A64Pilot

I’m familiar with CARB, it’s why I can’t buy a gas can that doesn’t leak when I use it. I was speaking more toward the killing off of GA airports. We will see what happens in California, they may ban 100LL even without a viable replacement, it won’t affect the Hollywood elite in their oil burners But I don’t think the rest of the US will ban 100LL, just because California does. Not now, last year if California did I could see the Feds doing so, but not now.

In MP isn’t much boost for starters. For instance the 30 PSI in my Motorhome is when added to the 14.7 PSI atmospheric is around 90 inhg in MP. You get roughly 30 in per 15 PSI of course. But secondly assuming it’s like the old Pratt’s like the R-1340 with its Supercharger that had a T/O rating from memory of around 40 something inches it had roughly again from memory a compression ratio of about 6 to 1. That’s why you can prop a 1340 cuin engine. It will run just fine on standard 87 car pump gas and I’m sure lower. Now the 1340 evolved over the years of course as it first flew I think in 1925? So HP and boost I’m sure varied greatly and I’ve not seen a 1340 with ADI which would allow much more boost. The twin row Wasp R-1830 did of course run ADI. The older DB-601 Benz motors in the BF-109 apparently couldn’t make much boost, they didn’t get a HP boost from 100 Octane like the Merlin did. I think the later DB-605 engine could though Germans ran ADI for high boost and Nitrous Oxide for very high altitude I’m pretty sure they carried enough ETH/water for at least 20 min of use. All this is from memory, and my memory may be a little wrong, but I believe ADI was exceedingly common in WWII and it of course significantly increased HP. The US 4360 on T/O burned 3,000 lb per hour without ADI, but 2500 an hour with ADI and made significantly more power in a “wet” takeoff. Again from memory.

There is more to this spring than it merely keeping the gear from unwinding if you will when retracted. If that was all it did then it wouldn’t prevent extension if it was broken, but apparently it does. I think I’d have to see an actuator disassembled for me to understand this spring. I’m thinking it functions as a sort of clutch if you will and if it doesn’t engage then there is no drive. But if it did that then the motor would just spin, but apparently a broken spring locks something up?

I don’t think you can take California as an example for the rest of the Country. In the last 20 years or so Georgia spent tens of millions rejuvenating the little country airports, lengthening runways, new FBO buildings, hangars etc. It was apparently the tobacco settlement money they spent. This was I guess 15 or 20 years ago. Florida in most cases is expanding little airports, keeping free loaner cars etc. Tax free parts and no tax on maintenance labor I think etc. There are probably at least ten Airparks within 50 miles of me. Ocala is the exception, they I believe have instituted landing fees with my belief the intent of keeping the little nuisance nickel and dime aircraft out so they don’t annoy the Biz Jets. But Ocala is I believe an exception, they cater to the horse crowd apparently and those people charter Biz Jets. Having said that I have no idea what’s going on in the Megaopolis’s like Orlando, Miami etc., they may be closing little airports and building Condo’s where they were.

Good point, one I think worth considering. Army we used copper safety wire on the emergency door releases on the OH-58 and UH-1 helicopters, worked fine there.

When you say chattering is it during retraction or extension? I assume retraction? Is this something that can be heard in flight or just during retraction ground tests?

While I don’t have data on UL-94, we all should be able to with ADI. We could run Mogas too engine wise, but I suspect there would be some kind of airframe mod because of the different vapor pressure causing vapor lock. Having said that it’s likely that Mogas may not be today’s Auto fuel, I say that as auto fuel changes significantly by area, Urban Auto fuel is blended to pollute less, and Summer Auto fuel differs significantly from Winter, and of course California has their own Auto fuel, the huge price difference isn’t apparently all taxes. ‘Apparently even E85, isn’t. Seems it can be anything from 51% to 83% ETH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85 As there are so many different fuels plus the fact it may change again in the future it might be difficult to Certify to. Company I worked for wasted a lot of time and money trying to Certify a Turbine to burn Bio-Diesel but couldn’t because Bio-Diesel isn’t really defined, it can be and is many different things both plant and animal fat based for example. But I assume 94UL is made to an ASTM standard? If it really is just 100 LL without the lead it should have the same vapor pressure and there shouldn’t be any compatibility issue. Again I have never even seen 94 UL, so what little I think I know could be wrong. As it sits now from what little data I have I don’t see anything with less risk and could be implemented with less cost and faster than 94UL, and ADI if you need it, a great many won’t. Most of GA carbureted fleet won’t. I think it safe to say that any aircraft that are eligible to burn Mogas could burn 94UL. Might be worth reading https://www.lycoming.com/content/unleaded-fuels-part-1

