Skybrd

Quote: Jeev Well CRAP!!! My tanks were done by Wetwingoligists in 2004 and until my recent paint job 4 months ago were dry as can be. Now I have 3 leaks all around the inspection panels !! I have spoken to multiple people and they all say too much stripper was used around the tanks and worked itself into the rivets and seams. I spoke with Edison at Wetwingoligists and eventhough I 100% believe it has nothing to do with his workmanship and everything to do with the paint shop I used he offered to do the work for only the cost of sealant, really a stand up guy. My problem is I live in vegas and dont want to fly to Ft Lauderdale!!! So I am contemplating Advanced Aircraft in Troutdale, OR, any PIREPS on them? The leaks are only around the rivets on two inspection panels but are ruining my new Paint!!!

Quote: allsmiles The only risk is long term durability and reliability. John, why is this a concern?

Started flying lessons at 14 (1964), bought 1st airplane at 22 (a 1953 Tripacer), tie down was free at Great Falls, Mt. airport, avgas was .48/gal, I paid an instructor 4.00/ hour to instruct me in the Tripacer. ppl in 1973, commerical in 1974, instrument 1984. My first Mooney was a wrecked C model at Great Falls Mt airport. Owned various airplanes on a limited budget.

Quote: aschardt Thought I would share... I finally got my wife to stand on the end of the runway to take a few of these. It was pretty funny to see her duck as I went over. She had a good 15 feet, don't know what she was complaining about :-)

Today we refueled at PTV Porterville, Ca at the self service pump and was happy to pay less than recent flights. It was $5.05 per gallon. Other airports (including BFL Bakersfiel, Ca) have been charging over 6.00/gallon. Porterville has a restaurant on the field and has good food. They have lots of pictures of planes on the wall and some of the local pilots hang around it creating a hanger flying atmosphere. Places like this sure encourage general aviation. I think someone needs to make restaurants like the one in the Disney movie Rocketeer that was called "The Bulldog" .

Merry Christmas to all MooneySpace.com members. from Darrell and kathy

I've been thinking about doing some touch and go's but have a couple of issues. My J model has electric trim and the indicator is hiding under the Century III autopilot area. I don't want to take my view off the runway to watch the trim indicator. I'm thinking about practicing using manual trim wheel adjustment and counting the sweeps that bring the trim within usable take off range. I'm not sure about this as a accident cause, but remember about a Mooney that crashed on TO in Arizona earlier this year was probably due to trim being set wrong. It had a climb out stall and came down killing the pilot. I'm thinking this might have also been caused by trim changes when the flaps were retracted to more positive pitch.

Recently, I learned from a seasoned mechanic that if a person doesn't hold positive pressure on the key switch during starts, it can cause a broken starter. From what I understand, when you enable the key switch to start, the right magneto p lead is suppose to be grounded (turns off the mag) since it doesn't have an impluse coupling. If something interrupts this ground, the magneto is enable and it will fire too soon. It can backfire. The mechanic told me that it has broken some starters on planes he worked on.

I've enjoyed many night flights and had problems on two of them. The first was about 40 years ago. It was in a Piper Tripacer and shortly after turning dark, the nav lights circuit breaker popped and left me in the dark including the instrument panel. Fortunately I had a flashlight and was able to get the lights going again. The second one about 26 years in a M20A Mooney while practicing an night instrument approach. I was on final approach at the outer marker when the engine quit. The airplane glided well, I got out my flashlight and checked all the instruments. The fuel pressure gauge showed zero. I then turned on the fuel boost pump and the engine came back to life. No problem to return the plane to the airport. I thought it was a bad fuel pump but it was a leaky gasolator. I would recommend anyone flying at night to take a flashlight and if things happen, keep your wits. The Mooney glides well. It also never hurts to ask for a little bit of help.

Quote: Mitch For us, FF is a great tool! We use it extensively in our travels. FF does not take the place of looking outside for traffic. That's our personal responsibility. It's just antother feature for flight safety.

Quote: Mazerbase Thank you Craig. I very much appreciate MooneySpace.

My M20J Mooney is being painted at Art Craft and their doing a great job including changing my windows. They just painted the Mooney Girls airplane and it now looks like new. They are also painting a Mooney from Van Nuys. I just found out that their shop use to be an Aerostar factory. I went through the factory in the 1970's with my Dad, since he was thinking about buying one. If you get a chance to visit them you might also want to visit the airplane museum nearby. Its $5.00 and comes with a private tour. The museum is a hanger built for the movie called The Rocketeer"

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I will check over your ideas. I'm not too excited about wanting to live on an airport but possibly live close by. I've already considered Florida a while back and it still looks good. I like friendly airports, medium size towns and good weather.

