r0ckst4r

Thank you @M20Doc. That is helpful. I'm hoping its just a simple adjustment issue but we shall see.

Not to make this a topic of what idle RPM is... it might usually idle at 600 or so... that part is not the issue. The issue is that it now is a few hundred RPM above where it should be. The last landing was long and I had to use my brakes during taxi.

I was doing some touch and go's yesterday and on the last landing when I pulled the throttle to idle it didn't get quite to idle. Usually idles at around 500rpm or so and I was stuck at about 700 or 800 no matter how much I pulled back on the throttle. Needless to say that was the end of the day. Is this just out of adjustment and is a simple fix or is this more complicated than I think.

That's an interesting observation. I suppose for comparison my vacuum pump is weighed at 5.68 lbs which would leave around 20lbs for panels and lines. Assuming of course the pumps TKS and vacuum pumps are of similar weight which could be completely wrong, but just for discussion. The electric propeller heater is not included in the TKS weight. I have not held an uninstalled TKS leading edge in my hand and it does seem amazing that they could all be that light but It may be possible.

I think there may have been some calculated without out fluid but my weight and balance on my Ovation specifies with full fluid. It is 80lbs as noted by LANCECASPER. I suppose you will have to verify this on the weight and balance in the POH of whatever aircraft you buy.

So I literally logged in in today to post about this very predicament! I follow the POH methods to a "T" and always had difficulty with a warm or hot starts, usually after a fuel stop. I ended up playing with the throttle like some have suggested which got the engine going but never had it down to a fine science. Glad to see a lot of good information and I'll have some new techniques to test out for next time!

As previously said some can go the distance and more based on how the engine is run but another factor is which IO-550 you have. Earlier Ovation's with the IO-550G are RPM limited which increase their lifespan albeit with a small power trade-off. As far as options and everything else goes I guess it all depends on your mission profiles. When I bought my O one of my goals was to fly from my home base in SC to CT, particularly in the winter time. I opted for long range tanks and TKS which was important. Be aware that TKS does NOT equal FIKI and that not all TKS systems are FIKI certified. AC would have been nice but was harder to find during my searches. It has speed brakes but honestly I don't use them that much if the descents are well planned out, but that's probably another topic altogether. Also, as a fellow east coaster I agree with you completely on not bothering with the turbo unless you plan on heading out to the mountains. Just another thing to maintain and overhaul and you won't have to worry about oxygen systems either. Just my $0.02.

Being a relatively new Ovation pilot I have relegated myself to a personal limit of 3000ft (well 2998 to be exact so I can go to Ocracoke Island ) to leave myself enough margin of error for a less than stellar landing. There is another runway by me that is absolutely tiny at 2500ft and only 36 ft wide, essentially a city street. Technically with good winds this is within the published limits of the aircraft but not quite my limits as of yet. So this of course raised my curiosity and I wanted to hear from my fellow pilots. What was the smallest runway you have managed to land on?

Yeah this particular line always confused me. They mention over and over again that 110 KIAS is the limit for any flap extension then they toss in this full flaps below 110 KIAS. Maybe this was revised later. I think what they meant to say is "flaps as required below 110 KIAS" lol

Forgot to attach

Which later model Mooneys? Later model Ovations? Mine is definitely is 10 degrees and 33 degrees. For the sake of clarity the POH does specify a standard "take-off" flaps of 10 degrees but for "approach" it says set to take-off flaps then full flaps below 110 KIAS which I've always found a little confusing. Probably best to refer to the degrees of flaps as those terms don't appear to be standard.

Also yes, just to be clear, I do follow the recommended T/O procedures to a "T" but did wonder about the one size fits all take-off configuration in our POH.

I do have the O1 POH and yes I do have the soft field T/O performance chart. All the speeds and configurations are the same just different performance data

GeeBee, that’s what I was thinking. A soft field or short runway that just needs you to get off the ground seems like it would call for more flaps but the writers of the POH decided they didn’t want to tread in those waters

Approach configuration is probably not a good term to use. Do you mean 10 degrees versus 33 degrees? Also I’m still not sure why 33 degrees flaps would not be useful to lift into ground effect earlier for soft field despite the drag.

I have noticed that in our POH they give a general take-off configuration of 10 degrees flaps for all take-offs, being regular or short or soft. I am comfortable with this on my usual luxurious paved runways of around 3000 ft and with my massive home base runway of 5000 ft. My question is more of a point of curiosity. Why do they not use a full flaps setting for a short or soft field take-off? When performing a go-around the flaps are already full down at 33 degrees when full power is applied then retracted later. Am I missing something?

Not unless it was done at the annual but that was in February. I will see if they did anything like that though.

Don't tell your FAA medical examiner lol

FML. I had a suspicion of fuel because of the color but it was way more oily and viscous than clean 100LL and didn't evaporate which made me think it might be something else. This was the first time I filled the long range tanks ALL the way up so that had something to do with it. I'll see what I can gather from looking in that panel. Thanks for the info as always.

I noticed some blue green fluid under my wing leaking from this panel. The round panel in front of it is the access panel for the landing lights. The fluid is oily and viscous. Does anyone know what this fluid is and what is behind this panel? This is the right (starboard) wing. M20R.

Looks great! Did you decide on a resistor?

Actually that was my mistake. The second check I described was something else. Yes, I have one alternator. So it would seem that if you follow the POH segment I posted above but instead of keeping on the battery with the highest voltage as described just switch it once which will check both voltages and also switch to the battery not used last flight. Does that fall under having a load on the battery or is that more when the engine is on and the alternator is charging?

In the POH the first time it says to switch batteries is in the pre-flight prior to engine start and prior to powering up avionics or turning on the Alt field switch to check voltage. So this would be in line with what you are saying here. It also appears again in the prior to takeoff section where the engine is on, Alt field in on, and avionics is on and tells you to switch the batteries to ensure that they are both showing positive charge (>26.5v). So from what I am gathering here is that the first check with only the master switch on is ok but the second check during run up should be omitted? The only difference between your method and the POH (pre-flight check) is that the engine is on when you do it however with the Alt field switch off it should not matter if the engine is running or not. Does that follow?

That doesn't assess that one of the batteries hasn't died in the time since the last flight at all though. Isn't this the whole point of the preflight check in the POH?