takair

I suspect my beer cans have some Mooney DNA.

Went a few years ago. Nice when the weather cooperates. As I recall, had to work some logistics with Ubers.

Have had vacuum pumps fail at about 500, all VMC. Generator partially failed at some point. Engine failure. Have had only partial on various airplanes. Significant because it scared me and forced me to land, but not catastrophic like forcing me to ditch. I deal a lot with the statistics of aircraft systems failure in my regular job. The FAA has surprisingly low criteria for engine failure, because the failure alone is not considered to be at the catastrophic level. They figure that the plane can still glide and stalls at a theoretically survivable landing speed, plus crash survivability. The primary flight data has higher integrity demands than the engine. Even there, it is backups that matter. Vacuum pumps will fail, but hopefully not at the same time the electrical system. Even electronic flight displays assume a backup, because of the statistical failure rate. Best bet is always dissimilar solutions. Vacuum AND electronic display are actually quite complementary, although I’ve not run the numbers.

More disappointment….i rigged the tail on a Piper Cub today.

Oh man. More compliments will go to my head and lead to disappointment. Now I always worry about letting Tyler down when he figures out I’m human. He was already seriously disappointed by my tractor….and dirty car. Thanks though!! Now to out Tyler…..he really is in New England, as he basically lives down the highway from me right here in CT. Even his plane resides in CT at the moment. Mostly for my convenience. Most modern day New Englanders generally consider New York to be the 14th Colony. Don’t try to look that up anywhere. Hell, we will even hang out with NJers and beyond. I know the NJ guys were kind enough to let me tag along to their events.

I’ve not specifically familiar with this actuator, but was thinking it is missing a spring or bumper. Sure enough, came across this on a salvage site.

Somehow, that really drives me crazy. Like a US flag that’s mad in China.

Never pestering. There seems to be some big turnover with airport restaurants. Often, by the time I’m ready to head back to one, they are shut down or under new ownership. At least there is often someone ready make another go at it. I usually use ForeFlight and check the airport and FBO comments to get a sense of the food available and other services or fees. Nothing worse than getting $10 burger and paying a $40 fee. If the fee is $40, they best charge $80 for the burger. I will also try to leave a constructive comment once in a while.

I haven’t done it in years, but as I recall it always happened when a line guy put it in place and not me…..run in to get a pax and hop in plane….and can’t move. All the more reason to do a walk around.

We should strive for perfection. I think this poll shows it is hard the achieve. Designers also strive for perfection, but the regulations and design standards recognize human and machine fallibility. I think this poll also shows that there are some nice redundancies built into our machines and checklists. Miss a pitot cover on walk around, hopefully we see it on takeoff roll. Miss it there and training takes over…we hope. Miss a gust lock on preflight, hopefully catch it on the control sweep. This one gets tougher if you get airborne, so it’s important to not let errors stack up. There is a risk when we add modifications and our own protective measures without thinking failure modes. I’ve seen a number of well intentioned safety devices or design ideas that end up being more hazardous than the one they intend to prevent. Let’s all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Try not to rush, try to check things twice. Strive for that perfect flight. In the words of Rob Holland, Fly Good, Don’t Suck.

Chocks…obvious, just embarrassing. Pitot cover noted on takeoff roll airspeed cross check. External control locks on Cessna noted when doing control sweep short of runway. I’m glad that cross check caught it. Other stupid stuff too, cowl flaps, trim, flaps, running over cones. ALL when cheating on the checklist. Rushing, distractions, complacency. I’m still trying for that perfect flight.

I would be careful pushing inward with pipe cleaner. So it is limited what one can do. Visual inspection with a light is important. Lightly pushing with light safety wire might tell you of an obstruction. In theory, one can open the caps and see if you can blow air through the vents. There are other hints of obstructed vents, hearing a hiss when releasing the cap. In some cases the wing skin actually cavitates or bladders collapse.

I can’t answer the dimension question until I visit the airplane next. Even then hard to get at with it assembled. My vintage had the situation where the pin was a bolt through the cross tube and the tube had elongated. I was really thankful that LASAR developed this kit. Made me nervous when they ran out of stock, since there are some long term wear parts. That said, it. Has held up very well. I do have to say though, that it seemed like a very complex solution to the problem and did not seem entirely easy to manufacture. Likely multiple vendors, process steps, and inspections, all of which complicate the PMA process.

Back in picture 1 and 2, there appear to be missing screws along top of left baffles and it appears the top plate might be lifting. There is a good amount of pressure up there and it can open pretty big leak. This may not show up when doing flashlight test.

What is hard to see in Tyler’s picture is that the stab rigging was off by over 2 degrees. He never had full up trim which was actually closer to TO trim. Needless to say takeoff trim was very heavy and it was very difficult to get enough trim to land consistently. The elevator position varies depending on the vintage of Mooney. Older ones have only the bungee springs that yield a more upward position in takeoff. This J has a down bias spring, on top of the bungee springs, that provides constant down pressure. Full rigging requires removal of that spring and then reinstallation. Later models removed the bungee and have other mechanisms including bob weights. It is super critical that shops understand the mechanism. Just putting index marks on the torque tube when taking it apart to do work on the trim servo or tail is not good enough. The trim stops and trim indication are in front of the plane. As shown in this thread, it can be miss indexed to a hazardous level. Any post flights should be treated with caution. I wish the FAA still had the old service difficulty system that most mechanics read. They still have it, but it is not highly visible like it used to be. Thanks again for the kind words Tyler, but it is your integration into the entire ownership process that resulted in finding this. I feel the previous owner suffered through a poorly rigged airplane.