Earl

Question for you in letting it drop to 5.5. Have you noticed on the ground after a flight when the oil is hot what your oil pressure is? When I get below 6 qts the oil pressure is in the yellow on the ground after a flight. Just curious if you see the same thing. I had an MSC one time tell me he didn't like that and then another time he said it exactly what I should expect.

Fuel selector valve for later model Mooney. Manufactured in October 1995 by Airight, Inc. (Part No. 36100-5, Serial No. 1319). Corresponds to Mooney Part #610289-001. This part purchased new would cost over $2,000 if you can find it. See pictures below. Asking $500. Contact me at ehscott@s2management.com or call 404-512-0251. Can accept payment by Paypal.

I never fill to 8 quarts. I try to keep between 6 and 7 quarts, otherwise it just blows out. When I bought the plane the owner who had owned it since new told me from day one it blew out the oil down to 6.5 qts and then very little afterward. Sure enough when I fill to 7 qts it burns half a quart in 2-3 hours and the other half in 7 to 8 hours leaving me with one quart of oil every 10-11 hours of flight. Compressions are good and oil usage is very steady. But if I fill to 8 quarts it will blow out to 6.5 quarts in less than 5 hours. No point in wasting good oil.

AcclaimML: If you think this crowd is tough on you try the red board at AOPA! If you post a story there about a bad landing or missing a hand off from ATC to tower half a dozen posters will tell you to give up on flying, lament that there are incompetent people like you sharing the airways with paragons of aviation perfection, etc. The guys on Mooneyspace are lovable fuzzballs of charity compared to that site. BTW, I love my 252 but I do have avionics envy looking at your pix. But when I saw 17.5gph I have to admit my envy softened a bit as I regularly fly at 11gph and make pretty good time. Now if fuel went to, say $3 per gallon........maybe I could be convinced to upgrade.

John: Thanks for the reply. I already found the part at LASAR.

H&L Aircraft based at KRYY. They have been doing my annuals since I bought my Mooney. Very thorough and reasonable. Here is the cost of my last three annual inspections: $1,205.14, $1998.21 and $1,578.34. Bear in mind I am a maintenance fanatic so when I have an issue I don't put it off for the annual. I get it fixed. Over that period of time I also had over $10K of other maintenance costs.

I had a door pop open on a flight. Supposedly you slow the plane to 95 kts and open the vent on the pilots window. Did not try that as I was by myself. Just landed, closed it and took off again.

I saw that one when I did an internet search. Thought it was for a 1979 model but maybe its the same part. Too good to be true as they were only asking $50 for it. I will contact them.

Just stopped by my friendly A&P in the midst of my annual for the second or third time to see how things were going. Compressions were good, gear swing perfecto, pulled, inspected and minor adjustments to both mags, O2 bottle off for hydrostatic test, recent fuel tank leak repair job looking great......had a small leak around the fuel selector valve that they discovered and had removed to replace the gaskets and ack, it has a small crack........not repairable..... Just curious if anyone has had a similar problem and what the part costs. The do not think the core will be worth anything because the crack is near the threads. I guess after five years of annual inspections costing around $1,800 I was due for something.

All I can say is that before I used Camguard I had problems with a couple of valves sticking that no longer occurs since I began using it. Maybe a coincidence but somehow I don't think so.

Worst landing was in am182RG with an instructor on board. Returning from a business trip at night. Was my first flight in a 182RG and was not used to the heavier controls. Hit flat and bounced.........hit a little nose down and bounced.......headed for a prop strike when the instructor grabbed the controls and landed the airplane. I still remember that sick feeling after the second bounce that the third was going to be worse. Would have been a mess had I been alone because my brain was so overloaded that going around never even crept into my thought process.

I bought Rosens at Sun n Fun and they were definitely cheaper there. Had them installed by my A&P and have not really liked them. Same problem as other posters with them not staying in place. Also, they are just a little too big and I have to go through gyrations to get them out to block the sun in the side window. I saw the suggestion to call Rosen about the looseness issue for additional washers. Hope that solves the problem because if it doesn't I could not recommend them. I have not had any issues with scratching. One question, do you fly with them down when flying into the sun or haze? I have tried that a couple of times and have not been comfortable that I could see any better than just with my sunglasses. I know I have seen the ads where it looks so much better but that has not been my experience.

When I get above 380 degF in my hottest cylinder I open the cowl flaps a little until the highest cylinder is closer to 370 degF or below. While 400 might not damage the engine if you can run the engine cooler why not do it?

