kortopates

There is very little risk of fire as long as the pilot approaches the ground at normal approach speed and has enough room to decelerate without a lot of excess G's. Remember the energy required to be absorbed to stop increases by the square of the ground speed. Furthermore, the tanks are better protected than your earlier comments on bladders helping presumed. There is no fuel directly behind the leading edge of the wing, this is where the aileron push-rod linkages are located. The fuel is behind another aluminum bay. Perhaps why we've never seen fuel leakage from a bird strike that went through the leading edge. A force strong enough to rupture both the leading edge and continue through the aluminum wall into the fuel bay isn't going to be deterred by bladders either. Best defense is to come down as slowly as possible followed by having some room to slow down.

See “Mooney’s answer to the chute” thread. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think airports work since the navigator already has a visual approach to every runway at every airport to use - plus this technology is a long ways off from dealing with engine outs.

I want one! too bad it only comes with the G3000 system, but perhaps there will be an upgrade path for the Gx000 planes (but I doubt the # will pencil out to see that happen)

Remember it takes 2 things to run smooth LOP, mixture distribution is key but so is a healthy ignition system. The ignition system is under a lot more stress LOP than ROP and if there are any issues with it, they'll show up right away under the stress of firing LOP. Hence why we do the LOP Mag test in flight to check it out. So roughness encountered from LOP ops can come from cylinder power imbalance (such as poor mixture) or it can come from faulty ignition leading to premature misfire. Only a review of your downloaded diagnostic engine data can tell you the difference! (although sometimes the cause can be so obvious its clearly visible in flight)

Agreed, it'll probably even clean up just fine. A couple possibilities - was it still firing? (if you have an engine monitor you'd know right away) Can't tell from the picture to see if the plug is actually fouled, i.e. is it shorted out so that it wasn't firing at all when removed? If so, a good plug will look like that pretty quickly if its been cold in the cylinder and what we're seeing now doesn't necessarily mean anything other than a fouled plug. If so, clean and inspect including internal resistance (less than 5K ohms) and gap and re-install and carry-on. But on the other hand it could be sign of an excessively oily cylinder in which case would suggest borescoping the cylinder and you may well see oil pooling in the cylinder since that plug looks oily - not just carbon from being overly rich but excessive oil. If so, look for oil leaking past the rings and/or sucking it in from valve guides. Also your bottom plug is going to be much dirtier than the top - so hope that is a bottom plug

That's okay and in fact I think you can well make the case that the FAA agrees with that sentiment up to a point, CFR 91.207 even says "(f) Paragraph (a) of this section does not apply to -- ... (9) Aircraft equipped to carry not more than one person." So if it's just you, the FAA agrees entirely. Another exception listed that may apply in spirit to why you perhaps shouldn't be required to have one: "(3) Aircraft while engaged in training operations conducted entirely within 50 nm radius of the airport from such local flight operations began" Perhaps a bit unfair or inconsistent to only grant that to flight training? However, most Mooney's are travelling machines though, and I therefore I do agree with the FAA in that if we have seats to take unsuspecting pax, we should be equipped with an ELT. But even here there is another interesting exception that adds a twist to this from the regs, is that you may still operate the aircraft after removing a faulty ELT for repair or replacement but only for upto 90 days as long as its placarded in plain view of the pilot to show "ELT not installed". You got me wondering when its truly required.

Everything is in the schematic including the location of where it is. Here is a picture of the gear connector that's at the pilots sidewall - just have to pull the pilot seat and raise the carpeting to see it. Actually easily accessed. The picture shows one of the male connectors pushed back out to see them. (also FWIW, its not legal to do "maintenance" without the service manual - its required but of course not always followed)

Wow, sorry to hear the problem returned soon after we last flew without issue. It has to be an electrical issue and more likely to be isolated to the circuits used for retraction instead of extension. Unfortunately the Maintenance manual isn't that helpful given the symptoms, so one really needs to pull out the schematic for your serial number and trace through the schematic for when the retraction circuit is energized or with the gear up switch in position starting with the airspeed pressure switch and work forward from there. But the time to do it is right after the gear fails to retract. But given the solendoids were just replaced, unless one has failed (infant mortality), one of the big suspects is the airspeed pressure switch. But the big data point against this is that we never saw the red bypass light illuminate nor did pressing the bypass button enable the gear retraction circuit to energize (at least not when we flew together) suggesting something downstream is at fault. But one really needs to look at the schematic in detail to trace the circuit to be certain - hopefully when it still won't retract. If all of sudden it works fine on jacks its going to be tough one to figure out but sometimes wiggling wires and connectors reveals a bad connection. Given the circumstances I'd probably want to get it up to LASAR sooner than later. But given the distance required to fly with the gear down, it makes trying out the other nearby MSC, Foothills at Upland, very appealing since they should also be very familiar with the gear electrics as well. Hope you get resolution soon!

