A64Pilot

Before I replaced the master I’d temporarily jumper it, this bypasses the switch and if it’s the switch it of course will fix the issue. ‘However you lose the CB functionality, if the master is a CB, I’m not sure it is, I wouldn’t think it is. I’m also having a fluctuating ammeter / voltmeter, cleaning the external contacts seemed to fix it, but then I thought I ought to do it the correct way and put some DC4 on them to prevent future corrosion, and it seems to have returned but at a much lower fluctuation, its intermittent meaning it only does it sometimes ‘So let me know what you do to fix yours. ‘Whether a split switch is a minor or a major is up to the installer to decide, I’d decide it’s a minor because you only changed from a single to a dual switch, but you should confirm the amp rating of the split switch is as high or higher than the single, for both sides, and confirm it’s not a breaker switch. ‘In Cessna’s I’ve flown the split switch is used as a single switch, meaning alternator off and on with the master. I had always thought it was split in the event of a malfunctioning voltage regulator that gets stuck wide open you have a way to turn off the alternator before it burns something up. Cessna’s seem to favor the type of CB that’s flush and you can’t pull them, I have no idea why perhaps they are cheaper? So you couldn’t pull the field CB on a Cessna, or at least not our old C-210.

I had forgotten I had this picture, notice the tail on one of them, anyone know it’s name?

Again weight, cut a hole in the cabin and you have to reinforce it, also the door of course weighs more just skin, maybe a better question why do high wings have two or more doors? My Maule had four, one baggage but it was as big as a regular door.

Remember no free lunch, it applies to just about everything in aircraft. Typically there are three notches of flaps in a generic airplane, first notch primarily lift with some drag, second notch a little more lift but more drag, third notch is mostly added drag. Some of course may have more than three and some have no notches of flap, but Cessna’s version of electric flaps with stops is a pretty good idea, in this case it would be slap it full up, then down, without having to look or hold anything the flaps would go to first notch. ‘The FAA’s definition of the purpose of flaps is to slow an airplane for landing. So yes, full flaps purpose is primarily drag and drag isn’t what you want to take off of course, however with most airplanes if they are light and low density altitude often there is enough excess power to overcome the drag and shortest takeoffs can be with full flap. A Bush trick is to deflect your ailerons fully, then put flaps down to match the deflected aileron, assuming the manufacturer wasn’t stupid the aileron down travel stops at about the point where the drag curve steepens, they do this to reduce induced yaw of course. But flap matching aileron travel is a way to attempt to get the most lift with the least drag, useful for weak over gross airplanes operated in high density altitude, you know common Bush ops. ‘But all of this is mute, if you need to go around, you NEED to go around, you don’t need to be playing games reconfiguring the aircraft. there isn’t time, and last I looked we don’t have a go around button. However if performing a go around with full flap isn’t to you liking, just slap it up, it will go around with no flap too. There is no need to be lightning fast on cleaning up the airplane, many fly just fine with the gear down. Take your time be sure of what your doing, immediate action isn’t required. ‘The reason we push the prop all the way in and go to full rich on final is so that if we have to we are configured for a go around. ‘But don’t believe me on any of this, pick a nice low stress day with little wind or traffic and go out and try it yourself, be easy on the throttle etc during practice, no need to cob it, there isn’t a hog on the runway today, ease into it, and stop if you don’t like it, get some instruction Has anyone flown a C-150? it had 40 degrees of flap, you could have a steep approach angle with it, but when the 152 came about the flaps were limited to 30 degrees, because at its increased gross weight a go around at 40 degrees didn’t pass. Go out on a nice day and ease into this stuff or if you feel you need to take an instructor along, but don’t have the first time you have to do an emergency go around be the time the hog appears under your nose, the accident report will read failure to maintain control during a take off, the hog ran away of course and everyone else will think what fool stalls and crashes during a take off?

