PT20J

I never tried that - now I feel like I missed out. I worked the summer of 1985 for a flight school at Merrill Field in Anchorage. It had a contract to fly over the natural gas pipeline that encircles the city every morning and note construction equipment near the gas main so that a gas company crew could make sure they knew where the main was. Apparently, it had been dug up so many times that it was cost effective to pay for the flights. Anyway, pilots got paid by the hour and the contract was apparently fixed price, so we were encouraged to 'get 'er done' and get back as fast as possible. It was great fun the come roaring down final in a C-150 at 120 knots and then chop the power slow to the white arc, drop 40 degrees of flaps, touch down on the numbers, and make the first turnoff adjacent the flight school. Skip

Then you must never have used 40 degrees of flaps

The M20J elevators are heavier (than a Cherokee or Skyhawk) when slightly out of trim because of the trim assist bungees. The Mooney ailerons are heavier due to the short control wheel throw, the short span/wide chord aileron design and the aileron-rudder interconnect. The Mooney also seems less pitch stable at 1.2-1.3 Vso which makes it take a bit more work to hold precise airspeed. But, with practice, we all get used to it. When I have checked people out there are three things that I have found to help: 1) if the airplane has electric trim, don’t use it at first. It is easier to get the feel for trimming with the manual trim. 2)Practice airspeed and configuration changes at altitude before starting pattern work. 3) Fly a wider traffic pattern with a longer final to give yourself more time to nail the airspeed and trim. Skip

That’s normal. Every different airplane has a different feel. Try starting the takeoff roll with 15 deg flaps and the trim set within the takeoff range and about a 5 lb pull on the yoke. Hold the pull as the airplane accelerates. When the nose begins to rotate, slowly release the pressure until you have a climb attitude of about 7 deg nose up (it will appear flatter than a C-172). There will be a significant nose down trim needed when you raise the flaps. Practice makes perfect. Enjoy an happy new year! Skip

I thought he used WD-40.

That will let you determine if the internal seal is leaking a small amount, but if the motor is shot, it doesn't really matter

Operating an aircraft engine is simple: 1. For longevity, keep the cruise power low (65% is good). 2. Set the mixture anywhere you want depending on what you are trying to accomplish: 100-125 F ROP for speed; LOP for economy; peak for a compromise. 3. Takeoff at full rich at sea level for cooling. Lean for best power plus a little extra for cooling at higher altitude airports. In a normally aspirated engine, you can lean as you climb to keep the EGT constant because the engine runs richer as it climbs, but you can also just leave it rich leaning only if it gets rough, and the only harm is that you waste a little gas. The only time you have to worry about red boxes and other bogeymen is when messing with mixture at high power settings. Then, you need to know what you are doing. The teaching purpose of the red box seems to have gotten lost. The idea is that the engine is most efficient at WOT and LOP. However, at low altitudes in a NA airplane (or any altitude below critical altitude in a turbo) WOT will be producing power too high for traditional leaning until well LOP. The red box was to explain the necessity of the Big Mixture Pull so that you can get to the lean side without the traditional method of first finding peak EGT which would not provide a safe detonation margin at high powers. It really should be drawn with fuzzy margins, but red lines are easier to draw on PowerPoint. Skip

Agree, that sounds like a bad motor, so I would not expect it to have anything to do with fuel pressure when the engine is running. If it were mine, I would send the pump for overhaul and while I was waiting I would verify the gauge accuracy which could be done with a compression tester and some plumbing.

An engine-driven diaphragm pump has an output pressure that varies inversely with fuel flow: pressure will be highest at idle and lowest at full power. The amount of fuel pumped at idle per pump stroke is so low that a restriction at the input should not have an effect on the pressure. I'm reasonably certain that the design of the boost pump precludes a failure from restricting fuel flow. That would be an unacceptable failure mode. It's not clear from the description exactly what happened to the boost pump. If it is jammed, I would expect the motor to draw excessive current and flip the breaker/switch. So, how did you know the pump was bad? Did it stop making a sound, or did you just not see fuel pressure? If the latter, maybe something is up with the gauge.

Yes, it is possible to change which side (left or right) the MFD page appears in split screen mode, and it is possible to select which side of the screen (left or right) the EIS strip appears. Depending on how the defaults are programmed in configuration mode, it may be possible to reconfigure the display in normal mode. Skip

Some drains pull out to open. Get a piece of hose that fits yours and attach one end to the drain and put the other end in a container to collect the oil. The filter mounts horizontally and will drip oil all over if you just spin it off. There are various posts on MS describing various ways of dealing with this. I cut a length of PVC pipe in half lengthwise to make a trough to direct oil from beneath the filter off to the side where it drips into a container.

I just run mine with the BatteryMINDer connected. It never shows that it’s output is exceeded. I have essentially the same panel.

