RJBrown

231 flaps are manual. An over center linkage holds them open. Faster you are the harder it is to close them. I would push in flaps and hit altitude hold on the auto pilot at the same time.

“Climate Change” is a purely political matter. It is an outgrowth of “acid rain” and “The next Ice Age”

I am surprised you could find a K to rent. How much, wet, dry? Run rich, move throttle slowly, especially on take off. Don’t over boost. Cowl flaps open in the climb, closed before you speed up. I went from renting any Mooney to owning a K. Still flew like a Mooney. Just know your temps and be conservative.

“Carbon credits” ASSume that Carbon is somehow a BAD thing. Almost every form of life on our planet needs carbon to exist. Trees “breath” in that “poison” so they can breath out oxygen. We, the human race, are a carbon based life form. Carbon is good. Plants grow better in an atmosphere with higher CO2 content.

Just an off the top of the head thought. A how they work question. It appears to me that both relays are involved with both directions. one relay is ground and the other relay is power. They trade jobs between up and down. The picture schematic doesn’t show but are both relays normally closed to the ground contact and normally open to the power contact? ‘when UP is selected does the up solenoid move and the power points in the up relay are connected and ground goes through the DOWN relay. Conversely when DOWN is selected the up relay is the ground and the solenoid in the down relay moves and the down contacts close providing power. If my assumption is true a Down relay with bad ground points could keep the gear from going up. to test this you would have to unhook the output wire (red or black) to check for ground. Car electric windows are used this way and I’ve seen the NC contacts in the relay fail on the ground side. Made a weird result as power would alternately go where directed but the window still did not move because one side ground was lost.

My understanding, The fuselage cage does not go that far back. The tail is a stressed skin/ monocoque construction. Too large of a hole would compromise the strength too much. The 5 rivets circled in the picture are for the new battery tray added to missiles and rockets

The sliding battery board is a tool. It is not part of the airplane. It makes battery installation easy. It does not stay in the plane. It would in no way affect anything. Other installed equipment may make battery installation and service more difficult.

Easy to pull and access everything. Check it first before throwing money at it.

Sounds like your mechanic needs help with math. do you have the weight as measured from each wheel? If not they need weighed again. with 340# in front seat plus only fuel you should be within balance. If not the error is human not the plane. what you describe could not be certified.

Every deal is different. when I bought 231NH it was in the Denver metro area. I drove to his house, on a airport, we flew together to the local Mooney Dealer/repair shop Arapahoe Aero. We were both present for the prebuy. When I sold 231NH the buyer paid me to fly it to Top Gun, paid my hotel bill while the plane was checked. Then paid my airline ticket to Denver. Top Gun then did a annual. Buyer paid my airline ticket back to California. We flew it together to Las Vegas. He left it there for 90 days because of sales/use tax rules. Funds transferred from Vegas he paid my flight home. The Vegas deal saved him $17,500 in state taxes. Purchase of 1079V. It was based in Greeley Colorado. I inspected and flew with him there. He flew it to Arapahoe Aero for prebuy. We closed through escrow. When I sold it the buyer trusted the recent annual at Arapahoe Aero. No prebuy. each time the planes were as represented and both parties were happy afterwards. While shopping I found a Bravo in Texas. I flew there, test flew and had a prebuy done in Denton Texas at US Aviation, a Mooney Service Center. The plane was NOT as represented. Seller was not lying about the plane. He had bought it recently without a prebuy and thought he had a great plane. He was forced to sell because of a divorce. He had been had by the California lawyer that saw him coming. I made a corresponding offer and was turned down. 6 months later he sold it for less than I offered. Between the Crooked lawyer and the exwife he got screwed over in the deal. Poor guy shoulda had a pre nup and a pre buy. Cost him close to $100,000 to own a plane he flew just a few times. Hate to think what the good doctor paid for Her Services. each time the buyer paid the costs associated with the pre buy. Each was done at a Mooney Service center. The money to prebuy and then pass on the Bravo was money well spent.

Flying like most areas the government gets involved with has way too many rules. once upon a time someone famously rolled a 707 without ill effect. We no longer have affordable aircraft BECAUSE there are too many rules.

In three different websites the 400 Comanche 75% power 20-23 gph and 185 knots. Information I read the Ovation 20 gph 190 knots. no time in either plane. my Rocket was faster by far on the same fuel. all at 12,000’ Rocket gets fast from there as it climbs while the NA Comanche and Ovation get slower and burn less fuel.

My next door neighbor has a piper Comanche 400. Uses more gas but goes way slower than a 300hp Mooney.

I learned to fly at Denver Centennial airport MSL 5880’ first flight to California was to Palomar right on the coast. Never knew a 182 could fly that slow.

I found that with 2 people in the front seats the plane was near the forward limit. All additional items loaded into the plane move the balance rearward. with 120# in the baggage area (the weight limit) as long as you are not overweight you cannot load it too tailheavy. If your math disagrees with this statement find your math error. Assuming a 1000 pound useful. 340 in front seats 360 in fuel tank 120 in baggage area and 180 in rear seat. Balance is fine. 360 fuel is your minimum fuel load at 3200 gross. This assumes 10 gallons of useable fuel (30 minutes at cruise rate of 20 gph) at maximum landing weight of 2900. That leaves 640 pounds to distribute in the airplane. I suppose if all that weight was placed in the front seats you could get out of balance forward. I never tried the math with more than 340 in front. ‘Airplanes are more stable nose heavy. Elevator authority for landing is the forward limit. Airplanes become less stable as the COG moves rearward. The rear limit keeps the airplane controllable. An airplane is fastest at the rear COG limit. Less downforce on the horizontal stabilizer combined with less wing lift need to compensate for that downforce creates the least amount of drag. Bonanza has a problem where the COG moves rearward as fuel in burned. It is easy to get a Bonanza out of balance to the rear. Mooney does not have this problem. They are hard to get out of balance to the rear at max gross weight. As fuel burn in your Mooney the COG moves forward.