I used PIC for my IFR ticket and would do it no other way for a couple of reasons. One, knowing my schedule had I done this the traditional way I would have gone through long periods without training and would have to relearn what I had learned in the last lesson. Not to mention the atrophy of skills in the meantime. It would have taken forever and in the meantime I would not have gotten full utility out of my Mooney. Two, I actually found it reasonably easy to fit it into my busy schedule because it really only takes a week of vacation with maybe a day on the front or the back. When you add two weekends to a five day work week you already have 9 of the 10 days. Most people can take a week long vacation and tack on a day to either side. I will say that it is an intense 10 days and if you don't have the physical and/or mental stamina and can't put aside all work and home-related issues it is probably not for you. And that's definitely not to say that if you can't handle a 10-day course you can't handle IFR. Not the case at all. So it is not for everyone but it worked very well for me and the PIC instructor was professional, courteous and dedicated to making me a safe IFR pilot. And he was very demanding in terms of the precision by which I flew which I very much appreciated. I have seen the occasional comments that all they do is prepare you for the check ride but that was definitely not my experience. Of course they prep you for the check ride which is what every CFII should have as a goal. But it was not at all directed toward anything other than being a safe, proficient IFR pilot and I think the results speak volumes to that outcome. It sure has for me.

An IFR certified GPS must be panel mounted and assuming the database is updated is authorized for use to perform RNAV/GPS approaches. I am not sure what a VFR certified GPS is. As long as you have all available information (ie, current charts, etc.) I assume you can use any GPS for VFR flight.

I have no problem with IMC and I know a lot of airline captains that fly SPIFR in single engine planes all the time. Having said that, I am not going to fly in an are of embedded t-storms in IMC, even though I have XM weather and a stormscope. My rule with t-storms is I need to see it to believe it....or more to the point avoid it. That is really not that limiting a factor to productive flying, even in the SE where I live.

He made two very big mistakes, only one of which he could control. First, he carried too much speed over the numbers and as with any Mooney we know how that works out. He could have fixed that on the second try for sure. Second, someone made a video of both attempts and exposed him to criticism. No way to fix that one. Pilots are notorious for living in glass houses and throwing stones. To quote the bible, let yea who has never had a bad landing cast the first stone. I have had my share and didn't need all the armchair pilots to tell me I wasn't slow enough, didn't keep the nose up enough on touchdown, didn't establish a stabilized approach, got distracted on short final by a passenger throwing up, runway was short and wide so flared too high, etc. Bad landings happen and hopefully we learn from them and get better. And no, that is not me in this video although I can think of some landings I would not want to see on youtube. And by the way, I have been in plenty of airliners with professional crews with thousands of hours and tons of training and they have made some awful landings. It happens......

I can't comment on the specific correlation but no doubt oil temps go up as OAT rises.

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Just got back from picking up the airplane from Cole Aviation. Fun time getting into RYY as there was a TFR for an Obama fundraiser in Atlanta today. At least I was in the outer ring so all it took was an IFR flight plan. This is what he ended up doing. Resealed the entire right tank and all the screws. He found another leak in one of the inboard tanks so he did the entire side. Resealed all the screws on the left tank. He said my sealant looked to be in very good condition and was optimistic this fix would last for a while. Time will tell. As with any stop at Cole, he also took care of a few other needed maintenance issues so the cost was a little more than expected (2 AMUs) but I am optimistic this will work for a while. By the way, it was the first time I have gotten into the airplane since I bought it that there was no odor of fuel. Had always observed a slight odor in the cockpit when I opened the door that went away quickly but not today.

Quote: carusoam The fuel senders, I believe, are mounted on the sides of the tanks, their seals are often the source of leaks. It is a good idea to visually inspect these seals for the source of leaks. I hope this gives you something to consider, and some hope that your challenge isn't too big... Best regards, -a-

Quote: Mckipper A timely thread, I just discovered a leak when she stands with more than 15gal. I was quoted 25 hours labour per side, so I'm looking for alternate AMO's now.

Quick update on my fuel leak project. Got a call from Joey yesterday and he said the plane has had fuel in it for a day and no leaking so far. Will give it a few more days to see if it holds. Not sure what the damage is as yet but it sounds like it was about as difficult as he expected the job to be so I am expecting to pay around $1K. Will start accruing for a complete reseal at Weep No More and hope I have a few years or more before I need to pull that trigger.

Quote: KSMooniac Good luck! Sounds like a prudent decision to me, with just a minor bet to get you a few more years of service.

Just got back from Cole Aviation and after inspeciting the tank and seeing where the leak is located (on the outboard portion of the right tank) he was pretty sure based on his experience that a complete reseal is not necessary. What he does is empties the tank and does a complete coating of outboard tank. Said he has done numerous projects like this wth good results. Still debating what I am going to do but am leaning toward having it patched rather than having a total reseal done. If it lasts me a couple of years (or possibly longer in his experience) so that I can get it done where I want and when I can work it around my business travel schedule. Will get it done in mid-June when I am out of the country and in the meantime I now have a plane with a 55-gallon tank. At 20 gallons there is no leaking at all. I recognize the obvious risk of wasting $1K and having a reseal done shortly thereafter and I will be happy to allow others to say they told me so. I'll keep y'all posted on my final decision and how it turns out.