Dale

I have a damaged wing fuel tank gauge on the passenger side fuel tank. I have a 2007 Mooney Ovation 3. Does anyone know where I might be able to find a replacement. My shop says they are having a hard time finding one. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

This is an update on my Mooney Ovation 3. I just got my plane back this week. It took almost 5 weeks because they couldn't get the voltage regulator replaced because they had to get a letter from Mooney and then go to the OEM and have them rebuild/replace my old one. Also, both of my Concord batteries failed the cap test and I had to replace both of them. They were almost 4 years old but had been operating fine and passed the cap test at my last annual. The alternator was fine and all the electronics were fine. Final analysis - Being stupid and not turning on the alternator before taking off and running the battery so low it was pulling so much amperage from the alternator that it burned out the voltage regulator before it burned out the alternator and my instrument panel. Also, not catching any indication on the panel that the voltage regulator was not on. I had the panel lights checked, so it should have been caught at that point. In any event, the voltage regulator did what it was supposed to, the pilot did not do what he was supposed to. I got an expensive lesson on electrical systems from this experience. Basically, I learned the following: 1. turn the damn alternator on before takeoff (duh); 2. You can switch batteries in the air with the alternator on provided one of the batteries is not totally drained or really, really low; 3. You can't turn on the alternator onto a dead or almost fully drained battery or you will get an electrical rush into the lines that can damage your electrical system; 4. The back up alternator has its own voltage regulator (so burning out the main one has no effect on the back up whatsoever) but is not strong enough to run any nonessential items like flaps, trims and landing gear; 5. Training to lower the gear manually on my biannual flight reviews is NOT a waste of time; 6. Upon the voltage regulator burning out on the main alternator, I could have switched to the number 2 battery which was fully charged, popped the circuit breaker back in (provided the system had cooled down sufficiently and I was on the #2 battery, I had tried it a couple of times and it wouldn't go back in but was told I needed to give it more time, how much I don't know and don't want to find out in the future) and then turned on the back up alternator. Everything would have worked as designed including the flaps, trim and landing gear, but land as soon as possible; 7. Both batteries operate off the same circuit breaker; 8. The loss of the voltage regulator does not affect the batteries as it protects the alternator but is not on the same line as the batteries; 9. Make sure I do the run up and check that both alternators are operational - the back-up won't kick in until about 2000 rpm or more on my Ovation; 10. Spend more time with my instructor on electrical system issues and failures; 11. I was lucky this all happened on a perfectly clear day in VFR conditions. Had I been on an approach or in rough IMC, it could have been different; 12. You have to pull the battery breaker if you go to the emergency buss back up alternator, otherwise it could pull to much amperage if the other good battery is low. However, if the circuit breaker will go back in, you can turn on that battery long enough to configure the planes trims, flaps and landing gear for the landing. Then, it may need to be turned off since my understanding is that you can't chance that the backup alternator would send current to charge that battery and overload that system. 13. Never rush doing a checklist because you have to get off the runway because other planes are waiting to land. There is no taxiway at River Ranch so I had to do the runup on the runway while planes were waiting. No excuse just poor timing and planning. I should have taken my time. I didn't go through the full checklist and therein lies the problem. Don't rush, don't get out of your routine and always pull the full checklist from the checklist sheet and not from memory. 14. I did the correct procedure for a dead battery and an electrical system failure, if the battery circuit breaker would not reset on battery 2, shut down the main alternator button, turn on the emergency bus, fly the plane, contact the nearest tower with a sufficient length runway, lower the landing gear manually (lower gear knob, pull gear breaker, pull handle until the gear indicator panels shows gear is down and handle pull gets a little tight), land as soon as possible, land a little hotter with no flaps on a longer runway. At least I did one thing right. If the battery circuit breaker did reset, then I could have configured the plane for landing and after it was configured, pulled the battery circuit breaker to make sure there was not to much load on the backup alternator causing a failure there. All in all, it was an expensive, but important, lesson on the Mooney Ovation's electrical system. I don't hope to repeat it again. I would like to thank everyone for their comments. They were very, very helpful. Thank you, everyone.

Good points that I am going to bring up with the Mooney CFI. I don't know if there is a ground check you can do with the batteries that would differ from switching them in the air. Maybe on the ground check, with the alternator off, low rpm's and then switching the batteries will demonstrate the voltage output to determine if the battery is good and not cause any problems. It is a good point and one that I want to discuss with the CFI, among others, when I get my plane back and we go over the electrical system issues. I don't want to have a repeat of this in the future. Thanks for your input, it really helps when I make a list of questions for the CFI. Thanks again.

