TheMooneyAnomaly

Thank you! Very happy.

The right horn of the yoke is blocking a few switches (pitot heat and lights), left horn blocking some power related switches.

The FAR and Advisory Circular 45-2E were examined and this meets the requirements.

Hi, Friends! After a year of panel, interior, powertrain, and other updates, I have finally picked my 67 (68) M20F up from the final major planned maintenance - paint. Mural artist Matt Kress, in conjunction with Ace Aircraft Refinishing in Bartow KBOW, extended his artwork to an airplane for the first time. After a brief planning discussion, all artistic control was given to Matt... and one rule - I was NOT allowed to receive any visual updates (my idea). The 'unveiling' was this weekend and I could not be happier! Allow me to introduce "Anomaly."

Hi, Glen! I just texted you from a 401 number about the tug. Still have it?

That one has been on my mind. This still irritates me. Why was flight #1 perfect? Switch tanks on ground just after start for flight #2. Could that have dislodged things, like someone noted earlier? I didn't make any aggressive moves and my takeoff was gentle... so I don't think it was uniquely capable of dislodging debris, compared to the prior flight. It will be interesting to get fuel contamination ruled in/out when we get the lab results. They do not tell us what is in the fuel, but they will tell us characteristics of the fuel vs. what it should be.

Here's the non-beta version - maybe this will work: https://apps.savvyaviation.com/my-flights/36423/336a77a8-b519-46e4-8a28-f01dac905873

Understood. Fuel flow was lower than it should be but not apocalyptically horrific. Maybe we will learn more with the cylinders 3 & 4 inspections as well as the fuel & oil lab tests.

Quite possibly, but I suspect he was not watching. Unrelated note - He only took over servicing of this aircraft 2 weeks before the incident flight. His checklist now include inspecting for rust in steel components and inspection of every...single...screen. He is a very smart dude with an excellent memory... and clearly an honest person and person of integrity. He has my trust.

Agreed! I’ll DM you. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you!

Mooney Family! I have some good news! The primary mystery is solved - the likely cause! When the engine was overhauled last year, the prior owner declined servicing the fuel system. That is one of the dominos in this chain. My mechanic, after a number of inspections at the engine area, began training from the fuel & fuel tanks-forward. Approximately in order: Fuel - out to the lab, awaiting word. Airframe fine mesh screen - no debris. Fuel selector/gascolator - No debris, clean screen, nothing out of the ordinary. Elbow before electric fuel pump - INTERIOR RUSTING Electric fuel pump - INTERIOR RUSTING Elbow after electric fuel pump - INTERIOR RUSTING Coarse screen filter after fuel pump - no debris Fine mesh screen inside fuel servo - BINGO. Significant amounts of fine rust particles, sufficient enough to significantly and variably reduce fuel flow. Combine this with the fact that we went to higher-flow air filter (PowerFlow Challenger K&N style) and higher-flow exhaust (PowerFlow) - increased air flow. Secondary mysteries are: Why was the prior flight ok? Total extent of damage. So it seems that this aircraft had sat with water at times and may not have been regularly sumped by the prior owner... who also saved several hundred dollars, leading to a situation that caused loss of effective engine function, potential loss of life, and significant costs. As my mechanic feels that he should have spotted this, he is covering all labor, cylinders, pistons, rods, bearings, bolts. I am voluntarily covering a couple overhaul items, noted below. Plan: Oil has been sent to the lab Oil filter paper portion sent to the lab Fuel from each tank separately sent to the lab Cyls 1 & 2 turning into trophies for the fireplace Cyls 3 & 4 going out for inspection Bearings being inspected right now. May be some marks in the babbit material. Replace mechanical fuel pump (precautionary) Overhaul electric fuel pump Inspect and replace all connectors and elbows that may contain rust Overhaul fuel servo (precautionary)

I just asked St. Pete Air avionics shop. Their reply: "The STC and Permission letter would be obtained by whoever is installing it. Typically this would be readily available for a vendor of the manufacturer, but I assume they can be obtained from Stratus." So maybe you can check with Stratus and/or an avionics shop.

Thanks. I think this is the most ungrateful I've ever been after surviving a potentially fatal event. Ha!!

Two mechanical mags

We did this and the paper was residue-free The mystery remains but fuel from each tank ships to a lab today along with oil.

It was re-weighed the morning of the incident flight. Wait, it may have been the day before. Gotta re-check fuel receipt date. They had to add 6 gallons to top-off, so that is suspect and I'm looking for surveillance footage. Another strange thing - the weight came out to exactly the same weight as when an alternator replaced a generator 6 years before I bought it... which doesn't seem right.. as it should have lost 20 to 30 lbs, so maybe they had a bad weight at some point and just did math on bad numbers from that point on.

The fuel tanks were filled for fuel sender calibration a couple of months ago. No incidents on field or trouble in compass swing or prop balance runs. 6 gallon top-off morning of incident flight, allegedly to both tanks, though. Fuel truck numbers line up for avgas but I'm asking an adjacent hangar for surveillance footage as I see they have a camera. No other incidents on field.

The fuel tanks were filled for fuel sender calibration a couple of months ago. No incidents on field or trouble in compass swing or prop balance runs. 6 gallon top-off morning of incident flight, allegedly to both tanks, though. Fuel truck numbers line up for avgas but I'm asking an adjacent hangar for surveillance footage as I see they have a camera. No other incidents on field.

Thanks for the breakdown. Does fuel contamination typically mean water, low octane, and/or Jet-A mixed in? Are there other considerations? The fuel from each wing will be sent to the lab in separate containers for separate tests. Forgot to mention in the post that the successful flight earlier in the day was on the right tank only, and my flight attempt was on the left tank only, switched to left immediately after engine start. I'll update the post.