I thought you were kidding about grinding tires off. Yes it’s very common in racing to shave tires for racing that the rules require DOT tires, it’s done mostly to cut down on tire squirm from deep tread, and if you have a fast car to prevent excessive heat build up. But it’s done on a machine that controls the cutter very precisely and you end up with a tire that’s rounder than it was before being shaved. I’m not sure you cold control a hand grinder that well. Why would you do this? What’s gained?

It is backass wards, but it is very often done. For instance the balance control springs we used in Thrush flight controls looked a lot like screen door springs. When we ordered them they were cut to length and then a section of the wrap bent 90 degrees so you could attach a cable to them. Of course they broke every so often, every spring eventually does and of course they always broke at the bend. They really weren’t a safety of flight issue when they broke

I would assume that they have a significant investment in developing this fuel. I also assume that it’s taken a lot longer for them to begin to generate any revenue from it than they planned for. I don’t think anything nefarious is going on, he’s I’m sure no dummy and smart enough to know that if the fuel caused problems that he would be worse off than he was before, so I have to believe he was confident that it wouldn’t cause problems. Lots of assuming, just I think until there is actual data we should give him the benefit of the doubt

Often the issue is that only one ply rating of tire was used in the drop tests, so therefore it’s the only tire that’s approved. Would a higher rated tire make a difference? Probably, maybe as I’ve witnessed drop tests and even tire pressure can make a big difference. The tire absorbs a surprising amount of energy, too high pressure and presumably a higher ply rating could pass this energy onto the gear and airframe, on the Thrush a tube in the airframe bent, not the gear so it’s not always the gear. Having said that I believe my mains are 8 ply, because the S2R-T660 tail wheel needed a 6.00-6 10 ply and we mistakenly bought a few 8’s but couldn’t use them, so they were free tires for me. I also have them on my C-140 mains. They are AirHawks and fit just fine. My opinion whatever it’s worth is that a higher ply rating in the nose of a Mooney would be fine, my reasoning is the air pressure we run is on the high end of normal. Higher ply tires usually cost more, it’s unlikely they last longer so unless they are free why run them? As far as Retreads, the Airlines run then pretty exclusively, why not run them? As far as not on the nose wheel, why? Airplane tires are different than say truck tires, other than Airliners we just don’t build heat in our tires like trucks do, Trucks don’t run retreads on the steering axle. I think I’d rather have a flat nose wheel than a main myself, flat mains I think often cause damage and may pull hard to one side? I landed a C-210 with a flat nose wheel, it was a complete non issue other than scaring me when the nose came so far down.

Issue as I see it for any Mooney if insured for less than $100K give or take is that if God forbid you gear up, you may well lose the aircraft. Now I’m not sure about the 100K number it’s a guess, but say if you’re insured for 75, I bet you’re getting a check for 75 and them hauling your airplane away on a truck.. Reason is say they could fix it for 65, they will be out less money if they give you 75 and sell the airplane at Auction than if they fixed it for 65. Those are made up numbers because I don’t have real ones, but you get the point. I’m currently 100 but most likely will go to 125 myself just for that reason, it’s simply that things cost more than even a few years ago.

This has me wondering why the FAA hasn’t pulled the STC? I’m not saying the fuel has caused anything, but it would seem that there is enough data to support an investigation, and the most conservative response safety wise would be to halt the sale until an investigation clears it?

