kortopates

I am pretty sure I had the best possible temporary job flying Mooney's back in 2016, flying for Mooney International. Its was summer job for 3 months flying China. The pay was substantially better than the survey work listed here and also came with all expenses paid for both myself and my wife. Of course they were looking for much more experiences rather than someone needing to build hours. At the time I was recently retired from my career engineering job, which made it possible, with the only complication that I had transitioned to being a full time instructor with a couple students as well as working for Savvy Aviation. Luckily I was able to continue working for Savvy while in China. I also delayed my start date a short time to finish up an IR student with the new ACS (the day after it became effective) just before heading to China. My wife is a college professor and has the summers off so she was excited to join me for the first 6 of my 12 weeks there and started studying Chinese as soon as we knew we were going. We were both excited to be able to go live in China and travel extensively for 3 months. The job turned out to quite different than it had been billed; due to poor communications between the Chinese staff and the US folks. But it turned out to be even better than billed. I was told the main need was to give demo rides to VIP's in China, mostly government officials and sales related flights and to mentor their two young commercial pilots. As it turned out, my job was 90%+ instructing their "Chief Pilot", a relatively new commercial pilot with little Mooney experience and only 10% or so giving demo/advertising rides. But in the latter role I got to meet the US Ambassador, many other officials and see Veronica several times (the owner of the Meijing Group that bought Mooney). Veronica is an amazing young Chinese billionaire. All the flying was in a new air conditioned Acclaim and the AC turned out to be vital in the hot humid Chinese summer weather. The other big perk was my duty days turned were only Tuesday and Thursdays which gave me literally 4 day weekends every weekend for 12 weeks to travel somewhere in China. Which is exactly what my wife and I did - every weekend. It took a couple weekends stretching our legs before management was comfortable enough to let us travel unrestricted because of their concern for us not being able to speak or read Chinese. But hiring a guide in the early trips and use of Google made all of that very possible and after a couple of not too far away trips we where going everywhere by plane or train. Not only did we get the 4 day weekends but out of our 12 weeks we also got two full weeks of vacation. First the second or third week there, the entire company (about 60 people) shutdown for vacation. They all went to Japan for a company paid vacation while my wife and I went to southern China for a week on a river cruise. Later they took my Mooney down to paint new Chinese registration marks on it, and I got another week vacation during the painting and curing process. When the 12 weeks were up they wanted me to stay longer but I had other commitments and offered to come back for a big airshow in couple months, as well as come back next summer. But by then I had trained myself out of the job since my Chief Pilot was now ready to get his CFI. With a fresh CFI cert he no longer really needed me. In the end I flew far fewer hours than the number of hours I fly here at home as a CFI. Unfortunately the Chinese government and military where an obstacle to flying like none other and would decide to close our airspace last minute. As an example, after any period of bad weather they would close the airspace to conduct training exercises grounding us on a perfect flying day which was frustrating. The military is China's biggest obstacle to the growth of GA in China. Even though the Chinese government is fully supportive of GA, the government has no say over the military till apparently Premier Xi's level. But it was an amazing experience and all the people that I worked closely with, about a dozen including the maintenance staff, became family.

none Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What Phillip said except for the tail. My tail only had a strobe light because of the white nav lights in the rear of the wing tips. So i had to pull both a nav light and and synch wire from up front to the tail, since the Orion tail lights has both Nav and strobe together. i think i ended up pulling a 4 conductor wire. At least now my rear white wing tip lights are redundant. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Leaning out the ground mag test does stress the mags more to better show an anomaly. But in so doing, passing comes down to seeing each plug fire with a rise in EGT. Not so much on the RPM drops and differential any more.

