G Miller

I have had my gear fail up (limit switch) and down (gear motor was rebuilt). I preferred the gear down failure.

Fiberglass is used for the nose radomes for commercial aircraft. They offer very low loss to microwave signals. The Stormscope is sensing much lower frequencies so the belly panel should not interfere with the operation of the antenna at all. There is a lot of metal underneath the belly panel and that should provide an adequate ground plane for the antenna. I suspect the antenna or the RF cable is bad. Ideally the antenna should be mounted to metallic structure and the RF cable should be routed underneath the ground plane and then connected to the antenna. Retired Boeing Electromagnetics Engineer

I wrote an article for the July 2016 issue of the Mooney Flyer describing my panel overlay upgrade. You may find the attached article of interest. article.pdf

LASAR procured one for me. I will use the old one (as near as I can tell it lasted 25 years) to experiment with repair concepts.

I would be interested in the details of the repair of the intake duct.

I wrote an article for The Mooney Flyer that was published in the July 2016 issue. You might find the information in the article interesting for your application.

You can make your own with your PC and printer. Onlinelables.com has various types of sheet stock that is compatible with ink jet and laser printers. I have use their products for a couple of panel upgrades that I have performed. The printable sheets run $1-2 per 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet.

I had noise being induced in one of my VHF radios by local high power commercial FM transmitters. I tried all sorts of quick fixes but the fix that worked was replacement of the 50 year old coax cable. It turns out the outer conductor was not well connected electrically to the RF connectors and RF energy was leaking into radio. It may be that your shielded power line is not really shielded due to its age. There should be some simple checks that you can make with a good ohmmeter to determine the quality of the shield.

From a Lycoming Publication Minimum in-flight CHT should be 150 F (65 C), and maximum in most direct drive normally aspirated Lycoming engines is 500 F (260 C). Some of our higher powered more complex engines have a maximum limit of 4750 F (2450 C). Although these are minimum and maximum limits, the pilot should operate his or her engine at more 50 reasonable temperatures in order to achieve the expected overhaul life of the powerplant. In our many years of building engines, the engines have benefited during continuous operation by keeping CHT below 400 F in order to achieve best life and wear of the powerplant. In general, it would be normal during all year operations, in climb and cruise to see head temperatures in the range of 350 F to 435 F

I had the gear fail in the up position a few years ago. A limit switch was bad leading the system to believe that the gear were down.

The efficiency of the electric motor vs the ICE helps a bit but without an order of magnitude increase in battery energy density the electric Mooney is a pipedream.

Any pilot reports regarding maintenance performed by Command Aviation, Bellingham, Wa?

Any pilot reports regarding maintenance performed by Command Aviation, Bellingham, Wa?

I am based in the Seattle area. Ten miles or so east of KSEA is Tiger Mt, a 3000 foot peak with numerous very high power commercial transmitters. Since purchasing my 1970 C model some 15 years ago I have been experiencing significant radio interference when flying within 5 miles of Tiger Mt. I experimented with placing ferrite beads on the outside of the cosxial cables connecting the radios to the antennas and heard some reduction in interference. During the recent annual my A and P and I measured the resistance between the antennas and the fuselage skin and found them to be within spec. We decided to replace the 50 year old coaxial cables with new RG400 shielded coax. Wow! The interference is gone. For those owners out there who are having interference with high power transmitters, I suggest swapping out the old cables for new ones. You will not be sorry.

I tell my newbie co-pilots that getting out of the airplane will be the hardest thing they do all day. The technique I suggest for the co-pilot is to move the seat full aft, remove headset, rotate upper torso to right, place right hand on wing walk aft of door fingers facing aft, slowly stand up while rotating lower body to right and basically walk out of the airplane.

Where are you located? I am in the Seattle area, am a retired Boeing antenna engineer, and have a piece of test equipment called a network analyzer that can be used to determine the health of cables, power splitters, diplexers and antennas. I would be happy to make the measurements if you were in the local area. My Mooney is currently in for it’s annual inspection so I am essentially grounded for another week or two.

For 50% of the price of a J, you can have a C. The C will be 10% slower and burn 10% less fuel. The O-360 in the C is bullet-proof. If your mission is for a pilot and a passenger the C offers some significant advantages.

Hear in the Pacific Northwest, the icing capitol of the world, I started experiencing carb ice as soon as I purchased my M20C. I installed a carb temperature probe that drives my EI engine monitor. I have found that once at altitude, setting the carb temp to 50 deg F, and leaning the mixture appropriately, makes for a smoother running engine and the EGTs are more balanced.

I made aluminum overlays for my 1970 M20C. I wrote an article that described in some detail the process. It appears in the July 2016 issue of The Mooney Flyer. Here is a photo of my panel.