Immelman

Thanks very much I appreciate this!

Would anyone (preferably with an IO-360) who is happy with how their starter power wire is run share how it is secured and routed? This annual, found that my starter wire was just kind of hanging out, no supports but one small zip tie at the engine mount aft of the engine. Perhaps there was hardware in between that departed previously... upon further inspection, we found a small nick in the insulation. Time to fix! One IA suggested an adel clamp or two using the left hand side oil sump bolts. Seems a little suspect to me because the clamps would need to be drilled out to accomodate the bolt, bolt length issues, and nut access. Another alternative might be a pair of clamps securing the starter wire to one or more intake risers. Any other bright ideas? Or pics of a good solid installation?

To answer your question yes the stall warning can come on too early. If the vane gets bent it will switch over to turn on the horn at a different angle of attack. Similarly, the vane is not rigidly bolted in a fixed location but can be adjusted up or down if the screws are loose and thus calibrated. I would expect that would be something done at the factory but a lot can happen over the years. Was a repair made? Did the airplane get painted, and the vane removed/replaced in a different orientation? Did something bump it? Lots can happen in 50 years. Finally, its useful to know that the tones the stall warning make and the gear horn make are slightly different. Go flying, gear up, retard the throttle.... now you know what the gear horn sounds like. If it were me playing detective I would fly the airplane into the stall warning, noting airspeed/weight/configuration/gusts, and continue to decelerate to a stall buffet, again noting airspeed..... keep in mind if you are flying below maximum gross weight the wing will stall at a lower airspeed than what is painted on the ASI in unaccelerated flight. If not comfortable with this, its a good excuse for an instructional flight.

Nope! No intention to either. Landing fees are a real turnoff.

I've flown 121 for a living for a while so the fields with airline service were picked off mostly at work. The fun ones are small, in the middle of nowhere, and possibly without the luxury of pavement.

Been to plenty.... a constant habit? No. Is it good for the fuel tank sealant? Probably not. Will it stop me? No. Goal is to land at all public airports in CA... got most of 'em done. Some of the grass was so nice I go back and visit sometimes. Others would not want to make a habit of, better for a taildragger...

As with so many things it depends... My home airport, if I fly the approach to minimums/the missed approach point, requires circling and that is very common due to the nature of the local marine stratus. I've done it so many times it is second nature. Now going to an unfamiliar area... terrain? Obstacles? At night? Yikes... In a transport!!? Those factors complicate things immensely. In the B1900 they did train us to circle using the VOR-13 into JFK (lead in lights) which was kind of bogus, but it "checked the box". Doing it for real in the airplane was a real challenge. And that was a very pilot-friendly airplane. In a larger jet transport with high maneuvering and approach speeds, where things go really well if you're where you need to be, and not so well if you're more than a little off... no thanks.

Pirep from returning to the line and a trip that spanned west coast, latin America, east coast, over the western Atlantic a bit, over the western Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico: This is still predominantly in eastern continental U.S. phenomenon. And is pretty annoying. Had to violate the regs and turn off guard at times in order to maintain good communications with ATC and the other pilot.....

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the garbage bag trick. Loosen the filter until before it leaks, place garbage bag around, spin off, pray, and then either celebrate or cuss. 80% of the time it works great!

Let us do some unicorn math. Two people buy airplanes with mid-time engines (lets say, pre covid math), $50K each. The two owners each fly the airplanes for 10 years and put 1000 hours on them. Owner 1 does an owner-assist annual at a shop like the one in this thread, $2K of shop labor each year. To be clear, the "annual" is more like $1500, but there is some labor to fix defects squawks requiring professional attention and repair here and there. Just a ballpark average Owner 2 believes that this is bad juju, unicorns don't exist, and pays top-dollar for a $5K (or more) of labor for annual each year. After 10 years where does each owner and airplane stand? Are we buying airplanes to preserve in pristine condition "forever", or inspecting them and repairing as required to keep them in a safe condition to fly? I've had my plane for 14 years now. My annuals have been like the example in the beginning of this thread. I bet I could have easily dropped the entire purchase price of the airplane into expensive annuals in that time. Even if my airplane ends up scrapped to "the reaper" from some catastrophic defect next year (i.e. corrosion in a bad place) I've come out ahead. To be clear I believe my airplane is still airworthy and safe to fly. But it is 55 years old... and will only last so long. And I'm okay with that.

One other thing to point out, the rod end bearings (2 on each side) are wear items where the fastener passes through them. Periodically these need to be lubed/inspected for play/replaced.... there are quite a few in a Mooney, nose to tail. I would imagine uneven wear L/R could cause a slight flap asymmetry.

Personally I would suggest doing the ride in a rental and then going on from there. I am not a DPE and only an inactive CFI, though. I did my CFI initial ride in the right seat (no brakes) of my Mooney without any issues. Examiner and I swapped control as needed....different ball of wax.

