PT20J

Looks a lot cruder than my factory belly on my M20J. Also, the holes for the cross supports don't seem to be in the same place as mine. And, what are all those large circles and little bumps on the inside?

I know of one M20C that has a one off STC for a fiberglass belly panel that the owner made.

Back in the '50s and '60s the manuals were pretty skimpy on procedures. The manufactures assumed that pilots possessed some level of airmanship and knew what to do if the engine quit. The POH standard didn't come out until the General Aviation Manufacturers Association invented the format in the mid-70s. Airplanes produced after that had more info. Nowadays, the failures I'm most worried about are not related to the engine or landing gear or other simple systems -it's the complex glass panel avionics that are interconnected in mysterious ways. Quick: Your G3X annunciates ATT MISCOMPARE. What do you do? I keep thinking I need to create a QRH for my avionics suite.

Maybe there is a hidden message here: Don't over label things or it will get expensive. Here's a CB option -- get 12 MSers to do group buy and they are only $.83 each

$2.85 is expensive? Really? I spend that for a latte. Anyway, if you look you'll find that Spruce sells them cheaper than most other suppliers. But if you are really a CB just "borrow" your wife's fingernail polish. I only banded the autopilot and speed brakes. I pull the speed brakes any time I turn on the pitot heat after brushing the yoke switch once while picking up some ice and the left one wouldn't go back down all the way.

The original airplane was built by North American Aviation and designated AT-6 (except the Navy called it an SNJ-3 and the Canadians and Brits called it a Harvard). AT was the designation for Advanced Trainer. After WW II, they were sold quickly for cheap as surplus. But then the newly-formed US Air Force discovered that it needed a trainer and it bought back several hundred (at much higher prices) and awarded North American a contract to update them. These were designated T-6Gs. I have a friend that owns a really nice T-6G and I have about 5 hours in the front seat. I've got another 5 or so hours in the back seat of an AT-6A mostly flown with an ex-Reno race pilot. If you think a Mooney stall is wicked - try a T-6 .

You don't want to aim for the numbers because if the wind changes (or you misjudge) and end up short, there is nothing you can do. But, if you aim at some point down the runway, you can slip or s-turn or deploy speed brakes if you have them or put the prop to hi rpm to increase drag.

Doesn't look like the factory belly on my M20J. Way too many holes along the perimeter and they don't look to be in line. Maybe the LASAR belly panel?

There are small variations and very large sudden variations. Clearly, the engine won’t run on zero fuel pressure, so there is likely a bad connection. I would fix that. The smaller variations might remain if they are caused by vapor as is common.

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.