PT20J

I was curious to see if the airplane was controllable in that configuration. I wanted to measure the force with full up trim at various airspeeds, but it is more difficult to rig a measurement device for that condition. According to CAR3, the elevator controls have to be designed to take a force of at least 100 lbs.

In cruise flight with the trim full down, I used a spring scale to measure 40 lb of force required to fly level in my M20J.

It's interesting that Bob said it was M20Ks and later that have the tail buffet during slips below 85 KIAS because the trim is full up in this configuration. From the other thread on trim, it seems that some need the trim full up or nearly full up on pre-K airplanes. My M20J with forward CG (one or two front seats filled) has maybe half nose up trim when set up for landing at 65 KIAS, full flaps. Kromer - slips.pdf

There are a couple of good articles here https://knr-inc.com/shoptalk-articles.html

My autopilot was a KAP 150, but when it flipped the trim breaker/switch it was due to a fault in the autopilot computer.

This seems really common in IO-360 Lycomings especially with G3X EIS. Lot's of comments on vansairforce about it. I never noticed it with the factory gauge but I definitely get a lot of fluctuations with the G3X. I'm guessing that the factory gauge was much more heavily damped. I had Savvy do a deep dive into their database and they found the same thing -- common in IO-360s with G3X. Less common with JPI monitors. I too tried the snubber to no real effect. I'm pretty convinced that it's due to fuel vapor forming in the engine driven pump. If I aim a heat gun at the pump with the engine cold and not running I can watch the fuel pressure increase rapidly. Also, the pressure will rise off scale from residual heat after shutdown. All the other fuel lines within the engine compartment are fire sleeved which is a pretty good insulator. If I fill the line to the fuel pressure transducer and then fly around, it will be dry when I check it again indicating that the fuel has vaporized. The fluctuations don't seem to affect engine operation. As long as the servo is getting fuel, the servo is pretty insensitive to fuel pressure because the regulator maintains a constant pressure across the main jet which has unregulated pressure on one side and metered pressure on the other. If the unregulated pressure goes up (or down) the metered pressure changes by the same amount so that the pressure across the jet (which sets the fuel flow) remains constant.

I think it is important to have a philosophy when designing a panel because there is so much available that it is easy to get carried away. In my case the driving force was reliability; I was tired of playing whack-a-mole with old avionics. I designed to protect against only single failures. The new equipment is so reliable that I reasoned the joint probability of two failures on a single flight was nil. But, every piece of equipment will have some finite failure rate and I wanted to minimize the installed equipment to maximize the reliability over my period of ownership. Others may certainly have different philosophies that might drive different decisions.

Figuring out the inflation rate on a specialty product like an engine overhaul perhaps ten years hence is going to be the hard part of the equation. I'd be generous in my estimates if you are really going to set aside the money in the hopes of not having to tap other sources. Also, keep in mind that TBO is just a guess and Lycoming TBO is really x hours or 12 years, whatever comes first. An engine has a much better chance of exceeding TBO hours if they are used up in ten years or so. But, an engine 20 -30 years old? Corrosion does take a toll.

Congress has been doing that for a long time.

BTW, this can happen when installing a GFC 500 trim servo if the installer is not familiar with how the trim system works.

There are springs in the Mooney elevator system so it takes about a 5 lb pull to rotate for takeoff. When the trim is set to the proper position for takeoff, the springs should hold the elevator aligned with the stabilizer. If at this setting the trim indicator is not in the takeoff position then the indicator needs adjustment.

Seems to me that if I had an electrical failure that took out both the GMU and the GPS that I’d be worried about more than heading because I probably would not have nav’s or coms or anything else but a single G5. But, in my case, I have a vertical card compass that’s well damped and easy to read.

All I know is the email from the underwriter that Parker shared with me that said, “Sorry, that’s all I’ve got. The gear ups are killing us.”

You don't really need heading as long as the GPS is working. You just fly GPS track. Check the AFMS, but the G3X/G5 combo reverts to displaying TRK when the GMU 11 fails. TRK is better than HDG because you don't have to compensate for wind.

