1980Mooney

Sadly you are correct.

It is not just a Verizon problem. I have Windstream/Kinetic internet and am unable to log onto MooneySpace using WiFi. It is the only website that won’t work. However, ATT cellular works fine, either on iPhone of via WiFi hotspot. Likewise I don’t have time to screw with it.

One thing not discussed here is the fact that most pilots put almost complete trust in their mechanics/A&P/IA's. This plane was in the hands of a mechanic from Oct 10-21 according the "Right out of the gate" topic. The mechanic conducted the test flight after repair looping the airport at least 4 times and @LANCECASPER congratulated him on the outcome. Most Mooney owners don't join or frequent MooneySpace. The owners that post here are generally way, way up the scale on knowledge of their aircraft and their skill level for diagnosing and repair. I wager that the average Mooney owner has basic knowledge of their planes but have to take the word of their mechanic for most things. Some are quick to say that Baber should have walked away from the plane or that he should have sprung for $thousands on overhaul and repair of entire systems. I bet many have experienced engine power reduction or stoppages only to trust their mechanic it has been repaired and fly on. @neilpilot above says that he had three (3) engine reduction/stoppages, yet they never figured out what caused it and he continued to fly based on his trust in his mechanics. He didn't park the plane. The fourth occurrence did cause an off-field landing that he survived. Had it been on take off, the outcome might have not been survivable. The point is that flying is inherently dangerous. We are flying planes that are generally 20-60 years old. These Mooney's have generally seen many owners and mechanics. Not every problem and repair has been documented over time. A small thing like @neilpilot's fragment of an o'ring can bring your plane down. Even brand-new Mooney's crash due to undetermined equipment failure like M20V Acclaim Ultra, N576CM, in 2019. This is a very sad outcome for an enthusiastic pilot/owner. We can second guess the measures Baber took but I wager that most of us would have handled it the same way. We take risks every time we fly - equipment, weather and personal performance. We try to mitigate risks but we have to trust someone.

The pulleys need to align in the same plane perpendicular to the crankshaft. Otherwise you will experience vibration, accelerated wear, noise or worst - throw the belt. Looks like you answered your own question and have it correct.

You may be right. Archer acquired the remaining 30 years of the 2005 50-Year Master Lease and subleases from a private company that has been managing the airport for the City of Hawthorne. They also have the exclusive right to acquire 75% of the FBO at Hawthorne. The City of Hawthorne will still own the runways and remains the Landlord for the facilities (as they always have). However it sounds like Archer can operate it as they wish. The Prospectus indicates this will be a commercial hub for air taxis if development is successful. So small jets and turboprops will fly in and drop people off that catch Archer Air Taxis. Flying Mag calls the vision “a flying Grand Central Station “. Can small GA coexist? Probably for now - yes. Longer term - maybe.

Yikes, 2X the original estimate. And then the 1 year time related costs like Annual raised it to 3X?

As referenced above, in his last post before he deleted everything, he said he was going to sell it to salvage for parting out.

I believe the now vanished post was about a 1967 M20F located in Oklahoma. The owner was distraught that during Annual with a new mechanic, exfoliating corrosion was found in both wings. Based on the pics, the corrosion looked like it had been there quite a while so the last mechanic may have missed it. There was the suggestion that this was from rodent urine. Looking at his N-number on AviationDB, it appears that he bought it in late 2022. Maybe it was missed in the Pre-buy also. He posted pics of having just updated his panel so it looks like he poured a bunch of cash into the plane. Quotes, based upon just pictures, were around $15,000 per wing. Various MS'ers recommended Maxwell, Beagles and one other. In his last post, he lamented that they was probably going to put the plane up for salvage. He said that he was afraid that Maxwell or Beagles would give him a quote but the actual final price would be 2x to 3x more. I responded to his post and said I didn't think that was how Maxwell operated and suggested that he contact @redbaron1982 for firsthand experience with corrosion repair. Then everything was gone.

LASAR was acquired by the current owners in 2017. This ugly event occurred in 2021-2022. The former owners, the Loewen’s were long,long gone.

I will make it easy for everyone. Here is the FAA Unapproved Parts Notification (UPN). UPN 2022-S20210727018 In November 2022, the FAA issued an Unapproved Parts Notification (UPN) specifically for Mooney landing gear lock blocks produced as Owner Produced Parts (OPP). It shat upon the people that help produce them and really screwed the Mooney owners that installed them. The FAA immediately rendered those planes "not airworthy". The OPP up and down lock blocks were superior products but immediately became scrap. Notice the last sentence - they really want to rat out those involved in producing this superior part. LASAR got their way and protected their monopoly. The MS'er that was getting them machined has not been on MS for a year. Has "transparent" LASAR fessed up? "If these parts are found in existing inventory or installed in an FAA type-certificated aircraft, the FAA recommends that they be quarantined to prevent installation or use until a determination can be made regarding their eligibility for installation, or replaced with FAA-approved parts. FURTHER INFORMATION You may obtain further information concerning this investigation from the FAA Manufacturing Inspection District Office (MIDO) Section below. In addition to the above recommendations, the FAA would appreciate any information concerning the discovery of the above referenced parts from any source, the means used to identify the source, and the actions taken to remove the parts from the aircraft and/or parts inventories. "

2022

d. any info (structural repair manual diagrams etc) on the area. e. is that all that is holding the truss in position or is there something more structural behind this bracket attaching the gear assy to the spar? Since you have the Parts Manual, look at Fig. 2, part 027 - " Box Assembly, Gear Attach - LH and RH." Parts 210140-013 and 210140-014

" I have attached 3 photos the first two is of my aircraft and the last one is a screenshot of an unknown model with a manual gear for reference only because it looks a little different to mine" "b. the differences between the gear attach boxes in the photos." I think the third picture is from a 1961 M20B featured in the Fastback Flying videos on YouTube.

