redbaron1982

Yep, I'm planning on renew it that way if there is no certain date for the airplane to be airworthy again.

Thanks guys for the responses. It seems that insurance goes between 2k and 4k for more "normal" conditions. That some way comforting because this will be a temporary situation for me. As soon as I get the airplane I expect to put around 150 hours per year. So after first (second) year it should go down at least a half with IR + ~150 hours in make/model.

Yeah, regarding being safe, I am quite aware of the risks and my limitations, so I will go very slowly, have been practicing for a year in a PC simulator just to get used to importance of checklist (i.e. not landing gear up) and also I'm getting my instrument rating as way of add another layer of safety (not much planning of using the extra flexibility to fly in weather conditions). So I'm quite confident that I will approach this the right way. Maybe reducing the hull value is a good idea, as may main concern for the insurance at the beginning is not losing the aircraft but being broke because of the property damage I can inflict in others).

Hey guys, I know this has been a recurrent topic here. I'm a bit concerned regarding insurance costs. I'm renewing and the quotes are coming around 7k/8k per year. A few things to have more context: Although I had own my M20J for almost a year now, I haven't got to fly it yet. Horror movie first annual right after buying it, still working to have it fixed. So in my case 0 time make and model. I don't have my Instrument Rating yet. I'm almost there (waiting for the check ride to be scheduled). 150 hours TT In this scenario, I'm getting 8k/year quotes. For a hull value of 170k and 100k/1M personal/property damage. What rates are you saying in a more favorable scenario? Meaning with let's say over 100 hours make/model and instrument rating?

I don't know if I should be worried or not, but in the flight school where I did my private and instrument rating almost all aircraft have those kinds of "dents" in the control surfaces. And they keep flying like that, not even repaired.

I haven't paid attention to how small the power loss was. I completely agree that for that small amount and for all the factors involved and measurement errors, both power settings can be considered as producing the same power output. Great answer Skip!

But then again, the M20J POH indicates that at 2400RPM and 22.8inHg both at best power and economy the engine produces the same power and the aircraft flies at the same TAS. The only difference is that with economy mixture it burns 12% less fuel. So I don't think I was confused, just didn't understand why it was that.

Thanks @carusoam for the detailed explanation. I'll get the engine manual to see if I can have a more complete picture. I think my error is to consider best power as if it was actually more power, if you do 65% of nominal you don't have best or worst power, you just have the same with different operating conditions of the engine (hotter or cooler).

These are pictures from the M20J POH.

Since I did my PPL training I have a dumb doubt I can not find an answer to. Why we can best power mixture "best power"? Looking at the M20J power schedule at 65% (is the same for all, just to put an example), there is no difference between best power and economy: same rpm, same mp, same power, same TAS. The only change is fuel flow, from 9.2gph to 10.7gph. I get that the engine runs cooler with richer mixture, but why call it best power of it gives you the same power? Am I missing anything here?

I don't want to judge the pilots decisions, never been in a situation like that and don't know what tricks your mind can play on you, but it is shocking how he didn't land in any of the alternatives he had. If he as descending already with one tank dry, he could have safely land at KCTK, south of his flight path. When he declared, at 2.5kft he could have landed in 5LL5, a grass strip 1800ft long. Was north of his flight path, less than a mile away. I'm a relatively "young" pilot (in flight time) so I still do my homework for every flight, which includes looking around the airports of intended landing/takeoff for plan b's if something goes south while descending or climbing. Having the plan b in mind already usually speeds up decision making quite a bit. I wonder if with experience, complacency kicks in and thorough planning goes away.

Yes, oil should have no more than 10 hours on it. I didn't know about the dehydration plugs, otherwise I think I would had ask the shop to put them.

Hi all, On December last year I bought a Mooney M20J, and since then it has been a nightmare. Annual inspection took 4 months, and found wing spar corrosion and the shop was not able to fix it. So 1 month to ferry it to Don Maxwell. And now at Don Maxwell they are waiting for the part from Mooney that is supposed to be ready by end of August and the repair will end up by end of September. All in all, the airplane will have been sitting for 10 months (hopefully not more), with a few runups during the annual and for 2 days when it was ferried from Boston to Longview. What to expect when I finally get the airplane back? My main concern is if this will end up in a shorter engine life (corrosion due to the engine not running) or any other thing. Also any adivse on the best way to bring it back to regular flying would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hope didn't help in this one, this is the second big item that was not caught in a 17 hours pre buys inspection performed 2 weeks before, by the same shop that is now doing the annual. First finding, stub wing spar cap corrosion, still trying to figure out how much and who can do the job, but's going to be around 15k. This one, between 1.7k and 3k. MSC service is crap, at least this one. Now I'm in mode "I need to get this finished" and not complaining much, they have been performing the annual for almost 2 months already (they started on Dec 20th). Still they haven't given me a clear completion date for all the finding, and they are still coming up with "surprises". Anyway, this is already off topic, but I'm quite disappointed and feeling hopeless with this shitty shops.

