kortopates

I am betting there has to be good story on what led you to purchase this K since it does't meet your preference for a NA Lycoming model. Mind sharing this?

Hold out for 252 or Encore; very rare but the best Mooney made. And I am not biased at all

I am sure you didn't buy your K model to turn around and spends buckets of cash to pay for a one off STC to turn your K into a J - cause that what it would take. The solution to your problem is easy, sell the K and buy the model that has the engine you want; or go for a trade. Can't get any cheaper than that since you do all of that on your own time. Sounds like a J or maybe pre-J is what you want because there are no normally aspirated Lycoming powered Mooneys after the J model.

Ross nailed it when he said it was IRAN'd - that's exactly what it was. A Major overhaul has a legal meaning with the FAA and requires the engine re builder to overhaul in accordance with the manufacturers guidance. This means a lot of new parts and overhauled parts must installed into the engine, including new hoses, overhauling the magneto's and overhauling the starter, new piston pins, new rings, new fuel pump etc. See Lyc SB 240W for the comprehensive list of parts that must be replaced. But whenever a partial overhaul is done like this, its strictly a repair and the time since major overhaul doesn't get to be legally reset since the last real major overhaul. Which was apparently 1972 or 45 years ago and I'll assume 1555 hrs ago. So the engine isn't high time in operational hours but its chronologically very old which is most likely why the owner had to re-do the bottom since we see seldom operated engine suffer from corrosion quite commonly; especially the cam in lycoming since it sits up high in the engine. SB 240W Mandatory Parts Replacement at Overhaul and During Repair or Maintenance.pdf

It might be helpful to know what is providing the GPSS? But with GPSS, the GPSS needs to be GPS mode (versus) heading and your AP needs to be in Heading mode as well. GPSS in GPS mode allows the GPS to provide steering information as heading inputs to the KFC 150, in lieu of just following your heading bug. After you completed the procedure turn and captures final then you would have to engage APPR mode on the KFC 150 to track both lateral and vertical guidance and GPSS is then no longer being used. In effect, GPSS mode and APPR mode are mutually exclusive.

Not enough detail to begin here. If you want to describe how you set things up? e.g., was the AP tracking the course as it approached the hold and how were you flying the hold? Do you have GPSS? etc.

Bottom line is that it hasn't been majored since '72 meaning the engine has 0 residual hours and value. But that doesn't mean it can't fly reliably for some time to come. But IMO the seller really cost himself in resale value by doing it that way, but not knowing all the details he could still come out on top with the sale. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Of course taking a big step up is going to take much more transition training time than a more lateral move; especially the lower the experience level of the pilot. I've worked with freshly minted Pvt pilot into a 231 and freshly minted Commercial SE/ME pilot in an Acclaim. Both took a few months and tens of hours to get them comfortable but neither was ever questionable.

Pretty unbelievable story that so many pilots didn't notice or report it. I am trying to imagine how visible this was to airport people and departing traffic. I assume it was pretty obvious and therefore assume most people thought someone else had already reported it. I certainly understand that but so sad. But there are at least a couple ways pilot could have avoided this outcome despite nobody noticing or calling it in. The 406 ELT is obvious. Another is activating a VFR nextgen flight plan through LH on the runway with their smart phone or device before they were airborne. (I thinkI have heard that functionality has been integrated into FF). VFR flight plans after all are for this very purpose and the latest capabilities allow you to activate on the ground with out using the radio. Its possible one or more occupants didn't perish right away either that could still be alive. But if not this accident, certainly others.

A modern Mooney is easier to fly than a vintage model so whatever latest NA model you can afford. But its very doable to transition to a Turbo too - right out of the C172. Don't get hung up on mission; especially as a hobby venture. Supposedly mission needs put you into a single engine 4 seater. Beyond that's is about how much you love this pursuit of aviation and how willing and able your are to put the requisite amount of money into it to get the most enjoyment out of.

Sounds more like an early prototype of the eventual R or S; since a J didn't include an engine upgrade. But I assume they were going to 6 cyl for more power, but they could have been merely considering changing engine vendors and thinking the same approx HP with the Continental IO-360.

That's all very good. I've done the same thing before I had my A&P training. But this service is for when your shop is closed and its there day off. How many of you're A&P/IA's are guaranteed to answer the phone on a Sunday afternoon when you are confronted with a problem expecting to go home. Does your mechanic even give out his personal cell #? Some do but not that many. Savvy answers the phone 7x24. If you were out of the country with BAP, you would at least get consulting support to discuss options with a Savvy IA which would help you to know if the problem was something unsafe that warranted grounding the plane or if the IA thought you'd be safe to defer. For example a Savvy IA, helped a Cirrus pilot that had an electrical problem crossing the Atlantic on an around the world flight. After landing at Reykjavik, the local mechanic weren't really sure what too do and suggested a path that would keep him there AOG for a week. But the Savvy IA, a Cirrus specialist, was confident he knew exactly what the problem and what the worst that could happen. This allowed the pilot to make an informed decision and be prepared for the worst case and continue the flight to Scotland and onto London where he had the issue fixed. That was before the days of BAP but that sort of thing is what BAP does; first tries to determine the safety aspects of the issue to see if it can be deferred till you get home. Here is the full story on this, if interested: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2016/november/pilot/savvy-maintenance

A couple good Mike B articles on importance of Pre-buys, how to structure it and converting it to Annual after the pre-buy. http://www.avweb.com/news/savvyaviator/SavvyAviator_64_ThePreBuy_199258-1.html This one, although for Cirrus, goes into more detail and mostly all applies. https://www.cirruspilots.org/copa/tech/m/magazine_articles/563631/download.aspx I am also a fan of converting the pre-buy to annual, but recognize you need to be the owner of the aircraft before you begin the annual. You can't direct maintenance on a bird you don't own and If something went sideways during the annual and the seller was still the owner you could be in for a rude surprise. I doubt there has ever been an owner that regretted doing the pre-buy, but many owners that regretted not doing a thorough one or just asked someone to do a pre-buy without being involved with the scope of their pre-buy.

