PT20J

I know that the G500 pitch and bank information comes from the G5. I'm wondering though if it has outputs to drive the flight director display on an Aspen PFD and if it will accept lateral mode inputs from the Aspen PFD.

RSA fuel injection systems meter fuel according to the volume of air passing through the venturi. The density of the air is lower at higher altitudes, so fewer molecules of air per given volume as you go up means the mixture gets richer as you climb. This is why we have to lean. When landing at high altitude airports, I leave the mixture at cruise or may enrich it slightly in case of a go around. Idle mixture may still be too rich with this setting and the engine may still die at a high altitude airport if you close the throttle. The idle mixture is controlled for about the first half inch of throttle travel by the idle mixture valve which is mechanically linked to the throttle. You set the idle mixture by adjusting the length of the connecting linkage. Normally, this will be set for the elevation you normally operate. If that's sea level and you go to a high altitude airport, the idle mixture is going to be too rich and you may have to pull the manual mixture out quite a bit to get the engine to run properly. Also on startup, you don't want to go to full rich, or it will probably die on you. Skip

Thanks, Lance.

Still fighting autopilot problems. KC 191 computer intermittant self test trim issue has been fixed by Mid-Continent. But, now HDG and NAV modes don’t work. I checked some voltages and I think the problem is somewhere between the Aspen PFD/ACU and the KC 191. I probably need to take the whole airplane to someone who knows what they’re doing. I’m based in the Seattle area and would prefer a west coast shop in case it has to make more than one trip. Anyone have any experience with Executive Autopilots in Sacramento CA? Any other recommendations? Thanks, Skip

Mooneys were originally certificated under CAR 3 and the empty weight did not include oil. At some point (for sure by the time the M20J was introduced) Mooney started using the GAMA empty weight definition which includes full oil. You can use either empty weight in your calculations so long as you use the correct corresponding empty CG/moment. It’s a simple matter to add a station for oil in Foreflight. Just select Setup and then Edit. Skip

Rod's a good friend. I really enjoy discussing this stuff with him, but I still can't see this effect, so don't feel bad. Judging height to a few inches is very difficult. Even Bob Hoover said he sometimes had landings he wasn't proud of. I do know from experience with my own flying and instructing that the biggest problem is looking too close to the nose. When I started flying seaplanes, I had trouble judging height because there are fewer cues. I found that looking far into the distance and keeping the eyes moving around to take in the whole landing area helps. It keeps you from fixating on a spot and gives your brain more visual cues to work with.

Let's see... It's not on the TCDS. It's not in the IPC. It's not in the POH. No one here has ever seen such a placard before. The placard is homemade. What was the question?

Exactly! Frankly, I think a lot of people make it sound like there is something exotic or unusual about many aspects of flying a Mooney. It's just another single engine, four place, low wing, retractable gear airplane. As I tried to point out earlier, the range of approach speeds varies with weight - the same as any airplane - but not nearly so much as some seem to believe. Low wing planes float more than high wing, and Mooney's float more than most low wings because the wing is closer to the ground. My observation as a CFI has been that many people try to land too fast regardless of type. Mooneys just float more when you do that making them seem different. A really good exercise is to cover the airspeed indicator and fly around the pattern without it. It's not that hard and will cure you of fixating on the airspeed once you get comfortable with it. Find an experienced instructor and try it if you've never done it before. Skip

Anthony, Yep. Although at a MSC I once saw a prop shimmed with blue painter's tape Skip

This isn’t taped per the Service Manual. Teflon tape is supposed to be wrapped around prop hub. That way you can adjust amount of tape for a good fit. This way might work, but I’d put the next one on by the book. BTW, IPC calls out part as a bulkhead assy, spinner (fwd).

