A64Pilot

Petroleum jelly will work fine, I use Dow Corning DC-4 (the same stuff you use on an oil filter) AKA light bulb grease, used on trailer light bulbs, especially boat trailers that immerse their lights. We lived on board a cruising sailboat for years and I put DC-4 on just about every electrical connection and never had a problem

So long as the ball is centered, the fuel won’t move. ‘You can however move the full side to side with no turn, just by being out of trim

I’ve not flown them all. but am certain that an average person can overcome the excessive force, IF they are prepared for it, and have experienced it so they recognize what’s going on. I believe accidents occur when someone isn’t prepared for it and by the time they take corrective action, it may be too late. However it’s my opinion that everyone ought to go out and ease into it and see for themselves how bad it is, because if you fly enough it’s eventually going to happen to you, maybe the electric trim relay or switch sticks, or you just mess up and forgot it’s trimmed full up or whatever. The first time you do something ought not be the time when doing it correctly is the difference in being killed or not. Just ease into it slowly at altitude, it’s not a timed event. Having said all of that, there is just no good reason to trim full up, not being trimmed full up helps keep the aircraft from ballooning right after landing too.

I used to carry a short I believe 3/8 wrench and 1/4 drive deep well socket and ratchet and a can of carburetor (one with the straw) cleaner to remove and clean out a clogged injector as I went through a couple of instances of that. ‘If you use the carb cleaner, be darn sure none of it gets into your eyes, not even a drop. Carry an extra tire valve cap, and make sure all your tubes have the yellow metal cap with the O-ring in it, I landed with a completely flat nose wheel once because I didn’t. Tools to remove a plug may be helpful. Not all of us fly to places where there are services, I often don’t. Oh, and a good tie down kit, just in case you have to leave it. Mine I think is called “the claw” not sure how good it really is though, but better than nothing Several mechanic rags and hand cleaner

They were the rage in the 70’s for cars because everyone believed that most wear occurs at start up and pre-lubing will prevent that wear, ergo your cars engine will last forever if pre-lubed. However that didn’t turn out to be the case as cars and trucks that were pre-lubed didn’t last longer. If they would wouldn’t wouldn’t John Deere and other Uber expensive motors all have pre-lubers from the factory? Back in the day there were a few Radial aircraft engines that did have to be pre-lubed, if they weren’t the one main bearing would be wiped out, they had to have an oil film prior to being started. One assumes this is maybe where the idea of pre-lubing making an engine last longer comes from. Some will say those radials were pre-lubed for the cam, but it was the main bearing. If you overhaul an R-1340, you MUST pre-oil prior to first start or it will wipe the bearing, even if you used lots of assembly lube, by wipe I mean the bearing will spin and you will soon get LOTS of metal in the suction screens. Now if you could get a Lycoming cam dripping oil prior to start, then that would likely be a very good thing, but I don’t think a pre-luber will?

Marine vests are way better, but I would NOT have the auto inflate. it could get you trapped in the aircraft cause if it inflates your going to be stuck to the roof. ‘I’ve not seen a Marine one with the re-inflate tubes? PLB is an honest rescue device, one that contacts the RCC directly, my Explorer+ does not contact the RCC, it contacts Garmin’s employees and you hope they pass the message on, great if your lost hiking, and time isn’t a big issue. but if your in cold water, you need the USCG NOW. We used our Explorer+ to send messages to family and they could track us 24/7 and see where we were. but it’s not s substitute for a PLB. Anyone wants it, I would make a good deal on it, we just don’t need it anymore.

As a general statement, if you have a carburetor, you likely can, some aircraft like my little Cessna it’s a paperwork drill, no parts, some aircraft require modification. Again as a general statement if you have fuel injection it’s likely you cannot. However take heed to what Eric said, Ethanol fuel is not allowed, often you can find ETH free fuel at Marina’s as it causes problems in boats too, but you have to find ETH free fuel to be legal. There are apps for this of course, but I’ve not had good luck with the Apps. You can buy test kits for ETH, but it’s easy to test for it, all you need is a graduated cylinder, even a canning jar will work. fill the cylinder / jar about 1/4 full with water to a mark, add fuel and agitate it several times and let it settle out, if the level of the water rises, the fuel has ETH in it as the alcohol mixes with the water and the two together make the level rise. The level will not rise if it’s pure gas. Very often regular gas in some states that are labeled that they may contain up to xx% Ethanol, won’t have any ETH in it as ETH is more expensive than the gasoline, however many States mandate ETH, and in those States it’s going to have it. The 120/140 assn has many times shown that the price difference in Mogas and 100LL will pay for an engine overhaul, which is pretty significant in my opinion. I don’t run it because it stinks, stains, doesn’t store well etc. but many do, and of course there is no plug cowling from lead balls either. Your plugs will run black so don’t worry when you see that. On edit, I’ve looked several times and have been unable to find an accident caused by fuel containing Ethanol, not saying don’t worry about it, but you know many are, Experimental's for instance,