The gear switch being inadvertently fumbled instead of flaps is a very real concern with a Beech Bonanza, for one thing they are real close to each other and to add insult to injury, they are out of sight. ‘But we aren't Bonanza’s, you really can’t confuse gear for flaps in a Mooney, you can grab the wrong handle, the best way to prevent that is practice Keep on not practicing for what I can assure you will happen if you fly very much and that’s a go around after landing, maybe you’ll pull it off never having practiced it, most likely will, but I can assure you that when the time comes, if you have practiced the maneuver, success is more likely. Any of the prop strikes from PIO could have been prevented by going around, and once in a great while it’s simply better to go around rather than to use your superior skill to save a bad approach ‘What’s the fascination of I have to retract the flaps? I can assure you it will fly just fine with full flaps, even at max gross, it’s a requirement to demonstrate that for Certification, as well as being controllable. Aircraft I built had 40 degrees of flap as a piston aircraft, once it got a turbine the flaps were restricted to 15 degrees, due to excessive pitch forces on a balked landing with the higher HP, any aircraft Certified is capable of a balked landing at full flaps, at max gross weight and at extremes of allowable CG.

Years ago I bought a Maule, it came with the original Bose headset, that had a proprietary connection in the instrument panel. ‘One side stopped working so I called Bose to try to get it fixed and got the we don’t support that anymore, so I asked if I could get some kind of trade in allowance, answer was no. So I asked if the new headset used the same connector that was mounted in my panel, again no. Well does the new connector fit the same cut out as old one? No. It's actually Garmin that’s the worst with the we don’t support that anymore, you have to buy new, if you buy Garmin you had better buy they new whatever that just came out, because if you buy something that’s been out a few years, they may discontinue support next year. ‘It’s why I like Bendix King, you can still get 50 year old radios repaired and while they don’t have pretty color displays, they are very reliable.

Nothing wrong with this one, I don’t need a clock, an approach timer maybe. ‘It’s just it’s on the panel and I have this thing about if it’s there, it’s supposed to work. Having said that, I probably won’t fix the Radar altimeter, I will probably put an analyzer there.

Pressurized is what adds to the cost significantly, ask what it costs to add an antenna to a pressurized airplane. B-55’s are so cheap and have been that way for decades, because nobody wants one, it cost three times as much to fly a B-55 than say a V-35, ask a Duke owner what it costs ‘Fuel cost on a small single engine turbine is insignificant, it’s dwarfed by other costs, as far as hot starts, you have to be stupid to hot start a PT-6, and I mean stone cold stupid, they are such a benign start you have plenty of time. Other wise they are so easy to operate, no mixture, no cowl flaps, no cyl head temp to monitor etc, just three limits to watch, usually torque on take off and that transitions to usually ITT in climb and cruise, sometimes Ng speed, prop RPM is just for comfort / noise. leave it full all of the time if you want to, it doesn’t hurt. ‘Now starting a Garrett without auto start is an emergency procedure, be sure you have nothing else going on when you start that motor, same with the little Allison, with it you will be several seconds into the I believe it’s a 6 sec limited range, either can be hot started in the time it takes to glance at your phone or watch. Walters and the new GE are about like a PT-6

Automobiles or motorcycles have nothing to do with our aircraft engines, much smaller combustion chambers with much increased swirl brought about largely by four valve heads etc just are a whole different animal than our combustion chambers. ‘Electronic ignition doesn’t either, unless it’s advanced enough to have a knock sensor and or other sensors, perhaps timing reduction with higher manifold pressures?, electronic by itself doesn't mean anything, except that there may not be points, but a few electronic ignitions back in the day kept the points, just they carried very low current and therefore lasted a long time. ‘However I’m sure we could run 94UL with our N/A engines just the way they are, probably back off on timing a few degrees and my Guess wound be a reduction of manifold pressure maybe to 25” but maybe higher, there is margin now and we could probably run 94UL just the way we are, but at a reduced margin, and that may restrict LOP somewhat. Back in the 70’s I believe it was the University of Tennessee that was conducting testing with what was then called Gasahol. they were running it in one engine of a Cessna twin, and they got it to work, it was car gas. But there are I believe many other issues, so that takes us back to 94UL, which I believe has no issues, except the lower Octane. I know people that have run straight 93 Octane car gas in higher compression engines, 100LL in one tank, car gas in another and did so with no issues, much more susceptible to vapor lock though on a hot day after shut down, but obviously they were operating closer to detonation than if they were running 100LL

If the firewall is indeed flimsy, then maybe a doubler should be added, before the firewall cracks. ‘Then you get to shoot Monel rivets They work harden fast so don’t play around with them, shoot them.

