DaV8or

Just curious, did you come to the exact same solution on your own, or did you see my post with this years ago? If we both came up with the same rig independently, that's kind of amazing! Do make the elbow and drop pipe. It really completes the deal. I'll post pictures later in this thread just for the heck of it.

I'll post my not-a-drop-spilled solution again for those that haven't seen it yet. All Home Depot parts- Insert under the oil filter and secure with a Vise Grip- Loosen the oil filter and the oil runs down the trough... ...and into the bucket. When you're done, the end of the pipe is capped for no mess. Since these pictures were taken, I have improved the system further by adding an elbow on the end of the pipe and a length of pipe that goes straight down into the bucket. I found that under windy conditions with the hangar doors open, my mess proof system wasn't so mess proof. Now it truly is. I did not glue the elbow to the gutter pipe, so it can be broken down for storage and has it's own cap to contain the mess. I'm in the middle of an oil change right now as I post this. (I let the oil drain overnight) When I go back to the hangar to finish up, I could take pictures of version 2.0 if people are interested. I could also get dimensions if somebody wants to duplicate this.

I thought they were already welcome? Don't forget the Mustang folks! I imagine that's a pretty tiny community.

Yep, it's turning back into a seller's market. It won't last long though so it's good to sell now. The bubble will burst soon, likely next year and it'll be back to begging people to buy. I probably should sell my plane now and then upgrade after the bust. The only problem is, I want to keep my hangar.

I don't think I've ever seen an E for sale for that much. Has anybody else? Why would you sell your RV? You could make it like this for a whole lot less and probably faster too.

That's because it's all down by me. I can't see crap! You're welcome... I am sorry that you have to go through the drama though. Last year was my year with my parents repeated evacuations in So Cal.

Does it have a retractable step fairing in good condition? It's the little sheet metal part that screws onto the bottom of the step to close the hole when it's retracted.

Actually, one of the biggest problems we face here regarding fires is people setting them on purpose. Sure it's dry and yes there is a lot of fuel, but the ignition spark is now more caused by media fame than natural, or accidental. Where I live, we have had a disproportionate number of grass fires and that's because people have been running around setting them. They caught one of these douche bags recently using road flares.

Maybe a little thread creep, but a good contractor friend of mine was up visiting to go out boating and we got to talking and told me the story of the time he was contracted to install a fire suppression system for the outside of the house. A rich guy in So Cal had built this big fancy house up in the hills amongst all the trees like so many do and he was understandably concerned with it burning down someday, so had a the system installed to protect his home. It started with a fire proof roof. There are several materials for roofing that work pretty well for fire proofing. Then they installed a manifold/piping system around the entire perimeter of the house under the eves of the roof. It was plumbed underground to a high volume gasoline powered water pump. The pump was installed in it's own underground concrete bunker, completely sealed to the outside. It's water supply was the house's swimming pool with thousands of gallons. The swimming pool was actually installed as part of the fire suppression system with the added benefit that you could swim in it! The system was completely self sufficient and off the grid. It created a mist/spray of water around the entire house until the swimming pool ran out, or the gas ran out. I'm not sure how big the gas tank was, or the run time. Anyhow, many years later the system was tested when a forest fire came to the neighborhood. It worked and the house was one of the survivors.

Hmmm... so 50% more and I'm guessing that's best case scenario. How was I wrong in my statement above??

...and maintenance bills.

Wow. Mooneyspacers must be doing better financially, or they finally figured out the genius of this device. Back in 2010 when I got mine, the Mooneyspace wisdom was, yes it's cool, but it's way over priced. "For that much I could get..." All manner of $200 DIY solutions were proffered up, combined with the usual bargain hunter bragging of "I found this at a garage sale for $100!" Now it looks like Mooney folks are getting serious! You guys won't be sorry.

He's got what he needs. He has fuel flow and a JPI 700. While no longer state of the art, it does give him all the info he needs to manage that engine.

I believe you have the oldest Mooney and the only M20 on this forum. There are others here with M20As though. There is even one in Germany that has an A with the original wooden tail on it. That's pretty rare. In your case, obviously there has been a lot of panel work done, but is the rest of the plane stock M20? Do you have a metal tail, or wood tail? Is it the original 160 hp engine, or did they upgrade to the 180?

I'm not sure. I didn't know there where different lengths. I bought mine about seven years ago, so maybe they are different now.

Any of you guys that actually do end up getting a Sidewinder, I suggest you do this mod I came up with. Remove the Allen bolt that is in the clamp that secures the drill motor to the drive tube and replace it with a handle screw and a bushing. These things are available from places industrial supply places like McMaster Carr. This allows you to remove drill portion super fast and without need of any tools. To make it work, you do need to drill, tap and install a little set screw to keep the locking collar permanently attached to the drive tube. See photos below-

Is this for the step fairing? If so, how do I know if I need a large, or small? I have a '66 F, so likely the same as whatever they put on a '67 F.

