N9136V

There weren't any changes to control surfaces during painting - other than removal, paint, balance, reinstall. As far as Trauma, there was a gear up back in the early 70's. There's also a small patch on the trailing edge of the r/h aileron - evidence of a bit of hangar rash. I'll be doing an oil change this week, and will study everything in it's current configuration on the plane a bit further. I don't intend to make any changes until I get a set of rigging boards, but I may be able to discover where the problem(s) may likely be. Vincent Bozik

I've got about 30 hours on the engine now. Per the overhaulers recommendations, I'm going to send them an oil sample, change the oil, pull the suction screen, etc. The last time I pulled the suction screen on this thing, I learned how much of a PITA getting the suction screen out can be. There's a bracket that comes off the back of the prop governor that prevents just pulling the suction screen out. The purpose of the bracket is to attach the throttle and mixture cables to. Any of you have some advice on making it a little easier to get that stinkin' screen out? If I recall correctly, it was easier to remove both cables from the bracket, and then pull the bracket. I think I made the attempt to pull the screen without removing the cables and only removing the bracket, and eventually pulled the cables from the bracket, likely spending twice as much time on the whole process fighting the cables. I spoke with my primary mechanic yesterday about the current oil consumption and whether or not to change to multi-viscosity. Going up to Manassas, I burned slightly less than half a quart in three hours (over six hours a quart). However there was a good bit of turbulence on the trip up. Coming back, I burned about a quarter of a quart. The return trip means that it's about a quart in every 12 hours. Flew for 1.9 hours today, and will check the oil levels tomorrow to see what it looks like. He says that it's likely time to make the switch, but I didn't inform him of the difference in the flight up and the flight back. Thanks, Vince B.

I posted the same to the Mooney Tech list: Flying up to Manassas last week gave me the opportunity to test a few things out and make a few observations in some stable air. Here's what I've got: During Climb out and Cruise, the right wing flies low. During Cruise, the TC ball is very slightly off center to the right (no rudder input). During Climbout, the ball is about half a ball off to the right (which I would expect is normal). Trimmed in level flight, Looking back at the tail, the r/h elevator shows about half an inch of counterweight above the stabilizer. The L/H is about flush. In other words, the r/h elevator is a bit "nose down" relative to the left hand elevator. Trimmed in level flight, the R/H aileron counterweight sits below the top of wing. The L/H aileron counterweight is about flush. Again, R/H wing is low and PC is maintaining heading. Disconnecting the PC by pulling the button out produces a very noticeable roll to the left. During Turbulence, the airplane has a tendency to roll/change heading to the left. I'll assume that this is due to the lag in the PC and the Left Roll Tendency of the aircraft as it is currently rigged. On the ground, there is very little slop between the r/h and l/h elevator, AND the elevators appear to be closely aligned. Looks like there is very good reason to rig this pig. To my knowledge, there have been no past attempts to rig this plane. There is evidence, however, of an attempt to correct that the Left-Wing-Heavy condition - there R/H aileron trailing edge appears to have been bent down a bit. In my typical fashion, I'm going to attempt to do the rigging. I've been reviewing the rigging procedures, and know of a few places that I can get travel boards from. I'd appreciate hearing from any of you who have done control rigging on your planes, or have had others do control rigging on your plane, to learn from your experiences. Vincent Bozik 1969 M20C N9136V KAHN