People have different opinions of what trimmed for landing means. to some it means trimmed either fully up or trim to a a stall whichever occurs first. Ray Maule used to teach people to land their Maule's that way, to roll the trim full up to the stops, Idea is I’m sure that a full stall landing gives shortest landing distances and of course that’s something Maule wants to showcase. However a Go-around in a Maule with the trim rolled full up, requires an insane amount of pressure to prevent a zoom climb and stall, and is simply unsafe in my opinion. It’s just foolish to trim full up or trim so that a stall landing requires no or almost no back pressure in any airplane, your putting yourself into a position to where level flight or a moderate climb is exceedingly difficult and you shouldn’t. I can understand why someone might do it in a C-210 as it’s about the heaviest control force of any airplane I’ve ever flown, not as bad a a B-25, but way more than a Mooney. A Mooney’s control forces are light enough that there is no need to trim up fully. We go full in on the prop and full rich so that we are in a position to immediately abandon the approach just by adding throttle. don’t put yourself in a position to where your not ready to abandon it just by applying full throttle. Just an opinion of course.

Link to that scope? If those pics add achievable by ordinary idiots like me, it’s plenty good.

I’d Uber, the hassle of picking up the rental and returning it, and how do you get from where it was returned to the airplane etc isn’t worth it, not for $40 anyway. Uber would pick you up at your door and deliver you to the airplane

Assuming it’s decades old and if it has no liquid in it, why would you?

Not followed everything you said, but too far aft CG can be very dangerous, of course it’s calculated to take aircraft loading into account Pax, baggage etc. Usually forward CG isn’t as dangerous, fwd CG limit is usually from stall speed or nose wheel weight limit on the drop test, but aft CG is almost always a stability issue, as you move aft you lose the positive force on the yoke, keep going and you hit the stick force neutral point which is what it says, it requires zero force to move the yoke nose down or up, go past past that and the force reverses, meaning if you let go the control yoke will go to full travel all on its own either up or down or oscillate between both. However an aircraft right at its aft CG limit is both faster and more efficient, but less stable and lighter on the controls, so if you enter a race etc you want to be way aft, but if flying IFR you likely want to be well forward of max aft. Many aircraft can actually be flown well aft of the limit by a good pilot who is careful and avoid turbulence, it’s not uncommon for example to see at Gander a V tail sitting on its tail. it’s headed to Europe and ferry tank is full, usually the nose will come down when the. pilot gets in. In the bush, it’s not too uncommon to see a C-206 sitting on its tail without the pilot, same deal. But that’s not true for all aircraft, I have no idea about a Mooney. but suspect loading one until the tail drops to be a very unsafe thing to do. I’ve run several W&B problems on my J model and at least with it, without getting very unusual loads, you can’t get out of CG., and fuel burn makes very little difference in CG. My J unlike say a Bonanza you just don’t need to be real paranoid with loading

Is it actually a rotating beacon? just curious.

I’ve done many ferries with legs up to 12 hours long and was taught by another very experienced ferry pilot to only eat very low fiber food, the reason should be obvious, you can pee. but the other is problematic. Jerky is excellent for this. Also carried several small bottles of Gatorade, small bottles as you can pee in them without having to empty a full quart, Gatorade largely because of the big top, jd I like Gatoraid Read a story about Jeremy Aimsworth I think his name is ferrying a Maule over the North Atlantic to Europe. he would make sandwiches etc, but one flight got the runs, well all there was was the bread bag which he was apparently successful with, and obviously he threw it out when he was finished, on landing he was met by the owner to receive his new aircraft, that the whole left side was covered in well, you can imagine. Maule has big windows you can open, a Mooney well there is only the little one?

That’s one theory, and it differers by aircraft, I’ve been told you three point a DC-3 once for instance. However it’s my opinion that you should be comfortable landing an aircraft in every way it can be, to include on one main, which is probably the best way to land in a strong cross wind. I prefer wheelies as it gives me more control, is easier to go around from and it can always be turned into a three point if you desire. My preference is a tail low wheelie that right after touchdown you bring the tail up to level. I did a quick Google as I’ve not flown Van’s aircraft and while I’ve seen a great many wheel land, maybe something was unusual about them. and found this https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/march/07/everything-youve-been-taught-about-wheel-landings-is-wrong

Respectfully, flutter doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with cable or push pull tube, in fact a flight control doesn’t even have to be movable to flutter. Thst bridge that galloped itself to death for instance didn’t have any aerodynamic moving parts, nor do these glider wings. Flutter is a harmonic vibration that occurs or is exacerbated when vibrations occur at the natural resonance frequency of an object, think of pushing a kid in a swing, you time the pushes right and the kids gets swung high. You test an aircraft for flutter by shaking it at different frequencies and watching with accelerometers to see if the amplitude grows. The flutter DER that shook ours used huge JBL drivers to shake the airplane with it on jacks at different loadings, he said that with it being shaken that sand can be thrown onto the surface and where it gathers together can be a trouble spot, but we didn’t throw any sand on it, our flutter margin was huge, but it still has to be validated if any significant changes are made to the design, especially if V speeds are increased. https://youtu.be/kQI3AWpTWhM

