A64Pilot

OK, there are pretty much three ways you can get low compression and high oil consumption, oil turns black in a hurry and high oil temp from excessive blow by, one is glazing, glazing is a physical clogging of the cross hatching on the cylinders, it’s what it sounds like they are glazed by something, a varnish like coating. The other way is bore polishing which is pretty much just wearing away the cross hatching, and babying the engine during break in. ‘Sometimes glazing can be recovered from, I’ve seen it, liberal use of Marvel Mystery oil and running the snot out of it, but keeping it rich. ‘Whatever MMO is or isn’t, it seems to have detergent like properties, but then of course mineral spirits is a good cleaner Glazing can be caused from overheating by excessive ground running at 1200 RPM or so warming up the oil, there is very little cooling air flow and 1200 is high enough to get the cylinders smoking hot, not the cylinder heads. but cylinders. Babying the engine can sometimes keep the rings from seating, but shouldn’t glaze them, pretty much takes heat or some added substance that can bake into a glaze, OK if they don’t seat and you keep running it, then I guess they can glaze. I’ve never let one get that far Rare for glazed cylinders to need replacing, if they are glazed then a good honing and new rings will get you back like new, never seen them needing to replaced, but that does of course get you to new. ‘Until we know what Camguard really is, I don’t think anyone can claim anything about it. I wish I had a quarter for every time I’ve heard a claim of what caused this or that that had no bearing on the case. Often a cylinder’s rings just don’t seat, it’s got to be blamed on something so it’s glazing, you can see glazing in a bore scope, it literally looks like varnish, what I have seen had a slight brownish color to it. Pop the jug off, have it professionally honed, but I have seen some use a dingle berry hone and it work, new rings and run the snot out of it for 10 hours, if they haven’t seated in 10 hours I doubt they will.

Yes I’m serious, look at how many of those are single engine pistons, then compare that number to how many were produced back in the 70’s and for kicks compare that to the population. You can post your silly videos all you want to,but the fact is that about 100,000 GA aircraft were delivered between 1970 and 1980, and not many were biz jets. According to GAMA biz jets were over 90% of the revenue for 2019, so yes if your in the biz jet market. things are looking good. So far as your silly assertion about a parachute, I’d rather have an aircraft that didn’t need one to pass Certification. ‘So what Cirrus do you have?

I don’t know what an SGI home is, but RH is of course relative humidity, take the same amount of water in the air and drop the temp and the RH goes up. So here in Central Fl it often varies from about 50% sometimes less in the middle of the day and high 80’s or 90’s at night, early morning. Of course that’s why the dew sets at night. The dehumidifier pulls at least 5 gls of water a day, I know because initially I had it draining into a 5 gl bucket, I emptied it at least twice a day so it didn’t get full. ‘But anyway with a closed up hanger and a few dollars spent on insulating the door and weather stripping the RH will stay pretty constant between 50% to 60% with a dehumidifier running, which is pretty much what my house does. But this time of year it’s getting pretty hot in there too, 90F mid day and maybe 80F at night, so I think a airconditioner will cool some and dehumidify. Besides I’d rather work on the airplane i much cooler temps, now I confine my work to the AM hours, and I’m really not a morning person. ‘The dehumidifier seems to cost about $30 a month to run, I figure the AC will cost about three times that and be run for four maybe five months a year, but it’s just a guess. I’ll know more later. 2 ton mini splits with an SEER equal to or greater than 20 can be had for just over a grand, the refrigerant is in them so it’s a matter of pulling a hard vacuum and opening the refrigerant valves, you don’t need to hire a licensed installer, although I am licensed Next step will be to see what it cost to blow in insulation in the attic, does anyone know how much per sq ft it cost?

People don’t like it, but it’s the truth, anything left out in the sun and weather won’t last as long, that’s why Farmers put their tractors and plows, combines etc in barns, and why people have garages, and all of those items are still being mass produced, with better and better ones made each year, and yet they are still protected. Get close to the Ocean and corrosion becomes way more problematic. ‘We just came off of living for three years on a Sailboat cruising the Caribbean, corrosion is a constant, and UV radiation degrades everything, combine the two and the sum is greater. Realistically there are only X number of GA aircraft, I doubt think anyone believes that in the near future GA manufacturing is coming back. So all the aircraft there are, is pretty much going to be all there is. I see myself as my aircrafts caretaker, I don’t view it as disposable, something that I will throw away in ten years and get another, and throw it away too. I would have a different attitude if GA aircraft were like cars, still in mass production and better ones made each year, but every one that gets neglected is one less. I hate seeing aircraft tied down outside and rotting away, the supply won’t dry up in my lifetime, but it’s going to dry up, and ifI were still around, I’d miss it. 95% of my adult life has been aviation, by that I mean my Profession, and after Retirement, it’s still my hobby.

