PT20J

Just have the owner have it weighed and get a weight and balance completed. Not a big deal.

I asked Stacey Ellis what "flush windows" means and response is: Flush means it's flush with the cabin skins and held in place with only sealer whereas some older models were held in with screws around the windows I queried Don Maxwell about the same thing and his response is: Pre J Models Were glued and had screws thru the plexi glass. All later models are glued with a retainer bracket Skip

I agree with you. What I said though was that if that doesn’t work for some reason ( the usual reason is that it’s cooled long enough that it’s somewhere between a hot start and a cold start) then prime it and use the flooded start procedure. This avoids not knowing if it is not starting because there is too much fuel or not enough (and burning up the starter or running down the battery trying to figure it out). The idea is to get into a known condition (slightly flooded) and then use a procedure that works for that condition. Skip

Use the procedure in the POH. On a hot start, if it doesn’t start, prime it and use the flooded start procedure. Skip

The maintenance man at a company I once worked for showed me how to open desks and file cabinets. The way you pick a lock is to apply tension to the cylinder while raking the pins with a pick. The sloppier the lock’s made, the easier it is to get the pins to hang up at the parting line and the lock to open. Most airplane locks are so bad that you don’t even need lock picks. All you need is any key that will go in and then give it a twist while you run it in and out over the pins. About 30 seconds usually does it. My neighbor is a retired locksmith and swears by Medeco. Skip

Note the S/N cutoff for SB M20-208B. Not sure what a “flush window” is.

Looks like it’s only the balance weight that you have to change rather than the entire aileron.

I agree with Paul. From experience, the only way to tell what’s going on is to put the airplane on jacks and raise the gear and check the fit. It takes a lot of trial and error. Someone who has done this a lot can save a lot of trial and error here. Skip

It’s probably easy to change the wingtips on early Js and Ks because you can buy (assuming they are available) J/K ailerons with the balance weights made for the sculpted wingtips. Earlier models never had these wingtips from the factory and there would need to be an STC to change the ailerons and wingtips. I think it’s clear by now that these are wingtips (aesthetically pleasing but with no significant aerodynamic advantage) and NOT winglets. Winglets (aka tip sails — which I think is a more descriptive term) do offer aerodynamic improvement (forward component of aerodynamic force offsets some induced drag of the wing) but also have structural implications. Skip

Easy to replace.

TCDS calls out 6 ply rating so I think you’d need a one-time STC or field approval. Unless you are regularly blowing out quality tires, I’d just stick with 6-ply. Everyone has their favorite tire. Several flight schools I’ve been associated with find Goodyear Flight Special II to be cost effective. Michlen Airstop tubes hold pressure for months. Skip

Question: When Roy Lopresti was looking for the easiest changes to decrease drag and get to 200+ MPH on 200 hp, why did he not change Al Mooney's squared off wing tips? Perhaps @Blue on Top could enlighten us on the efficacy and theory behind various wing tip treatments. Skip

Did the breaker trip, or did you just cycle it? Might indicate a bad breaker. I would cycle the breaker a few times and then see if the the problem goes away. If the problem remains, I would temporarily wire the cluster gauge to another breaker to eliminate the gauge breaker. If that fixes it, I’d replace the gauge breaker. Skip

I bought some Mooney aluminized mylar foam insulation from a MSC a month ago. My IA wanted a burn cert for it and I was able to get one emailed immediately, so at least the parts department has people who know what they're doing. Skip

By "main" breaker, I assume you mean the ALT breaker. The other "main" possibility would be the BAT breaker, but if that trips you would not have power for the low voltage annunciator. Generally, the alternator does not supply enough current to trip the ALT breaker. The purpose of the breaker is to protect against a short in the alternator or its wiring. There are some large wires attached to these breakers and they are in close quarters. The act of pulling out the circuit breaker panel and replacing it might have corrected the problem, but it wouldn't hurt to check the clearances. In my airplane, Mooney glued some plastic spacers between some of the adjacent breakers as insulation and the glue had deteriorated with age and the plastic spacers had moved out of position. Your symptom of putting the gear down, having the gear breaker pop with the mechanical indicator showing down and the gear unsafe light on indicates a problem with the down limit switch circuit. The motor runs against the mechanical stop but does not shut off and stalls tripping the breaker. The gear is down, but the green gear down light will not illuminate because the down limit circuit is not working. Skip

My ‘94 J has one. It’s located in a plastic recess on the left side in the carpeted panel that covers the main spar below the back seats. The extinguisher mounting bracket is pop riveted to the spar web. I can’t see that it’s good for much. First, being behind the pilot’s seat it is darn near impossible to reach while seated. And, even if you can reach it, you have to release two clips to loosen it and then it is very hard to get it out of the deep recess. It’s not too hard to access if you remove the seats and get down on your knees in front of it as I did when removing the interior recently. I had to cut the plastic around it because the factory riveted the bracket in after installing the trim panel. I guess I could have drilled out the pop rivets, but it just seemed easier to make the hole in the plastic larger for future removal. Skip