What’s your background to make that statement? Mine is being responsible for the care and feeding of 24 AH-64A aircraft in Korea, 3-6 Cav. Our mission was overwater as in repelling a possible seaborne attack from N Korea, as such we often flew over the Yellow Sea which is of course salt water at low level, so we were covered in salt spray, yes we washed the aircraft and flushed engines immediately on return. You won’t I believe ever see a Naval Apache, one was tested decades ago back as far as 1984, reason isn’t it’s capability, it’s because in its design that Hughes Helicopter put zero emphasis on corrosion prevention, they just had no experience in sea borne aircraft, the Magnesium gear boxes were the worst. We spent millions a year due to corrosion on the 3-6 Cav ones and to a lesser extent on the 1/3 Aviation ones stationed at Savannah Ga. Anyway several different preventative compounds were tested and Corrosion-X was easiest to apply, had the least negative effects and worked the best. As much as I believe my Army experience was good, it’s the Navy that literally wrote the book on Corrosion prevention, they have an advantage as their aircraft from the design phase are heavily influenced by corrosion prevention, but having fleets of aircraft tied down on Carriers and regularly soaked by sea water has to be the worst possible case. I believe the US Navy knows more about Corrosion in aircraft materials than anyone, by a large margin. They use Corrosion -X heavily and I’m sure are an important test bed, Corrosion-X is the only product readily available to us Civilians that meets the Navy spec. https://www.corrosionx.com/pages/aviation

I was speaking about its anti corrosive performance.

It really isn’t that the Women can’t keep up, it’s their effect on the men. Put 17 men in a GP Medium tent and one Woman, how does she get dressed, how can any of us clean ourselves? Just even not being to lay there sweating in the desert heat in your skivvies is a total pain, it is literally like 130F in the heat of the day. Do we put her in her own tent, a GP small? Who carry’s it, who puts it up and takes it down, what equipment is left behind so we can carry it? In the first Gulf war a UH-60 was shot down, Rhonda Cornam jumped into a UH-60 to go assist (she was a flight surgeon) of course it too was shot down by the same ADA that got the first 60. Now she was very well liked and she was as tough as nails, but being that a female was shot down she had to be rescued, it’s just the male mentality, it wasn’t her fault, but several died in the rescue attempt, one that it’s unlikely that would have been launched if she was a he. Everyone knew how a US Woman would be treated by the Iraqi’s and yes it happened, but knowing that the men in her unit launched a rescue attempt that shouldn’t have been tried.

CVR question I believe is more of how old was it than the forces at impact, old ones often don’t work and the old tape and or wire recorders aren’t as robust as the newer solid state ones. ‘If there is still paint on it, it didn’t get that hot. Lear 55 is an old aircraft?

I believe that there was a CG shift, but what was more of the cause of the crash was the MRAP vehicle took out the elevator jack screw taking I think the stabalitor into full or near full up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Airlines_Flight_102

Easy, search aircraft values with an XA registration vs ones with an N registration. IF it was a maintenance induced crash, mechanic competence comes into question more than pilot.