I think they may be the Canadian’s that due to Covid haven’t been down, if so, then no as we didn’t buy until late last year.

Forget fuel burn, in the real world of aircraft ownership the difference in fuel burn in one Mooney to the next is insignificant, and if it does become a issue, slowing down can save quite a lot of fuel. ‘Most Bonanza’s are getting old, real old so be careful on inspecting, but parts are available which sort negates the age thing in my opinion, except for the magnesium skinned flight controls. I don’t believe any of those have been made in along time. They are not a tie it down outside airplane, although you see it done of course. ‘I looked hard at an S35, they are slightly lighter and faster than a V, look the same of course. ‘Your altitude can be done in a NA, but can be done so much better with a turbo, your the reason they exist mostly. I wouldn’t want a turbo, but I live at sea level, and pretty much never use O2, so for me it’s unnecessary expense and increased maintenance.

Do NOT use silicone, first it’s crap and won’t stay on, but any of it that smells of vinegar sweats acetic acid as it cures as that causes corrosion, you trap the acid underneath the silicone right against the aluminum, there is an aircraft silicone, but I don’t know where to get it. Fuel tank sealer is expensive but far, far better. use a tiny brush to paint the sealer after it dries, the paint will shield it from the sun and make it last decades. ‘However if your replacing the windows, do NOT use fuel tank sealer on the install as the next guy will never get them out, fuel tank sealer isn’t really, but I think of it as a structural adhesive, it’s tough, real tough ‘For scrapers break pieces of plexiglass, that leaves sharp edges for scraping, ones you buy don’t have sharp edges. ‘Oh, of course use blue tape for masking when applying the fuel tank sealer, and it can be smoothed very well with a wet finger, but be advised one drop of it can cover a large amount of surface area on the upholstery of your car, so be darn sure you get it all cleaned off, paint cleanup towelettes sold at home supply stores will clean it off of your hands, as will acetone, but acetone I’m sure isn’t good for you.

Some people did chrome spinners, and I think there may even be an AD about that, but maybe not, I remember asking my PMI once about it and he said unequivocally no, don’t do it, but I didn’t ask for chapt and verse. ‘Some people polish props too. and that makes all but one unairworthy as all but one require paint in their manual, Hamilton Standard may be the one that allows polishing?

Fl can be bad, mostly near the coast. just as a general statement I’d say avoid Fl airplanes, I learned early in my search don’t even go see the ones that have been tied out, waste of time, even the ones with what would seem to be good traits like new paint in the last few years and interior etc. Of course it’s my opinion that aircraft tied down outside age about three times as fast as ones in a good hanger. ‘I went to see a 90’s J in Naples. recent P&I, engine and prop less than mid time. When I got there to see the airplane I didn’t even give it’s good look, it was obvious that in my opinion you couldn’t make it airworthy, looked under the wheel wells and there were holes in the liners from corrosion. Saving on hanger rent for 10 years cost that guy at least $100,000. However if you have a nice hanger you can climate control it, mine right now has a 70 pint dehumidifier running in it and it’s set to turn off at 50% RH, it keeps the humidity in the mid 50’s, even on rainy days it stays in the 60’s. ‘But a dehumidifier adds heat to the air as it’s just an AC with the evaporator and condenser in the airflow. So this month I bought a 2 ton mini-split for $1,000 and will start installing it next week. I believe if I set it for mid to upper 80’s temps it will keep the hanger cool and dry. ‘I have a thing about corrosion, it’s what kills airplanes, they often survive wrecks and gear ups etc, but not corrosion. 1960’s Airworthy Mooney’s are not uncommon, because they were kept corrosion free. I have a 1946 Cessna, I intend for it to survive me, see I’m just it’s keeper for a time is the way I look at it.

yes

It’s not common for sitting to get a crank. it is common for cylinder rust to occur and the dreaded cam issue. ‘Very often on aircraft that sit a lot the cylinders will form some rust on them, it’s very quickly cleaned off the next flight, repeat that enough times and you’ll have what’s called polished bores, once polished the cross hatching is gone and the cylinder doesn’t hold a film of oil, you get a lot of blow by which makes the oil turn black fast and the oil runs hot too, as blow by gasses are hot. Due to their not being much oil, piston ring wear is rapid. In other words time for a cylinder overhaul although I have seen them be honed and new rings put in with a good success rate. Cylinders are easy, I don’t understand why a person who won’t blink an eye dropping 20 grand into avionics blanches at the thought of having to have cylinders overhauled or replaced