If you have the step fairing that goes on the bottom of the retractable step, it would save me from having to make one. Do you have one?

Sadly, my back appreciates my Sidewinder too. No sale. Good luck on the search though. It is an awesome machine!

These are the two best options in the Bay Area. Neither are cheap, but for a pre-buy, you don't really want cheap, you want thorough and experienced.

Yes, I do it too and my wife is grateful as she would likely make me do it if I didn't already do it.

There's a lot of speculation on this tragic accident. Most seem to be on poor design, or defect in manufacturing, or corrosion, or poor inspection. Now my personal speculation- It seems to me the flight history of the Piper Cherokee and subsequent Arrow model is well proven over the decades. There is no doubt that there are Arrows out in the wild with more than 7600 hours with both wings still attached. I would hazard to guess there are some with over 10,000 hours by now. I think this rules out poor design. I don't really buy the manufacturing defect theory either because this airplane did have 7600 hours and I would imagine that a stress riser from poor fabrication, or careless assembly would have caused this failure thousands of hours ago. Corrosion is likely a contributing factor as the plane was operated in Florida and likely stored outside, but this is nothing new for Piper Cherokees used for training in Florida. Again, a much older plane years ago would have failed by now had corrosion been the only culprit. Poor inspection may also be a contributing factor, due to not spotting the signs, but I have to wonder, how obvious and visible were the signs? The insidious nature of aluminum is that it doesn't give a lot of warning prior to failure like steel does. The warning it does give is subtle and sometimes minute. If the part is painted, how easy is it to see? Same goes for the corrosion. If it is internally corroding, how easy is that to see? So where else can we lay the blame? Two areas that I don't see people speculating on much is operational history and metallurgy. The case of operational history isn't popular because we may never know the truth. There are logbooks, but do they always tell the truth and the whole story? This airplane was a training plane and therefore basically a rental plane. Who is to say there wasn't a day when a young and bold pilot by him, or herself after watching a bunch of YouTube videos decided they could pull off a loop in the ol' Arrow? A loop performed badly can put a lot of stress on the plane. They may have gotten away with it, scared themselves silly and kept their mouth tightly zipped. How about IFR flight into a thunderstorm? Those are a pretty regular features there in Florida, who is to say a student on a solo flight didn't accidentally find themselves in the thick of their worst nightmare, only to survive and quietly put the plane away with no words to anybody out of embarrassment, or fear of retribution? Penetration of thunderstorms has been known to stress an airplane. This is not a popular line of thinking because there is no way to prove any of it... yet is quite possibly the real cause of this accident. Those that may have overstressed the aircraft in the past are even less likely to step forward now that there are fatalities involved. Then there is metallurgy. It is possible that the spar was made with substandard aluminum. Untempered aluminum, or aluminum with the wrong alloy looks identical to good and correct aluminum. There is no way anyone working at Piper would have ever known and it would machine identically. This is a knowable fact and I'm sure the NTSB is doing laboratory testing now. My speculation based on the odds is, The accident airplane had unknown over stressing of the airframe in it's past history, made worse by the corrosive environment of outdoor storage in Florida. The over stress in the past may well have loosened the bolts just enough to allow a certain amount of moisture into the interior. A contributing factor may have been poor, or sloppy inspections of this area although I don't know how often this area is supposed to be inspected and just how easy this kind of damage would be to see if you did suspect it, so I personally don't lay as much blame here, if any at all. As usual, just IMHO.

It's even worse for me when I fly on a turbo prop and you can see the blades spinning right there inline with your head. There is no containment ring.

That is him!! I Googled his this N number and came up with these two images- Photo taken 3/18/18 at La Ceiba Goloson International (MHLC) Honduras- And this one taken at Oshkosh-

Agreed. I spoke to a guy with a modded blue and white C that was parked near me that flew 10,000 miles to the fly in!! He was from Salem Oregon and admittedly he took the looooooonnnngg way to get to the meet. Basically the stop in Paso Robles to the fly in was his last stop before home on a trip that had him circumnavigate the Gulf of Mexico. I don't know all the details, but it was something like Oregon to Colorado, to florida, over Cuba, down the Caribbean island chain to Venezuela and then over to Cozumel, Mexico, then back to California then to Paso Robles for the fly in and when he took off, he was headed to his home again in Salem Oregon. I think that qualifies as the longest distance flown to the fly in!! Sadly he showed up just as lunch was finishing and people were already starting to depart. So he pretty much just gassed up and left. I was lucky enough to talk to him and hear about his adventure flying (this is not the only crazy long trip he has done with his Mooney) while he was waiting for the fuel truck to show up. Sadly, I can't remember his name because I suck like that and I can't remember his N number either. I do remember it was real short and I think it had a 2 in it. I'm sure Phil could figure out the details on this guy. Maybe he can share some of his stories and get his well deserved award.