Thanks for the wiring diagram, I can confirm that replacing with 4 AA’s in series works, still seems silly to wait until exactly on the hour to put batteries in a clock, what nut comes up with something like that?

Closer to 40 or more, but I fear that maybe they have the impetus to get it done now, if they choose to, hopefully it will fall below the line

I got the clock out, I assume Mooney added the plastic plugs, the Davtron battery apparently requires the wires to be cut and spliced to replace the battery, that’s why I believe Mooney added the plugs, and to make assembly easier. ‘Anyway my battery was missing, and the ground wire broken off, on disassembly it appeared that the ground wire was soldered to a chassis ground so I attached a new ground wire, removed the plug as I didn’t have the other half and spilced in the battery pack wire, the battery pack comes with the standard 9V connector so future battery replacements ought to be easier. ‘Now to see if I can get it back together without damage to existing harness, it was tough to remove.

I bet it is a strange shaped connector, I had a plastic plug in my mind. ‘The battery wires are supposed to be separate, so I need to keep looking. I intend to replace the battery with four AA lithium’s in series, that ought to last for years

I do now, had to crawl back under the panel. ‘I’m wondering if Mooney didn’t get smart and this is some kind of Cap/ rechargeable battery and or also operates the flight timer, which works by the way,I suppose it’s connected to the gear switch?

I have an M811B clock, that I’m thinking it came from the factory with, I can’t set the time, a little reading suggests that there is a 6V backup battery to hold voltage that’s required. But I look under the panel and can’t find anything that looks like the image of the Davtron battery, but I found what looks like a large capacitor, not saying it’s a cap just trying to explain how it looks. you know silver metal can about a inch and a half long and half inch around, but it has red and black wires coming out of one end and black and blue out of the other, red and black correspond to power for the battery, the flight timer is a blue wire. I can’t follow the wires without a lot of zip tie cutting, so I thought I’d ask first How did the factory wire the Davtron clock? Is there a replaceable battery, or did they do it smart and have a clock keep alive power wire and maybe a resistor for the 6V part? Does this metal can have anything to do with it? 81 J model

That was my thought too

You know when I started to read this thread I figured that surely the logic was that needlessly cycling the gear wears it out and more maintenance or chance of eventual gear failure. ‘I was astonished at what I read. ‘I got my airplane Commercial rating in Killeen Tx in 1989 in brand new J model AT’s, and we did seemingly no end of touch and go’s, just like any other airplane. So far as excessive pitch with power, there is an easy answer to that, stop running the trim all the way up on landing, the Mooney doesn’t have all that much excessive pitch forces compared to other aircraft, My Maule with 20 something feet of 48 degree flaps and an IO-540 however did, but so what your strong enough to hold it until you retrim aren’t you? many have electric trim so you don’t even have to hold the yoke single handed and or can retrim if you are. A purpose of touch and go’s other than simple practice landing is to train for the eventual go-around, which will happen from wildlife or all kinds of other unexpected things, and you need to be comfortable going around in landing configuration, because landing at night you suddenly see that black feral hog standing 100 feet in front of you, you only have two choices, go around in current configuration or hit him, and hitting a hog is like hitting a stump. In my opinion, you should be trained to do any kind of landing and or balked landing the aircraft is capable of, I wouldn’t practice landing in trees or ditching, but you should be trained how to. ‘But to try to argue that T&G’s are unsafe or cause negative habit transfer isn’t correct , they are only unsafe or cause negative habit transfer if they are done incorrectly, just like everything else. ‘I was flying in France and saw two or three Boeing 747’s in the pattern somewhere doing touch and go’s. I don’t remember where, we were on our way to Dax France ‘Drive by NAS Jax and watch the P3’s and 737’s in the pattern, doing touch and go’s, or drive up to Panama City and watch the F22’s doing you guessed it, touch and go’s, or Savannah at the Gulfstream plant and watch the G650’s doing touch and go’s. ‘So why can’t a Mooney do it safely if way larger much more complex aircraft can? Having said that I rarely do them myself, because I’m a CB and don’t want to needlessly cycle my gear so when I do, I leave the gear down, but then I won’t cycle my gear either up or down unless I’m in the white arc either, which is another topic I guess. Sort of glad this came up, it reminds me I need to do some balked landing practice cause it’s been a long time.