I just completed some repairs on my 1994 M20J glare shield. It was warped and starting to develop some cracks. Here are techniques that I found helpful: The glareshield is made from ABS plastic and is really easy to work with. I first separated the two pieces that form the glareshield assembly by using a long bladed knife and a thin putty knife to work the upper and lower pieces apart at the glue joint. Then I used a heat gun to soften and flatten some portions that had been warped by the sun. I got some 1/16" thick sheet ABS from a local plastic store and used this to reinforce some cracked areas from the bottom side on flat parts of the glareshield. ABS cement used for gluing plumbing pipe together works great. Small cracks can be glued back together by dribbling some MEK (which is a solvent for ABS) into the crack with a toothpick or other device and then pressing the two sides of the crack together. Just use it sparingly. Some areas needed reinforcing, and for these I used two or three layers of glass cloth embedded in ABS cement. Don't get carried away reinforcing - the glareshield needs some flex to be able to install it. After completing the repairs, I glued the two parts of the glareshield together using RTV. This will hold them securely, but make it possible to get them apart in the future if necessary. To hide the repaired cracks on the top of the glareshield, I filled in some voids with a little ABS cement and then sanded smooth. Then I used SEM Texture Coating and Trim Black sprays to finish. SEM has a good Youtube video on this. I also put some UHMW PE tape on the back edge to make it less likely to scratch the windshield during installation and removal. Final touch was to install Bruce Jaegar's Easy-out glareshield repair kit to allow enlarging the slot around the center post (I think forcing the old part around the post is what caused a lot of the cracks). Skip

Careful... At 400°F it’s closer to 20%, you need to get to 475° to lose 50%, they drop off quickly after around 425° and that’s for standard aluminum alloys, I assume they use a more heat resistant alloys. Here for quick reference:  I believe the numbers that get bandied about the Internet for aluminum strength vs temperature originated with APS and John Deakin originally got if from a Pratt & Whitney publication titled The Aircraft Engine and its Operation. Th Since the ordinate axis isn't scaled, and we don't even know if it starts at zero, it is pretty meaningless other than to say not to operate P&W engines above 450-500 deg F CHT. Lycoming has long recommended 435 F max for high performance cruise and 400 F max for economy cruise. As a practical matter, keeping temps below 400 F seems prudent. I'm not sure that obsessing on really low CHTs buys anything on a Lycoming IO-360.

I find a good "cross the fence" speed is 1.3 Vso and I set this up by 1/4 mile final. I can go slower, but never really need to as I can make the mid-field turnoff 1500 feet from the threshold at the home drome with brakes at this speed or roll to the end without brakes, and this speed gives some margin for gusts and maneuvering. This speed does vary with weight, but not as much as some of you are doing. Stall speed varies as the square root of weight. At 2300 lbs in my '94 J it's 49 KCAS and at 2900 lbs it's 56 KCAS according to the POH. To be most accurate, you should use calibrated airspeed and convert to indicated at the end of any calculations. This converts to 1.3Vso speeds of 66 KIAS to 74 KIAS - an eight knot spread. As for airspeed add for gusts, I use the technique Richard Collins advocated years ago: Watch the airspeed fluctuations and just adjust speed so that the minimum excursions don't go below your target speed. Skip

Back 25 years ago with a 78 J, I wanted comfort on a budget. The seats were so uncomfortable that I went to a store selling orthopedic back support seat cushions and bought one. It was terrific. So, I bought an Airtex seat kit with vinyl trim and fabric inserts (fabric is cooler in summer than leather or vinyl) and I took the seats and the orthoropedic support and the Airtex upholstery to a local airplane interior shop and told them to duplicate the back support shape in new foam and cover with the Airtex upholstery. It was very inexpensive and the seats looked nice and were cool and very comfortable. Skip

Common wisdom is that the lifters go first and take out the camshaft. Radial engines have used roller tappets since the 1930s and are free of tappet/cam gear issues. Maybe diamond dust is good, but all new and rebuolt Lycoming factory engines come with roller lifters which should solve the problem.

I find a little silicone spray takes care of this. Also, it’s not necessary to tighten it very tight.