Anyone have tailwheel experience? On a wheel landing if you bounce, then just pull the yoke further aft and turn it into a three point landing, pull slowly to keep from ballooning, if you balloon, then best be quick on the throttle because it’s going to be ugly if you don’t. The same thing works with nose draggers too, unless of course you bounce with the yoke fully aft, which is unusual, most don’t land with the yoke pulled to the stops. Anyone who ever flies into airports and lands where the big boys are landing or taking off had best be prepared for wake turbulence to turn a perfect approach into first ballooning then lift disappearing, parallel runways seem to be the worst. In other words practice go-arounds in landing configuration until they don’t worry you, eventually everyone has to go-around, sometimes it’s not your fault.

As stated you can put a tow bar together from 3/4 galvanized pipe easily, fits perfectly in the nose gear. For a tow vehicle an electric golf cart is very hard to beat, silent and gobs of torque plus it can be used as an APU. just connect at the 12v point if your airplane is 12V and at the 24V point if it’s 24V, golf cart batteries have plenty of juice to start an engine, they don’t need oil changes or tune ups and always “start”. even if left idle for long periods. Besides it’s a nice vehicle to tool around the airport too. I think the real advantage in electric tow bars is in portability, you can’t take the golf cart with you. So in my opinion if you go for an electric tow bar, be sure to get one that fits easily in the baggage compt. Of course that’s just an opinion

You know today I was out OFO and did a go-around for practice, full flap and of course gear down, then leaving gear and flap down, went to full throttle and it wasn’t any big deal at all, no excessive pitch force. but then I don’t trim in the flare, why would you? I trained in aircraft without electric trim, didn’t most? A C-210 is orders of magnitude heavier on the controls in pitch than a Mooney for instance. Aircraft climbed fine and I brought the gear and flaps up, there was more pitch force from bringing flaps up than from adding power in the go-around. Guys go out and try it, trim the aircraft for about 70 to 80 kts and leave trim alone, it’s not bad at all.

The three blade composite was available for my Maule as well, but at least then sit down when you price it.

The few aircraft I have experience with their flight controls when hung level from their attachment points also have weight on the trailing edge, (under balanced) of course there are usually limits you must be between, and the aircraft we manufactured also had a max weight allowed as well. So there was a max amount of weight you were allowed to add. Every instance of a flight control that you couldn’t balance that I saw had either a repair or usually someone repainted over the existing paint instead of stripping. On my little C-140 the ailerons must be balanced, but not the elevators or rudder. I don’t know why?

From a couple of friends still in, pretty much everything, we just left like the place was on fire, left everything furniture, coffee makers, filled coke machines you name it, pretty much only brought people home. I don’t believe the departure was planned, it was more of an evacuation order than any kind of planned withdrawal. Thousands of vehicles, hundreds of armored vehicles, arms rooms filled with arms, it’s my understanding that there was a prison onsite and we left the prisoners locked up, just bolted.

Cable or push pull tube they have to have the balance checked, but as one poster said removing the paint will most certainly push the balance towards nose heavy which means it becomes even more resistant to flutter, but check to be sure Flutter is terrifying, flutter can cause a surface to be torn off, or even an entire empennage, and sometimes there is nothing at all you can do about it, so check the balance. Good friend of mine doing one of the velocity dive tests of the 114 Commander for Certification had the elevator get into flutter, Rockwell recreated the incident in the wind tunnel, the time between flutter initiation and complete empennage failure was supposedly less than 1 sec. ‘If you want to look up the accident report the aircraft tail number was 114AC. 114 was the model number and AC for Aero Commander, pretty sure it was the 114 and not the 112 . On edit, if you have to rebalance after painting, balance towards being within range, but nose heavy as any repairs in the future or repainting will most likely add more weight to the tail as there is way more surface area there and if you start nose heavy, maybe you will be within limits still.

When sales were slow, we wouldn’t DMIR an aircraft, which is what trips the Airworthiness Certificate until the aircraft sold, among other things, it gave the new owner a full year before the annual was due, and sometimes the delay made it be Certified in the next year than what it was manufactured. It wasn’t uncommon for an airplane with a larger serial number to be last years airplane, when one actually manufactured before it to be this years airplane, because one was built to order and the other one wasn’t.

A low compression cylinder will run a higher EGT, sorry I haven’t followed the thread closely, but if this is the cylinder with the oil fouled plug,then it might just be worn. I guess I should ask how much considerably higher is