cliffy

Everyone also forgets about the rudder pedal bearing blocks right behind the firewall that get loose They are a PIA to tighten but need it. Probably never done on 95% of Mooneys

How times have changed My COM ride was two turns about points and 4 spins - Done! In my Cessna 140 to boot!

No metal in the oil, good oil pressure, good borescope, good compressions? Fly it! Engines don't magically eat themselves at 2,000 hrs IF taken care of properly. That means fly it and not let it sit for years. At least the little 4 banger Lycomings don't eat themselves

The entire tail comes off fairly easily

To bad we can't have ACO shopping like we have US Court shopping Federal Agencies both.

Someone mentioned here a while back that that was tried and poo-poo'd by the Feds as not a way they would go for autopilots even though NORSEE SPECIFICALLY STATES THAT AUTOPILOTS ARE ONE OF THE ITEMS THAT NORSEE WAS APPROVED FOR!!

Its just the same as ADSB- EVEYTHING starts at the top and we in GA have to "fit into that envelope" ADSB IS AND WAS designed for121 ops to decrease spacing along high traffic arrivals by using more accurate position data than what was available just using RADAR. In order to sell it to the masses (GA) (and make them pay for it) they had to include Weather and Traffic to get us to buy in (proven fact by there admissions). So it is with panel electronics and their approvals. It all comes down from the top. We don't have our own "less risk" niche.

We (and I include the FAA in "we") have the ability in our hands to have one of the greatest SAFETY DEVICES ever installed in small GA airplanes. It can prevent many instances every year of accidents and deaths and yet because of bureaucracy people are dying every year The new small-AFFORDABLE autopilots with the "One Button Push to Level" feature can be and is that Safety Feature I speak of. How many "Inadvertent flight into IMC conditions" do we see every year? How many deaths come from that every year? How many lives could be saved every year with this feature? Yet we fiddle while Rome burns! Its ludicrous! We are faced with an entire fleet of aging GA airplanes all of them equipped with half century old avionics and instruments WITH PERFECTLY USABLE ALTERNATIVES in the form of "non-certified" instruments and radios that can be just as reliable and usable (as proven in experimental airplanes) and yet they are out of limits for simple small airframes. Most of GA (MOST!) by a wide margin, does not fly in IMC conditions The risk factor is small to use these A/Ps in these airframes for VFR conditions AND they could be used as a safety valve for inadvertent IMC encounters. Saving lives. Similarly (with the above limitations in mind) flight instruments could be done the same way, Affordable replacements to half century old flight instruments to further enhance safety with NO risk to safety. Yet again we fiddle while Rome burns! There is no valid reason why we couldn't have CERTIFIED airframes MAINTAINED to certified rules and regs and yet allow NON-certified electronics to be installed in VFR airplanes with a cautionary placard much like experimental airplanes do today. "THIS AIRPLANE USES NON-CERTIFIED INSTRUMENTS AND RADIOS" Where is the safety detriment? The airframe is still maintained to the certified standards and only the reporting of those items normally read on the panel is different. There is the added benefit (life saving strategy) of straight and level flight if inadvertent IMC or Loss of Control is encountered. Yes we do have "APPROVED" autopilots and glass panels but the certification process is so broken that the price of entry is way beyond the ability of most small GA airplane owners. Safety for the masses is available at a price they can afford yet we bar entry through bureaucracy. We have our entire segment of aviation (small GA) at risk of disappearing due to lack of ability to safely modernize the fleet to keep it active. Our segment is going away slowly and we can't do anything about it because of bureaucracy! I watched a webinar about the "fantastic VARMA system" now available. What a joke! We wait for MASAIC- from all I see it too will be a joke in the areas we need- trying to keep the fleet alive! Sorry to be pessimistic but if we don't solve the affordable electronics questions our segment of aviation will die and go away. Last comment- I saw a question asked just the other day- What will happen when the G1000s are no longer supported by Garmin? Do we just crush those Mooneys so equipped because they can't be modified? The problems are not limited to just the G1000 airframes.

OK if that is the case then things moved faster than the known data was found ( the submitted package was short of the empirical data need)(not looking far enough ahead?) BUT, also, IF that is true, it foreshadows more models being approved in the initial AML. Could it be that both BK and Dynon will have approvals at the same time? The sky will truly fall if that happens. I have almost 2 complete Brittian systems on the shelf and if either BK or Dynon come through in the next 6 months I'm going to sell them.

Somethings can not be explained- Not including the correct drawings in an STC application? Unbelievable that someone in the aviation business doesn't know how to submit an STC application. Sorry to be harsh but 50 years dealing with the FAA gives me a biased point of view. This ain't rocket science we're dealing with here.

I think these are what I was thinking about https://mitchellproducts.com/product/modular-gauges-fuel-quantity-gauges/

There is a place in Lock Have PA that also overhauls them In fact 2 places there. You're lucky you have the six individual units Each ca be overhauled separately and not as a 6 pac for the early ones. There is also replacement units new available from several suppliers

I used to make VOR antennas Early Moonies didn't have internal baluns (mostly ferrites) They only had folded coax cable baluns, If you have a NEW antenna that fits and it has only a BNC connector then (as noted above) it has an internal balun. If you are using the old antenna then it more than likely has/had a cable balun that needs to be replaced. Directions on how to make a VOR cable balun are easy to find on line. Show us the antenna and it connections and we can better advise Forgot to add that there are new antennas that come with a cable and cable balun as a kit and there are new VOR antennas that have the balun built in. Be sure you know what you have if you buy new. They each work the same.