Aerospace Defense Coatings in Ga. I think maybe Macon did our Cad Plating. They are good and decently quick too, we used to Cad plate but stopped when we bought Thrush due to concerns of being fined. They also do small jobs, I sent all my common hardware from my IO-540 when I overhauled it and they cad plated the nuts, bolts, washers etc. Aircraft oil is low in TBN I believe because of being ashless, ZDDP would be excellent for our oils cam wise, TBN etc. it was forever THE additive in Auto’s, unfortunately it’s not ashless so it can’t be used in aircraft, and cars dropped it because it ruins O2 sensors and Cats, which is I believe the real reason we went to unleaded fuel years ago, because the lead made emissions controls not possible. Sure lead is bad, but yiu simply can’t have emission controls and leaded fuel so lead had to go. Yes rollers do decrease friction some but not by much, but every little bit helps, even controlling oil flow so only what’s needed is provided helps. CAFE is dead, it died long ago when SUV’s and PU trucks became exempt. I miss it and think it should come back, because it was why there were so many small inexpensive cars in times past because they bumped CAFE, manufacturers don’t want to build small inexpensive cars. more profit in $100K SUV’s so now that they don’t have to anymore they don’t. Many people can’t afford $100K SUV’s they need small inexpensive cars. The Pentastar is used in everything Chrysler and they eat cams and followers, have been too, there have been several redesigns and they still eat cams. Search Pentastar cam follower problems this is just one of many hits including many Youtube. I don’t think it’s lifter pressure, the Pentastar is weird, it has a two stage oil pump, pressure jumps from about 60 to above 90 PSI at 3500 RPM, something I have never seen before. https://tuningpro.co/fca-pentastar-engine-recalls/ Quote: A chain-driven, vane-type variable displacement oil pump adjusts the flow rate and pressure as commanded by the engine management system, which uses a solenoid to drive the pump into low or high pressure mode. For example, below 3,500 rpm, the pump conserves energy by using low pressure; at speeds over 3,500 rpm, the pump switches to high pressure. A force balance mechanism inside the oil pump adjusts the size of the pumping chambers to alter oil flow. If the oil is cold, the pump reduces the size of the internal chambers. When the oil is hot and thinner, more oil is needed, and a spring increases the size of the pump chambers. This also saves energy. The pump is driven at a 1:1 drive ratio; its location under the block is more efficient than an on-crankshaft location. An internal, mechanical ball-and-spring relief valve dumps oil into the sump when needed, for conditions such as a cold start with high engine speed. Both pump and pressure regulation solenoid are non-serviceable.

In a case like this where it’s not a complex mod using the abandoned STC it shouldn’t be difficult to get a field approval.

Also look for Corrosion-X, my opinion is it’s better and I think more widely done

Probably not so much with aircraft, but modern Auto oil is very different now, lots of high pressure lube additives and acid neutralizing additives missing as it poisons sensors and Cats etc For that reason decades ago I switched to Diesel oil in every non aircraft engine I own, but in the last few years Diesel oil is also losing its additives as they now run exhaust particulate filters etc. My Jeep engine, the V6 Pentastar is infamous for cam follower spalling for instance. Next oil change I think I’m going with 5W-40 Rotella T6 in it. Auto manufacturers went to roller cams etc years ago primarily due to cam spalling etc., I mean decades ago. My Wife inherited a 1923 Model-T recently, it had sat in a non running state missing ignition coils etc since I think the 60’s. I did have to pop the head and clean out the cooling passages and replaced the valves when I was there, but there was no rust in the cylinders or anywhere other than the water jackets, it even has the original cast iron pistons. Carb was a mess with incorrect parts etc. but it runs like a sewing machine now, leaks but burns no oil etc. I personally believe some of it is because many of the old processes like Cadmium plating for instance or Alodine, zinc chromate , is no longer available due to environmental concerns. We used to Cad plate our spar caps at Thrush, before I left they had gone to pre-coat, which can’t be as good.

Think if the thing had fallen off, taking out a family in a car or something, or the bad press even if it didn’t hit anything, this was I think the best outcome

The whole Diesel thing just doesn’t make sense to me, it’s actually pretty easy to build a gasoline engine burning auto fuel that makes WAY more power than 200 HP. The secret is in a Modern four valve head and combustion chamber, sure that takes liquid cooled heads, but even Rotax can do that, it’s not hard. Dodge has an engine that makes over 1,000 HP on E-85, and it even passes emissions. I bet lunch you could easily make our 200 HP Lycomings run just fine on E-85, Lycoming has an IO-540 Certified and running in Brazil on pure Ethanol, has for years. Fuel burn would go up with E-85, how much? Maybe not a whole lot who knows? My guess is the way to go might be build an Experimental engine that once well proven etc then you Certify it.