HRM

Air Mods One Piece Belly Pan for M20. I believe this fits the entire M20 (vintage series) with the cluster of inspection panels. This is the one with skids, presumably to protect the belly on gear-up. Pan can be repaired to a point. Good for after you have had a GU, as a prophylactic against GU damage and as a faster way to open the belly, although this has been argued. Anyway, $500. PM with email if interested and I can send docs/photos.

OK, so throw a tarp over the left wing, violate Pilot Law and pray for rain, then check again. As for fuel out the top when full, not necessarily. Of course, at this juncture, you are ready to try anything, no?

I am now guessing a seam on the top of the wings. I mean, how else is it getting in? Of course, why would seams on both sides be leaking.

After Analytical it was my favorite chemistry class. I broke one of the last seven custom made isoteniscopes in existence and the professor cried. He still gave me an A for the course. Four years later my kid brother told me there were still six left. He also said the prof watched him like a hawk the entire lab period

Not to be a smart-aleck, but I encountered the same thing in Wilmington "First in Flight" North Carolina. My solution, buy a house with a hangar in the backyard. Oh yeah, and a runway too A mortgage would have been around $2,500, but given that T-hangars apparently are going for $800/month at ILM, that was a great deal--and my hangar is <much> larger. At KEDC, where we were going to retire near, I was quoted $595 for a hangar. So, pays to do it in the end. On top of that, the neighborhood is chock full of pilots!

Sunrise over 03NC at an altitude of about 70' ASL:

Frankly, I think you can completely toss out the 'puck check' parameters and go with 'landing feel'. I was astonished how (pleasantly) bouncy my landings became with new pucks/donuts/discs.

Too cute!

Almost embarrassed to post this, but 'The Mistress' is airborne again and with a vengeance! Took her up just before sunset and she performed spectacularly--160 KTS, 0.3 GAMI spread, oh what a feeling, but I really need to wash her windows (...and she put the step down)

...and no Mac to crop it out with .

She's ambivalent about the names and my kids love them. In college, my senior year, I had an old 914 that was the love of my life after my girlfriend (who later became wifey, 45 years and still going). That car scared the bejeezus out of her, I mean I don't think it was my driving, and it also stranded us a number of times. This began her lifelong hatred of Porsches. After I got my PPL in '86 she went up with me in a C172. It was a blustery Central Florida afternoon and that was probably a bad pilot weather decision on my part. It was not outrageous turbulence, but just enough for her to declare 'never again'.

I am not a businessman or financier, but I don't understand why they don't just keep the parts activity going and forget about building new airplanes for a while. I am guessing there is not enough business even in that space. <sigh>

I name all of my machines. The Mooney is, of course, The Mistress. The 911 is the Red Light Lady. Wifey hates both of them.

Again! Jeez! Although I feel bad for the workers and the brand overall, the reality is that for vintage Mooney owners this pretty much means nothing.

FIXED! So, for those of you following this and those who offered opinions as to what was wrong, here we go. The consensus (including that of my A&P/IA) was that it was either an induction or injector issue on #4. After pulling all the cowling as well as the doghouse, I pulled the #4 injector and gave it the acetone spa treatment. I did notice that there were black particles floating in the (CH3)2CO the next morning. I replaced the injector (don't worry, this is all under supervision while I work on my A&P merit badge) after getting a very positive baby bottle check (full throttle/MP squirting into a jar using the boost pump). I buttoned up the top and then I checked the intake pipe on #4 and was able to do the ‘click seat’ on it, which means that it had possibly loosened and was the source of the issue. Then I found the bolts on #2 ‘less than tight’ (can’t say they were loose). I read somewhere that those bolts can loosen over time. Having hit both the potential problem points, I put the lower cowls back on and proceeded to the full-power test. This was soooo satisfying as she went up to FP just like she should--no stumble! All that is left is the flight test, and frankly, I think she's back. Oh, the data dump from the static test showed a 0.2 GAMI spread. Those two cylinders are dancing cheek-to-cheek now and 1 & 3 are keeping up with them.

Cell Phone Departs Mooney Over Open Desert: Guess What Happens Next Plane & Pilot readers circled their tracks to look for their lost cell phone, and made an amazing discovery. By Plane & Pilot <full article>

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone... Great looking bird, enjoy!

Back at annual, it was fine.

This is why I love MS! I left that injector in acetone overnight. It emerged refreshed and renewed. The folks at the local, somewhat redneck, Ace Hardware, knew nothing of Hobbes #9. I decided to stay the CB route, of which I am a charter member, and go with the el cheapo C3H6O.

Yes, Sir. Sorry, but I elected not to mess with the plugs. My concentrations were with #4 (see data plots) in regards to fuel and air, not spark. We found the injector to be 'loose' in the sense that the ferule covering the filter screen was not secured by the fuel line connection. I took the injector home and let it bathe in acetone overnight. A check this morning show it to be clear of obstructions and I frankly think, since #4 was firing fine under low power demand, that there may have been an induction leak at the injector. Frankly, I am just guessing at this point. I have my suspicions as to why this happened (two annuals ago!), but that is old news. I did not participate in that annual nor did my current A&P/IA. So, the injector will go back on, although I plan to do the 'spray test' before installing it in the cylinder--correctly I might add. If this does not solve the issue then I will look to a possible induction leak, but I am feeling confident that 'this is it'. It has been an education.

Next step is to clean #4 in MEK and make sure the SVS is not leaking into the pipe. This will take minimal cowling removal and be the simplest in terms of actual work. If this doesn't do it, the baby jar test will be next. Problem with it is that you really need two people to do it right. I let my A&P/IA off for X-mas

I always run 1 second intervals. Memory bits are too cheap not to and the MVP-50 has a fairly huge flight data storage capability.

Now that I have slept and thought about this following everyones comments, I am betting the bad boy here is #4. Since only one cyl is wonky, this somewhat rules out the distributed subsystems (RSA, mags, manifolds, etc.). Since this occurs only at TO power, if it happened in the air presumably there would be enough power for a lame wing landing. It is sort of a cool feature of the issue. So now, as a very wise old A&P/IA told me once, back to fuel, air and spark at #4. I frankly think spark is fine. Time to check the injector and for an induction leak, Merry Christmas all!

Thanks all (so far). The goal of this exercise is to drive what gets looked at next

Here you go—I just recently learned about sharing.