My Mooney is based at BFL (Bakersfield, Ca.) and I'm looking for a good place to retire and relocate. BFL use to be a great general aviation airport but has changed with the TSA limitations and security. They removed many supporting features such as FSS station, Restaurant, Motel, self serve gas pumps and open access. Anyway, I would like to find a good town and airport that supports general aviation. I'm open to moving out of California. I checked Carson City Nevada and after calling, found out there is no hanger available. I checked Columbia, Ca and the hanger problem is the same unless I want to buy a 150k hanger. Do any of you know of a great retirement place and airport with available hangers. Thank you.

Flying in the step is something I believe to increase cruise speed. It appears to me that there are two ways to maintain altitude and cruise at a certain power setting. One is a more positive pitch setting that will maintain altitude and lower cruise speed. The other and prefered to me is to have a less pitch setting that will maintain altitude and provides a optimum faster cruise speed. In my opinion, to climb slightly higher than desired altitude, reduce pitch to level off, reduce power and let airspeed increase. This will cause a slight loss of altitude but a good cruise speed. At the desired altitude reset trim and increase power if needed to keep the altitude. I don't think it works as well in turbulant air but ok in smooth air.

One of the favorite California airports next to the ocean is Oceano and it's 2325 feet. I've taken my former A and E model Mooneys there and didn't have a problem. I haven't taken the J model there yet, but hope to after it gets out of the paint shop. I've used a trick of dumping the flaps at near touch down to shorten my landing. The A and C models have quick acting manual and hydraulic flaps but the J model has electric. Not sure if the electric flap retractions will happen as fast to do this trick. Caution, if you try this make sure your about ready to touch down since it could cause a stall if your too slow and too high.

Carusoam, I liked your quote and have a respond: I also prefer to stay with the oldschool steam gauge types. Flying airplanes and using various instruments keeps us mentally tuned. One of the issues with putting all your eggs in one basket is a single point of failure using glass cockpits. Having various oldschool gauges isolates the issues with little single point of failures. If you ever watched Burt Rutan space ship launch you would see a single point of failure when the space craft launched and had a immediate loss of glass cockpit capability. Quote: carusoam It looks like "lowbid" and "pristine" are opposites. I am starting to think that "lowbid" might be a misnomer if you are seriously considering selecting an airframe and having someone restore / upgrade it. Selecting a "functional panel" requires some thought from the user. It is hard to define over-the top without knowing how you intend to use the plane. Do you consider yourself a serious IFR pilot that appreciates redundant systems? Or so you only fly VFR during the day? Are you the oldschool steam gauge guy (like me)? Or are you an electronics whiz who likes the latest completely integrated digital display (like who I want to be). Do you intend to use the plane professionally every day or sport around in it once a month? Take a look at the following link that discusses panel upgrades. It is a recent polling of the audience on what should be included or considered in another pilot's upgrade decision... ( use the search function at the top of the page) http://www.mooneyspace.com/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=3&threadid=3278 Answering the question of which airframe to upgrade. Take the most recent one you can find that is in need of the upgrades that you intend install. There are no M20Js to avoid, but each year they got slightly more refined. It sounds like you will be spending large sums of money to have a better than new M20J (an engine rebuilt, interior replaced, avioinics installed, new paint etc.). It would make sense to select a low time, undamaged air frame to go with that investment. there are at least two similar projects, in mooneyspace, that have recently been finished that you can also look to for ideas. Vref (in Belgium) and Jezzie (in Canada). See their photo galleries. Best regards, -a-

Quote: healthfx Twenty year old, factory overhaul engine on m20C, with 400 hours. Needs two new cylinders. Is it wise to just replace them or get overhauled engine? Could the bad cylinders be an indication of future problems with existing engine?

Great pictures. Hopefully next year we'll be attending. Our Mooney is in the paint shop in Santa Maria. I noticed one Mooney parked in the picture that wasn't tied down. Did they provide tie down's on the ramp? How was the weather, did you have any T-storms? I liked the name Mooney Town.

I had similar experiences in my Experimental Tailwind and it was from a dirty fuel filter. I also changed my fuel pump and checked the fuel vent line but it was the filter. Have you checked the fuel vent system and filter ?

Quote: Skybrd Scott, here is a link to E-bay that has some Ki-209 indicators. I just bought a used Ki-214 and it was in good shape from e-bay. Good success friend..

Scott, here is a link to E-bay that has some Ki-209 indicators. I just bought a used Ki-214 and it was in good shape from e-bay. Good success friend..

My newly purchased Mooney M20J (201) has a Century III autopilot, part of it works and part doesn't such as the DG tracking. Have any of you had good experience with this model?