Update on the electrical system issue for my Ovation 3. Apparently, the voltage regulator is bad and Premier is ordering another one, although they are not that easy to find as Mooney does not have any and they had to go to the original company that made the voltage regulator. As for the issue of a dead battery in flight with the main alternator left off, Premier has advised, as has Corby Hallaran, my CFI Mooney Instructor, is that the procedure should go like this: a. If battery 1 is dead, DO NOT switch on the main alternator. There is apparently some type of "in rush" on the lines and it is bad for the electrical system and, I guess, can blow your voltage regulator; b. Switch to the good battery #2, get everything running and then turn on the main alternator. Everything should function normally, provided there is nothing else affecting the electrical system, other than the dead battery. On the issue of switching batteries in the air while the electrical system is operational, here is the take: a. Provided both batteries are good and fully charged, you can switch from battery 1 to battery 2 in the air with the master switch on and the main alternator on and operational without any injury to the electrical system, the batteries or the alternator. Corby told me that he does this when he flies the Acclaims and the Ovations and has done this many times and there are no problems. He also does this on test flights for Premier on the Acclaims and the Ovations as part of a general electrical system check. This is a standard part of the electrical system check that is routinely done. He switches the batteries in the air and checks their voltage. Corby did so today in testing two G1000 Mooneys at Premier that had just come out of annual. Premier mechanics concur that as long as the batteries are good, there is no problem switching from one battery to the other in the air with the alternator on and the electrical system operational. No relays will fry. There is also the alternator and standby alternator test and run up procedure from the Mooney AFM Supplement, which I do when I am flying IFR, and that is 1. with the main alternator on, set the RPM for between 1700 and 1800 RPM and verify that the Red Alt Volts annunciator light extinguishes; then 2. turn the Alt Field Switch OFF and verify that the Red alt Volts annunciator light is ON; 3. Turn ON the Emerg Bus switch and verify that the Amber Emergency Bus annunciator light illuminates; 4. Turn OFF the Emergency Bus Switch and verify that the Red Alt Volts annunciator light is ON 5. Turn ON the Alt Field Switch and verify that the Red Alt Volts annunciator light extinguishes. I am supposed to get my plane back in the next few days once Premier has completed the repairs and verified there are no other electrical system issues. The gear checked out ok and the batteries have checked out ok and are holding a full charge. I have arranged time with Mr. Hallaran to spend time going over, once again, the electrical system in my Ovation so I handle any electrical issues that may come up in the future and follow the correct electrical procedures. Thanks for everyone who has responded to this post. It is greatly appreciated. Thank you again.

