jwilkins

When I bought my first Mooney ('62 M20C) the seller (from Alabama) kept a blanket and a piece of flexible 3 inch plastic dryer vent in the plane for his wife. She would bundle up in the blanket, put one end of the heater hose on the heater output and stick the other end under the blanket. Moving the plane to upstate NY I needed a better heating solution. We did the following: 1. Replaced the door seal (helped a little) 2. Replaced the missing aluminum tape on the spar behind the seats, the various opening inside the nose wheel well, on the firewall seams to the nose gear housing, and under the side panels. Over the years the tape had been removed for inspections, or just fallen off and had not been replaced. This produced a significant difference in keeping the cabin warmer. The area behind the seats over the spar is supposed to be taped up to reduce air infiltration. There was residue showing where the tape had been, but no tape. 3. Replaced the rudder pedal control rod boots. This made a huge difference. The front of the boots were torn out and acting just like fresh air vents. If you looked at them the boots looked OK but they were completely open towards the firewall. I bought some inexpensive leather scraps from a local shop so that I would not have to find certified FAA certified material for fire burn. The new boots were fairly easy to sew up, but a real pain to install with the very small screws around the perimeter. I recently found the cardboard pattern for the boots if anyone would like it so you can perhaps make the new boots before you remove the old ones. 4. Checked to make sure the cables were adjusted properly to open the heat door vent. A slight adjustment was made to open the door completely. We couldn't tell any difference. After all this the heater would heat the cabin too much if you did not add significant cold cabin air to the heater air. Having said this, my C did not have a Turbo charger. If you check the comments about the M20 Turbo kits, one frequent comment was that the early kits resulted in poor cabin heat. I do not rememebr any comments about Ray Jay conversions so I do not know if the same issue applies. Jim

A friend from the FAA told me once that we need to be careful when reading the manufacturer's specs for speed, glide ratios, fuel burn, landing & take off distances, etc. He said the brand new airframe with a brand new engine, usually no extra antennas and flown by a factory test pilot who can 'feel' changes that the instruments cannot even detect, is not representative of what a typical owner piliot will get. Seeing what you get with your plane and technique is better than counting on 'book' figures. During one of the MAPA Safety foundation recurrent training flights in my former M20F we did best glide speed with engine at idle and the prop full forward, then prop full back. When the prop was full back the rate of descent was significantly less than when the prop was forward. I have never tried engine off simulated emergency procedures, just engine to idle, and 477T was one of those 'really good' airframes that had better than typical glide ratio and speeds. The difference on that plane was significant. I haven't tried it in the K yet. Jim

Turbo Cool Down, continued Continental recommends a cool down perioid for both normally aspirated and turbo engines, one reason is to allow stabilization of internal engine component temperatures. I will continue to follow the cool down period (5 minutes; I just don't have the patience to do 10). I guess I'm just too much of a conservative engineer to think that the manufacturer with probably 50 years of turbo experience does NOT know what they are doing. The temperature graphs are really interesting, but how do we know that the correct metrics are being monitored? Everyone is welcome to thier own opinion and to follow thier own operating procedures. but I wanted to post the link to the Continental tutorial. I agree there are WAY too many turbo engines for sale with SMO or STO at half recommended TBO. I ask myself how many times I have seen a pilot do a 5 minute ramp cool down (once or twice) and wonder if the frequent TOHs might be related. Ask me again in 3 or 4 years. Cheers everyone, and Happy Holidays! http://tcmlink.com/fiddefault.aspx?cgroup=MATTITUCK&cpagename=GOODHABITS Jim

Thanks to everyone who replied to this question. The safety wire cleared the vent. The only cocern I have now is if the clog will travel into the tank. I couldn't see anything in the vent and nothing came out with the safety wire. I used to keep a pipe cleaner in the old C vents to keep out the mud daupper wasps in NY. You could see the clog from the wasps as they plugged up the end with mud. I have no ida what this was but will check the vents. Again, Thanks to everyone! Jim

I'll get my wife to stick her ear in the fuel tank Saturday. Thanks for the reply. Jim

