Medflyer

Good morning fellow Mooney drivers! Have received great responses about the replacing of the windows and found a shop to take care of it. Now they are asking the hard questions. Thicker versus thinner panes (I don’t recall the exact thickness). I imagine thicker panes windows means less noise and less tendancy to crack? Also…vented pilots and co-pilots windows. Oversized vents or normal size? I have scoured my POH for operating limitations, ie…can they be opened and closed during flight and cannot find any reference to it. So…lack of reference means no limitation? seriously, you guys have been great on this forum and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Bill

Fritz, Thank you for the reply and Hawk actually painted the plane back in 2018 and it still looks great! I did get a quote from them and shopping around a bit in my more local area.

My '67 M20F has developed a nose shimmy over the last couple of months. I'm new to the Mooney world so of course I looked for a non existent shimmy dampner. It's in annual now and I told my mechanic to take a look at it. Up on jacks there is a bit of "wiggle" play in the nosewheel. He said that Laser (I'm not quite sure what that is) does not make parts any more to be able to fix it. Has anyone had an issue like this and how did you go about fixing it? Again, as always, thank you in advance for the replies!:) Bill

Sorry to hear about the loss of you stepfather, men like him are a very rare breed indeed! The paint shop that did the job back in 2018 did a fantastic job of smoothing and painting over the rivets. I don't think there is another way around removing that fairing without messing up the paint

My F Model Mooney developed a crack on the left side of the windscreen to which my local mechanic stop drilled. I inquired about replacing the windscreen and it looks like a fairing right in front of the windscreen has to be removed. The plane has a great paint job but the paint on the fairing has to be destroyed to get to the rivets to be able to remove the windscreen. Does anyone have a lead on a shop that can take care of replacing the windscreen and repainting the fairing as well? I live in the Nashville area and a shop in the Atlanta area would work as well. As a side note, all of my windows have a small crack or two so might as well get them all replaced at the same time. Thank you in advance for the responses. Bill

I've had my M20F now for about 9 months and a recurring problem is that birds LOVE building a nest in the tail section of the plane where the elevator and rudder come together. It's a tight fit for my hand to clean it out so I'm thinking prevention is a better cure than cleaning everytime. I have thought about threading a towel in that space but cringe at the thought of a rainstorm soaking the towel...and then imaging a wet towel taking days to dry as it sits against control linkages. Has anyone came across or manufactured plugs to put in that gap in the back? Just seeing if people are having similar problems and what the solutions are that people are using

My cover for my plane gave up its life valiantly protecting my plane the other night in a windstorm (got ripped up). I have tried internet searching to buy a replacement but no luck in finding one for my specific model (M20F). Does anyone have a lead as to where I can buy a replacement…preferably one that can be customized my my tail number? Bill

Seriously, Thank you all for the replies, they are greatly appreciated! I figured there was more to the story than a 50 year old operator's manual! Rags, do you run your prop around 2,400....or are you a 2,500 guy?

Ragsf15e, Thank you for the reply. I generally fly in the 7,500-9,500 range with the prop at 2,500. The lean of peak is an interesting topic as well. The POH does give a max cruise and max efficiency mixture setting, however, they are both on the rich of peak side, one at 100 degrees and the other 25 degree rich of peak. Is it common practice to operate lean of peak when the POH only uses rich of peak? When you mention the airflow at WOT is at the most efficient, what do you mean? Airflow through the engine?

After flying about 100 hours in my '68 M20F I am starting to get the feel of the plane and where it likes to fly as far as MP and RPM. Looking at the performance charts in the POH and experiencing real life makes me question the WOT technique. I don't have the POH beside me so the numbers may be a bit off...but the premise is there. By dropping the MP down to 22" yes, I'll lose about 6 knots of IAS, however, that brings the fuel burn down from 14 to 10 GPH. I can understand Ricky Bobby wanting to go fast (if you aint first, you're last) mentality...believe me, that's why I went with the Mooney in the first place...but shaving 4 GPH at the expense of 6 knots or so seems to be a great trade-off. So a three hour trip is now a 3 hour and 10 minute trip saving around $60 in fuel (at $5/gallon). Just seeing what others think about this. Have a great day and safe flying!!

DC CCarlton Those interior panels look very nice! I tried googling Plane Plastics Interior Panels thinking that was the name of the company but no hits came up. Who did you buy those panels through?

Thank you for the replies, currently on the road now and will check things as you all mentioned. Especially helpful is the detail of the mechanisms and that the outer handle is adjustable! Hoping it’s that simple as adjusting that rod.

Hello everyone, just bought a beautiful 1968 Mooney 20F that has brought me into the aircraft ownership world. Every once in an awhile I have issues opening the door from the outside. I have seen a previous thread about this that was posted some time ago and I don’t believe the cause of the issue is the same. It feels to me as I open the door latch that the clasps/pins are not opening all the way. There have been no problems opening the door from the inside so that leaves me baffled a bit. Has anyone else had this issue?