A64Pilot

That’s just an opinion of mine, just my belief. But as an example when my Son got run over by a hit and run driver and the driver was caught, first the driver had no insurance and his license had been revoked so no help there, we could easily have won a lawsuit, but as nothing could be collected why spend the money? Lawyer said these people are “judgement proof” said I could frame the judgement and hang it on the wall because that’s all my Son would get. So if the asserts are small the Lawyer won’t take the case and if your paying out of pocket they will advise you to not pursue. I suspect a lot of these lawyer adverts advertising they got 1mil for their client from a distracted driver are BS, they may have gotten a 1 mil judgement, but if the assets aren’t there it won’t be collected Maule has no liability insurance, hasn’t for years if ever. Story circulates that every few years a team of Lawyers shows up at the factory and I guess takes a look at the books and leaves, Maule doesn’t get sued as the assets just aren’t there.

Pilots / owners aren’t informed, and that’s understandable as they aren’t in most cases aviation professionals, for the majority it’s a hobby. Then some high profile person who has a following in social media etc writes an article and suddenly everyone is talking about it Sometimes this leads to let’s call it misinformation where they hear of something from a professional who has a financial interest and what they hear is skewed towards what they want to hear as well, that increases the money the professional makes or maybe just increases their popularity, popularity is a huge driver, not just money. So be careful, be sure you read the FAR yourself, carefully. Usually I have to read one several times as I’m not a lawyer. The FAA isn’t out to “get” any small airplane owners, there is very little public endangerment from owners of Private aircraft and the FAA recognizes this, but every now and again they have to come out and growl to try to put a leash on something when they are led to believe by a complainant that a policy is getting out of hand. Often said complainant also has a financial interest, so the FAA is between a rock and a hard place. Often unless the FAA is made to take action other than the growl, nothing happens. To actually take action requires a shed load of work for the FAA and frankly most often they had rather not do the work, that’s why if you want something from the FAA, particularly in a timely manner, do all of their work for them, this is why DER’s DAR’s and IA’s exist. Make an official complaint and the FAA has to address the complaint. As an owner if you register a complaint against an A&P, they WILL get a visit from the FAA, not saying they will be drug off in handcuffs, but the complaint will be investigated, and the results of the investigation will be filed with the complaint and I assume as the complainant you are advised of the results, but never having made a complaint I’m not sure. The FAA has continually expanded the liability and responsibility an owner can take upon themselves in the maintenance of their aircraft. Used to be (many years ago) a pilots liability pretty much ceased in how they operated the aircraft, anything broke and the A&P was liable if something was incorrect, now how the pilot / operator have had it maintained it is more in the spotlight too and you can see that in the regs. Take an OPP for example, you produce a part that later after you have sold the aircraft and this part fails and it could have attributed to an accident. It’s possible if a lawyer gets involved AND you have significant assets that you may find yourself in court, defending those assets, even if your part was clearly superior to the PEM part. My opinion is the likelihood of that happening is proportional to the size of your assets As the manufacturer, YOU are responsible, not the actual producer etc. Other than laziness it’s one reason why I’m not likely to ever build an aircraft, although it’s my understanding that it’s pretty much unheard of for the manufacturer of an Experimental aircraft to be sued, perhaps it’s because of the big experimental placard? Any reasonable pilot has to know it’s was amateur built, but it’s not hard to argue that a buyer wasn’t aware of OPP’s?

I wear flip flops exclusively, it came from living in a boat in the Caribbean because on the boat you went barefoot and getting in the dinghy to go ashore often meant getting your feet wet. However I live in a warm climate. ‘So I fly in flip flops, specifically Vionic sandals, because they are Orthopedic and have great arch support https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T3IXRN2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1 I’ll second the notion that barefoot works well too, particularly on long flights and if your wearing flip flops, barefoot is easy.

I think it’s primarily from running LOP. Winter time in Fl which means temps close to but not below freezing at my normal low power cruise I have to either increase MP or enrichen to keep temps in the low green. LOP for whatever reason, really seems to reduce Cyl head temps. And yes, the “fish mouth” inlets are less efficient as in don’t cool as well. Again these pressure building inlets aren’t intuitive. ‘I was heavily involved in the design and testing of this “pitot inlet” AKA pressure recovery cowling who’s purpose is to increase pressure on the suck side of the engine so that at higher altitudes the engine inlet is at a much lower pressure altitude than the aircraft, increasing HP. ‘As you can see the inlet is much smaller than the rest of the induction system. ‘I copied the photo from the Archangel’s website, it’s not my photo. ‘Look at the size of a Mooney’s ram air, intuitively you would expect it to be large, which it would be if velocity was desired, but it’s not, pressure is, so it’s small.

