PT20J

You didn't say if you are replacing skins, but if you are, I'd check and see what they cost to get from the factory. I've found some of Mooney's parts prices pretty reasonable on parts it manufacturers. Some of those panels have stiffeners and by the time you cut up sheet metal and rivet stiffeners and drill all the holes in the right places, it might be easier to just get one from Mooney. Besides, making parts is about all that's keeping the factory in business these days and it's good if we try to support them when possible. Just a thought....

As I learned, if the gear leg has the stops, it's possible to break a stop clean off without denting a tube (or in my case, denting it so slightly that it wasn't easily felt.) If the steering is set up correctly, the first thing to limit travel is the rudder stops in the tail, followed by the steering stops on the nosewheel if you have them. At this point, there is still a gap of maybe 3/8" (I haven't measured it) between the leg tube (the weaker one that gets damaged) and the truss tube (the larger one that damages the leg). So, it's best to check out the stops if you have them. It's not too hard to kneel down and see them, or use a phone camera to photograph them. I also carry an inspection mirror that makes it easy to inspect such things and I carry a rubber knee pad like the kind gardeners use which also makes it easier to sump the tanks without grinding my knees on the tarmac.

When I was flying seaplanes in Ketchikan the company made new dock kids wear a special hat for the first week to warn the pilots to be be alert because anything could happen and often did.

Mooney liked to complicate things on later models, so I would expect that if the factory designed it there would be a fluid level sensor and a warning light in the annunciator panel.

The later Mooneys have an emergency release installed on the inside of the baggage door under a rip-off plastic cover. The release will open the door even if the baggage door is locked from the outside. There are two protections against this mechanism being inadvertently activated and causing the door to open in flight: First, the plastic cover protects the release handle; second, there is a hitch pin that must be removed before the handle can be pulled. (The first design had a less positive method of locking the handle and these should have all be updated per SBM20-239A). If you modify the baggage door latch mechanism to incorporate some sort of emergency release, it would be prudent to somehow protect the mechanism from inadvertent release in flight should contents of the baggage compartment shift and become entangled with the mechanism, or should a passenger reaching back into the baggage compartment for something inadvertently activate it.

This is what @OHAEDO posted. I don't understand what broke or how something on the nose gear can get damaged by over steering in a way that can't be seen during preflight. I am NOT saying it can't -- I'm saying I don't understand how it can and I would like to learn.

I agree that the sense line is more likely. The point is that either the alternator is running without control of the voltage regulator as it would if the field current were higher than commanded by the VR, or the VR is commanding a high field current because it thinks the voltage is too low as it would if the sense line were disconnected. The latter is more likely, but the fact that the OVP works doesn't necessarily rule out a field line shorted to the bus before the CB because the crowbar shorts the field to ground tripping the field CB to remove the field current and shut down the regulator. With the engine shut down and the master and alternator switches on, the field terminal at the alternator should read something less than bus voltage and the sense line at the VR should read bus voltage.

What I’m trying to understand, is how oversteering damage cannot be seen during a preflight. The leg stops should hit the stop on the truss and if the force breaks a stop off the leg, it can dent a tube on the leg and possibly a tube on the truss. (The leg tube is the smaller tube, so it usually takes the brunt of it). This can all be fairly easily inspected. Did Kevin explain how the damage could be otherwise?

I used to have to renew it every so often (5years if I recall correctly). But when the FCC eliminated the radiotelephone licenses and replaced them with GROL it eliminated the expiration so I believe it’s good forever unless there was a rule change I missed.

The code is described in chapter 91 of vol 1 of the service manual. The last two digits are the wire size, so the landing light is 12 AWG. Be sure to use Tefzel insulated wire, and if you splice it use PIDG butt splices with the proper crimp tool or solder sleeves.

The service manual comprises two pdf volumes. The second volume has the schematics.

Just lube the rollers every annual when everything else gets lubed. Don’t forget to lube the main and baggage door hinges and the hinge on the aux power door (keeps the soring from rusting out) as these often get overlooked.

If the OVP is tripping on two different regulators then the problem must either be that the field current is too high and not being controlled by the regulator (maybe shorted to the battery bus) or the sense voltage is too low (maybe disconnected, or shorted to ground or the battery bus). Both field and sense should have breakers and after a major upgrade, goofs at the breaker panel would be where I would start looking.

Bummer. If the Hein can turn, friction will unscrew it when the actuator rotates. Something else to look more closely at during annual. Thanks.

Did you figure out what caused the disconnection?

There is an external coil spring attached to the lever on the actuator that holds the emergency gear extension clutch disengaged. I would check that to make sure the emergency extension mechanism is not engaged because that will jam the motor and pop the breaker. If it’s not that, then you’d have to remove and open up the actuator to determine the cause. If it’s a noback spring, you could email Frank Crawford at Mooney to find out the current status. Sometimes you can find a used actuator at salvage yards or eBay. Probably about $10K to buy a used one. Good luck.

The schematics in the service manual will show the correct wire gauge.

Check that both springs for the aileron/rudder interconnect are intact.

I've always found that calm wins in negotiations. The first one to raise his voice usually loses.

Interesting thought. I think it likely depends on whether the filter has an anti-drainback valve or not. Oil flows into the filter can around the outside of the media, then through the media and out the center. If the filter has an anit-drainback valve, air should force the trapped oil through the media and out the center, so it is being filtered. The anti-drainback valve in the filter should prevent unfiltered oil from blowing down through the oil pump. But if there is no anti-drainback valve, the air would probably force oil back through the pump because that path would be lower resistance than through the media. Either way it seems like the trapped oil on either side of the media shouldn't be much different in terms of contamination unless the engine is making a lot of metal. https://aeroaccessories.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Tempest-OilFilterValves-Final.pdf

Only if you use a very long tow bar.

When I was talking over my nose gear claim with my insurance adjuster he related to me that they hate writing FBO insurance because they all have young low paid guys driving tugs and fuel trucks around expensive airplanes. He was currently working a claim by an FBO for a kid that ran a fuel truck with a mid-stowed ladder sticking out the side into an engine cowling and along the fuselage of a BBJ (corporate 737). The damage was 7 figures requiring Boeing engineers to fix it. I once worked at a flight school where the new line boy tried to taxi an Archer to the wash rack and hit another airplane, panicked and steered into the tail of a Navajo where the prop made 3 slices through the tail before stopping. FBOs are dangerous places for airplanes.

I got mine (It was a first class radiotelephone license back then) during my senior year in high school. Used it to get my first summer job babysitting a 50kW AM station transmitter. Never had to do anything except write down all the meter readings every half hour and sign the log. I spent most of my time making music tapes from the record library. It was indoors and paid pretty well.

On mine the controls to recline the rear seat backs are in the center and this is why I think Mooney put it on the left side.

Sorry, missed that. If it's not the cover, and it's not the gasket then it must be the cylinder.