Only comment I’d make is that I think the 140 is overpriced, a Mooney’s annual will cost more than 10% more and it will burn more than 10% more fuel. ‘But it’s a 90 kt airplane too, if you lean it out and slowdown a Mooney will burn the same fuel and still be much faster. ‘I have always thought that to make ownership logical from a purely financial perspective, you need to fly more than 100 hours a year. However my last rental was in Killeen Tx about 1989 I think, mission was to take another pilot from the unit and his wife to supper, last renter’s pax had puked in the backseat, so we put newspapers down over that, then it wouldn’t start, trouble shooting found a loose battery cable under the back seat, and the battery cable had been chafing on the elevator push pull tube. That put me off of renting, between the aircraft not being airworthy, the puke smell and us being late from having to deal with all of that was enough for me.

I can go over with you and look at it, either one of us ought to be able to get a ferry permit. I’d want a nice longish ground run and cut the filter first though. ‘Unless it’s overly far away, I might even leave the gear down until I got to the shop unless retract tests were done, many have jacks can’t hurt to ask. My luck they would come half way up and stop, stuck ‘I’ve been working with Orlando FSDO ref the IA, 8610.1 etc is done, everything is done, she is mailing me the 8610.1 and will watch me sign it via a facetime call, then I’ll mail them back to her for her to sign, then she will mail them back to me, you know because if I see her face to face she’ll catch Covid and die. Hopefully July I’ll go to Bakers for the test prep and will have my IA back assuming I pass of course in July. I guess the people at Baker’s won’t catch Covid and die, just the Feds?

All Engines and props have a calendar limit, many assume and they may be correct that it stems from gaskets and oil seals etc. ‘But any engine that’s not in warranty is a crap shoot, we do the best we can and hope for the best, most of us that is. ‘I have a C-85 that’s got maybe 100 hours on new cylinders and new mags, but was overhauled last in the 1970’s, now that’s excessive, and it does leak oil pretty badly, but runs like a top. ‘I keep telling myself that I need to overhaul it, but just haven’t yet, afraid that I’ll find the crank worn behind limits etc, and there are no cranks, yes you can put 0-200 internals in it, but that is expensive, so I’ve just kept flying it.

Interesting and I agree with most of it, unfortunately as with many of these things some things are posted as facts, with no substantiation, such as his attempt at a height / velocity diagram for a fixed wing which I’ll attach as a screen shot. It’s not that I disagree with it, I agree and attempted to explain it earlier in the thread, it’s just as far as I know, there has been no test flights to substantiate it, so I wonder where he came up with his data. ‘But I agree if your climbing hard with your nose high (Vx) and the engine quits, unless you have superhuman reaction time, it’s most likely the aircraft will be “mushing” with the ground rapidly approaching and you don’t have the altitude to gain airspeed, even with an instantaneous reaction, the altitude to gain airspeed just isn’t there.

Define Central Fl. ‘I’m in Weirsdale which is just under Ocala, and next to the Villages. ‘I’m not current on my IA, so I can’t do an Annual, be another month or so before I get my IA back. But we can certainly give it a look see to determine if it’s worth putting money into it pre-buy wise.

If any of you aren’t instrument rated, that rating usually has a large impact on insurence rates, maybe Commercial too. ‘Insurence in general has gone this way, many insurence companies won’t write insurence for larger boats now as well and the ones that will have raised rates by a rather large amount, if it follows the boating model, first you will get a couple of large increases, then a notice of non renewal, and your claims history is irrelevant. It woud be nice if we as a group could find some kind of preferred broker etc. My rate is higher than I expected as well

Good friend of mine did the Certification test flights of the 112, it and the 114 have large spacious cabins, and that cost them in cruise, there was actually a 111 that was a fixed gear 112 that supposedly did pretty well, but they chose not to build it. One of Ralph’s test flights in the 112 that didn’t go so well, nothing like having the aircraft disintegrate around you. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/2731 Now a Meyers 200D is a different animal, but they are old and few and far in between. A Mooney is tight, it’s leg room width that’s cramped for me as the nose gear well is there, but what shocked me is the a Bonanza has no more room, you sit higher, but it’s just as cramped for shoulder room as a Mooney. A Mooney is difficult getting in and out of, as I’m older and knees are gone with arthritis, there is no way to do it gracefully, you climb in and out of a Mooney.