What is your cruise altitude? MP and RPM? Fuel flow? I ask as if I’m ROP and high MP/ RPM down lower my temps will get up higher than I like requiring full open flaps, and I believe my baffling is in good shape. But if I’m 23 squared and 8 GPH (LOP) my temps are right in the middle of the green flaps closed or trailing on a hot day. But as was said this is a pressure cowl and the way to build pressure is to slow airflow. Next time your around a King Air etc take a good look at its engine intake, their purpose is to build pressure of course, if you look hard the opening is a reverse funnel meaning the opening is the smallest cross section of the intake, I know it seems a funnel meaning a big opening and then narrowing down would “pack” more air in and build pressure, but that’s not what would happen. A carburetor for example narrows down thereby increasing air velocity which causes a vacuum that sucks the fuel out, well actually the lower pressure actually allows the higher ambient air pressure to push fuel into the venturi, but you get what I mean. So bottom line, there were smart people that designed the thing, and they did a lot of testing, there is no easy improvement available, and the way it works isn’t intuitive.

Bingo, original cert date for the M20 is what’s relevant, so for an example a brand new C-182 is good too. a. This AC applies to small aircraft type certificated before January 1, 1980, that have a maximum certificated weight of 12,500 pounds or less, fixed wing, un-pressurized, reciprocating engine or sailplanes. Follow-on type certificate (TC) models of the same aircraft, or a derivative thereof, which may be assigned a later TC date, also meet this criteria. The AC that specifies this was written in 09 I believe and I’ve posted it many times. https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_23-27.pdf I’ve used it every now and again, and I have in the logbook entry written IAW AC 23-27. Now from a purely legal perspective an AC is not an approved document, but the FAA has acted as if they have been forever, I don’t think you would get any issue from sourcing switches and relays etc., even wheel bearings, belts etc, but I wouldn’t want to try it to put VW rods or whatever in my engine, so it does leave a lot of responsibility to the installer. So use some common sense. Oh, and I swear there must be some kind of magic in a Lycoming belt, because they last a lot longer than a Gates, even a green stripe Gates. But if your going that route, go for the green stripe http://www.gatesunitta.com/en/green-stripe®-v-belt

Yes, I know, but contact cleaner is good for fault isolating an intermittent problem. Do you have a source for the limit switches? It would seem a good spare to have on hand, I bet they are different too

I think he’s pretty much done that by finding the relay unpowered. Next step I guess is to validate power goes into the limit switch, but doesn’t come out when the problem exists, or I’d vote just get contact cleaner into the switch. I like Deoxit myself. Anyone have a source of supply for the limit switches? Or the manufacturers parts number?

Not sure what the EAA link is, I didn’t read it to be honest, but this is a link to the FAA AC for Certified aircraft. ‘ALL Mooney’s qualify under it. https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_23-27.pdf

This is your best answer maybe a little conservative, but conservative can’t hurt, I use “fogging” oil for the cylinders. I “pickled” my C-85 like this for four years with zero cylinder rust. Keep the oil when you drain it, it can be used again, as can the desiccant bags and plugs, desiccant can be dried out in a regular home oven, once dry store them in a mayonnaise or similar jar for next time. That oil isn’t cheap. Mice can’t climb a 5 gl home depot / lowes bucket, cut out the bottom and slit one side it can then be put around the gear, if the metal flashing is too difficult to fab. Not sure how well that would work around gear doors though? Top off the tanks of course and I like to put the battery on a tender, over inflate the tires, helps keeping them from flat spotting, over time they will lose pressure.

Almost all hats have the button, but they are easily removed, just pry one off and you’ll see. Pretty tough to remove but pry or pull hard enough and it will come off. ‘Most are held on with a metal or plastic piece inside of the hat that connects to the button, obviously installed after the hat is sewn and other than decoration has no purpose, except to cause a hot spot on your head if you wear a headset.

The few that I have overhauled were absolutely dry. ‘For a few years, then they would begin to seep in a couple places, I believe at least seepage is going to occur and seeps later turn into leaks.

