PT20J

Maybe you guys should try one of these: https://www.classicnation.com/list-of-the-most-popular-classic-car-forums/ I’m still trying to find the best option for replacing door seals.

Bruce’s has pictures of their product at aircraftcovers.com. Bruce’s products and customer service are top notch. They modified a cover for me that was purchased by the previous owner to accommodate an added 406 ELT antenna at no charge. Skip

I called Brown Aircraft Supply and they confirmed that BA-189-139 has been superseded by T-9088.

Landing is really about energy management. Engine thrust and airspeed are two forms of energy that you have control over. To fly a constant descent angle to the runway at a constant airspeed (neglecting for the moment destabilizing atmospheric forces such as wind shear and thermals) you need a constant power setting. Entering ground effect tilts the lift vector forward and increases lift and reduces induced drag. But, flaring increases angle of attack which increases induced drag. It also increases lift, but the airspeed is decreasing which decreases lift so if you get the flare right, one effect will counteract the other. So as you flare, lift is constant, drag is increasing, and the airspeed is decreasing. Reducing power to idle at this point hurries up the process and touchdown happens soon afterwards. Notice how an airliner lands next time you are unfortunate enough to be crammed in the back of one. For a jet, pretty much every landing is a short field landing. If you are floating a lot, you are too fast. The problem with reducing power at 100 feet is that reducing power causes pitch down moment that you have to counteract with elevator which complicates the whole process by destabilizing the approach. The only reason to do this is having too much energy (speed + power) so you reduce the form of energy most readily controllable (power). Try flying the final slower with constant power (varied only to compensate for wind shear or thermals) and doing a coordinated flare and power reduction and see if it doesn’t work for you. There’s nothing magic about it - it’s just physics. Cheers, Skip

I agree with both these comments. The greater sensitivity to ground effect accounts for the challenge in Mooney landings. My original point was that there is nothing about a Mooney that requires special techniques. But, as pointed out in these two posts, airspeed control is critical to good landings.

After 9/11, the FAA wanted to require a photo on pilot certificates. AOPA and others successfully argued that possessing a government issued photo ID would be be a simpler way of achieving the same goal. Unless the reg gets changed, there should be no tie-in with RealID which is a TSA issue not an FAA issue.

Don’t forget to use a new gasket (crush washer) when you reinstall it. Split side toward engine.

The tail tie down is ahead of the empennage. Still, Mooney SIM20-114 recommends against using the tail tie down and instead suggests lifting the engine with a hoist. That same SI also says not to fly with the wing tie down rings installed

Yeah, that’s what I’ve got. It leaks air at the bottom in flight. My glue is only 25 years old so maybe it will be easier to remove

It’s not that hard. Rudder keeps the nose aligned. Aileron counteracts sideways drift. Fly a constant descent angle at 1.3 Vso controlling airspeed with pitch and descent rate with power. Round out close to the runway and reduce power to idle and hold it off until the mains touch. The Mooney wing is close to the ground and the flap span is large which accentuates ground effect. The landing gear is stiff which exaggerates any firmness in the touchdown. The main gear geometry puts the wheels a little farther aft of the CG than some airplanes. When you touch down, the moment arm to the tail shortens as the pivot point shifts from the CG to the wheels which causes a nose down pitching moment. All airplanes have a few quirks. But the basic technique is the same. Skip

Apparently, cinder blocks are no longer manufactured due to unavailability of coal cinders. http://masonrydesign.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-is-cinder-block-it-conjures-image.html

I’ve heard that. The one I got is supposed to glue to the door. It has a V cross section rather than being hollow.

