Dave Morris

I’ve known Monroe McDonald since the 1980’s as a ham operator I used to talk to every day on the way to and from work. I recognized his distinctive voice on the LiveATC recording. I flew in the BD-4 he built way back then and kept at a hangar in Addison in the days when you could afford one there . He was very familiar with the entire area around Addison. Most people may not know he’s the guy who proved with tufting that the airflow in an M20C is OUT of the oil cooler and had built a plexiglass duct to mount on front of the oil cooler intake hole to force the air to flow IN. The last ADS-B datapoint I saw showed a 1000fpm climb rate and a very slow ground speed. The accident occurred near the end of civil twilight IIRC. I’ll let the investigation play out. Rest in peace Monroe, K5DUS SK

News media confirm it was N1204X and I heard the LiveATC.net comms with Addison tower. It sounded like Monroe to me. Really sad. I met him in ham radio as K5DUS back in the 80's and rode in his BD-4 when you could still afford a hangar at Addison.

I think that's Monroe McDonald's plane. Gee I hope that wasn't him!

My 68C just got out of annual and on the first flight afterward, on climbout, my EI voice annuciator said the dreaded "Check Bus Voltage", and a quick glance showed 11.7V which meant my alternator quit. The JPI started resetting, and my Aspen also showed 11V and switched to internal battery power. I have had a generator fail in flight on my M20A over Santa Rosa NM and I flew just fine to Double Eagle II and had the mechanic replace an el-cheapo ring terminal that was probably original equipment, and I was on my way again. I wasn't at all stressed because I had been performing battery load tests and had a small chart with the current draw of each item in the cockpit, so I knew I had plenty of battery to make it to the airport. On this 68 C model however the alternator has about 600 hours on it since overhaul in 2007, so I'm thinking it's going to be more serious than just a flaky terminal. TO answer the original question, no I don't think you'll get any warning or indication of reduced voltage or anything like that. It may be a 500 hour inspection or replacement of the brushes and bearings may be the best preventive maintenance.

Bob Nuckolls debunks the old wives' tale about voltage spikes and about modern avionics not being able to handle an engine being cranked, but suggests anyone who is fearful just turn off the radios individually. The complexities of adding more switches and relays and stuff to invert the master switch are just more points of failure. The later Mooneys with an essential bus are the right way to go, but what's a 1968 airplane owner to do except try to eliminate single points of failure, because we all know that switches eventually fail. He has massive amounts of information on that web site for people building experimentals who want to have the most robust and modern electrical systems.

Or get rid of that thing that's a single-point-of-failure for your entire stack called the "avionics master switch". Here's what an avionics guru says about it: http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/avmaster.pdf

On my A model (N1960), the Britain Accu-Flite servos were mounted under the instrument panel, so no work required in the wing.

With regard to using the PTT at the same time as you are pressing the PC button, this will teach you to make short, crisp radio calls. "Terrell Traffic, Mooney final 18 Terrell". 2.49 seconds.

However, the O-360-A1A and A1D are NOT included, so the entire line of M20A through M20C are excluded from this list, the way I read it.

My plane is down for annual, but I'm driving in to socialize.

The early Mooney cowl is legendarily tight. I want to have a JPI fuel flow transducer mounted ahead of the carb, and both JPI and EI say to mount it on a length of hose, not directly to the carb. And if the transducer ends up higher than the carb, there's even supposed to be an upward loop in that hose. Do any of you have photos of a proper (working!) installation that I can use for reference when I talk to my A&P about creative routing options? (I think my A model actually had more space in the cowl to route those giant hoses!)

I just bought a C model that had sat in Las Vegas for 6 years unflown. It needed all new rubber and a new engine OH, despite still having several hundred hours left before MOH.

LED landing lights are not unapproved, they don't interfere with radios, and I don't believe they are controversial anymore. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pdf/parmetheus46stc.pdf https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/43.3 See paragraph g https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/appendix-A_to_part_43 See (c)(17)

After reading all this and watching the video, it strikes me that Vx climb puts you above the airport in a position from which you must make much steeper turns, 270, and then 90, and if you overshoot as the pilot in the video did, back and forth to line up with the runway again. A 40 degree banked turn adds 12mph to your stall speed. Maybe it's a good idea to think not in terms of "altitude is better" but rather how far out would I want to be in order that a best glide return to the runway can be accomplished without having to make dangerous maneuvers.