The majority of my work is off of grass, there are some rough strips I’ve landed on and won’t go back. Part of Fl that I live most of the grass strips used to be orange groves, some weren’t well smoothed out. Last airplane was an M6/235 Maule on 29” tires, Mooney won’t do gravel bars like the Maule did, but grass is no problem. Grass, not mud, mud would be bad, and mud with gravel would be real bad Personal opinion is that gross weight is really mostly about performance than anything else, if you takeoff over gross just beware of the performance hit. It’s CG that will kill you, and thankfully it would be real difficult to load a J out of CG if mine is typical. Bonanza’s and I assume Debonairs don’t often have the useful load that the book says, because it’s real easy to get out of CG prior to getting to gross weight, not always but it needs watching closely, especially as CG moves aft as fuel burns off. But honestly if it’s a dirt strip maybe a Cherokee just might be a better airplane, Pipers are built better for off airport use than a Mooney.

A Mooney and a 140 make a great pair, honestly. Mooney is tough to beat for traveling, a 140 tough to beat for just flying local on a lazy late Summer afternoon window open, with no destination in mind. But what will blow your mind is that if I’m leaned out and power pulled back I can get 18, 20 if I push it NMPG on the Mooney My 140 only 16 NMPG, and a Legend Cub only gets 13 NMPG. So a Mooney can actually burn less fuel over the same distance than a C-140 and easily better than a Legend Cub.

My advice would be to be there, make sure everything is opened up and inspected for corrosion. OK, so your not an IA, but I bet you would know corrosion if you saw it. Look hard, get a contractor bore scope, you know one with say a 12’ cable and won’t focus closer than an inch or two, worthless for cylinder inspection but just the ticket to look deep inside of wings, maybe $100 or so on Amazon. Seems the one I have is only $30 or so. I also have a 140, a 46 model. A 140 for example if there is corrosion in the wings, 140 wings are readily available and you can change them in one day, a Mooney it could be the end of the aircraft, sure it could be saved but it’s a whole lot of work. Some aircraft are better designed / protected or less susceptible to corrosion than others, my opinion is a Mooney wasn’t designed and or well protected from corrosion, which doesn’t make it bad, but does in my opinion make it not as good an airplane to leave tied down as say a Beech, or even a Cessna. But there is no reason if care is taken that one shouldn’t outlive you, just take care of it. There is a reason why you will never see a Naval AH-64, it’s actually a great aircraft for the mission, unfortunately no real consideration was ever really given for corrosion prevention, so one wouldn’t likely last a year on a helicopter landing ship.

The SAIB is just a reminder guys, no requirement exists. IF it gets a couple of Mooney drivers asking their mechanics “you did comply with SB xx didn’t you” and that saves a couple of gear ups, then it was worth issuing. Nothing wrong with informing pilot / owners. But yes FAR’s are very difficult to interpret and they evolve over time as the FAA tries to close loop holes, but in doing so the original intent somehow seems to get muddled. I had one inspector telling me that no airplane was allowed to fly in the US in any airspace if the 91.411 and 413 inspections weren’t current (transponder and altimeter) while his boss was standing right beside him shaking his head. Ask three inspectors a simple question and you’ll get two different answers and one long involved discussion that doesn’t answer anything.

Sorry I don’t know anyone in that area, but in my opinion your wise to turn it into an Annual if after looking at the worrisome bits it passes the pre-buy. Look real, real hard for corrosion, most other things are nickel / dime by comparison

Sorry, just saw this. First I replaced the relays to no effect, then cleaned limit switches and nothing changed, was worried it might be the motor itself, maybe a bad armature spot like you get on a starter. Ended up being the gear switch, the switch is readily available without the wheel, It seems what makes it a Mooney part is the plastic wheel, so you can buy the switch, unscrew the metal cap and put the plastic wheel on. I first bought a used switch from someone here at a high price, it was a fair price though because the Mooney part number switch with the wheel is quite high, but doing some researching I found the part number for the switch itself, without the wheel. Try this, just spray some Deoxit spray in the switch top and bottom when exercising the switch, if it’s the switch that will “fix” it, but for me at least it was a temporary fix, but it did isolate the fault to the switch. 99% sure this is the switch part number MS24659-23D Switch It a DPDT switch so it’s actually two switches, but Mooney only uses one side, you should be able to move the wires over to the other side of the switch as my J model only used half the switch. I just wanted to replace it with a new one, gear are important I think.

