Fabio

Very nice trip Philip! Have been in Comiso and Palermo with our Mooney just two days ago. Comiso is #1 for general aviation in Sicily (paid 90€ in total with 5 days parking, they are a bit bureaucratic but what can you do about it :)) ), a pity they don't have avgas there, so Palermo Bocca di Falco is mandatory for the trip back.

Hi, from my experience, unprepared grass strips with a solid underground are actually really good (if mantained properly). We have landed on some and to be honest, there are some far better than paved ones. We fly in Europe (primarly in Italy) and we had good experiences with strips near rocky riverbeds (the principle is similar to railways, the gravel there absorbs the weight really well, so do the landing strips with gravel underground). I heard of some guys landing on grass strips, that they remove the gear covers that are mounted beside the wheel. That cover is there for creating a smooth aerodynamic shape when the gear is retracted and are the parts that are more likely to touch ground.

Hi Guys, so I have a question especially for you flying in Florida. Since I need to get the oxygen system inspected and maybe also overhauled I wanted to ask you, for the ones that have an O2 System in their Mooney, where one can get an inspection in Florida without having to spend a fortune on it. The story behind that is the following one: I own an M20K in Europe and I had several offers over here which were around 650-750€ for a complete assembly (cylinder+regulator) inspection. I have to get over to FL anyway for FAA related matters, so my idea was to get that stuff done simultaneusly. I thought that over there the cost for an inspection would be less then over here but I got proven wrong: about 1000$ for a standard OH and 1600 for an average one. Does someone of you know better places to get the OH done or is that estimation I got realistic?

so basically to take it apart one has to push the pins in. I used a thin nail for that, then for the last part i used a needle. In my case I pushed them too far inside, so i couldn't get them out, but i solved the problem by taping the case properly. Concerning the rivets, for the mounting switch-outer case i used screws and nuts. It makes it easier to demount it, if there is the need to in future. For the front plate i used rivets (has to look good from the ouside you know).

It's not that difficult. Yes, getting in is not really easy, but the switch is about 3 inch from the inspection panel. The bigger pity is put it back in again, there you have to be patient with driving the screws in properly. The best thing would be getting someone to help you.

Hi guys, just a couple days ago i finally figured out how to open the SafeFlight Stall Switch (since mine din't really want to work). Because I stepped across a lot of posts regarding the switch, going from who is able to do a overhaul to where to buy anew one, I wanted to share my experience so that if somone is interested to try on his own at least he knows where to start from . So, for anyone that has not seen it before....This is the Stall Switch, costs over $1000 if someone wanted to buy one. If you want to do it by yourself, the worst that could happen is you destroy something that also didn't work before... To get the switch housing apart, you first have to remove both rivets (red arrow) that hold the outer housing to the mounting plate (white in my case). After you separated it, you can proceed with removing also both rivets (blue arrows) that hold the switch to the outer housing. Removing the rivets means you have to physically destroy them. so basically if you want to get to the core you need to push two small pins on both sides inwards. After that, there is another one on the back (blue arrow) that also has to be pushed in. Be careful not to push them to far inside, or you won't be able to pull them out (that's what happened to me..). if you got so far, well....you basically did it. Here you can see how it looks from the inside. It's made up from a single copper switch that also functions as a leaf spring (see the bended parts on both sides). In my case I had to clean a bit the contacts since it probably didn't work due to corrosions on the tips. After the work inside is done just put the lid on it, push the pins in and seal it with some kind of tape. I also used some silicon for gaskets (the red one) to be 100% sure that humidity doesn't pass. I hope this short instructions are helpful to anyone that has the same problem as I did. Check also the grounding before remounting it. Could also be the main problem why the switch isn't working.

Thank you very much guys. I actually never looked properly at the annunciator panel (just check if all lights are working and thats it :)) ) . I'll have to get a better look at it. It's a k 231 1983

Hi guys, not much time ago I was reading the pilot manual for the kfc 200 autopilot and stepped over the description of KG 258 attitude reference indicator. Obviously it's driven by a suction pump but in my Mooney I cannot spot anywhere a suction meter like in many other aircrafts. Is this a Mooney thing or is just mine missing it? Thanks

It's the upper one and the fasteners are the bigger one, near the windshield. I actually figured out how to remove them and after painting i will replace the retaining rings with some that are easier to remove next time

Hi guys, I am removing the old paint on a M20K cowling so i can repaint it properly. I wanted to remove also the cowl fasteners but I can't figure out how. Does somebody know how to do it? Thanks