I bet that 95%+ are oblivious. I suspect that only a minority of active Mooney owners belong to MooneySpace and read this. A miniscule fraction of those owners actively participate on MS - maybe 50? And on Facebook Mooney Pilots, there seem to be a lot of actively commenting members, but the announcements and discussion of "LASARAviation/Mooney" got a few comments and that was it - Facebook Mooney Pilots discussion has moved on. The "Future of Mooney Maintenance is Near" video got two (2) comments. The "but we have never stopped turning wrenches" video got three (3) comments. The "LASAR & Mooney — Building the Next 50 Years of Mooney Aviation " video got two (2) comments. Some of the comments are from "cheerleaders"....not the typical owner.

Wrongo.... The old ones had an aluminum back case. The new ones are all plastic. I bought some New Old Stock (NOS) on ebay a while back which had aluminum backs. The one from Maxwell is plastic.

I noted on the LASAR topic that Mooney/LASAR got wing fuel sight gauge capsules back in stock. The LASAR price is up 43% from what Maxwell what selling them for 2 years ago. And a 272% markup over what Rochester sells the same exact gauge capsule for on Amazon (without the Mooney fuel marks). But it's good to know that we are being told that inflation is only 3% here nowadays......

I purchased one wing gauge capsule from Don Maxwell in April, 2023 for $119.72 including shipping. That would be $240 for two (2). So LASAR has jacked the price 46% over 2 years. And that is made by Rochester Guage. Mooney/LASAR add ZERO, NADA, ZILCH value to the gauge. For those that want to blame Rochester and not Mooney/LASAR, you can buy the same Rochester gauge (same internals, same construction, same materials) on Amazon for $41 each or $82 for two (2) plus $12 shipping. That is $94 vs $350. That is a 272% markup to add the Mooney gallon markings. https://www.amazon.com/Rochester-Gauges-5323S01792-Size-Capsule/dp/B0BR2GPB27 Sounds about in line with everything that they are proposing and doing.

Unlikely that the light works intermittently. It generally either works or is burned out. If “AP”lights during “Test” then it should be on when the autopilot is engaged. Make sure that the “Electric Trim” rocker switch is turned on. If it is not the Test will Fail and if you turn Electric Trim off during flight the Autopilot will disengage.

Yes the AP light should be on while the autopilot is engaged. The manual is talking about how it alerts you when it has shut off - either unintentionally/inadvertently/equipment failure/exceeding limits or intentionally.

That’s possible. I am surprised that you normally see 1-3 amps. Flightaware shows that your flights are usually long - sometimes over 3 hours. You should be reading zero amps - your batteries should fully charge. I also have a 1980 Missile conversion. I don't leave my batteries on a charger. It’s generally only minutes after starting and takeoff before the ammeter settles back to zero. Do you normally leave it on a trickle charger? Or maybe you meant a tender/smart charger? If your 18 month old batteries load test well then it might be your regulator.

Negative amps means battery discharge. Positive amps means charging the battery. You have 2 batteries wired in parallel in the tail with the Missile conversion. I think that you have one of the batteries bad in parallel. As @skykrawler said it should show zero amps in cruise after your batteries charge back up following start. If one battery in parallel has a bad cell and a low voltage it will cause the regulator to try to charge and to continue charging both batteries. But you didn’t notice classic weak battery on starting because the good battery has enough amps to turn the starter normally. Failing Batteries wired in Parallel are harder to diagnose. You need to pull the battery box from the tail (no small task with that Missile mod - you should have a custom battery board to slide it) and do a load test on each battery individually.

What grease are you using on this new Hartzell Scimitar?

$931.76 to simply buy the rollers to upgrade both front seats?!!! They are out of their fricking minds. And any time I have purchased from Mooney here in Texas I got stuck with Sales Tax on top of it. Adding shipping you are probably parting with a cool $1,000..... With parts prices like this Owners will just start deferring more and more maintenance.

Note a few posts above that the Mooney factory started providing Annuals and repairs in April 2022, and stopped earlier this year. I have to assume that they ceased because it was not profitable. And sealing a new tank is a lot simpler than the mess of stripping old tanks and repairing or resealing. The same with paint.

You mention "finding the sweet spot". If the intent is to support an existing fleet by solely manufacturing parts then there is no "sweet spot" in buying the equity of an airplane manufacturing company. Buying equity means buying the assets and assuming the liabilities of a company structured to make and sell complete airplanes. It didn't work for FletchAir(Grumman/Tiger), Belanca, Commander, Aerostar, and I am sure there are others. They all bought only the assets (the "intellectual property" and sometimes a few assets like jigs/fixtures) in a bankruptcy sale. It was literally an "auction on the courthouse steps". They have all been successful in supporting their legacy fleets. It only worked if they swept the Liability ledger clean, free and clear, so that they could start fresh rightsized for just parts manufacturing.