This gives a decent explanation of how a Vernatherm works. https://www.kitplanes.com/a-verna-what/ Many think it’s like a cars thermostat, but it actually operates in the reverse in that as coolant in a car heats up a thermostat opens where as oil heats up a Vernatherm closes, that’s why in a cold running engine whether the Vernatherm seat isn’t the problem.

Yes I know and thought I explained how a vernatherm operates, and why one that didn’t seat won’t cause cold oil temps, that the only way that a Vernatherm could cause low temps that I can see is if it stuck extended, so in other words I think the Vernatherm is a red herring, and don’t be surprised if you don’t see a wear ring from being closed. This winter plate, never seen one for a Mooney but assume it only partially covers the cooler? Others I’ve seen were that way. I know several that Winter fly in the NWT etc and end up blocking the cooler even more than the winter kit does, and I know of more than one that has put a cable adjustable damper on the exit air of the cooler so they can adjust it in flight, but that’s an unsupported Mod so I wouldn’t suggest that, but using aluminum foil HVAC tape is also not legit, but I know it’s very frequently done too. But bottom line if the oil is the proper viscosity for the temps and it’s not turning milky, and especially if analysis shows no water, what needs fixing?

I did once but it was self inflicted. Only thing I can figure is when I changed Vernatherms the gasket stuck to the engine because I had two gaskets on it. I was chasing what I thought was high oil temps and many hours later and bunches of money I finally discovered nothing was wrong, that 200F in cruise on a HOT day isn’t bad. You should see a slight shiny ring on the Vernatherm, but if your oil is always cold it’s very likely the Vernatherm never closes and may never fully seat, so in your case it’s likely you may not see that ring. See here’s the thing, a Vernatherm when it closes forces all oil flow through the cooler, so one that doesn’t seat well will cause high oil temp, not low oil temp, and you have low oil temp. Only way a Vernatherm could cause too cold oil temps is if it’s stuck extended and closed off the cooler bypass even when the oil is cold. When oil is cold oil bypasses the cooler AND flows through the cooler, that’s why the cooler keeps some cooling no matter how cold it is, but as the oil gets hot the Vernatherm extends, closing off the bypass and making all oil flow through the cooler. I have never seen a Vernatherm stick in the extended position, but it’s very easy to check, simply measure it’s length when room temp and removed. I think you won’t find anything wrong, but take heart because an engine that runs low oil temp is one with little blow-by as blow-by tends to heat the oil. I think if you want higher oil temps you will have to block air flow through the cooler, just ease into that of course.

Mechanics ARE limited, you are only allowed to work on what you have been trained for, and an A&P should self limit. I doubt many schools teach helicopters, or sadly wood and fabric anymore, and trust me modern composites are an entirely new “science” if you will, it’s a completely different animal that most older A&P’s should stay away from. Being ex Military I was exposed to composites, enough to realize how much I don’t know anyway. Mechanics are also only very lightly taught NDI, I was NDI level 3 at one point and can attest to that. Think about it, an A&P is HUGELY broad, it’s almost as if your PPL gave you the privilege to fly any existing aircraft, from a 1920,s wood and fabric tail dragger to a modern plastic pressurized turbine. So it is the A&P’s responsibility to know when to not work on an aircraft, for instance I’m allowed to do fabric, but don’t, I push that to the experts, same in all honestly with sheet metal. Last job I had an absolute sheet metal artist, he had no Certification, but with him around, why would I do sheet metal? So whether they realize it or not, but A&P’s self specialize, most of us of course see and know one that specialize in piston single engine land, but there are helicopter A&P’s and others that mostly do engine work etc. Way more than any other FAA license I’m familiar with the A&P is a license to learn, it doesn’t indicate an expert, that comes or not after years of experience. Way more often than not there are many un-certified people that are experts in one field that A&P’s should lean on and use. Welders for example, sure an A&P can legally weld, but compared to someone who Tigs every day for a living the average A&P is a hack at best. Saw a engine mount that had been reinforced IAW an STC the other day that I wouldn’t put on a airplane for example. I briefly worked as a contract oil field welder before the Army so I at least know what a good weld is supposed to look like. A good A&P knows their limitations, so when one says I can’t do this or that, be glad you have one that understands that maybe they are not a mechanics God, but they should be able to point you to an expert in that field. A&P’s are limited, for example except for minor things we aren’t allowed to touch a prop and it takes an IA to overhaul a supercharged or geared engine. In all honestly Turbines are simple things, a 100 yr old supercharged, geared Radial is not.

