Sabremech

Not sure if anyone at MAPA is returning e-mails. I sent one just the other day regarding MAPA e-mail discussion list and have not heard anything back.

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Hi Joe, Having gone through training in my Mooney several months ago, the Mooney handles a stall just fine. My C model did not drop a wing or exhibit any severe buffeting. I'm not sure where you read or heard this, as I never heard anything bad about stalls in Mooney's when I purchased mine. You will find the Mooney to be a fantastic machine in all of it's flight envelope. The hardest thing to do is to slow it up on descent. Just takes a little practice. Good luck on your hunt for an F model. You will not be disappointed.

I'm in my first year with MAPA and with owning a Mooney. I'm on the fence about renewing when the time comes. I'm an A&P/IA and do my own maint on my Mooney. I haven't encountered anything that requires rocket science to fix it. I much prefer Mooneyspace forum over the incessant amount of e-mails received from the MAPA digest. The magazine is OK, I thought I would like it more but can zip through it 30 minutes or less. I plan on finishing the year with it and will make my decision then.

My wife and I just completed a long cross country with our new ipad and the Foreflight app. We had no troubles and it tracked us with the internal GPS the whole trip. We have a Garmin 496 with XM weather to cover the weather and terrain. it's my understanding the subscriptions for all of the features on the 696 are quite pricey. The Foreflight app was $75 for the year and has the sectionals and the approach plates plus so much more. Since I have a 496. the Ipad is the best bang for the buck in my opinion and will only get better at probably a third of what the 696 costs.

You are correct. There is a steel bracket and it wasn't cracked on this one. I will be doing a dye penetrant on the brackets in the tail during my annual. Cheap and easy to do.

Here's the area on the tail to watch for rivets loosening up and the horizontal stab gettting play in it. There's three new rivets that identify the area to inspect.

Next time I'm out by the Mooney, I'll snap a few pictures of the area in question. I saw the hardware which included the pulled rivets and a bent pivot fitting bolt. Definitely worth looking at if you routinely fly your airplane in the yellow arc and in turbulence.

Hi Guys, I bought this Mooney from Kevin in June of this year. I did see it apart and what was required to fix it and make it solid. Learning from Kevin, I grab the horizontal stab on both sides during my preflight and check for movement. It is rock solid now. It made enough of an impression on me that it is standard practice to check this before every flight. If you find any movement, check the line of rivets under the forward edge of the horizontal stab which is where the bracket for the tail pivot bolts is mounted.

From what you guys are saying, mine should have been totaled in 2005 then. Could be a great project for someone. If you replace everything with new and do a complete overhaul on the engine you're not going to come out ahead. The engine does not need an overhaul and if the crank is fine it will only cost a few thousand to get serviceable. Ever hear of using a used serviceable prop? It can be had for much less than a new one. It all comes out to a matter of perspective. It's what you make of it and I don't replace everything with new. Just my .02 and it can always end up as beer cans!

Depends on how much of the repairs you can do by yourself. Engine shouldn't be to bad to do a lower end inspection. Now would be the time for the one piece belly mod. Very salvageable project and could be done right. Too bad I don't need another one or I'd buy it. Good guesstimate in the lower $20K range. David

Isn't there an AD out for the bladders installation? Seem to recall reading that when I was in the hunt for my Mooney.

The current market is what has allowed me to purchase my Mooney. The price was very right and I have some cosmetic work ahead of me to get it looking the way I want it to. Best part is that I can do all the work myself, paint, interior and maintenance. All while building time and flying. It is a good time to buy!

Another good way to find small oil leaks is to use a black light. Clean the engine, run it for 5 minutes or so then look it over with a black light and the oil will glow giving a good idea where the leak is. Has worked well for me a number of times.

Solo in any airplane or in a Mooney? 12 hours to solo in a Mooney. First time out with no instructor and flew with my wife up to Sheboygan Wi for lunch. What an airplane. Wish I had bought one sooner.

After hearing numerous locations for the gear warning horn, I decided to start digging for it and found it today. On my 1966 M20C the gear horn is on the left upper corner of the firewall next to the brake reservoir. The stall horn is on the oposite side in the same location. Two separate horns and located on oposite sides of each other. David

Thank you, I wondered if it was shared with the stall warning horn. The wiring diagram is less than clear of one horn or two. I will look and post what I find. David

Looking for the physical location for the gear warning horn on a 1966 M20C. Thanks

We're talking about a tool that does not require calibration, not a connecting rod or aircraft hardware. Keeping the focus on the tooling, it is perfectly acceptable to use this tooling. If there was an incident that could be definitively tied to this particular tooling, then you may have a valid point. More likely the FAA would be looking at whether the mechanic used the tooling correctly versus was the tooling wrong. It's OK for those who want to use Mooney only tooling as well as those of us who choose to use acceptable alternatives.

These tools are OK to use as long as they are able to perform the same function as the tools listed in the Mooney Maint manual. I bought a set of them myself and if I was concerned about the identicality, I'll rent a set of the official tooling to compare them. My company manufactures tooling for Dassault Falcon airplanes, so alternatives are out there and can be used. I've discussed tooling with my local FSDO when I started manufacturing. My conversations with them found nothing that would keep me from making them as long as the fit, form and function are the same.