I believe the filter you are talking about is for the alternator output. On my M20J there is a pi filter (series inductor with a smaller capacitor to ground on either side of the inductor) which Mooney buys from a supplier and a large electrolytic capacitor to ground. I replaced my capacitor because it was easy to do, the capacitor was cheap and it was nearly 30 years old and aluminum electrolytic capacitors don't last forever, but I saw no reason to mess with the filter.

I ordered a nose gear leg that came directly from Mooney. I rejected it due to pin holes in welds leaking oil. I talked to the manufacturing engineer and she had the remaining stock reinspected and they all got sent back for rework. She had the rework expedited and sent a replacement within a week. Stuff happens.

It drips where there is an internal leak in the pump. Time to overhaul the pump before it fails completely.

I agree that it is beneficial to be able to be flexible. A very good skill to develop is the ability to fly a faster than normal approach when operationally necessary. I used to be based at KSJC and often was asked to keep speed up to the middle marker (back when those things existed ) to fit into a conga line of jets approaching from the south. I could easily cross the outer marker at 140 and decelerate to 120 by the middle marker and still make a normal landing and the first turnoff in my 1978 M20J without speed brakes. My minimums for doing this were 500/2.

It seems the major difference in technique is how to start down at the FAF. If airspeed is to be held constant, you can either add drag by extending the gear, or reduce power. I’ve done it both ways. Each has advantages and disadvantages. It seems a matter of personal preference.

8110.42d.pdf

I've done this a number of ways, but currently this is how I do it in my M20J. I like to fly the final approach stabilized at 90 KIAS. I can fly it faster, but at 90 I don't have to slow it down so much at low altitude to get to 65 KIAS at the threshold. I like to keep the speed up on the initial and intermediate segments though in order to mix in with faster traffic at larger airports. 5 nm out, boost pump on, mixture set Power back to 15" a couple of miles before the FAF and the airplane will decelerate to 90 KIAS clean. Upon reaching 90 KIAS (or 1 dot above GP/GS on an approach with vertical guidance) flaps 15 and trim. Prop high rpm. Flaps 15 doesn't affect the speed much but does change trim and deck angle. At FAF (GP/GS intercept) gear down. Complete GUMPS check. I used to set the speed, gear and flaps before the FAF and reduce power at the FAF, but I found it took more of my attention away from the attitude indicator to reduce the power 5" than to reach for the gear handle. However, I used to have the original MAP gauge way over on the right side of the panel. Now, with the G3X, it is close to the attitude indicator, so this is probably not that big a deal. But, since a 3 deg pitch change is required at GP/GS intercept, I still want to be focused on the attitude indicator.

Probably the Vantage (a.k.a. Plane Plastics) replacement. Their parts usually need trimming.

I only have one data point: After the move to Oregon, I contacted the new owner and asked specifically if they could still rebuild nose gears and landing gear actuators and he said that they could. A year later when I needed to get a damaged nose gear leg repaired, Dan told me that they did not have FAA approval yet. Maybe the FAA is slow or maybe LASAR way underestimated the amount of work required to meet FAA requirements. But, the fact is that it took a very long time and it sounds like the bugs are not all worked out yet.

Different wings have different stall characteristics. It’s not laminar flow per se - the Cherokee has a laminar flow airfoil yet very gentle stall characteristics. The Mooney wing uses a different airfoil at the root than the tip to provide aerodynamic washout to ensure that the root area stalls first. Manufacturing tolerances create variation between the left and right wings and these are compensated for during factory test flights by adjusting the placement of the stall strips on the leading edges. Certification requirements allow up to 15 degrees of roll or yaw. The factory test pilot made sure that the airplane met this requirement, but did not attempt to get it perfect. So, some drop a wing more than others. But, you should be able to prevent it from rolling more than 15 degrees during recovery unless the wing has been damaged and repaired. My right wing had some minor damage to the leading edge somewhere in its past and the bondo job isn’t perfect and it always drops the right wing in a full stall, but not enough to exceed the spec. Wing drops during stalls are usually perceived by most pilots as being much more abrupt and of greater magnitude than the actually are. The only antidote for this is to practice them often.

https://sloanled.com/downloads/SloanLEDPanelMountIndicatorLightingCatalog.pdf Replacing a standard commercial electrical component with an equivalent standard commercial electrical component would seem to be a minor modification under current FAA legal interpretations.