rc454

Some things to consider when talking V speeds. 1) Some V speeds are marked on the airspeed indicator by the bottom/top of the color bands, (published some stall speeds and some flap speeds for instance..) 2) The published V speeds vary according to your particular airplane serial number. (For example, our C model sn 2526 published Vy as 95mph with flaps at takeoff position. There is no mention of Vy with the flaps retracted. (There are later C model pdf copies of flight manuals floating around the internet that show the Vy to be 105 with Flaps Retracted...) 3) All V speeds are published at MGTOW and SL Density Altitude. Regarding Vy, a decrease in GTOW results in a decrease in Vy. An increase in DA also results in a decrease in Vy. How much? We are not told, but by piecing together information from a variety of sources combined with experience I think a fair guess is that Vy in a C model decreases nearly 10mph at a very light takeoff weight and probably decreases another 2-4 mph at/near the service ceiling of the airplane. Let's put this all together. The Vy at MGTOW with flaps at TakeOff position in a C model Mooney is about 95 mph. After flap retraction it is around 105 mph. At mid weights, (2 people, light bags) the those speeds are probably closer to 90/100 mph. I would be leery of not respecting the published Normal Operating envelope (top of the green arc) in anything but smooth air. Metal fatigue is cumulative; Just because there is no crack visible today does not mean no fatigue took place. Ron - CFI/ATP/M20C sn2526

Note about step g. in the gear rigging procedure described in my service manual for the M20C (manual gear). This is not from Mooney - it is just a note I added to my own service manual to clarify the bad (incomplete) wording found there. The purpose of step g. is to apply a preload to each of the three landing gear. The in the manual is confusing because it is incomplete. It should read as follows: By turning tubes, shorten the nose gear retraction tubes 2 turns and lengthen the main gear retraction tubes 2 - 2 1/2 turns. Then tighten check nuts... Explanation: The retraction bars we are adjusting are identified as bars B-A for the nose gear and bars B-E for the mains. Since the nose gear is moved into the down position by pulling on the retraction bars B-A, shortening those bars increases the preload in the down/locked position. Conversely, since the main gears are moved into the down position by pushing on the retraction bars B-E, lengthening those bars increases the preload in the down/locked position.)

I am relatively new to the TIKI Bravo machine, (though not new to Mooneys). The one TIKI Bravo that I fly for a co-owner has some stall warning oddities that we are still trying to decipher. 1) On takeoff roll beginning at about 50 KIAS the stall warning will begin to "chirp" rapidly and continues to do so until leaving about 80 KIAS on the climbout. 2) The stall warning partially activates (chirping/steady sound) always at 155 KIAS and greater. (That it is the stall warning can be confirmed by pulling the stall warning CB). During intentional stall demos the stall warning adjustment is confirmed normal as it activates between 5-10 knots above the actual buffet onset (depending on the flap setting but always within that range). The Service manual does not have a lot to say other than to replace the warning horn switch. Anybody had this problem? Ron pilot/mechanic

Having spent thousands of hours flying airplanes equipped with TCAS I have become a firm believer in the need for audible traffic warning systems in ALL aircraft. (A display of traffic is great, but an unambiguous audible alert is even better in that it gets your eyes outside.) I have spent hours making phone calls/emails researching the capabilities of ADS-B hardware available for light aircraft and the GDL-84 appears to be the only ADS-B hardware that will provide a hardwired output for audio traffic alerts to the COMM panel plus the wireless stream of traffic and weather to a tablet - all in one box. So for those of us flying round dials who want traffic alerting without having to spent extra for a glass panel this is going to be a great solution. (Maybe the Garmin folks did read the suggestion I sent in over a year ago And for those flying around with only ADS-B IN just realize that you are not seeing all the traffic. (In fact you probably often see very little of the traffic) To get a complete picture ADS-B out is essential. $4-5000 is a bargain for this sort of capability.

Interesting reading. When it comes to Performance Planning (in any airplane) it's probably good to always keep in mind the goal. If the goal is to never put the airplane in a situation where the loss of an engine will result in an injury/serious accident we are going to be much more restricted than if we view an engine failure as an "acceptable" risk. After 40+ years in this business I have become an even stronger advocate of the former philosophy - and I assume most of my passengers would agree. Yes, it restricts me to much larger airports, longer runways, better clearways, more friendly surrounding terrain, etc. It restricts me (in my Mooney) to day/"soft" ifr and even what routes I fly to some degree. But if it saves me and my passengers from serious harm even once in my career I figure it is worth it. If the airplane doesn't fit the mission change the mission or change airplanes. M20C, DC9, B727, B757/767, B747, B777, B787

Since the new battery was presumably clean this is probably not the cause, but contamination between the battery posts can provide a pathway for trickle discharge...

