A64Pilot

There are an astonishing lot of foolish, actually illegal things done, I’ve seen many especially on Ag airplanes, but just because you got some A&P to do something doesn’t make it correct or legal. So many get away with things for so long I guess they think they won’t be caught, and the FAA is slow, but buddy when they do get ahold of you it gets ugly fast, and your looking at prison time and or loss of certificates and all you were doing was trying to help someone out, sometimes. ‘This guy is dead now so I assume posting this is OK, someone in Brazil bought a totaled airplane for parts, and on trying to export it to Brazil discovered he couldn’t import parts, so Frankie pencil whipped the inspection so his friend didn’t lose a lot of money. ‘Well someone must have told and the FAA heard about it, and Frankie came very, very close to prison time, he did lose his DAR and I believe his IA, and I believe was fined. He got dressed up in a suit when it did go to court and had to appear very apologetic, which he was, and narrowly escaped prison time, if there had been anything else it’s likely he would have gone to prison. Anyone who knew Frankie kew he would give you the shirt off of his back, he was honest and never took advantage, but he did something he shouldn’t trying to help a friend, and he did know better. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2012-01-25/faa-indicts-two-falsifying-aircraft-inspection Like I said earlier, I can’t imagine the level of stupidity that it takes for a licensed Physician to write fraudulent prescriptions for pain meds to make a little money, I mean how insane do you have to be to risk prison and all those years of hard work getting through med school? But apparently it’s done.

I’ve been an A&P for 30 years and an IA for 15 or so, and a repair station accountable manager, I stood up a repair station. wrote the manuals, and that was a big hairy deal. now Retired, with thankfully no enforcement actions or investigations against me. “Knock on wood” ‘Many people read an FAR and say “it doesn’t say I can’t do X” and try to play fast and loose with the FAR’s. But there are so many other FAR’s that in fact do cover what they are trying to get away with. Just reading the one doesn’t nearly cover it Sure an A&P is allowed to replace broken parts, but let one disassemble an engine and miss something that causes an engine failure and try explaining to the FAA that you were only hired to change the case, it’s not going to help you one bit, and then there are the courts where your trying to tell the jury that yes poor Jim is dead, but you were only hired to change the case, the fact that the oil pump was worn beyond limits wasn’t your concern, or that a cylinder had a head that was separating, or the the cam had a worn lobe and several scored lifters, exhaust was rotted out etc, etc. Any part you install on an aircraft, to include parts that you re-install, have to be airworthy. The only way to determine that is by an inspection of some sort and or a records review. For instance I can’t reinstall a magneto that has an AD issued against it, unless I can determine that AD has been complied with, if you can’t determine AD compliance then you can’t reinstall the Mag. ‘The wing skin was a good analogy, you wack a light pole at the fuel pump and you really expect the A&P to only change the skin, don’t look at the ribs, I didn’t hire you for that?

It’s the old straight wing Citation, I believe the first one. https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/29/us/nashville-tennessee-cesna-plane-crash/index.html As to what happened, who knows? My guess is they tried ditching as if memory serves there are a whole lot of woods around that lake, but it’s been at least 50 years since I’ve been there

Once they contact the ground all bets are off. Once oil pressure is removed from a prop, it will go to fine pitch, except for an aerobatic prop or a turbine, they go to high pitch or feather, unless they contact something, then who knows?

I have never seen a prop get bent forward

That’s what I’m thinking too. raise the nose with the nose wheel free, excessive play will be apparent, I know because mine has excessive play. If not then the steering needs adjustment meaning rudder and nose wheel are not coincident

Prop looks bent to me, but then I have an Ipad, not a full size screen. ‘I don’t think you could get it to stop in the right place, first you have to get it to stop windmilling which isn’t as easy as you may suspect, mine always stops at 10 and 4 like an airplane that you hand prop. But it appears the flaps are up, so maybe they couldn’t get the gear down?

You guys kill me, I suppose the mechanic who would do that is the same one you guys say will “sign off” an annual for a case of beer right? No, I’m not going to dig through the regs to find something obvious. ‘I’ve seen over and over uneducated people try to pick apart the FAR’s and argue well the reg doesn’t specifically say that, when the intent is obvious, I’ve even testified in a couple of trials that didn’t go well for the outhouse lawyers too, and I’ve seen some enforcement action too. But if I were to look I believe that I would pretty easily find that I can’t install a part without ensuring it’s airworthiness first, that all it would take. ‘Then there is what’s called hidden damage, that I’m required to inspect for too. So your the guy who damages a wing, but only wants a new skin, don’t fix the cracked ribs? So how long have you been an A&P? No one ever said each assembly had to be disassembled, but any part removed has to be tagged apprioately, and how is that done without an inspection?

