tgardnerh

Yeah, seems likely :-(

Huh. My (geico) umbrella policy pre-dates my pilot's license, so I didn't think too much about aviation when it was written, and never checked. Glad I have stand-alone liability insurance for the airplane!

The incident flight is on a 6 second interval, so 10/minute. On the actual monitor the alarm is set at 450--it was the bright red flashing light that got me to pull the power to idle!

That's exactly how I generated the link!

I went back through since April, looking for anything amiss. It looks like there's plenty of hard use, but no classic saw-toothed pattern or anything else that looks bad to me. If you want to take a look, I'm curious what you think! https://apps.savvyaviation.com/my-flights/21121/f4f02577-b5be-4ff4-8061-0aeb82869d78

@carusoam Thanks for the thoughts! Since I'm not the only decision maker on this plane (downside of a six person partnership), longer-term members and the A&P have ended up driving the bus on this one. At this point, the #3 cylinder has been pulled, the shop's IA says it shows no visible damage, the cylinder is going to a specialist to check it over and see if it's all in spec, and I suspect we'll reinstall, check the timing, and move on. Other plugs looked fine, and since the EGT only gets weird at 9:42 (when I pulled the power to idle), I suspect the plug is secondary to whatever caused the thermal runaway. I will probably see if the other 5 members can be sold on a Savvy maintenance subscription--if it turns out the cylinder didn't need to come off, that means the subscription would have paid for itself right there! (never mind the downtime and risk associated with it)

Alright, I suppose I can do that at least--let some of the water out but also have the airplane squared away before the next person flies.

I don't, tbh with six guys sharing a plane, I suspect that's not likely to happen/I'd be too concerned that the next guy flying would forget to screw it back in. On the flip side, the airplane flies regularly on flights long enough to get the oil good and hot. (And yes, there was quite a bit of condensation in that oil sludge, maybe 10ml total)

doubt it--i dont have it on the JPI, but since only one cylinder was hot, and only for ~2 minutes, i suspect the oil only cooked locally. The oil on the dip stick looks good, with no change from before. Not at all, first and only indication was the high cht. mag check was perfect 3 minutes before the episode.

This is a question about my O-235 in a Cessna 152, so forgive me since it's not a mooney, but y'all are the best collection of technical aviation judgment and knowledge I've encountered: tl:dr is that I think I had preignition, scoped the engine, mechanic wants to pull and likely replace the cylinder, and I want more opinions on the whole thing. Here is the flight in question: https://apps.savvyaviation.com/flights/3452247/79782bde-5598-44e7-8306-2d461c601372. Mag-check from 3-6 minutes, takeoff at 6 minutes, and at 9:40 I noticed CHT #3 was reading 588, so I pulled to idle and landed promptly. A runup on the ground showed the #3 bottom plug entirely non-functional (3:18 here), and so the mechanic gave me a new plug and his blessing to fly away. Plug removed from #3. Cracked Porcelain not visible here However, a compression test ~2 flight hours later showed 60/80 with mist coming out of the oil fill cap, and the attached boroscope images. Additionally, the valve cover was coated in something that looked like a bad egg dish. What say y'all about what happened (was it preignition, and if so what could have caused it?), and if there are any next steps beyond pulling the cylinder. Valve: Piston: Valve Cover:

Hell, I'm a negative net worth pilot (student loans...) and I carry an umbrella policy. I pay less for $1M in coverage than I do for netflix.

liability insurance isn't really for you, its for the poor shmuck who you injure or whose property you damage. The way I see it, until I am willing and able to write a million dollar check in the unlikely event that a mistake of mine leaves somebody maimed or dead, I have a moral obligation to carry insurance while flying (or driving, for that matter). Hull insurance however is rarely mandated, and I don't carry it on airplanes or cars for exactly your logic.

Did the DPE make it clear that he was telling you what he thought the rules required, or did he just want to make sure you could do it without the GPS?

That's definitely not what the doctors I have asked say. Including the one I'm married to--she tells me that 92% is really the minimum she's comfortable with for patients who don't have COPD, and she emphasizes that 92% is good for keeping the heart healthy, but not good enough to be mentally sharp.

This is my personal soapbox, but I think we underestimate the impact of mild hypoxia. For me the symptoms start out super mild around 5,000ft, and I am basically an idiot by 9,000. So, for about 0.1AMU, I put together an O2 kit from Amazon parts (D cylinder + medical regulator + nasal canula), and fill it up for .02 AMU at a local dive shop. I use a $20 pulse oximeter to keep my saturation at 94%, and the bottle lasts me about 2 hours. Oxygen is basically cheap IQ points at a time when you need them more than anything.

I heard the heuristic that "Insurance covers failures of gray matter, not failures of aluminum." Since this *could* be a full teardown and crank shaft replacement, definitely worth seeing if your insurance covers this particular failure of gray matter (just as they would if you'd landed gear-up).

Thanks Y'all! I think it sounds like: This is probably not a good idea for weight and practicality reasons it's probably not legal (at least not with a loooooong conversation with the FAA) there *is* however a fiberglass cloth covering option, which works roughly the same way as ceconite etc, and probably is not the best choice regardless I knew this was the place to go to ask such questions!

Interesting. Another M20A owner suggested that one could fully encase the wooden structure in resin impregnated fiberglass, like a surf board, to ensure longevity. I wonder if he was just mistaken/I misunderstood him.

This ad for a Canadian M20A (CF-LCV) says that the wing has been "fiberglassed," which i take to mean that the wood has been encased in fiberglass and resin. I've heard of this being done before, and it seems a little bit much to do under a 337, but I also have never seen an STC for the work. It looks like there's an STC for Razorback fiberglass covering (SA2-952), but that looks more like standard fabric. Does anybody know what the deal is with a fiberglassed M20A? NB: I'm not looking to buy this airplane, just want to understand the fiberglass thing for when I eventually get to buy a mooney.

It's worth spending the $12.95 for a pulse oximeter (amazon link). Many people find that they feel cognitive effects of hypoxia well before the FAA required level, and a pulse-ox is a cheap way to monitor yourself. I never let myself get below 93% saturation while flying, which means I'm on oxygen usually at about 5k, and always by 7k. Maybe this is a conservative way of flying, but oxygen is cheap, there's no really good way to judge how impaired you are, and we have no clue what fraction of bone headed accidents at elevation would have been avoided if the pilot was thinking a bit more clearly because they had oxygen on.

My cessna 152 is lives about 100 feet from this airplane, and it makes me cry a little inside every time I see it.

Thanks! I'll give him a call to get a feel for the market.

I think you're missing my question--I know I don't want the cheapest one on barnstormers, what i'm trying to figure out is where the line is between "good deal" and "you'll regret it." Is it the case that all the M20Cs that you see advertised asking between 28 and 35k are probably basket cases? Or are some of them perfectly good airplanes that have been kept up, but never really upgraded? (And that will likely continue on just fine without any nasty surprises)

Can I ask what you paid? I'm trying to figure out where the line is between "buying cheap" and "getting a good deal on solid mechanicals because it looks like 1967 inside" :-)

how much of the 20k was stuff you expected from the pre buy? how much was surprise gotchas that only came up when you took it to maxwells?