing a voltage drop. I don’t think the nav lights should affect the panel lights. The autopilot might just be more sensitive to voltage than the other avionics. Skip

Great thoughts. Many years ago, I was planning to make a trip from Anchorage to Kodiak. The weather wasn’t great. I wanted to go. My wife convinced me it was more prudent to wait. We arrived in good VFR about 3 hours after another plane had hit the mountains during a missed approach in low IFR. How’s the saying go? There but for the grace of God...

Of course, if you really want to one up them, just say, “ Could you give that to me in lat-long?” Response will probably be, “Ah, just fly heading Xxx”

Hi Steven, Congratulations for being so thorough. There are two copies of the 337s. One goes to the FAA and one is given to the owner. I suppose the one mailed to the FAA could get lost in the mail, but if the FAA doesn’t have it and it’s not in the seller’s possession, then it probably never got filed. It’s not a big deal unless you have a real nit picky IA (no one has ever checked for old 337s on my planes) so long as the W&B was updated. But, if you are concerned you could make the seller bring the paperwork up to date as a condition of sale. The low use would be more of a concern if the engine was not pickled due to possible rust in the cylinders and camshaft/lifters especially if it lived in a high humidity area. Skip

Well, that changes things. Single pilot IFR is challenging enough without trying to program nearby user waypoints. And even if you have Flightstream and an iPad, it’s difficult to enter waypoints on the iPad touchscreen in anything greater than very light turbulence. I would have said unable and asked for a clearance to a specific intersection, or a vector. I used to try to do all sorts of things like that because I didn’t want to seem like some inept private pilot. When I mentioned some experiences to my airline pilot friends, they thought I was nuts and said they wouldn’t do that. Made me reconsider. Skip

Thanks Eric! Not sure who scanned these, but the quality is much better than the ones I got from Mooney. Skip

Back in the late 1980s, I got a paper manual from Mooney for my 1978 M20J. It included envelopes that had folded paper schematics. When unfolded, they were a sheet of paper maybe 2 x 3 ft. That manual is long gone. I got a current manual a couple of years ago and it was two pdf files: one for the text and one containing scans of all the schematics. The schematic scans are hard to read as the scan resolution makes it difficult or impossible to read the wire numbers. Steve Rue (Mooney Service Parts Manager) told be that the paper versions are not available from Mooney - all the have is the pdf files. Skip

No. But as @jetdriven noted, the tach is required equipment under FAR. So, technically the aircraft is unairworthy without it But, if the FAA determines (this is where the FSDO has latitude) that the flight can safely be conducted to a place where repairs can be made, it can issue a special flight permit (aka ferry permit). https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/airworthiness_certification/sp_awcert/sp_flt_permit/

My Aspen PFD is similar. The specification is >30 minutes and I've tested it twice in two years and it runs about 42-45 minutes. The best way to test it is to put it on battery and time it during a flight. On the ground (actually if the airspeed is <60) it will shut down anytime ship's power is not supplied. Having made my living as an engineer, I like to test everything. So whenever I get a new backup program for my computer, the first thing I do is make sure I can restore from the backup. I just had my Concord battery capacity tested. Cost me an hour of labor ($120) at the only shop nearby that had the tester for a 28V battery. I'm wondering how many of us that have avionics with battery backups ever test them? If you have a bunch of instruments, each with it's own battery, and the electrical system fails, at some point all the little batteries are going start timing out -- I'd just like an idea of when and in what order. I live in the mountainous west and may not be in a position to land in half an hour when it happens. My question about the G5 battery indicator is driven by my experience that battery life indicators on cellphones, cameras, laptops and the like seem to be pretty imprecise. I've had them go from "full charge" to "darn near dead" pretty quickly. Skip

Or maybe it was Garmin, or a KI 258? I listened to the recording. The pilot was evidently having trouble navigating, first low and left of the localizer and then right of the localizer. I have no idea why and will not speculate, but the pilot never mentioned an equipment problem and indicated that he was correcting back on course when queried by the controller. After the first deviation, a different (supervisor?) controller took over communications and instructed the pilot to fly heading 160 and climb to 5000'. The pilot acknowledged the altitude, but not the heading which is why the controller repeated the instruction several times asking for confirmation that the pilot would fly 160. The pilot never did acknowledge the heading and may not have initiated the climb because the controller then issued a simplified instruction to maintain altitude and fly south and subsequently he instructed the pilot to just fly straight and level. Somewhere around that time it appears that control was lost. It's very sad and unfortunate and we will never know for sure exactly what happened in the cockpit. For me, the takeaway is to never try to salvage an approach. If everything isn't right, go missed early and get some altitude between you and the ground. Skip

The King autopilots have internal checks on the trim system and will disconnect in cases of uncommanded trim operation. Here are the two autopilot scenarios that I’ve seen most often get people in trouble. Overriding the autopilot 1. The autopilot is set up incorrectly and doesn’t capture altitude or glideslope or (this is really common) without altitude preselect, the pilot gets distracted and climbs through assigned altitude. 2. Pilot reverts to primary training (fly the airplane) and overpowers the autopilot without engaging CWS or disconnecting the autopilot. 3. The autopilot trims against the pilot’s inputs, increasing stick forces. 4. To alleviate the rapidly increasing stick forces, the pilot disengages the autopilot and away we go! Autopilot in pitch hold, VS hold or ALT hold with insufficient power available. 1. Pilot reduces power to slow down in ALT hold and gets distracted. 2. Autopilot continues to pitch and trim up until airplane either stalls or autopilot disconnects at low airspeed with nose up trim. 3. Same thing in a climb with a NA engine especially in VS hold. Skip