Yes, it worked after loading the next software update. Still unsure what caused it.

I believe that original case was magnesium and corrosion prone. Kelly has a PMA aluminum part.

There's always Micromesh: 1500 to 6000 grit in 6 steps. I've used that too to remove scratches.

Since these LOP power from fuel flow multipliers get bandied about, it might be good to review where they originated and what assumptions went into them. From Advanced Pilot Seminars: "If you know that you're LOP, simply multiply the fuel flow in GPH times a factor that depends on the compression ratio (CR) of your engine. 14.9 for 8.5:1 CR (most normally aspirated and turbonormalized engines) 13.7 for 7.5:1 (most factory turbo-charged engines) Both can be rounded up to the whole number without serious error, and slightly different CRs can be interpolated. These factors are derived mathematically, as follows: Normally aspirated and turbonormalized engines (Usually about 8.5:1 compression) have a BSFC of about 0.39 lbs of fuel per HP, ranging from between 0.385 to 0.40. Factory turbocharged engines are less efficient, with a BSFC of about 0.42 to 0.43. The actual weight of 100LL is about 5.85 pounds per gallon. Scientists and engineers prefer to use the mass of fuel for these calculations, but using a standard conversion to gallons works well enough for our purposes. 5.85/0.39 = 15.0 GPH per HP 5.85/.0425 = 13.7 GPH per HP" Comments: 1. The calculation is numerically correct but dimensionally in error. What they meant to say is that it's 15.0 or 13.7 hours/gal per HP. 2. The difference between the initially stated 14.9 multiplier and the calculated 15.0 is unexplained. 3. The calculation assumes a BSFC which may or may not be exact for a particular engine. Additionally, BSFC is not a constant by varies slightly with mixture strength between peak EGT and the mixture for minimum BSFC. 4. The density of 100LL used in the calculation is 5.85 lbm/gal. References I checked cite 6.01 - 6.02 at standard temperature and pressure. So, there is a lot of uncertainty in the calculation. It's close enough to be useful, but it's not worth nit picking over a couple of tenths in the multiplier one way or another. Skip

500 hour inspections are not unique to the dual mag; all non-electronic mags should get that.

Good point. I always forget how loud those are and it matches the scenario: yoke mounted switch gets bumped when fooling around with the G1000 deploying brakes. Master off and brakes free fall closed with a bang. Turn the master on again later and the logic remembers the brakes were deployed and redeploys them. Turn the master off and the again free fall with a bang.

Does the red gear override button next to the gear switch light up and does the gear retract when the button is held down with the gear handle in the up position? If so, the problem is due to the airspeed safety switch. Could be a pitot/ static plumbing issue, could be an electrical connection, shop could have damaged the switch during the pitot/static test. I’d check for a bad pitot connection or disconnected wire to the switch.

If the batteries are giving off that much hydrogen perhaps the trickle charger is overcharging them. I’d measure open circuit and float voltages.

There is a specification on how far the pucks should be compressed with full fuel measured at the collar at the top of the stack. It should be in the service manual. For my M20J it is 0.60" max. You can test the squat switch theory by temporarily disabling it on a cold day when you have previously replicated the issue and see if that fixes it.

It's acrylic. Lot's of plastic polishes are available and they are all going to work. Everyone will have a favorite. I've had good luck with Novus products. If you really want to get a like new result the method is to make multiple passes with finer and finer grits. You might consider Scratch Off if you are really anal about it. It's safest (and slowest) to work it by hand. If you use a buffer, just be careful not to let the plastic overheat because that will permanently distort it.

Do you really think a $400/hr lawyer would be involved in a $2000 insurance claim? I happen to know a bit more about the second deal and it was more of a "you take care of this and I'll help you with that" deal.

Recently my Concorde 24V BatteryMINDer display started acting up. It appeared to be working properly, but some of the lights that shouldn't be on were dim and/or flashing. I called support at VDC and Wayne told me that this is a known problem and sent me a new display board with instructions for replacement. It's all good now. Skip

I believe that insurance companies have negotiating advantages that the rest of us don't. Several years ago, while driving, someone made a right turn from the left lane in front of me such that I could not avoid hitting them. I filed a claim with their insurance company (Geico) and they denied it saying that it was my fault because I hit the other car. I filed a claim with my insurance company (State Farm) which promptly paid for the repairs. Many months later, I received a letter from State Farm to the effect that they had been reimbursed by Geico. When the Atlantic FBO in San Jose CA damaged my nose gear, they refused to take responsibility. I filed a claim with my insurer (USAIG) and they paid for the repair. USAIG contacted Atlantic and the FBO manager again refused to take any responsibility or provide copies of security videos. But, several months later, I received an email from USAIG saying that Atlantic had reimbursed them in full. Apparently, deals are made behind the curtain. Skip