Gus, The cables for air vents, cabin air, and cabin heat are very prone to rusting and sticking. When I originally got my F the all these cables were stuck solid. It took a long time but I eventually got them all working freely. With patience you may be able to also. Here's what I did: I used spray Tri Flow and sprayed both ends of the cable, as well as the spiral metal outer jacket. On my F the spiral jacket did not have a plastic lining so the Tri Flow could eventually soak into the cable. Over a period of several weeks I would periodically soak both ends of the cable and the jacket, then wiggle the control knob as much as possible without stressing it (Judgement call here; I also gently tapped one with a small plastic hammer to get it unstuck and moving). On one of the cable that was really stuck I put the spray nozzle where the inner wire went into the outer jacker and wrapped it with aluminum foil and then electrical tape to try to force some Tri Flow further into the cable. It took several weeks and a lot of patience (which I typically am short on) but I was able to get all the cables working very easily. If I understood your post correctly you CAN get the vent open a little bit. That is great news as it has some motion and that motion can be used to eventually spread the lube further into the cable. I like Tri Flow but other penetrating fluids might work better. Once you get it working I'd use the Tri Flow. You really need to be patient and gentle as you don't want to break the cable and then get stuck HAVING to replace it to keep the door closed. Jim

If this had been my F I'd agree absolutely but the LR tanks with the gravity feed are new to me. I thought there might be some pull down from the LR tank to the main. I checked the paperwork on the LR tanks but there was not a detailed explanation of venting that I could find, just a statement that the LR tanks feed the mains by gravity. Since I made only a short hop from WVI to SNA there may have been some fuel left in the LR tank. Jim

It's been a month since you had the tire changed so it could be a puncture from FOD, debris in the tire when changed, or a pinched tube. If it blew out suddenly I'd tend to look for FOD on the runwy or taxiway puncturing the tire and tube. A shop I know and trust told me that about a quarter of the time they see a pinched or folded tube when they change a tire. Most often the fold is not leaking but could over time. If the tube is actually pinched between the tire and the rim it will probably blow out eventually. My first Mooney had a couple small stones and twigs inside the tire. Fortunately the stones were not that sharp edged. They made an impression on both the tube and tire but did not leak. We found them when we replaced the tire which was just plain worn out. It might be interesting to carefully examine the shreded remains to see if you can find the cause. It looks like there is not enough left to do much analysis with, but still might be interesting. Last week while parked on the ramp at KSNA my friend and I were picking up FOD from the ramp. Along with the 'normal' pebbles, cowl fasteners, and safety wire pieces we found two nails, two ball point pens, three sheet metal screws, and enough washers and odd parts to make a small pile. All within about 75 feet of the Mooney. I expect to see pebbles and aircraft parts on the ramp. The old rusty nails surprised me. We were parked over by the fence so the debris was probably blown into that corner by all the jets on the ramp. I'll bet the jets make a pretty good 'sweeper' for the main areas of the ramp and taxiways. By the way, Signature at SNA was really top notch. Jim

Last week I made a trip from Prescott to Watsonville (WVI) with a stop at Orange County on the way back for a meeting. While at Orange County I opened the right main fuel tank cap for a top-off. When I opened the cap on the right main tank there was an obvious and strong vacuum in the tank. Is this normal? This is a 1980 K with the LR tanks. The left tank did not have any vacuum that I noticed when I opened that fuel cap. I know the LR tanks feed the mains by gravity, but was surprised at the vacuum 'woosh' when I opened the cap. If the tanks are properly venting should any vacuum build up? Jim

Aviation Safety Flight Safety Flight Cheetah 190 (originally $1595) with Highway in the Sky option ($149) and WX XM data link receiver ($595). This is the newer Villiv display that replaced the Samsung Q1. http://www.aviationsafety.com/flight_cheetahfl190.html http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/fl210True2.php All working; subscription database ($199 from Aviation Flight safety is NOT up to date). If you have a pre-J mooney I can include a mount that replaces the clock mount in the pilot's control wheel. Not a perfect solution, but holds the display vertically on the pilot's yoke without clamping to the control wheel shaft. Total original cost $2399. Asking $1000 including UPS ground insured shipping in lower 48. I think this is fair as it is only $400 more than the WX receiver presently costs. I also have ahard wire power cord for the WX whcih was never installed. All original power cords, cigarette lighter adapters, etc included. You can buy a refurbished unit from Aviation Safety with the older Q1 display for $995. Total would be $995 plus $149 HITS plus $595 WX or $1739 but this includes the first year subscription. Jim