TSIO520-NB is the stock engine in many Cessna twins. For ease of certification (an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one) Rocket engineering used the whole power unit including turbo and propeller straight from the Cessna application. The 8 point motor mount and the exhaust/cabin heat system are Rocket specific. this gave two interesting changes. A full feathering prop and a very large turbo. The prop allows a very high glide rate with engine off and is great to confuse linemen at the airport. On a pressurized twin the turbo must be large enough to both supply air to the engine and pressurize the cabin with one engine failed. This gives the Rocket a critical altitude (100% hp) of 24,000’ When the STC was first approved it contained a gross weight increase that just covered the conversion. Later a second STC was approved for the 3200# gross. It was a remarking of the airspeed indicator and paperwork. Nothing about the airplane capabilities was changed. It just took them longer to get the full approval. The early conversions were sold with the lighter gross. Maximum landing weight is 2900# with all versions. Rocket also did the flight testing to increase the certified ceiling to 31,000’ They did not complete this increase because it was not cost effective. As a part 91 the 24k (231) or 28k (252) is not a limiting factor.

I had a good experience with Western Skyways on the 1990 MSE in my avatar.

In 1949 George Orwell wrote a book entitled Nineteen84 (1984) It was a dystopian vision of the future. Written as a warning to society it has somehow become a “how to” book for certain progressive politicians. We are living much of what the book warns about. Everyone needs to read this book and reflect on the current state of freedom in America and the world.

In single pilot IFR the pilot must be the systems manager. You cannot be an effective systems manager if you are one of the systems. The toughest IFR flight I ever had was VFR eastbound out of Centennial (APA) for Florida via (LIT) I took off at 2 am on a moonless sever clear night. The autopilot failed, no horizon outside, could not tell a star from a farmhouse. I turned the panel lights up all the way and flew the gauges until the sun came up. It took all my concentration to fly that morning. I had nothing else to do. No traffic no distractions at all. Just flight following on a lonely morning. Convinced me that without a functioning auto pilot single pilot IFR was a fools errand.

2 people and clubs is easy. 3not so much. Aspen Colorado is a great place to fly in for golf. The free bus stops at the airport and the course. ‘The city maintains free bus service for the people who work in the city but can’t afford to live there. ‘most of the people who work in Aspen live “down valley” The city course can be played. Maroon Creek is private. kind of a bucket list sort of place to play. Combines my two favorite pastimes.

Similar oxygen need story. ‘Flying home to Denver Centennial airport from SLC. In a rented 182 RG. Between Meeker and Denver the lowest point to cross the front range is over Moffet tunnel/pass at just over 10,000. After I passed Meeker I saw the clouds right down on the pass and picked up an IFR clearance. The clouds continued to get higher as I got closer to the pass. Figured a little actual wouldn’t hurt but the second I entered the clouds ice started to form. Center let me climb all the way up to 19,200’. Rode that mountain wave right over the top of the clouds. It was good thing I had a portable oxygen setup. The first year, 1979, 231s were the only turbo Mooney that did not come with on board oxygen. Mooney learned that was a mistake real quick. From 1980 on all got oxygen.

I was happy with the stock avionics in my 1990 MSE until the LORAN system was shut down. I was happy with the stock avionics in my 1980 231 after the LORAN was installed. a simple GPS to replace the Lorans would have been fine. putting $50-75,000 in new glass in and then $1000 a year to keep updated. Not for me. it’s like the I-phone. There are people that will spend whatever they ask to have the “latest” As long I’m legal IFR direct, Have an iPad with ForeFlight on the yoke, a good autopilot and an HSI I’m just fine. The panel pictured below with a engine monitor and a ForeFlight iPad. Good to go.

If you do a lot of your flying high enough to need oxygen you need a back up. The Rocket had factory on board oxygen. I always carried the portable system with me. 3 reasons to have a portable system in addition to the factory system. #1 as above, any problem with the factory system. #2 oxygen is not always available where or when you travel. I refueled in Dallas on Love field one Sunday. No one was in the shop, I could see the refill bottles, they refused to allow me to refill. #3 more people use more oxygen. 1 system for me and one system for passengers. I can control My oxygen without others compromising my ability to be alert. As the pilot I need to be awake and alert. A sleepy passenger or one with a headache won’t kill us all. On the trip from Florida to Colorado through Texas mentioned above the passengers ran out. I did not. In the MSE I never planned to need oxygen. The portable was the backup. It backed up my plan to stay low. It gave me choices I otherwise would not have had. A very early example for me. Flying a rental turbo arrow from Flagstaff to Denver. I had my portable oxygen but expected not to use it. The clouds slowly kept getting higher and I was staying above them. That day I learned my early hypoxia symptoms. They are insidious, slowly climbing took away my mental edge, I forgot the oxygen. I started feeling sick to my stomach. It took me a bit to figure out I was starting to get hypoxia. I was able to turn on the 02, because I had it.

This is why I would not make that flight in a non turbo Mooney. While flying my 231/Rocket any hint of ice was followed by a request to climb. When your only escape from ice is down your options get very limited in the mountains. Failure to launch into clouds I could have avoided completely in the Rocket is why I sold the MSE. If I could not get well above the icing levels or stay clear of clouds it was no launch for the J. Below 17,000 can be a scary place where above 24,000 is clear and beautiful.

My favorite Garmin story. bought a car portable gps from Garmin. Ad said, Box said “Lifetime Database Updates” All in big bold letters. Fine print defined “lifetime” as 5 years. Inside box hidden until it was too late. you suck Garmin.