I don't have any direct personal experience but as one of the largest, if not biggest, economical engine rebuilders I have heard lots of happy customers and suspect some of negativity you hear comes with the territory. But anyone that does lots of work like that is going to give you a much better estimate. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd suggest checking with Western Skyways for your area. Ask for Ryan Dickerson. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It shouldn't take anywhere near that. I am about the slowest mechanic there is and it took me a about a week to re-hang the engine with a full engine analyzer to reconnect. 1/3 to half that to pull it. The shop that quoted you that much obviously didn't want the work.

The insurance company's count on a savage value of about 1/3 of its blue book value. Talk to your insurance company and they'll tell you exactly what its is since that's the value they subtract from your insured amount to arrive at how high they are willing to pay for a claim before they total it. But as Clarence says, this is likely covered by your insurance, and should not require scraping the plane even if a engine tear down was decided on. Good luck and very glad this happened at startup too.

All of you should have gotten this by now, but here is Mike's update: update-for-continental-520550-owners

Mike had a 1 hour call with the FAA on this topic with some other stake holders representatives. He's going to be issuing an another e-blast update over the weekend. Although nothing has been resolved yet and it doesn't look like we'll see the FAA do so till May, but right now I think Mike was relieved and happy to see the FAA's attitude on this. Mike will share the details very soon.

Get yourself a copy of CMI Operations Manual for your TSIO-360. A digital copy is free as an engine owner from CMI/TCM online. After you register your engine serial number you get all the documentation for free. In the operations manual is their recommended hot start procedure which has more detail than the Mooney POH's. What's missing is the following method to replace the heat soaked fuel in the lines with fresh cool fuel from the tanks by: 1) close throttle and mixture to idle cutoff, then run low boost pump for 1/2 minute (preferable) or high boost pump for 10-15 sec. Deakin has written this up in an Avweb article as well. years ago. Now with the fuel lines flushed of the hot fuel, follow the Hot Start in Mooney POH. But as others have mentioned, if you didn't just shut down a few minutes ago, you may still need a couple seconds of prime (about 3 sec is what I use) and then slowly push the throttle forward while cranking till the engine catches (if it doesn't right away) being sure to pull it back once it does before RPM spins up above idle.

Dan has told me they have phone problems just like this in the past - months ago, so it surprising they continue to have them. But I am sure that's all it is. I'd suggest emailing when you can't get through.

Hi Bill, You had me wondering how that could be true; especially if the second alternator was still optional on the Encore, since it would make zero sense with birds produced with only 1 alternator which is always going to be the engine driven and therefore has to be #1. So I looked at your Encore POH and sure enough, see top page 7-27, it clearly refers to the optional alternator as #2 and says it carrys most of the load do to its higher RPM (from being belt driven) as I said above. Makes me wonder if your leads are reversed on the Load meter or alternator switch on the panel to cause that but something is not right. I'd suggest pulling the #2 field CB on the far right panel and see if that causes the #2 to drop out on the load meter - i.e., to check consistency. (I assume you are already failing #2 at the alt switches on each run-up and seeing #1 take the load).

Interesting and good to know.

Not exactly true Hank, but almost. The 252' with Dual alternators have a Dual Load meter between the clock and key on the left that showed simultaneous outputs on each of the two alternators as well as total load and pushing a button it showed system voltage rather than total load. Then there is the added CB for Alt 2 and a over voltage light for Alt 2 on the far right. There are also 3 separate fuses for the Load meter below the quarter panel on the far right. Perhaps the single alternator would share some of those fuses -I don't know. The Dual alternator option should have been a no brainer but some new owner pass it up sadly. It has so many advantages in addition to the obvious redundancy. The #2 is a belt driven alternator which turns faster than the engine driven alternator which does 2 things. First it absorbs most of the load because of its higher output from turning faster. Secondly it's coming in speed rpm is lower so you don't have to idle as high to turn off the low volt light or ride the brakes on taxi to keep the light off and thirdly the #2 by taking more of the load helps extend the life of the more expensive to maintain engine driven #1 while the belt driven #2 is much cheaper to maintain.

I don't see any difference and think your over thinking the concern. The other most important thing to do is communicate early. Don't wait till you're a minute away from having to deviate. Communicate to let the controller know your plan and will need to deviate soon. Plus I find it much easier to deviate say 10 degrees away than wait till the nearly the last minute to deviate 30 or 40+ degrees. When you wait to the last minute, the controller may have a genuine traffic conflict and may not be able to approve your request immediately. As PIC, if you screwed up and truly are out of time before you must deviate e.g., about to penetrate a big buildup, don't just penetrate something you know you have no business doing and instead don't hesitate to use the E word and the controller will move the other traffic out of the way. Professionals never wait till the last minute, neither should you. But it happens a lot on departures where the SID or departure procedure is about to put you into weather and you are asking the controller to deviate as soon as you are checking in with them. This is one of the most common causes of pro's using their emergency authority to deviate when the controller first says unable; their out of time. The NASA database is full of such examples too. So don't hesitate when needed but learn to communicate and deviate sooner rather than waiting. That's when you have time to negotiate, such as taking a different altitude if need be along with the change in heading etc,