I stood up a Repair Station. I asked my Inspector why we issued Repairman Certificates, they weren’t good for anything, couldn’t be used outside of the Repair Station etc. and we didn’t do anything like that for the factory, of course the FSDO had zero authority over the factory, factory was MIDO’s concern. He gave me an honest answer, without the Cert he, meaning the FAA had no jurisdiction over them, so we issued Certs so that the FAA could if needed enforce their rules on the individual. Same person working in the factory, the FAA had no jurisdiction on them personally, they did the factory of course, but not the individual. All of my Repairmen also worked in the factory and I brought them ove to the Repair Station as needed. He went on to further explain that if he found a person flying an aircraft that had never as a min gotten their Student Pilot cert, that he couldn’t do anything, and if that ever happened they were told to call the local Sheriff who could he guessed write a ticket for operating a motor vehicle in an unsafe manner. I didn’t ask but assumed that maybe that had happened with Ultralights? But whether or not they had a Repairman’s Cert or not the FAA wanted a job book kept if a person wanted to test for A&P, a sort of mechanics logbook with tasks and dates, that would show experience. Being able to show a book that had many tasks of both engine and airframe is a compelling argument.

The intent of the OJT route is “in my opinion” to allow those with Military experience and those who have worked full time for a few years under the supervision of a Certified mechanic to become Certified. It’s a progression very similar to other trades in becoming a Journeyman Pipefitter, Welder, Machinist etc. I think it’s going to be tough to go that route if your experience is working on your own aircraft and your intent is to do your own Annuals. I would suggest if that’s your intent that you don’t state that at the interview. FSDO’s at least in theory have surveillance on each IA and A&P and they don’t want large numbers of IA’s and A&P’s who aren’t Professionals as in do the job daily for a living. The Regulation plainly states that you can renew your IA if you attend 8 hours of approved and documented training per year, but I’ve had one at least refuse to renew me on the basis that if I didn’t do x number of major alterations or repairs or four Annuals or one Progressive per year that I wasn’t actively engaged, because they don’t want part time IA’s or A&P’s for that matter, although an A&P is like a pilots certificate in that you hold it forever. Have an A&P for two years I believe and you can apply for your IA and of course IA is the logical progression for someone wanting to do their own work, because then they can do their own Annuals and approve Major repairs and Major Alterations. For most Aircraft Maintenance is a Profession and many Professionals take a dim view of anyone trying to certify in their Profession as a hobby. Having said that, every inspector is different and they all have different opinions. If you can become friends with one it’s not uncommon for them to assist you.

Understood, but any turbo adds a significant amount of temp to the oil. Before I started modifying the aircraft I’d first ensure I had a problem. Yes I know up in the Great White North it’s been common practice forever to block off cooler airflow to get oil temps up to normal. I live in Florida, and my J oil temp runs the bottom of the green in Florida temps, in a hard climb with cyl head temps higher than I like the oil temp still isn’t halfway. I know you don’t have a J, but would think if I were up there with you my oil temp would be low too. What we need of course is an oil cooler cowl flap, I would have expected an STC’d one by now, but I guess people are happy with tape and block off plates. Usually as a general statement the factory oil temp sender is located after the oil cooler and any aftermarket indicator uses it’s own sensor often located in the oil galley on the block, but still after the cooler and before the turbo and often the aftermarket temp will run higher than factory, but it should show a different temp, if not I’d be suspicious. The testing is as simple as putting the tip of the sensor in boiling water. I had one customer that spent thousands of dollars on an oil temp problem on his turbine, and I went out to help and found it was just a sensor error. I knew when I turned on the battery on a cold engine and his oil temp was 60C or something similar. If both of your instruments use one sensor, it’s possible. I think if I were you I’d have the oil analyzed at oil change to determine moisture content, if it’s high then I’d proceed with tape etc to raise it. I’m not normally a big fan of oil analysis as people try to use it as an engine analysis, but for determining the condition of the oil it’s an exceptional tool as that’s in its name of course.