EI also supplies a decent fuel sending unit, if you don’t use theirs and keep the stock resistance ones when you install say an MVP-50 you will need another box to convert your resistance signal. Only aircraft fuel systems that I've seen that had gauges I’d trust work off of the fuels capacitance and I don’t know of any of those systems available for small aircraft. A lot of the problem stems from the shape and depth of aircraft fuel tanks, they are relatively shallow and one inch often means a lot of gallons and due to the dihedral, one inch is a variable amount of fuel too. ‘When setting up an MVP-50 for example there are several calibration points to account for this, I picked every 5 gls on another aircraft, but I don’t believe you can do that with a standard fuel measuring system. ‘If you rely at all on you fuel quantity system, I promise that it will lead to a bad outcome one day. ‘It’s not a difficult problem to solve, but to my knowledge no one has. A problem with using the fuel used to compute fuel remaining is if you ever fly with partial fuel loads to carry more weight, it’s not really possible to be certain how much you started with. For that reason I always start with topped off tanks and build in several conservative measures. In short the factory fuel quantity measuring system is for entertainment only. I believe the FAA only requires it to be accurate when the tanks are empty In other words, I wouldn’t waste my money

I live within spitting distance of Leeward, next air park over, but I surrendered my IA due to not being able to renew and haven’t gotten it back yet. Waiting to hear from the FAA ‘But I second the above statement. As people age they stop flying and sometimes those that live in air parks don’t sell because there is no hanger rent etc and it’s hard to swallow the anchor to use a sailing term so the aircraft just sit, sometimes for decades, it’s not uncommon at all. Often they pass and it’s the kids or Wife that end up selling. Neighbor Lady just sold a very low time cherry twin Comanche, one engine needed a few new cylinders, but the buyers said the cam was fine. One was an IA the other an A&P and that’s usually the type that buys these “barn finds” The upside is that these aircraft are sitting in usually by regular airport standards, very good hangers, almost like being in a house, some are climate controlled. ‘For many of those aircraft the clock pretty much stops. They can be a good find, sort of a barn find. OLD avionics of course. In my opinion you should pay almost nothing for it, getting the owner to realize that can be an issue, but as they live in an air park, their neighbors should keep them grounded in reality. You taking if to Miami? Do you have hanger space for it there?

What often trips an overhaul is once a mechanic opens something up. He or She is required to inspect everything prior to reinstalling them, everything must meet serviceable limits, and sometimes not everything does, even in what seemed to be a perfectly fine engine. ‘I’d be prepared for an overhaul whether that’s your intent or not. Cost overhaul wise or operate an engine is about $15 dollars an hour, if you get 1000 hours for $12K, then those hours cost $12 a hour. Plus your engine may be way overdue an overhaul based on calendar time. I must have missed that, did he say it was overhauled in the 90’s?

IF Mooney had gained approval, then your in. But I’d bet that they didn’t.

For a cruise climb speed, I will usually climb at the highest speed that will give me the climb speed I’m after, in my J that’s usually about 110 kts In cold weather I’d be a lot more likely to climb at Vy, but down here it’s never really cold and there are no mountains etc to climb over, but as your in S Fl cyl head temp will be a concern at times and the additional speed really helps there.

I don’t think boomless is even close, I think it’s reduced signature, there is still a shock wave and therefore noise, just less noise There has been quite a bit of work done on reducing the boom, as I said earlier Gulfstream was studying it, and NASA

I think it’s solved, as it was or is an intermittent problem, it’s still too soon to declare it solved, maybe after 50 cycles. ‘But I have another intermittent problem, the apparently infamous pulsating voltage phenomenon. I think it’s also a switch with high resistance contacts, however cleaning the switch with deoxit did no good, so I have temporarily disconnected the alternator half of the master switch and wired in a simple SPST toggle switch, and so far so good. I’ll give it a few flights and if that fixes it, I guess I’ll try to find a Mooney master switch. Point I guess is the the miracle working deoxit did no good,so it’s not always a cure, even temporarily.