As it has been explained to me, for a certificated aircraft to maintain compliance with its type certificate, you are supposed to use parts supplied by the manufacturer, or manufactured under PMA, or STC, or TSO, or standard parts, or an owner produced part. The incandescent landing light bulb is considered a standard part, not because it has a filament, but because it meets a published specification. It is acceptable to use in your airplane if it is called out by part number in the IPC which means you can buy it from Spruce instead of Mooney. If I want to manufacture replacement bulbs for sale, then my bulbs are not made by Mooney, they are not standard parts (they don't exactly replicate the spec for the incandescent bulb because the entire point is to make a better light bulb), they are not owner produced, there is no applicable TSO. That pretty much leaves a STC. Some FAA regions have decided that it's nuts to have STCs (which by FAA definition are major alterations) for things like sun visors and landing lights, and are instead allowing manufacturers in their regions to get PMAs even though it's not an exact replacement (because it's an improved part). The FAA should really fix this. There are a lot of parts that either increase the utility or decrease replacement part cost that should be fine to use on certificated aircraft. Skip

I was an instructor in a club at San Jose, CA for years. One of our aircraft in the club's eclectic collection was a 1964 M20C with a johnson bar. I recall it being landed gear up twice. There is a reason why retractable insurance is more expensive. Skip

If it gets dimmer with the nav lights on, then something is either obstructing the lens or the bulb isn't getting enough current. This would be something amiss inside the annunciator panel. If it doesn't get dimmer when you turn on the nav lights, then there is likely a bad diode inside the annunciator, or a broken gear down return wire between the annunciator panel and the nav light bus, or all nav lights are burned out. Skip

A common feature of full flight simulators nowadays is to be able to depict another aircraft or vehicle on the active runway. Many years ago, I met the NASA researcher responsible for that. She was doing some research using airline pilots in a full motion simulator at Ames Research Center. (I believe she was studying something related to flying instrument approaches but I no longer recall the details). This was back in the 1970s before computer generated scene simulation so the simulator used a terrain board and "flew" a camera down to short final on a scale runway (it couldn't actually complete the landing) with the image depicted on a large projection screen outside the simulator windscreen. She had the cockpit rigged with cameras recording over the shoulder shots of the pilots, scene and instrument panel. One day near the end of the study and just for fun she placed a miniature model airplane in position and holding on the runway. Surprisingly, several pilots were so consumed by the task at hand that they completely ignored the obstructed runway. They didn't recall seeing the holding airplane until they were shown the over the shoulder video and they were pretty shook up about it. So, if experienced pilots can get so focused on a particular task that they don't see an airplane on the runway, they can certainly tune out any lights, buzzers or placards. A friend was sitting in the runup area years ago when he saw a Bonanza about to flare with the gear stowed. He picked up the mic and started yelling for the pilot to go around to no avail. When the plane slid to a stop, he ran over to see if the pilot was OK which he was though shaken. My friend asked if the pilot had heard him calling frantically on the radio and the pilot said he heard something but he couldn't make it out because there was a loud horn going off. Skip

The factory loves duct tape. There is probably a roll or two in each airplane. If you strip out the entire interior as I did recently, you will find they used it to seal all the gaps around the wing roots, baggage compartment, access panels under the rear seat and the baggage compartment, foot wells, etc. The spar huck bolts are also covered in duct tape. There is no reason to remove this tape routinely unless you are inspecting for corrosion. You should not have corrosion if the windows don't leak (especially the pilot's window) and no one spills carbonated drinks in the back seat where it soaks into the carpet against the spar. Skip

A curious thing about the gear down annunciator light is that it is normally grounded through the nav light bulbs, the filaments of these bulbs in parallel having a low resistance to ground when off and the annunciator current being too low to illuminate the nav lights. When the nav lights are on, a diode causes the gear down annunciator to ground through a resistor reducing the current and thus dimming it. I'm curious if anyone has noticed any changes in behavior of the gear down annunciator light after changing to LED nav lights. Skip

I haven't landed at SFO for years, but I don't think Signature is the problem. According to AOPA, Signature charges a $39 ramp fee that they will waive if you buy fuel (which is $8.06/gal). The airport assesses a $232 landing fee - Signature just collects if for them. Last Signature FBO I used was at KSAF last year and they waived ramp fees if I bought fuel which I needed and the self serv fuel was a reasonable price and the personnel were friendly and helpful. Skip

Just ignore the nattering nabobs of negativism.

Parker, I’m curious what the upper limit is where additional hours don’t matter for TT, MM, RG. Skip