People get all wrapped around the axle about damage history, and most of the time they shouldn’t. Don’t be afraid of what’s in the books, be afraid of what’s not. If it’s in the book, most likely it was done correctly by the right people and with correct parts. What you want to look for is evidence of structural work with no corresponding book entries, and often, very often the books entries won’t have any explanation of why. ‘You may see an entry of replaced propellor and in the engine book you may see that the prop flange was check with a dial indicator, so there was a prop strike, but no entry saying that. ‘I have an old 1946 C-140, there is an entry in the log book that says replaced right wing, now do you think that maybe it was ground looped, or maybe they just needed practice changing out wings? Almost all old airplanes have periods of low or no use, the owner gets old or maybe just disinterested and then one day finally gets tired of paying hanger rent or maybe wants a different toy and sells the airplane

There were or are Garret -10 conversions on a twin Commander that would in my opinion be a much better airplane.

Depends I think on which Mooney you have,and why you have it. ‘Some that have one of the much newer Mooney’s and have a whole lot of money in them could of course for similar money look at other very nice aircraft. ‘However for people like me that have a 41 year old J model, there just simply isn’t anything that I’m aware of that I can fly as fast and as cheaply, that has any carrying capacity. ‘I just bought mine and was looking at everything from an RV-6/7 to a Bonanza, and believe it or not but both of those are roughly 100K airplanes, for late 60’s model V tail or an RV with a 200 ho engine, and the RV was a field overhaul and not much in the way of IFR equipment. ‘The RV’s are in my option seriously overvalued, and a Bonanza will break the bank to maintain, and it burns 1/3 more fuel at least, 182’s are overpriced and not very fast and fuel per mile isn’t good either. 210’s are too big and expensive to fly and maintain ‘So to cruise above 130 kts and have four seats and a decent useful load, for 100K there just aren’t many airplanes. A Maule is in there, more fuel of course but operating expenses are pretty much just what the engine costs, but I knew I couldn’t find a Maule like mine was, so it was out.

It’s not that, a few years ago if you went to the airport in Enterprise Al. There were many hangers, but not one for rent. They were all rented out, but many didn’t have an airplane in them, boats were stored and there were several shops, a lawnmower repair shop and a cabinet maker comes to mind, but many were just storage. ‘I heard that they were going to kick out the non aircraft usage, but I don’t know if they did or not. ‘Once you don’t require actual aircraft storage, the hangers slowly become other things, largely due to cost. I paid $125 a month for my T hanger in Camila Ga, and it was brand new, I was it’s first tenant, I don’t know how it compared size wise, but I was able to put my Maule and my C-140 in there, the 140 isn’t as small as you might think, it has a 33’ wing span. You just can’t get that kind of space in as nice a location with pavement and good drainage etc for that kind of money anywhere else, $125 a month with free electricity is awfully cheap, of course it’s not meant for much electricity to be used, not like a shop would of course.

30 or so years ago we removed these from all Army aircraft, the reason was corrosion. When I was a Sgt. I kept the end that goes in the cockpit on my desk, for those not familiar it’s a narrow very long black plastic funnel, people who didn’t know what it was would always pick it up and try to “play” it like a musical instrument, someone would always walk up and ask them if they knew what it was,while they had it in their mouth. ‘It was a new unused one.

That’s for a boat, the notebook holder is for binoculars. It’s not small either surprised you found a place for it. Same thing mounted on the binnacle of a boat

Removing weight from the flight control system effects the mass balance of the system. ‘I believe you would have to show that there would be no ill effect of removing the weight, but you don’t have to show there isn’t to clamp on a Garmin 696, a question I’ve often pondered and cannot come up with a reason why not. I used to think the Beechcraft throw over yoke was a neat idea, until I flew in one, that cross bar really gets in the way of viewing the panel. I’m astonished no one has an STC for moving the gear switch to the top of the panel, where it can be seen, and can’t be misinterpreted for the flap switch.