Does anyone know of a mount similar to a folding armrest that can be retro fit to the pilot's seat which could be used to hold an iPad / other display and then folded back when not required? I've tried putting the iPad on the yoke but it's just too big for me. The Aviation Safety Flight Cheetah display (viliv) was about as big as I can handle on the yoke. Fortunately the iPad wireless so it's not hard to pass back and forth or just put away temporarily but I think a folding armrest that could be used as a display mount would work well enroute. Jim

Quote: jetdriven http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6732264/Top-five-engine-myths-the.html

Quote: KSMooniac The Advanced Pilot Seminars course showed the data, and it may be included with my hard copy notes that are at home. They instrumented a turbo housing and it was glaringly obvious that it got warmer after touchdown due to the reduced airflow. The cool-down happens during the descent, approach and landing when you are operating at reduced power and have ample airflow. It makes perfect sense from an engineering standpoint as well. For the record, it doesn't get hot enough during the idle to do any harm, but it most certainly does no good. Kromer knows a LOT about Mooneys, but unfortunately he didn't know much about engine management when those articles were published. (nor did many other folks for that matter) The development of modern engine monitors and the great work by the folks at GAMI and APS have really enabled the busting of OWTs and increased the level of education of those that seek it out.

Quote: jetdriven The same group sees no problem running a 440 CHT in a 20C. Must still be in the green arc.....good to go. Times change and our interpretation must change along with it. http://www.mooneypilots.com/mapalog/M20C%20Evaluation/M20C_Evaluation_Report.html

Quote I agree with everything Jim wrote except item #5... that is an Old Wives Tale that has been de-bunked now with actual measured data. The turbo is at it's absolute minimum temperature when your wheels touch the runway, and every second after that point it gets warmer, especially when idling for 5 minutes while standing still. Jim's comments: I readliy admit that I don't have data and have not put instruments on the turbo. I'm new to turbos so I can't base any of my thoughts on years of actual experience like many long term turbo pilots. Here's where this cool-down thing came from: Both a former Mooney Factory pilot and a Mooney pilot / owner with thousands of turbo hours told me that everytime I come down from cruise I MUST allow five full minutes at reduced power for the turbo to cool down before shutting down. The story was that if you don't the oil can overheat and 'coke' in the turbo contributing to early failures. As I said, I have no data and I am a new Turbo pilot, but, knowing that the turbos get so hot in cruise that they actually glow red, and that they do not get that hot at idle, it just seems pudent to go through the cool down procedure. If anyone has actual test data from a reliable factory source such as an engine or turbo manufacturer that shows this as an OWT I'd be happy to avoid this cool down time. Meanwhile, even as the arrogant all-knowing engineer that I am, I'm going to follow the Mooney Test Pilot's advice and go through that 5 minutes cool down. Logically I don't think I am hurting anything. CHT EGT on all cylinders and TIT are all low during the 'cool down', oil pressure is OK. The cool down may NOT be necessary but even if there is a remote possibility of avoiding an extra turbo rebuild I'll continue with it. If I'm ever flying your plane you can ask me to shut right down, and, if you are flying mine, I'll ask you to do the unecessary five minute cool down. I know I'm always absolutely positively right until someone shows me I was wrong. Happens a lot, too.

Quote: jetdriven Jim, the biggest scare I had from buying a 231 was the 40K or more overhaul cost vs. ~20K for a Lycoming. Dividing that by the expected 1800 hr TBO vs 2000 hr, that was a little more than twice the engine expense. Thats assuming nothing goes wrong. Of course, if you need to fly high, you need the right machine.

Quote: NotarPilot I realize the overhaul will be more expensive but my greatest concern is reading that a lot of 231s require a top overhaul or some cyclinders to be replaced to make it to TBO.

On my 80 K the Hobbs meter is in the co-pilot foot well on the nose wheel housing. I've got rooom in the panel and will probably move it sometime. I like to record flight hours and tach (Now Hobbs) for my trips but with the location it's really hard to read. It's not a normal shuitdown procedure; I need to read it with a flashlight getting in the plane. I really don't understand why they eliminated the tach hours. It always made more sense to me than Hobbs for an indication of engine use.