Put the probe in boiling water and see what the temp shows. Ground it with an alligator clip wire you make up. Check it cold- check it hot using an IR temp gun.

I have machined several alternator slip rings when found very worn but the wear may have come from (as noted above) wear caused by worn brushes and the concomitant weaker spring tension pushing the brushes onto the slip rings thereby causing wear from more arcing. Nothing is ever mentioned about replacing brushes at an hour mark but maybe, just maybe, it should be considered a preventative maintenance item in reality. No reason why an alternator shouldn't make TBO with proper maintenance.

Point of reference- D/C model, 52 gal total (26 a side), filling from dead empty (drained) EXACTLY 26 gallons each side right to the steel lip. PoR #2- I use a stick to check each tank before every flight to double check the "indicated" quantity on my Dynon at start up. Always within 2 gallons Stick graduated every 5 gallons- interpret between marks. 99% of the time I leave with full tanks regardless of the flight distance Sometimes it bites me in the behind when I can't purchase the min to avoid charges. I usually (on longer trips 2+ hrs) make a reasonableness check after each hour by reading tank quantity and subtracting what I know I should have burned to what is in the tanks (NOT what is shown as burned on the computer) as I have made many many flights and measured how much went back in after each flight. Just like we all learned in basic flight training. Works for everything from J-3s to Boeings. We knew what we should have burned each hour and subtracted from what we had on board at the start and compared to the indicated quantity remaining each hour or each waypoint crossing. Did it on over water trips in big stuff, do it still on spam cans today. Its called "flight planning". How many still do it today? I wonder. Prediction from a Jurassic pilot- Glass panels and Autopilots have dumbed down flying so much that we will have a problem in the future (if not now). Those who have learned only on glass panels/A/Ps know not what they don't know and its not their fault. JMO But glass panels may also be as much a safety improvement to aviation in total as the jet engine was to commercial flying in the 60s. Jet engines transformed the safety paradigm of commercial aviation. Of that there is no doubt. But just like jet engines- sometime the panel will go dark-not often but sometime- What will you do then? The gorilla in the room? What happens when the GPS system goes down? (This probably needs a separate thread itself)

If you an just replace with already approved Mooney parts it even qualifies as a 'Minor Alteration' and only a log book entry is required by any A&P

I wonder it the original manufacturer of the C and E ducts is still in business? I further wonder if they are in a position to help with an OPP order (best solution) much like McFarand does with throttle cables? They may have an exclusive deal with Mooney but if Mooney is not interested in supplying the part and because the follow on business is now in reality a dead issue that company might be wiling to break any deal with Mooney

There seems to be a disconnect between an OPP part FOR A PARTICULAR AIRPLANE ((by N number) which is what the OPP regs allow and having an owner design and build a part per OPP AND THEN OFFER IT TO THE PUBLIC for sale. Any owner can make HIS OWN part but he can't then go out and sell it to the general public even if he designed it and qualified it for his own airplane by OPP. The above referenced article is clear on that subject. The problem remains - How are you going to get the part available to those who need it without either an STC or a PMA.? There is a way but I'll leave it there.

I attended the same VARMA webinar. BTW It seems to me that VARMA is a path to "replace" approved parts with other than approved parts on a like for like basis and not to "manufacture" a different part altogether. And for "non-important" parts much like NORSEE approvals As was the battery relay shown in the program.

BINGO!!!! Problem Solved!!!

How is this "APPROVED" data?

Just a thought - Has anyone assessed the deflection with impact ice on the inlet air filter thereby lowering the pressure inside the duct due to this ice restriction to air flow ahead of the duct? Both the C and E model ducts (they are different) could/would be susceptible to this event. Failure analysis probably should include this possibility/probability. As a long time A&P I would still have to fall back on "what is the approved data that was referenced to make this part", before I would consider installing same and signing it off. Don't take this wrong, no disrespect meant but- How many here promoting the making of this part through OPP in a way that is "different " than the original (even if better than original)- How many of you actually hold an A&P and would sign your name to the log book? That is a true test. Also remember each owner who "designs" an OPP part shall sign HIS name to the log book signifying that he was the one who participated in the design. BUT ultimately it comes down to an A&P being willing to put this part on the airplane; The question remains - How do you get around the "approved data" requirement in OPP? A challenge- Someone needs to go the their local FSDO and present this idea and ask about its legality rather than just guess as is being done here. That's what they are there for. Why waste your time if its not going to fly.

Measure it with a yardstick, mark it with chalk and cut it with an axe- precision aircraft manufacturing in the 1960s If you ever saw how Cessna actually built their airplane back in the 150 172 days it would astound you I did! Rubber hammers were an essential tool

Its not a switch Its the data USB for the Dynon Has to be connected for all the charts to pop up on screen as they are not resident in the Dynon.