Byron, Are you sure that's the correct seal? According to Brown's website, it's made from 60 durometer neoprene. My M20J IPC calls for BA-189-139 (which I cannot find on Brown's website) or an alternate T-9088 which is sponge neoprene. I'm interested because I need to replace my cabin door seal as well. I bought a Knots 2U seal but I'm not sure I like the cross section. Maybe someone that's used that one can chime in with their experience. Skip

Concrete has great compression strength. It's what your hangar floor is made of

It doesn't really matter if you are only jacking one wheel because the wood is in compression and the other two wheels prevent there being a side load (Same reason TV towers don't fall down - main load is compression and the guy wires prevent a side load). I would not use the bottle jack method to jack more than one wheel at a time though because the base of the jack is too small to provide a high level of stability (no matter how you stack the wood) if there can be any sway. Skip

Yes, but the gear doors are in the way if you place it outboard and the jack is in way of removing the wheel if you place it inboard. That’s why for jacking the main I remove the screw from the jack piston and jack using the Mooney jack points. Placing the jack on a couple of concrete blocks makes a very stable base for jacking the mains. Skip

It's in the instructions for continued airworthiness to be done annually, but this isn't mandatory for part 91.

When I need to jack the whole airplane, I take it to my mechanic's hanger and use his aircraft jacks and engine hoist. But, often I just need to jack one wheel. Recently, I had the need to raise the nose wheel. I had a local fabricator make the tool shown for about forty bucks. It's a ten inch length of 1 inch diameter solid bar stock welded to a short piece of one inch ID pipe. Works great. The same bottle jack works for raising one wheel. I just remove the adjustable screw/pad and the hole in the top of the piston mates nicely with the conical Mooney jack points. (The screw/pad is usually bunged up so that it doesn't come out when fully extended. I clamped the piston in a vice with rubber jaws and worked the screw out, Then I cleaned up the threads on the end. Now I can screw it in or out of the piston easily). Skip

The Precise Flight ICA calls for lubricating the gears annually. I couldn't find any indication that mine had been lubed since they were sent to the factory for overhaul by the previous owner seven years ago. The ICA calls for removal to lube, but that's not really necessary. I found that by removing the bottom plate I could inspect the worm and worm gear. They were dry. I was able to access the sector of the gear that needed lube by raising the speed brakes and applying Aeroshell 22 to the gears with a long Q-tip. The design is such that the gears are exposed to water coming in from the top of the wing which can wash out the grease. If the airplane is left outside in the rain at all, an annual lube is a good idea. Skip 541SMAN0001D.pdf

Since you can’t move it to someplace that can work on it, it might be worthwhile to do some further investigation if you are able. From the description, it is almost certainly electrical and probably not the airspeed switch. If you don’t have the Service Manual and schematics, call Mooney and ask for the pdf files. If you trace out the wiring on the schematic, you will see that it is pretty simple electrically - some microswitches, relays, switches and connectors. You can check all the connections and components individually. Don’t just wiggle them though. Part the connectors and check the conditions of crimps and pins. Some report good success applying Stabilant 22 to the contacts before reassembly. If you can borrow jacks, you can test the gear as you go along. Intermittent problems are challenging. Unless they see something obvious or reproducible, LASAR will just go through this same process. I’d also call a few MSCs and ask for ideas. Don Maxwell, Mark Rouch at Top Gun as well as LASAR have all been generous helping troubleshoot. Kerry McIntyre at KNR has also been helpful. These folks may be able to point you to the most likely problem component based on their experience. Good luck. Skip

If you remove the screw extension from the piston of a small bottle jack, the piston fits nicely over a Mooney jack point. A few blocks of wood will raise the jack high enough to raise a main wheel.

Spruce gets $1035 for a Cleveland nose wheel assy. That's without tire and tube. But these are tube-type tires so the leak is in the tube unless you ran the tire down through the cords or flat spotted it. All you really need is a tube patch kit. But then, you still need to jack it up somehow and carry all the right tools. What cause the punctures?

Price aircraft wheels (and factor in that the mains and nose wheels are different) and think about how often you get a flat (I’ve had one in 40 years when a student locked up the brakes on a Saratoga during a checkout trying to impress me with how short he could land) and you might decide it’s not worth it. Skip

Seems to fall in the category of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

If you were not a CA resident, there would be no CA tax liability buying in CA and immediately relocating to your home state. As a CA resident you have a limited number of very narrowly defined exemptions. Which one are you using?