Hi all, Sorry to make a silly question, but I couldn't find the answer online. What's the cost of a brand new magneto for the IO-360 A3B6D? My endless first annual now says that the magneto case is cracked, they are quoting me 1600usd to replace the case + whatever it cost to repair any damage part inside, or 2900usd for a overhauled part. A quick search for magnetos for IO 360 but other model give me a total cost of 1000usd aprox. Is the shop ripping me off?

Hi all, Hoping to get the annual on my newly acquired Mooney wrapped up soon, and having found corrosion on the wing spar cap, I'm starting to look for shop to do the repair (basically replace or if possible repair the RH stub wing spar lower cap. I prefer a shop in Texas, as I live in Houston, so far, I have this in mind: Don Maxwell Dugosh Swta.net Is there anyone else I should consider? I've contacted all of them, the best price so far was from Don, Swta.net requested for more pictures, that I've sent, but they never replied even after a couple of emails. So, again, the "winner" so far is Don, but I'd like to make sure I've explore all the possibility for this big ticket repair.

Fuel tank sealer would be the POR 15 fuel tank sealer?

And how you avoid that? Just not using stripper on the seams and removing the paint with scotch brite or something similar?

I have one more doubt I forgot to mention, my mooney has TKS, what's the correct way to protect it will doing this touch ups? I read that they are quite sensitive to clogging. I'm sure regular masking type my not be a good idea to cover the TKS on the leading edges.

Hey! Thanks all for the feedback! It's reassuring knowing that I don't have dumb ideas! I think with the comments here I will go more with the stripping option more than the physically removing the paint. As of color matching, the wings (most concerning part right now) are all white, so I although I need to match the right white anyway, it's not as hard as a more complex pattern

Hey, that looks great! So, we could say that is the result of an "amateur" job? Don't misinterpret it, it looks really good. Just one to understand if that's the result of a paint shop work or not.

Hi all, While a wait for my recenlty acquired M20J to get to it's new airport (now under annual, and then some major wing spar cap corrosion repair) I'm trying to make a plan on what I'm going to do it (when I'm not flying!). Maybe because of this early experience with corrosion, and being the exterior paint not in great condition, I'm planning on doing some touch ups in all the areas where the paint is not ok. Main objective is to protect the aircraft, not to make it look great (although if I can make it look better it would be nice). I would like to do it myself, in a step by step approach, not all at once. I have a few questions: Is scotch brite a good way of removing loose paint on aluminum? Is ok to paint over existing paint? I don't know how much weight it can add to have an additional coat. As long as I stay away from control surfaces, is this something I can do on my own without an AP signing anything? My idea would be to, let's say take the left wing, go through all the areas where the paint is not ok, clean up the area, use scotch brite or similar to smooth the area and remove loose paint, treat the aluminum, and then paint over. I'm also evaluating paint the whole wing, just to improve the look. Then, at other time, move to the other wing. Then cowling, an so forth. At some point I would also do control surfaces, and for that I will get an AP to assist on removal, reinstalling and rebalancing them. So, what are you thoughts? Is this a good or bad idea? I know that sending the aircraft in for a full stripping and paint job is the ideal in term of results, but at this point I'm on a budget and don't want to spend north of 10k on this.

Hey, I was going to ask about the useful load gain by removing the vaccuum system, I've read two persons here mentioning 50lb by removing all the vaccuum system include the main and backup pump. I assume this factors in also the weight gain/loss of replacing the mechanical AI and HSI by the G5s. That's the number that we should expect by doing this upgrade/replacement? That makes going to G5s (or Gi275) even more intereseting. Regarding redundancing, I think having two G5s that can be one backup of the other, plus a Stratus+ForeFlight, is much more redundant than the original vaccuum with a single AI.

One off-topic recommendation, please make sure to discuss the detailed scope of inspection. I just had a major issue with an inspection that did not caught corrosion, and MSC are now seeing that I didn't ask for them to look for corrotion!

I think discussing who is to blame (if me or the shop) at this point has been already covered. I'm using AOPA services to guide me in possible solutions/compensations, but my main concern is getting the aircraft fixed and ready to fly again. Just as more context info, I requested the shop to do a prebuy and following that a annual inspection. The point was to due all the "inspection" part of the annual as part of the prebuy, and complete whatever was remaining (for instance wheel bearing service due or service the spark plugs) after the purchase. In the annual inspection report they stated: "Finish Annual inspection after Pre-Purchase." And also, at least verbally, they confirmed that during prebuy they opened or the inspection panels. Anyway, it could be as @JWJR mentioned, maybe the annual was done by a different mechanich, and that's why it came up. Also, I agree with @LANCECASPER that I have to value that they were honest in declaring the corrosion and also in saying that they are not able to repair it. So, at the end, they are not gaining anything with this. Also, they are helping me get the quotes from Don Maxwell and dugosh.com. Ando also they offered to help with the ferry permit. I'm not mad at them, nor I want to take advantage of the situation. I just want to try to come to an agreement that is fair. In my view, it is not fair for me to absorb all the cost of this. Anyway, if at the end there is no agreement and no legal way of getting a compensation of this, I will just move the page forward, enjoy the new aircraft, be 15k poorer but feeling confident with a safe airplane.