I would not even fly around the patch behind an engine that had not be torn down after a prop strike - unless the airport offered plenty of emergency landing real-estate. Ron A&P, ATP, CFI

One of the better short summaries of ADS-B hardware options I've seen: http://www.trig-avionics.com/adsb.html Looks like a UAT is the better solution if one wants good bandwidth for receiving traffic and/or weather.

This looks similar to the Zaon unit I have tried. I was not impressed as it missed too much traffic (perhaps because I didn't have the external antenna?). Also it does not meet a couple of other my personal requirements: ADS-B out compliant and a compatible Ipad app with a TCAS type display.

Thanks All. I read through those threads. Some good information there - if you are looking for a portable option. I'm not. So I would like to continue this thread for those who are interested in mounted hardware with external antenna(s) that will be fully compliant with the upcoming ADSB 2020 rule. My primary motivation for getting ADS-B right now is for traffic display/alerting. Weather to me is a nice benefit but not as important. (I can already get that on my iphone at the punch of a button). Since our airplane is "round dials" we have nothing that will display traffic. I would rather wait a little longer to upgrade the panel as options for displays are going to likely continue to become better and cheaper every year. (If I were upgrading the panel today I'd probably go with an Aspen unit...) So what to do in the mean time? I'm thinking that the price for ADSB hardware is not likely to drop much more. And since several are offering wifi/Bluetooth links to ipad that seems a good interim solution for displaying traffic. Something like the NavWorx ADS600-B hardware looks attractive. Mount it permanently but as a "portable" installation (which can be done with quick disconnects). When it becomes TSO'd it will (hopefully) be a simple matter to make it an approved installation. The problem I running into is that the software for displaying traffic on ipads is generally not well designed (imo). I'm not interested in just seeing traffic overlaid on a sectional - that is not an effective alerting display. The value of a traffic display is in it's ability to get your attention when a potential conflict looms. That means it has to be an uncluttered, intuitive high contrast display with alerting, preferably both visual and aural alerting, (like a TCAS display). The only two apps I've found that present a good traffic display like that are the Garmin Pilot and the ADSB View App. I don't know how good their alerting features are, but anyway their hardware options are more expensive and/or require too many modules. (Just give me one box to install please... maybe two if you count the wifi box.) To sum: Looking for an "all-in-one" ADS-B out/in box that can be mounted now as a pseudo-permanent type installation, that is compatible with an ipad app that provides TCAS like traffic display/alerting and which provides a non-proprietary signal which will feed a panel mounted display whenever we decide to upgrade the panel. That would be the best of all worlds.

I will readily admit that I have become more conservative over the years ... It's not just the (limited) capabilities of the machine to consider - but also the pilot. I've made enough mistakes by now to realize that I'm not as good as I once imagined

Thread? Searching for ADSB or ADS-B returns no results beyond this thread

Would be interested in hearing from any users with ADS-B "out" systems displaying traffic on an ipad. I'm not interested in the ADS-B receivers (with no ADS-B out). What ADS-B hardware is installed? How is the ipad connected to the ADS receiver, (wireless or Bluetooth)? What app(s) are you using on the ipad? Does the ipad app provide any sort of traffic alerting, (aural or visual)? Overall impression?

I have only about 400 hours in the M20C*, but enough that I feel about as comfortable with the JBar as I'm probably ever going to be. I would just ignore the gear retraction until above 1000'agl on a missed approach IFR. Don't need any such distractions when flying on instruments that close to the ground. The primary thing at that point is to keep the airplane right side up and climbing. Having said that I consider the M20C to be basically a Day/VFR airplane and operate it accordingly. A hard IFR approach in a light single engine airplane for me is an abnormal procedure - not something I plan for. *... but over 25000 hours total time in a variety of light and heavy airplanes

I've been checking TAS with our M20C for years. It consistently trues out somewhere between 143-151 KTAS, usually around 147 KTAS. I don't specific numbers here in front of me but typically I am level somewhere between 8500-10500' and near max gross weight and run as lean as possible without roughness with the throttle wide open and no carb heat. Average segment length is 1.5-2.0 hours and fuel burns are usually around 9.2 GPH. This figure is as high as 10 on short segments or as low as 8.2 on the longest segments (3+ hours) but I rarely fly nonstop over 2 hours. (Who wants to sit that long with 4 people in the airplane.?) Higher altitudes produce slower speeds. We have the LASAR cowl closure mod installed. I was new to the airplane when we installed it and didn't have much data from before installation so I really can't give what I would deem valid comparison numbers. Also, at that time we had major CHT/OIL temp gauge indication problems and so often had to run with rich mixtures and cowl flaps open just to be conservative. We have reliable engine gauges now (a Mitchell Aircraft mini-gauge pack) and I'm finding I can run at peak EGT with cowl flaps closed even on the hottest days and still see CHT's of 350-370 and oil temp of 210-215. By the way, the biggest thing we noticed with the installation of the cowl mod is that suddenly cowl flap position had an observable affect on oil temp. Prior to that we could never see any difference in oil temp with cowl flap position.