Hello! St. Pete Air avionics shop here at KSPG in St. Petersburg, Florida removed my Stratus ESG system as I did a complete panel with all-Garmin products. The components are yellow tagged by the avionics shop and were all in working condition when removed from my M20F this summer. Feel free to reach out here or in message if interested! Cheers!

Thanks for your reply. Glad you were able to save yourself & your engine!

The engine shop, Tim's Aircraft Engines in California, warrantied the motor itself against workmanship issues and defects. I had 10 days left in the warranty period (since install). This is almost definitely not that... and almost definitely an excessive lean condition caused by components outside of the motor itself

This is a sad and frustrating one. Bought my 1967 (1968 serial) M20F in December. The last 5 months, it spent most of its time in the avionics shop getting a beautiful upgrade, all Garmin - G3X, 355, GFC500, radio panel, second radio, transponder, G5, new panel itself. Bruce Jaeger installed the Mooney Spatial interior and reconditioned my upper plastics. A local upholstery shop made beautiful new seats. Mechanic installed new PowerFlow exhaust, side windows, hockey pucks, steering horn, and more. - break - Thursday, the aircraft had its first post-maintenance flight. That afternoon, my mechanic and a CFI took it out for a beautiful ~30 min flight. The 14 month old (overhauled) 80 hour 200hp IO-360 A1B motor did a great job. So did the avionics. They both came back with great reviews and the avionics FDR showed fantastic numbers. Three hours later, I took it out for a solo run. Soon after takeoff, I noticed my climb performance wasn't all that great and my temps were rising. I should have turned around immediately - please believe me that I have self-roasted enough on this one. It took me maybe a full minute to decide to head back - and I didn't even take the most immediate route back, making a big fat pattern. Again, I've roasted myself plenty so please be gentle with me... though I did at least make it back to the runway. My climb performance, over the course of a couple of minutes, went from +250fpm to -350fpm with speeds below 100mph. My altitude capped out at 700 ft. I'll let these Savvy charts and comment from Savvy detail the actual stats. 4 SavvyAnalysis charts posted in the images below - 2 of the pre-incident flight, showing great numbers. 2 of the incident flight, showing nightmares. The only difference is that the second table in the images I alternate between altitude & airspeed in one, fuel flow & fuel pressure in the other. You'll see that the temps were basically fine while rolling down the runway... but almost immediately got out of hand in the air. CHT temps ran away, likely causing the oil temp runaway, likely causing the low oil pressure. Fuel flow wasn't amazing but it was livable. Manifold pressure was plenty. Analysis from Savvy: Cyls 1 & 2 suffered a pre-ignition likely detonation event from an overly lean mixture, suggest carefully checking for any debris/dirt in the #1 and #2 injectors. Max FF is a bit low but okay and likely not yet calibrated, so FF may indicate a bit lower than actual till k-Factor is properly calibrated. CHTs 1 & 2 above redline for 7 min peaking to CHT2 737F and CHT1 680F Oil temp above redline by 55F for 6 min peaking at 297F Oil pressure below limits for 7 min, dropping to 46 psi What the team has reported, thus far: No intake blockage. No intake leaks. No exhaust blockage. Running the fuel pump with the injectors sticking in cups showed equal and consistent flow, indicating injector blockage unlikely. White paper test showed no easily discernible signs of Jet A. Exhaust tubes for cylinders 1 & 2 dyed blue from heat. Intake tubes for 1 & 2 show heat damage near the heads. Cylinders 1&2 show obvious signs of detonation. Pistons 1&2 appear sand-blasted. Left mag 25 degrees. Right mag 27 degrees. The successful flight earlier in the day was entirely operated on the right fuel tank; immediately after start-up, I exclusively ran on the left fuel tank. This introduces some suspicion on whatever was coming from the left fuel tank. The cause itself remains unknown. The mystery is driving me mad. The (probable) loss of a sub-100 hour engine is driving me mad. And the flight itself attempted to kill me. The current plan: Send fuel from each tank to the lab for anlysis Drain the oil into a 5 gallon pail with a paint strainer or 1000 micron (or tighter) screen. Observe the debris. Observe the oil. Glittery silvery oil is typically fine aluminum and may not have damaged other components. Chunkier metal flakes are usually steel and will have damaged other engine components. Do not discard the oil. Send oil to the lab for analysis Scope all 4 cylinders. Detail the condition of each cylinder, piston, valve. Since there was detonation, pull connecting rods and check the bearings (start with the hottest ones). The bearing insert will tell you if there is contamination. They would be impregnated with foreign material. If the bearings and oil are not a mess, discard #1 and #2 cylinders, replace. If questionable, discard #1 and #2, send #3 and #4 for inspection If bearings and oil look bad, send entire engine out Check age and inspect interior of all fuel hoses in all areas, including from tank, connections to the transducer, fuel splitter, etc. Also check for blockage and debris. Inspect inside the fuel flow divider. We have seen debris in there that affects 2 or 3 cylinders - or sometimes just 1 cylinder but it changes cylinder from time to time. Inspect fuel tanks for debris, growth, contamination, etc. Inspect fuel servo. Pull finger screen from servo, inspect. Inspect all screens. Pull the manifold off and inspect. Mechanic wants to do some ground runs before tearing things down. I'm really upset about this. Everything was beautiful and perfect... and just seconds into my first flight in this aircraft in months... the engine tore itself up. The financials of this will be a significant challenge... and if we never get the root cause mystery solved, then how do I know that anything is resolved? Just groaning out loud at this point after multiple nights of terrible sleep.

Hello! I just donated. Thank you for keeping this forum online!