The POH for my M20R Ovation3 says to start the engine with the alternator off. After the engine is started, then it says move the alternator switch to the on position. Here is what I understand from my mechanics at this point about the good battery not operating the gear or flaps. They said if the first battery is depleted and the main alternator (the 70+ amp alternator) fails and I switch to the emergency bus (the backup 30 amp alternator) then it will look to the battery that is the lowest, if the battery circuit breaker is in, and even though I have a full charge In battery 2, the standby alternator will look to the battery with the lowest charge and if that battery is to drained and requires a lot of charge, it will disconnect the battery system. Consequently, no power to the gear, flaps or electric trims. They said the procedure is in my POH supplement for G1000 equipped ovation3’s. My POH manual is with the plane at the A & P’s as they check my batteries, alternators, landing gear and electrical system. I will go back and review that section when I get the plane back. In the meantime, it will be important for me to go over electrical system failures with my Mooney instructor both on the ground and in the air. This occurred in nice clear VFR weather. Had this occurred in solid IMC, it would have been much more difficult to cope with under those conditions. I was fortunate that the backup alternator worked to get my radios back up and engine gauges back on. I also was fortunate to have practiced the manual gear extension with my instructor on several occasions. I also found the value in keeping my iPad with WingX on an independent battery, separate from the plane’s electrical system along with my skyradar system, as I can split the screen with gps position and synthetic vision on WingX. I also found the value in having my handheld radio ready to go should the backup alternator have failed. All in all, I was fortunate that this was on a full VFR day and not in solid IMC. I also need to change my procedure for handling a dead battery. Probably switch to battery 2 first, get the g1000 operational and then turning the main alternator on. I will spend time with my instructor going over electrical system failures and the different procedures I need to use and go back and read my POH and supplement on the same. Thank you to everyone that commented. It was very much appreciated. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I had a Concorde battery. It was about 3 years old. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Recently I was flying back from River Ranch in central Florida. The runway has no taxiway so for takeoff you have to taxi down the runway, turn around, do your run up and take off. I did my run up, took off and about 15 minutes into the flight my g1000 turned off. Apparently, while trying to get off the runway quickly for other traffic, I forgot to turn on the alternator and my battery 1 went dead. I turned on the alternator and the g1000 came on and everything was fine until I got about 3/4 of the way home then the battery circuit breaker popped and would not reset. A few minutes after that the g1000 went dead again and the main alternator circuit breaker popped and wouldn’t go back in. I turned off the main alternator, turned on the back up alternator and switched to battery 2 and got the g1000 back up,with 1 radio, but it would not operate the electric flaps or the gear, so I dropped the gear manually and landed with the flaps up. I understand that the backup alternator on the ovation3 will not operate the flaps, gear, elevator or rudder trim. (Although you can operate the elevator trim manually). My question is two fold. 1. If the circuit breaker for the #2 battery could be reset, would the backup battery have lowered the gear if the backup alternator was on. My POH manual says once the backup alternator is engaged it cuts off operation to gear, flaps etc. and 2. Has anyone had a similar situation where you forgot to turn on the alternator in the ovation and the battery went dead. What procedure did you follow? Thanks. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Problem found and resolved. Apparently, the jack screw on the landing gear was torn up. The mechanics said a bearing went bad and tore up the jack screw. They repaired the jack screw and the bearing and put in a new gear motor to be safe. It was a good time to catch the problem before it got any worse, otherwise, it may have hung up so bad that I couldn't hang crank it down. However, the mechanics thought that with the weight of the gear that it could still have been hand cranked down, but now I hope I never have to find out. Thanks for everyone's input into this matter. It was really appreciated. This is such a wonderful site with so many great Mooney pilots here willing to share their knowledge. Thank you all. I am back for some more transition training this week. I am slowly starting to feel more comfortable in the plane and I have been studying the G1000 system and taking some online courses to understand all the functions. Luckily, I have the FSX Steam flight simulator at home and was able to download a G1000 single engine aircraft with synthetic vision that reproduces almost all of the G1000's capabilities right down to placing in the flight plans and shooting the approaches. It really helps when I get behind the real thing. The version that comes with the Steam FSX has limited capabilities but if you purchase one of the 3rd party vendors planes with the G1000 it has almost all the capabilities of a real G1000. It makes the transition training a little easier. Thanks again everyone.

It seems like my gear problem got a little worse. As I explained earlier, I had the gear stop halfway up during retraction. We attributed this to the fact that I was over the gear retraction speed of 106 knots. The gear circuit breaker popped and my instructor pushed the circuit breaker back in and recycled the gear first down, then back up and they retracted normally. We made sure we were well below 106 knots. We did another 4 or 5 take off and landings with no problems. We flew today and worked on some slow flight and when we went to retract the gear at around 87 knots the gear once again only partially retracted. We followed the same procedure as described above and after pushing in the circuit breaker a couple of times the gear retracted. That was it, we took the plane back to the airport to have the mechanics thoroughly check it out. Apparently, there was an sb on the gear motor in this year's Ovation. Has anyone ever had a similar situation occur on their Mooney Gear? I also looked in the POH for this situation and apparently, this particular gear retraction issue isn't covered. What is covered is a fault in the gear system related to the airspeed cutting off the gear motor beyond a certain speed. You push a bypass switch which overrides the airspeed fault limit and retracts the gear. My issue was different since it popped the circuit breaker. In any event, I hope this information helps anyone who may experience the same problem. I will let everyone know what the mechanic finds.

Everyone, thank you so much for the information. The gear issue caught me by surprise on the go around. I know I was above the placard speed of 106 knots when I tried to retract the gear. It is a good thing Corby was with me. I looked in the poh and didn't remember seeing an emergency gear procedure for gear stuck in transition. I would have followed the only gear procedure I was familiar with and that was the manual gear handle procedure. I am going to go back and look at the emergency gear procedures in the POH and see if I just missed it. Corby simply pushed the breaker back in and recycled the gear making sure we were under 106 for the gear retraction. I asked The head of maintenance about the gear up stuck in transition issue and he told me it is set at 106 because the Ovation gear doors are different than what is on the k model (bigger and heavier) and the gear motor can't handle the extra stress on the gear doors at retraction if the speed is above 106. In the go around I am pretty sure I was above this speed. I am still going to ask them to check the gear retraction motor in case I screwed something up. I just feel really stupid! Thanks for everyone's replies, it really, really helps. I have been flying Mooneys since I was 18, first in an m20E, then in a M20K and now in an M20R. I sometimes don't know if the prior experience in the earlier models helps or hinders me because I fall back to thinking I'm in a K model when I should pay closer attention to the POH in the R model like Lance said. Everyone's input is really appreciated. Thank you.