There may be no way fully settle this. B-K used at least a couple of different servos (KS 179, KS 272) over the years as well as going from 14V to 28V to dual voltage. Maybe the switches are not even all the same except cosmetically. The specs I've seen here and elsewhere are not all that clear. For example, the spec for the KS 272 trim servo in the installation manual I posted previously says "28VDC or 14VDC at 5 amps." This can't be the actual current draw because the installation uses a 5A breaker. Also, the autopilot uses a 10A breaker to feed everything and if roll, pitch and trim servos all draw 5A, the autopilot breaker would be tripping a lot. Without more detailed engineering specifications for each configuration, it's impossible to tell. I still think it is pretty unlikely that Bendix-King underrated the switch. I've flown a lot of them over the last 30 years - many at flight schools where they get used a lot - and never had a failure, but maybe I'm just lucky. I seriously doubt that disconnecting the autopilot with the yoke push button causes it to fail, but you can always avoid it if you are worried about it. But much of the switch is mechanical and mechanical stuff likes to be used occasionally. Personally, when doing the trim preflight test, I use the KAP/KFC 150 method (hold the red button down and see that the trim switch is inop) rather than the KAP 140 method (run the trim and see that the red button stops it). After all, this stuff is old. Skip

Required placards are listed in TCDS.

That doesn’t really prove anything. Switches can fail for lots of reasons. Show me specs that show that the load exceeds the rating of the switch.

I see this assertion from time to time, but it makes no sense to me. The trim breaker is 5A. So the trim servo probably draws a couple of amps max. The installation manual only calls for 20 AWG wire. It’s not hard to find a switch the size of the one used with a rating in the 3-5 amp range. Why would Bendix-King use an under rated switch in a critical circuit? Could they have even gotten that certified? Someone is going to have to show me the specs on the switch and the servo before I believe this is not just an oft-repeated OWT.

My list - all from well respected MSCs over a 25 year period Perfectly working dual mag failed on L side after 500 hr inspection and impulse coupling work Missing screw located inside landing gear actuator gearbox after no back spring replacement (I made them take it apart when the mechanic couldn’t find the screw on the bench - it would have eventually jammed the gears) Hose clamp left off vacuum filter after replacement. Spark plug CHT thermocouple for cylinder 3 installed on cylinder 1. Stripped high rpm stop screw on governor “fixed” by wrapping safety wire around it (held together long enough to get it out of shop). Replacement exhaust system interferes with cowl flap. And, from another non-MSC shop (just to prove it’s not just a MSC problem) : Missing cotter pin on pitch link attach bolt on Schweitzer 300. I’ve had the best experience with small shops where the owner is actively involved and the mechanic turnover is nil. I’ve found these shops very busy and welcoming my involvement to move things along. Sometimes I catch things they miss, for which they always thank me. But, mostly, they teach me a lot. If a shop doesn’t veiw maintenance as a collaborative enterprise, I don’t want to trust my life to them. All that said, I would not hesitate use a MSC for something that requires a lot of Mooney experience such as control rigging. Skip

Good question. I’m 5’6” and 145 lbs. I never needed a powered tow bar until I got a hangar with a very slight uphill slope on the ramp in front and a lip between the pavement and hangar floor. It doesn’t take much of an incline to make pushing it hard to do. If my ground was level, I would have saved the money for gas. There is very good low speed control with the sidewinder and I actually think it is easier to position it safely into my tight fit hangar than with the tow bar since I am standing more erect and can see better.

Some airplanes - Cessna high wings, for instance - have adjustable wing incidence. Mooneys do not. The only way it will be out af manufacturing tolerance is if it has been damaged. Rolloff at stall is not necessarily related to a heavy wing at low (cruise) angle of attack. The latter is usually a rigging issue, assuming the plane is straight. Mooneys tend to exhibit some roll if a stall is not promptly recovered. The stall strips are located during factory flight test to minimize this.

That M20J was also involved in a mid-air. The nose gear or a C-152 hit the fin of the Mooney and bent the fin in half. Both planes landed with no injuries. Trim is speed dependent. On Mooneys with out rudder trim, the rigging is set for ball centered at cruise.

Thanks, Clarence. The previous owned put one on in 2017 replacing an earlier 149-24LS Sky-Tec installed in 2000 that had a crack. Skip