It’s not so bad, second mortgage on your house or whatever, probably get a lower interest rate than you would for an aircraft loan too. ‘Mooney is the first airplane I’m insuring, the others were fixed gear. But your going to need quite a bit of dual I believe, not for FAA but for insurence

They are totally self contained, the module as I’m calling it is a “G” sensor and a battery, the battery fires a a squib that opens the nitrogen bottle that blows up the belt, a sharp blow to the module can set off the G sensor and inflate the bag, that’s why I said be sure you disconnect the module before you remove the seat, it doesn’t take all that much drop on concrete to set the thing off. ‘Not much to the installation really, mount the module securely and oriented correctly, the bottle we mounted via DG clamps to a seat rail but we don’t have those on a Mooney, The bottle you want mounted to the seat if possible because it’s connected to the belt, and the belt to the seat of course, the module has one locking flat type plug and it would be best mounted to the aircraft so anyone has to unplug it to get the seat out. Now all my data is about four years old so things may have changed. ‘They differ from auto air bags in that auto air bags use the vehicles power and some kind of pyrotechnic charge to produce the gas that blows up the bag, so Autobags don’t require yearly service checks and periodic replacement of parts. ‘I believe not accomplishing the service on time and or replacement of parts on schedule grounds the aircraft. There is a test box that you simply plug into the module and get a green led type of test that must be done yearly, and the module is life limited, maybe the battery? the nitrogen bottle every so many years and I’m sure the belt is life limited too. I believe it to be based on the inkjet printer model, the money is in the refill cartridges, not selling printers

I went thorough the Amsafe thing on new production aircraft, I’m sure you know about the continuing maintenance and expense, but the main thing is that they are horribly uncomfortable. Air Bag seat belts have not been proven to be any safer, they have been proven to do no harm. I know I’ll get all kinds of noise about that but it’s true, yes I’ve seen their sled tests. But think about it, if they were safer don’t you think the military and NASCAR would have them? Best restraint system is a 5 point and they can be very comfortable. especially if there are inertia reels, from a pure safety perspective no inertia reels are better. but you have to have the belts tight, tighter than anyone is going to wear them. A four point is not as safe as a three point as you submarine a four point, the diagonal of the three point helps keep you from submarining, three point is actually pretty darn good. If you do get them, be darn sure they are disconnected from the module prior to removing the seat, drop the seat and they will go off. Our installation has the module on the seat. but we had way more room, many don’t, I would assume the module would be remote mounted on a Mooney, maybe under the seat as a guess? I woud assume an STC would have drawings for the install that you would have to follow and come with mounting plates for the module and the nitrogen bottle. We developed factory drawings with Amsafe as sales thought they would help sell aircraft. They were so uncomfortable that I would only wear the lap belt. They didn’t sell

I would say find a way to pay cash for the airplane and maybe only get liability. ‘I would say the cost to a new pilot for a complex airplane woud be high, add in that your 75 and I would think it would be crazy high, probably way higher than what the average C model is worth, so don’t insure it.

I think they are after ownership for way less than if they bought out the other investors. ‘I’ve seen aircraft manufacturers go bankrupt and were bought for not much, and bought free and clear, the new owners didn’t owe the old debtors. The real value of a Certified Aircraft manufacturing facility is its ability to manufacture aircraft, it’s process specs, procedures, quality control etc are all bought off by the FAA, so you could start building a different aircraft right away, if you try to stand up a manufacturing facility it’s years and millions of dollars and everything thing has to meet new standards etc. where older ones are Grandfathered in I don’t know where an Icon falls into this, perhaps the majority holder wants to build other aircraft, I don’t believe the Icon has set any sales records, I think it’s way overpriced and way underperforming, at least compared to what was advertised.

I believe we have a member that if you ship him your old master cylinder he will manufacture you a duplicate, but I have no idea as to cost. Same guy makes hoses

It wasn’t to see if we would fit, Army aircraft I guess will adjust for most and the others adapt, usually you see little guys in Chinooks, and the big burly ones in scouts all hunched over to fit. Only aircraft I know of that had issues was the OV-1, apparently if you were tall, your knees wouldn’t clear the windshield bow on ejection, a friend successfully flew one IMC on takeoff after losing one engine at a gross weight and flight condition where single engine flight wasn’t possible and the EP was eject, he got it around and shot the ILS. Some called him a hero as he knew he was over the “ville” but John said he was scared of having his legs torn off at the knee, village had nothing to do with it. What I have always thought interesting was Army helicopters all had adjustable pedals, you didn’t slide the seat forward, you slid the pedals aft. Thrush Crop Duster is the same way, seat doesn’t move, the pedals do. I find that more comfortable. ‘How did you end up in a Snake? Marine?