The link that Charlie provided DOES have a very restrictive sentence: "The hangar can only be used for storage of aircraft (no prorations for other aeronautical uses, i.e., maintenance, paint shop, aircraft restoration, etc.)." This refers to hangers built using AIG / FAA money. If the hangers were built by the municipality it should not apply. If this is what the Airport Manager is referring to, I would take this to the local FSDO and ask them if they interprete this as prohibiting storage of your motorcycle(s) for the winter IN ADDITION to your plane in a single hanger. I'd be really surprised if they do. Almost every T hanger in use has other owner stuff stored there. If I had a T hanger instead of being in the shared executive hanger (really nice hanger but it is shared) I'd have my son's Miata in there for the winter so I could have my garage bay back. The fellow I bought my 62C from kept FOUR vintage Mercedes cars in the T hanger with his plane. Two in back beside the tail and two in front of the wings. It was a riot watching him move the cars to get the plane out. Oh, and a Honda folding motorcycle which he somehow managed to put into the back seat of the plane, and his Power Tug. He made very good use of his hanger space. The issue is that, in most areas, hangers are so scarce that we as renters don't have much leverage. The hanger keeper can demand $1M liability policies, that they be named as additional insured, require a no subrogation clause, and disclaim any responsibility for our property in the hangers. If you refuse they just rent to someone else. It's frustrating and not reasonable, but we have little choice. I would try really hard to work through this nicely with the AM and FSDO. Good luck.

Provided the weather is OK I'd suggest going south of the mountains. Even with your turbo (I also have an 80 K) I don't see a lot of benefit in going directly over the mountains. Just for a quick look, going down to ACH then ZUN , direct FFZ keeps the terrain below about 8K. Turbulence and weather may be better. Hard to predict. The AOPA has a list of suggested Mountain crossing Routes but you really shouldn't need it for this trip. It's a fun exercise to look at them on a chart, but you should not need them for this. I'd go South below the mountains rather than direct. In the Monsoon season and winter icing months I like to plan an extra day for trips. In case I don't like the weather enroute it's not a big deal to use up that extra day rather than mess around with uncomfortable conditions. I also usually plan an IFR route around the multiple MOAs. If I need it, it's already planned and prepped. If the weather is really nice I can default to a VFR trip with no further planning or mental gymnastics. If I need to file and fly IFR it's what I had already planned out and makes it much easier. Jim

Tachs are set up so that one hour use at some specific RPM will yield one hour of tach time. Hobbs are set up to show how many clock hours the oil pressure was up (most Hobbs meters are set up with an oil pressure switch so they don't start counting until the oil pressure is up). I think what Mitchell is referring to is not what RPM you normally cruise at, but what RPM will yield one hour of tach time for one hour of clock time. If Mooney originally designed the tachs so that one hour of cruise at 2300 RPM would indicate one hour of tach time, then you probably should use that 2300 tach. If you ever ran a plane with both a tach and a Hobbs you probably noticed that high RPM cruising in a long XC made the Tach time higher than the Hobbs time. Normal training T&G and low RPM cruising made the Hobbs read higher. Most rental planes for training charge by Hobbs. The tach on my K doesn't even have a tach hour counter. All I have is the Hobbs. If the tach dies I'll change it out for one with a tach hour counter. I miss having one. Jim

I agree you SHOULDN"T need oxygen at 10K, unless you are a smoker, live or work with a smoker, will be flying at night, or have to go higher for weather or staying above turbulence. I had a portable system in my C, used it on the NY-CA and NY -AZ trips, and at night. I found it valuable. I use OX even more in my K because I'm frequently higher, and it's easier to use with the built in system. Most of the time I don't legally need it, but I find it helps me keep my oxygen levels up even when I am doing 'relaxed' breathing. The Airforce used to require pilots who were smokers to use OX at 5K and above at night so they could see. As others said, you shouldn't need it, but if it's not a problem for you to buy and pack, why not try it? Especially if you fly at night. Long trips create different physiology than a few hours a day spread out with days in between. You might like having it available. You can buy a pulse Oxyimeter on line or from Walmart for less than $50. If you find your OX level is getting low you can either put on the OX or breath a little deeper. Also, it's true you won't be really 'Mountain Flying' but it sure would be interesting for you to read up on high altitude operations and flying near the mountains. There are several really good Mountain Flying books that you might find useful. If you were doign real in-the-mountains flying you should get some specific training, but, for your trip, reading about high altitude operations and weather near the mountains would be good preparation. Prescott frequently has Summer DAs above 8000. The locals who learned to fly here don't think too much about it as it is the conditions they learned to fly in. Leaning for high DA and anemic climb rates after take off is just normal Summer operations for them. Jim

