Bigdaddie

In most airliners (Airbus is a different animal) our company uses half the steady state and all the gust up to 15kts. 15kts is a lot in a Mooney. I like the previous reference to Richard Collins; I'll have to check that out. Landing any airplane is easy using the following technique: minimum rate of decent at touchdown. No, I'm just being a smart a**.

I lean to the point where EGTs just start to move. I don't notice much difference in CHTs but the fuel burn comes down a lot.

First power up of the new panel. Still about a month from flying.

So who has installed an EarthX battery and what do you think?

I think I have more hours on my starter motor than on the engine. IF you miss that first kick at a hot start, let the games begin. I do all the tricks like run the fuel pump for 30 sec, etc. The ONLY trick that works every time is to flood it and do the old full throttle and mixture cut-off start. I hope that the SureFly with the extra spark energy will help. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I have brand new mags complements of Kelly Aerospace. They had 300hrs but failed inspection, so kudos to Kelly for stepping up and replacing for free out of warranty. I just wish someone like e-mag would get an STC with a fully self-contained solution. But for now, SureFly looks like a great product. Let me know how they perform.

Do you notice any difference in performance? How about the dreaded hot start? Steve

In airliners or GA airplanes, I rarely check the position of the landing gear handle on final. It's usually a check of the gear indication (annunciator and floor indication on the Mooney) and that's it. BUT, I do like your idea of checking the gear handle in addition of the other two. I have yet to gear up land....... Y E T......

I should have given more information about this. We are looking at moving the switch, retaining the factory switch, override and wiring, from the top of the panel to probably left of the throttle. Numerous manufacturers place the gear handle here. It is WAY far away from the flap switch (these are not Bonanzas!). The IA I spoke with is a well respected Mooney guy, but he has his strong opinions. The Mooney service center where I have my annuals done did not think it would be an issue. It would suck to have to make a new panel over this issue. Steve

We are filling our panel with lots of $$$$. Space is precious. We are thinking of moving the gear switch so as to provide space for those pretty TV screens. Has anyone done this and have you had any pushback from an IA saying you can't modify the gear switch? Steve

Here's a 231 POH.

These are almost identical to the numbers I get. I also use about 30" and 2400RPM LOP with FF being in the 9.5-10 GPH range.

I am doing a complete avionics upgrade and removing my KFC200. I was planning on selling the autopilot complete, but if you get into a jam, I can sell you the roll servo. Steve

LyCon does some trick stuff such as porting and flow matching. I had them do this on my LongEz O235 and it was good for 10-15HP increase.

This happened to me also. Cleaned the up limit microswitch and all was well. I subsequently changed the microswitch.

So, the question is replace or do not replace? My spring has 2,000hrs on it. Is it worthwhile to replace it or just continue with a known good part? I hate doing preventative maintenance on an item that may create a problem. Any time you open up a system, be it cleaning fuel injectors or landing gear, you create a potential problem by doing maintenance on an item that worked perfectly. Any thoughts?

I don't think I'd try to save money on an engine. That's like buying an overhauled artificial heart. For my money, LyCon in Visalia, CA is probably the nations premier engine builder these days.

I've been having problems with the right bank cylinders running hot. The right cowl flap was tightly closed and took about 1" of ajustment on the rod to get 1/2" open. I adjusted the cowl flaps to 1/2" open and well see what I get. I'll report back after flying.

10% to watch and 20% to "help."

Well, I made the deposit almost a year ago with a target date of October 2022. The Landon’s (Jeff, Kerry and the kids) are awesome people. The delay was due to me in part. I was willing to wait until they had the equipment in hand and had a spot for my airplane. I have a June 12th date “set in concrete.” Jeff has been great in keeping my old panel going by swapping one of his ADI and Nav radios into my plane at no cost. Lancaster is only about an hour’s flight away, which is nice. I’m also based in Los Angeles for Delta so I can stop by and “help” them on my drive home to the central valley. Dick Rutan and I think the SpaceShipOne program used them as they are close to Mojave. Dick responded to my email and vouched for the high quality of Jeff’s work. Bottom line is avionics shops are swamped. I got quotes from as far away as Florida but most of the shops made me feel like they were doing me a favor to possibly take $120k of my money. I’ve never felt this way at High Desert.

My K is going into High Desert Avionics in Lancaster on June 12th for almost exactly the same panel layout.

Got them installed the other day. I was misquoted the price from Skybolt the first time. I got the adjustable receptacles, fasteners, and retainers as a package for like $10ea. They work great and have a wide range of adjustments.

Hey Art, I mean George, or whatever, do the heads of the fasteners look freakishly small? I just got mine from SkyBolt and the entire head are the phillips slots.

I was going to go with the adjustable receptacle so I could keep all the studs the same BUT the adjustable receptacles are like $50/EA! This was a project I was going to do myself, but I may just pony up the $$$ and let ArtCraft do the cowling repairs and install the fasteners. After all, once I “fix” it, the cost will probably be 2-3X to "fix my fixes." That’s how I roll Steve

Tom, That is just a Skybolt Camloc inserted directly into the fiberglass cowling, correct? No gromet? Steve

I generally just use it when the master is on for prolonged periods. I'll give it try and see if it starts when I go out to the hanger.