Use a mechanics stethoscope or large screwdriver to find source of sound. ‘It sounds like it could be a arcing plug wire maybe, or exhaust leak. But I’d also pull the pushrods and make sure none are bent, if you find a bent one, it’s most likely from a sticking valve, but a bent pushrod should show up as excessive clearance.

It’s not just a sudden failure with no warning?

But anyway, does anyone know how many gear ups were there, that the smoking gun was a broken spring? I’m curious as to the risk, as currently replacement is not an option, and surely this is not a part you get salvaged

I believe without looking it up that the SB calls out for inspecting new springs for cracks and or maybe springs of a certain manufacture date? If so then that seems to add credence to the improperly heat treated and or formed springs theory that I’ve read. ‘If you try to bend say a higher T rated piece of aluminum to a tight end radius, you will get cracks on the external part of the metal. ‘But I believe fatigue often occurs from the inside out, meaning of course that you may not be able to determine fatigue from either a visual or dye pen inspection. ‘So I think by having a visual inspection, your looking for improperly manufactured parts, not fatigued.

Thanks, I later figured it out. To me Dmax is short for the Duramax Diesel engine

It’s run out, price it as such and you’ll come out OK. I’d throw a number out there and many would scoff as prices are at all time highs. ‘If if we’re you I’d rent for a year cause everything is cyclical and these foolishly high prices will not last. People think compression determines engine condition or a bore scope. ‘They don’t, they determine cylinder condition, cylinders are easy and relatively inexpensive, compared to a full overhaul. Next is oil analysis, it determines oil condition very well, engine not so much, I’ve seen slap worn out motors return a good oil analysis. ‘At 2200 it may have a lot of life left in it, most won’t though and you should go by averages and not hope you have an unusual engine. Engine oil pressure as in how good a pressure does it hold when hot at idle will tell you more than an oil analysis, and inspecting the filter and suction screen just increases your knowledge. Plugs also have a story to tell.

A temp of three degrees above ambient I woudnt worry about. To start with your assuming both temp indicators are dead nuts accurate, and that’s not always the case. ‘Obviously another variable is when comparing to other aircraft is the carb wide open? the more it’s closed, the more of a cooling effect you will have, plus again is their temp indicators dead nuts accurate? On edit, look at your temps when its been in the hanger overnight, that should give a good idea if they both indicate the same or not.

What’s Dmax? Almost always parts like this are used for other purposes and an aircraft manufacturer chooses them based on their suitability. Which of course doesn’t mean that they won’t become unavailable, but it does maybe give you another source of supply. I had found the Amazon post, but again it’s a “used” part. For many things like say a gear door or whatever that I can inspect visually and determine the condition, I have no issues with going used, but for something like a switch, I can’t and I have issue with using parts that I can’t determine the condition of.

This is a quote for one of my limit switches from a junkyard, yes it’s ridiculous, Yes I’m sure I can do better, but junkyard electrical parts are not my idea of a parts source, but Mooney apparently doesn’t support their aircraft, which is too bad, because there is money in parts, actually a lot of money. Assumption is that they can’t they can’t afford to, and if that’s the case, that doesn’t bode well. Mooney parts just don’t exist it seems. I’m seriously considering selling my Mooney and getting a Bonanza or something that you can at least get parts for. ‘I’ve not been able to get one single part that I have called and checked on, not a single part. So while I don’t want to be cleaning switches, but paying 100 times what a switch should cost from a junkyard for a switch that may not be any better than mine isn’t a viable parts solution. I can get just about any part ai want for my 75 yr old Cessna and not from Cessna, but Univair and others, I wonder why they don’t start producing Mooney parts?

What are you lubricating the switches with? You really don’t want any kind of lubrication. You want to clean the contacts and ideally remove any oxidation. ‘This stuff is pricy compared to most contact cleaners, but it’s more than a cleaner, it removes oxidation, and really seems to work. My gear intermittent extension problem ended up being the panel switch. thankfully so far the deoxit has solved the issue, good thing because limit switches are not available from Mooney. or at least the ones for my 81 model are not. If yours won’t come up, if it’s a limit switch it’s the up limit switch if I understand the system, that switch needs to be closed to allow power to the relay, when the gear go up the switch is opened removing the power of course. I’d start with cleaning the panel switch as that way you don’t have to take anything apart. Spray above the lever with the switch down, and under it with it up, follow directions on the can. If that doesn’t fix it, move to the limit switches.