The airport where I was previously based (KSDC) was a privately owned public use airport. The flying club owns the airport. The year I was the president of the flying club we had some questions about people leasing hangers to keep collector cars and household goods. I never saw any FAA regulations about mixed use, but the flying club DID have a paragraph in the lease stating something like 'the primary use of the hanger is for aircraft storage'. Which paragraph we did not enforce. I suspect that the airport manager is using the 'FAA won't allow it' as a justification, perhaps not a fact. If they told you 'our insurance company won't allow' it I'd tend to take it with more credence. If they said 'We (the airport) won't allow it, and it is in your lease' then I'd just move the motorcycle. I'd suggest you read your lease completely. If you really want confirmation from the FAA call your local FSDO. The local guys are usually pretty helpful, despite all the standard jokes about the FAA. Really though, it comes down to trying to work through this nicely with your airport manager. You could ask for the FAA guidance 'in order to see if you can comply and still use the hanger'. You really don't want to get in a fight with your airport manager. Is there another pilot who is on really good terms that can help you discuss this? I see you are in MA. Where are you based? I used to fly in LWM monthly and really liked Four Star Aviation. A long time ago I flew ocassionaly into BED but it got to the point where I felt my old Mooney was not a preferred transient for the airport.

The airport where I was previously based (KSDC) was a privately owned public use airport. The flying club owns the airport. The year I was the president of the flying club we had some questions about people leasing hangers to keep collector cars and household goods. I never saw any FAA regulations about mixed use, but the flying club DID have a paragraph in the lease stating something like 'the primary use of the hanger is for aircraft storage'. Which paragraph we did not enforce. I suspect that the airport manager is using the 'FAA won't allow it' as a justification, perhaps not a fact. If they told you 'our insurance company won't allow it I'd tend to take it with more credence. If they said 'We (the airport) won't allow it and it is in your lease' then I'd just move the motorcycle. I'd suggest you read your lease completely. If you really want confirmation from the FAA call your local FSDO. The local guys are usually pretty helpful, despite all the standard jokes about the FAA. Really though, it comes down to trying to work through this nicely with your airport manager. You could ask for the FAA guidance 'in order to see if you can comply and still use the hanger'. You really don't want to get in a fight with your airport manager. Is there another pilot who is on really good terms that can help you discuss this? I see you are in MA. Where are you based? I used to fly in LWM monthly and really liked Four Star Aviation. A long time ago I flew ocassionaly into BED but it got to the point where I felt my old Mooney was not a preferred transient for the airport.

I would an AP to evaluate this way: If the change is done in accordance with an existing Mooney Factory drawing, AD 77-17-04 or Mooney SB 205B it is logical to take the approach that the logbook entry stating compliance with the drawing, AD and SB is sufficient. You shouldn't need a 337 when following a factory drawing, complying with an AD, or SB. The AP does not have to sign off something he / she doesn't like, but you can always discuss it. If you don't like the decision you can ask another mechanic's opinion. These things are frequently judgement calls and vary between mechanics, different shops, and even different FSDOs. Some of these 'conversions' have been done by cross drilling the original thin wall control shafts for the newer control wheel. I would not accept this even if a mechanic did sign off on it. The original thin wall shafts had the AD for a reason. Field drilling original shafts bothers me. Post 1968 the shafts can be spliced per the SB. If the shafts were spliced in accordance with the SB and cross drilled for the new control wheels and signed off by the mechanic I would not be concerned (although it is not strictly following the SB as I understand it). Jim Jim