My first 121 job... a flying frat house, turboprops getting paid peanuts.... did some interesting and juvenile things ON COMPANY FREQ, never on guard....A good fun culture. Here is my suggestion to any of us in how to minimize it: Do not respond, ever. The "yer on guard" police only egg these people on. Its like responding to a troll on the internet. Respond on guard only if someone needs help and you can render aid that ATC cannot.

As I say it (and this was my flying pre-pandemic, pre "Brandon") was heavily concentrated east of the Mississippi. Further west and the shenanigans faded. I bring this up because doing transcons you really got a sense of where it was happening more. Southwest's recent events (rolling coal, that PA, and some other things) are also revealing something about their culture...

Prior to the pandemic my 121 flying took me across the continent on a regular basis. I have been off the line since the beginning of the pandemic, only GA flying in my Mooney, and will return soon. Before the pandemic the guard nonsense had a strong geographic component to it. From what I have read, that is still occurring.... flying the Mooney here in CA it is safe to monitor guard. Once in a while a person makes a genuine mistake with their flip-flop or mic selector and that's it. None of the bullshit. Based on this my educated guess is that most of it likely comes from one or possibly two regional airlines operating in that region, primarily east of the Mississippi. This is a localized set of bad behaviors that have been allowed to fester in a lousy culture. Most likely not a Mooney pilot....

I guess I'm just crazy. I install the filter with my hands (dry, and I have a decent grip). Safety it. Run up, leak check, done.. Never had a leak, and they are always somewhat difficult to remove.

Looking at my Aircraft Spruce order history, the smaller ducts (to rear seat feet and windscreen defrost) were 1 1/4 inch diameter. I ordered 1 12-foot and 1 4-foot piece and had some left over. I also ordered 3 feet each of 2-inch and 2 1/2 inch diameter. I probably only used one of these, sorry I can't remember which size. That was for the larger tube between the two foot well airboxes. The large intake duct (part 24) was larger. Perhaps 3 inch, but I don't remember and cannot find that invoice. That one is very short.

Thanks for the pireps! Sounds like its worth giving them a try. I still use an aging Bose X for my Mooney flying. For GA flying this new set would be to augment that for flying with my daughter. When she's on board she gets the X, I use an old lightspeed. At work I just went B737 (former A320) and will need something with ANR that is comfortable for longer flights.

Considering this headset primarily for work-use in turbojet aircraft where it is designed.... But I sure could use another decent set for GA flying. Has anyone flown with a Bose Proflight/Proflight 2 in their MOONEY and have their ears live to hear another day? Seriously, would these work for us? One big issue in our airplanes is now noisy they are.

If you hate Adel clamps now just wait until you hang the engine and want to get it back in the air again. Here is my Adel solution: Goto harbor freight and get a few pairs of assorted hemostats. Use a couple as you assemble the stack. Not my idea I saw it on some homebuilder's youtube. Bonus points, you will feel somewhat like a surgeon. Until one flies open and you're searching for the washer and nut.

Years ago I was curious and decided to try it out as Shadrach did. And felt completely ready to dead stick it in safely if needed. The data I gathered in my E confirmed the book #s for glide ratio prop windmilling and prop stopped. Prop windmilling in low RPM was slightly worse, but not much, than prop stopped. But if the engine fails in a spectacular fashion I would not count on the ability to control it with the governor.

If I am seeing things correctly the concern is a fastener that came off of the flap actuator (hydraulic slave cylinder). The good news about our Mooney flaps is that this failure mode should not cause flap asymmetry. I could see how that could be caused by a fastener backing out of one of the heim/rod ends on either side where the torque tube actuating both flaps is connected to each flap... there is a bearing there. But I would add a note of caution... let us assume that you're coming to land, full flaps, on approach speed, and are properly trimmed. Putting the flaps down generates an aircraft nose down pitching moment that we counteract with nose-up trim. Now let us imagine the flap actuator was suddenly disconnected. Air load will blow the flaps up quite quickly. Now you're slow with a very abrupt aircraft nose UP pitching force. This can be counteracted with elevator but is still substantial. An item for practice and some thought....

Out of curiosity, did you do firefighting concurrent with 121 or was that something that came along during covid leave? If I did not have a young child.... I probably would have applied during my leave. Must be fun. I don't see how it would work very well concurrent with 121 flying but I'm curious!

A320 FO until the pandemic hit, now winding down the days of extended leave... family time, more Mooney flying than in past years... gotta keep in the game! Will be back at work soon, and perhaps some new and very exciting things coming.

I find 130mph is a great cruise climb speed. Engine stays cool. You are moving along faster than spam can traffic at max cruise.... Climb rate not decreased that much at all. Decreasing slowly as performance drops off in hot/high/heavy.... approaching 10,000' for example. Adjust depending on winds aloft/turbulence, etc.