Landscaper, thanks for the info. I guess my questions stem from my time flying the k model and trying to make sure I understand the differences on the transition to the R model.

Thanks for the reply. Corbin Halloran is my Mooney transition instructor. My Ovation3 has two placards at the gear knob. One says 140 knots maximum airspeed for the gear down and another placard that says 106 knots maximum gear up speed. Am I one of the only Ovation owners that has a placard for maximum gear up speed of 106 knots? Also, Is it common for pilots flying behind the 550 engine to commonly use right rudder on take off due to the added power or do most just push the right rudder pedal on take off.

I recently traded my M20K 262 for a Mooney Ovation3 with a G1000 system and an s-tec 55x autopilot. I am doing the waas upgrade in a couple of weeks. I have some questions for other Ovation pilots out there. I am now doing the transition training with my instructor. We spent about 5 hours working on landings, crosswind landings and some G1000 work. A couple of things I am wondering about what other Ovation pilots are doing. My instructor recommends trimming the rudder to the right on take off. I have tried this and it does seem better for takeoffs, especially on crosswind take offs and landings with the wind coming from the right side of the plane. Do other Ovation pilots do this with their ovations as a regular routine? I never used any rudder trim on takeoffs or landings in my M20K, I just applied right rudder on take off. On my first landing with the Ovation, while I was on final, a plane got stuck on the runway and we needed to do a go around. I leveled off, increased the throttle and began to climb out. I then retracted the landing gear. The gear went halfway up and stopped. My instructor noticed the landing light at the top of the panel come on. After taking the plane out of the pattern we found the gear circuit breaker had popped. He pushed the breaker back in and moved the gear knob to the gear down position. The gear locked down. Apparently, when I leveled off and increased the throttle I had the airspeed above 106 knots and you cannot retract the gear in the Ovation 3 above 106 knots. I understand the gear motor cannot take the force of retracting the gear above 106 knots. I never experienced this in my K model and retracted the gear a couple of times above 106 knots. I then made sure I was below 106 knots and the gear retracted normally. We did another 7 or 8 landings and I had no trouble with retracting the gear but I also was sure the airspeed was well below 106 knots. Has anyone else ever had this happen to them where they had gear stop in transit due to the airspeed being to high when the retraction started. I was surprised because I never had this issue on my K model. Any help or insights to the above questions would be appreciated. Thanks.

I would like to thank everyone for their responses about the Bahamas decal. I made my trip over to North Eleuthera this past week and it was a wonderful trip over and back. The Bahamian customs official never even asked if we had bags and never looked at any of our bags. All they wanted were the customs forms and the money for entering the country. The trip back was equally uneventful. I flew into KOPF and American customs X-rayed our bags, got their 1 form and we were out of their in less than 10 minutes. We flew back in the morning and arrived at American customs about 10:45 and there was no one other than us going thru customs. They literally ask for nothing, including my decal, which I kept in my flight bag. North Eleuthera was beautiful and our accommodations at Valentines Resort were really nice. We got a golf cart and rode around the small island, saw the pink sand beaches and snorkeled some gorgeous reefs. Food and drinks can be pretty expensive there but we brought some drinks from home and no one seemed to care. It was a great trip. We hope to visit Abaco later this summer. Thanks again for everyone's input, it was really appreciated.

I am preparing for a trip to the Bahamas. I use to fly there regularly in the 80's and 90's but haven't flown there since then. I have gotten my entire checklist of items I need for the flight. I just received my Customs and Border Protection decal for my airplane and I was making a note of where to place the decal. The CBP website says that I am to affix the sticker on the "outside of the conveyance within 18 inches of the normal boarding area, where it is visible when the door is open." I know this is probably a stupid question, but are people placing the decal on the inside part of the window or are you actually placing the decal on the outside of your plane on the front or rear passenger window. If you are placing on the outside of the plane's window, will it actually stay in place for a year? Any help or insight would be appreciated. Thanks.