Cliffy, you can buy a used hangar for penny’s on the dollar at SMO as long as it’s removed from there - which is perfect for you except for the long haul to Page. But a phone call to them should give you an idea if they have anything that would be of interest to you. Sorry I don’t recall exactly who to call, but someone here will probably know. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Peter, The AK450 Ameri-King is ELT with the AD against it. Unfortunately the short answer is no because all the 406's where certified with a specific antenna that must be used with their ELT's. Secondly they all specify a limited angle off the vertical that they must be installed at and our dorsal fin exceeds that. However, I talked to the owner at ACK and he told me that doesn't mean it won't work at a greater angle and pointed out he knew of experimental guys that were installing it below the fuselage at the tail and it still work fine. He was just stressing he didn't test it beyond those angles for certification and you would be on your own to verify it was still good if exceeding that angle. Mooney got away with this by testing an alternate antenna that did fit in the dorsal fin, for an early Airtex (I recall) and provided a SB that gave us authority to install it accordingly with the different antenna. But that was an early and very expensive 406 ELT that did not provide a GPS input. There are some other threads here with some people that did install the antenna in the dorsal fin - don't recall how they got approval to do so. I'd suggest searching for those for further details.

One witness account from the comments section of Kathryn Report -- but one problem with it is that the witness says about 2pm yet the plane crash was reported to be a6 4:36pm which makes you wonder if it was even the same plane. Robert Bock said... I seen them doing what appeared to be barrel rolls and engine stalls at approximately 2 PM. I reside in the Happy Creek subdivision of Middleway, Jefferson County, West Virginia. Friday, October 25, 2019 at 10:54:00 AM EDT

Google mooneyspace 406 ELT for many previous discussions on this. I personally went with the ACK 406. Both that and the Artex for ~$529 support an optional GPS interface from your panel mounted GPS which most of us find essential. I would check battery replacement cost and shipping charges (some require hazardous shipping fees). Airtex is made by ACR which is a big plus but they were a little late to the market. ACK is a few $ cheaper. Install is pretty similar with all of these, expect you'll probably have to pull a new wires for the cockpit switch anyway (usually shielded) as well as for your GPS position interface. Anyway I wouldn't be upset about them pulling support for these. You're overdue anyway. Plus if you carry precious cargo away from urban airspace like many of us, you really want the better insurance anyway. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I suspect it wasn't so much a stall spin but collision with the high power lines almost directly above that you can see in the video and that Nick refers to above. Perhap they were maneuvering to the very nearby private airport 61VA. I wondered if it could be an instructional flight but I see the Captain's CFI expired some 35+ years ago, so probably not. But if indeed it was a collision with the power lines, something had them flying very low and the best I could come up with is the very close by private airport. Perhaps the preliminary will tell us. Wonder if the power lines have the large orange balls on them like they do out west? I couldn't tell from the satellite view.

Not exactly, but Sandman's advice posted right before Clarence's about 5 post's up that begins with "Find an accomplished, knowledgeable Mooney guy to help you ....." But Clarence would would definitely qualify as that knowledgeable Mooney guy to help!

And good advice it was! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Anthony, in addition to spreading your knowledge here, thanks for being Mooneyspacers diplomat!

^^ Great reality check @Vance Harral !!

Agreed!! I asked my mistress what she thought about this, she says no friggin way - she isn't into yellow showers and to zipp it while in her care. Plus she says she doesn't want the speed penalty of such an unsightly piercing on her belly Who am I to disrespect her? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep (probably) the only way to go with an immersion suit on too - but that's a planned long range flight with the needed foresight to set up for it. But for the unexpected occasional use I don't think you can beat the little chemical odorless packets like the above Rest Stop.

I think you misunderstand, your policy only covers "you" as long as your CFI has appropriate experience in make and model - under the open pilot. But without being a named insured the CFI is not protected from your insurance company should they chose to subrogate against your CFI.

Condolences to the family. So devastating after such a hard battle for Mark. very sad...

Personally, this third alternative makes much more sense to me I carry them, but only use them in the very rare occasion when a bathroom stop just isn't practical.

Depends on what kind of speed brakes you have. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mike, it's probably just the required normal CDI calibration that's required after re-installing if your referring to when its in GPS mode and the self test at startup is off. Your Garmin dealer should have re-configured it with your prior settings when it was pulled to properly interface with other equipment and then done the CDI calibration. The CDI calibration is done from a page in setup mode. I recall you set the CDI to 150 degrees and then calibrate. It takes all of 1 minute to do. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk