Yourpilotincommand

Can the tach be recalibrated? I didn’t realize that.. I’ll take a closer look at the back side of my tach for adjustments next time I have the top covers removed. Thanks! Chris

Where the heck do I find this? My POH does not have this info. Or I need somebody to shoot me for being an idiot. Thanks!

I wouldn’t assume your tach is reading correct. Mine wasn’t getting the full 2,700 rpm. So I went the simple route. I bought a tach that works through the windscreen. Sure enough.. my tach is reading 100 rpm low. I’m wondering if this is a common problem.. I’m not even worried about it any more. It would be nice to have it indicate exactly.

On another note... I have a very hard time to get a power on stall at full power so I tell my CFI or would be DPE that we’ll do one at 18”. Mine will just hang on the prop at seemingly vertical pitch attitude and hard right rudder. I’m too afraid to get myself into a spin.

Chandelles are absolutely full power. It is a maximum performance climbing turn. Imagine yourself trying to get out of a canyon. As for speed on approaches, I’d agree those numbers are in the ballpark. I typically about 13” or less on final for power setting.

Huge difference between TAS and indicated. Use your E6B to calculate TAS. I was talking about TAS.

For best cruise performance I’m a Mike Bush fan. I run full throttle and run LOP at about 2500 and get about 172mph try at 8,000’ at 10gph in my io360-a1a

For Chandelles go full throttle, mixture, prop. For lazy 8s and pylons I run 2400 rpm, 18”, mixture as needed. probably about the same for steep turns, but definitely maintain below maneuvering speed. Sometimes I might pull back a little to much and trigger the stall horn. I’m about to Check-ride for my commercial and that’s what I’ve been doing. Start with those numbers. Your mileage may vary..

I have the same exact panel on my E, except my G5’s are not recessed. I like the recessed better.

Hmmm, a Dr who lost his medical??.. hard to believe. Sounds fishy :-) likely divorce lol

Gosh I just talked a student pilot out of buying a Mooney the other day. I told him to go find a Cessna or Piper, LOL. I bought my Mooney at 500+ hours, lol. But I have now changed my mind after reading eman’s “Do it, do it now!!! “

In her history, I’m wondering how long she sat and where... near the coast? With evidence of cylinder rust there’s certainly going to be cam rust.. a matter of time before pitting on the lobes and then spalling. Cam guard helps inhibit corrosion for those who don’t fly every week. Lycomings are more susceptible to cam spalling as the cam is above the crank (different than Conti’s) At least you’ll get the full 200hp when she’s done!

I’ll even go out on a limb and jump to another conclusion.. The datum-to-axle lengths will VARY from Mooney to Mooney due to the various conditions of the hockey pucks. Further thoughts... I would assume a typical Cessana 172 won't vary as much on the axle-to-datum measurements and thus not a need to measure. In the Cessna case you could rely on catalog data.

I’m going to call the IA and explain that the moment arms need to be measured rather than pulled from a catalog. Also, get a reweigh with the seats pushed forward as specified by Mooney. After I plumb bobbed and measured the axles from datum I found my empty CG to be 46.1”. Officially/currently it is 47.1” which is wrong and thus my loading conundrum. In conclusion W/B requires you to follow the procedure, and not assume numbers from a catalog. Now my M20E meets my mission! Another conclusion.. You don’t need to replace the hockey pucks to get an accurate W/B. The axle-to-datum lengths change as the pucks sag and requires measurement. I hope this helps a Mooney Spacer down the road. Cheers!

Also, the guy who did my W/B didn’t subtract oil, move the front seats to the forward most position, or measure the axle moment arms. Although oil doesn’t produce much of a moment wrt to the datum, but the seats do. That’s 34 lbs worth of front seats that were positioned 6 inches back from where they should have been for weighing.

Interesting find. The Mooney procedure in my service manual indicates you need to measure the axels from the plumb bob to get the axel distances from the datum. This makes sense. The IA who did my W/B did NOT measure per the procedure and read the moment arms from a catalog. The sagging of the hockey pucks through the years will definitely change the axle moment arms.

Mark, mine loaded is aft like yours, but slightly outside the envelope. What is the moment arm length from datum to main axles on yours? And the same from datum to nose axle?

Once the IA got her on the scales he let the air out of the nose tire to make her level. He didn’t actually measure the arms, just copied the arm lengths from a catalog of some sort. I have no idea how to determine whether I should replace the hockey pucks. She recently passed inspection. Would the prop to ground clearance indicate that? Btw.. I measured the arms from datum to axles and came up with slightly different numbers than what is documented. However, my measurements put the empty CG closer to the middle of the envelope, rather than unusually aft. I’m suspecting a factory documentation error from 1966.

I use Foreflight, professional version.. it has a very comprehensive W/B tool.

Your numbers aren’t matching the graphic. We need an engineers eyes to confirm. In my case I measured between the datum and the main wheel centerline. Mine was 66”. Yours is 66-1/8” only 1/8” off, not bad. I think this is another Mooney factory error. I might be losing my mind, lol. How can 66>67?

Thanks Ross. I think your numbers look good, but are swapped The L n/m should be greater than the L m/r, right?

I have come to the conclusion I might have a factory error on the moment arms. Say it isn’t so. I actually measured the arms from a plumb bob at the nose gear bolt. I measured 1.6” to the nose wheel centerline and 66.0” to the main wheel center line. I used a piece of string and rolled the main tires over to line up the center line. Using these measured moment arms my calculated empty CG became 45.75” from the datum, bingo! I also noted my mechanic that did the W/B did not subtract the nose moment. Thank you Carosam for pointing out the missing minus sign. I attached the original W/B from 1966 and you can see the first factory mistake where it shows the distance between center lines is 66.7” which is NOT greater than 66.9” (datum to main center line) LOL. That’s a definite factory error. Now, wondering what to do going forward. In conclusion I believe the main wheel moment arm should be 66.0” as I measured, not 66.9” as documented. Can someone with an E model tell me your main wheel moment arm? Thanks! Also, ignore the pink hilights I made to the photo. Look to the left to see the error.

Working to master my commercial maneuvers and having difficulty with consistency in the lazy 8s. Everything else seems consistent. I typically do these at 2500 rpm, 18”, and 132mph. What do you recommend for consistency? I’ve seen all the YouTube vids. Perhaps there’s one that fits best for a Mooney. Thanks!

Old versus new...

I had a complete fresh W/B a couple of months ago. Not much different from the previous one. I’ll attach a photo later today