You need a minimum of 30 sec on each mag; preferably at a 1 sec sampling rate. plus you need to be leaned out to stress ignition; preferably at 50F LOP on richest cyl at less than 65% power. ground mag test will only show severe anomalies and are otherwise generally useless. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Once you get to know all of the great capabilities of the GI-275 I doubt you'll feel the same need for the old KI-209 Even without changing the #1 GI-275 out of Attitude mode, which you could do or toggle between HSI and ADI given you have the D3 for attitude also. But even in ADI mode you can enable both lateral and vertical deviation indicators - see page 41 of the GI-275 Pilots Guide, here is the pertinent extract: When valid navigation data is available, the 'CDI', 'HSI', and 'HSI Map' Pages always show deviation information. On the 'ADI' Page, lateral and vertical deviation indicators are not enabled by default. If deviation indicators on the 'ADI' Page are enabled before unit poweroff, deviations will be displayed after unit restart. Units configured as a Standby HSI cannot disable deviation indication display on the 'ADI' Page. Enabling/disabling deviation display on the 'ADI' Page: 1) From the 'ADI' Page, open the menu and select Options > NAV Options. 2) Select the CRS Devs Button to toggle displaying lateral and vertical deviation information. And if you have Synthetic Vision enabled on the ADI you get something even more powerful once your on final approach - the Flight Path Marker. The Flight Path Marker provides a 3D lateral and vertical deviation indication in the form a small green circle and is simple and intuitive to use. By just adjusting heading and pitch/descent rate such that the Flight Path marker is pointing to the threshold of the runway, it will keep you on center lines and GP before a deviation is even registered. Its a very powerful tool you'll want to master. Check it out on page 242 of the same manual

Isn’t the AP coming off the KI-275? In which case you use Nav with VOR-2 and not need the KI-209? With dual GI-275’s just don’t see a need to keep the KI-209 - but don’t entirely understand your AP setup but it seems that’s what should be driving the AP. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This often happens when the induction boot isn’t attached properly and the duct/boot causes an obstruction. Or the magnet is out of adjustment - but the later is rare. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, I missed that for some reason but I did recall your post about the missing MC rods for the newer MC used for the Encore and should have realzed. No real cruise performance gains, the 10 HP is much like the Ovation3 upgrade and Acclaim upgrade, intended just for takeoff and climb performance. Of course a pilot could choose to operate cruise at little higher if they wanted too. But from a engine longevity standpoint that wouldn't be wise. The brakes don't stop any faster/shorter either but we don't have to replace the pad as frequently with twice as many per caliper now. Yes, the extra 230 lb useful load is everything in this conversion raising the useful to be better than most Bravo's and its the last in a line of fuel efficient Mooney.s.

This is very new online course and Rod is very good - hr doesn’t focus on memorizing question-answers but makes it easy to understand so you can apply it. https://rodmachado.com/products/rod-machados-instrument-pilot-eground-school Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You did the Encore conversion? I thought you bought a 252 - that was fast if you just did the conversion! Me too on the useful, over 1120! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Incorrect, But Ross @Shadrach was correct above. True it isn't applicable to @A64Pilot 's J model The smooth elevators discussion is only mentioned in background discussion which has nothing to do with the applicability section of the AD which states . (c) Applicability Mooney International Corporation Model M20C, M20D, M20E, M20F, and M20G airplanes, all serial numbers up to 680170 inclusive, certificated in any category. You have to comply with Step 1 to verify you don't have the composite weights.

No the owner was concerned enough after reading the SB to ask if his airplane was affected, he personally made the choice and took the SB words "before next flight" seriously. And now he's glad he did.

From the AD: (j) Material Incorporated by Reference (2) You must use this service information as applicable to do the actions required by this AD, unless the AD specifies otherwise. (i) Mooney International Corporation Service Bulletin M20-345A, dated December 13, 2022. ...... (g) Required Action (2) If any hybrid elevator balance weight P/N 430018-1 is installed, before further flight after the effective date of this AD and thereafter at intervals not to exceed 100 hours time-in-service or 12 months, whichever occurs first, inspect each hybrid elevator balance weight P/N 430018-1 for any corrosion and cracks in accordance with STEP 2 of the Instructions section in Mooney International Corporation Service Bulletin M20-345A, dated December 13, 2022.

I know one owner that is glad he didn't wait till annual. He complied a couple of months ago and to his and his mechanics surprise saw one of his weights disintegrate while removing it,

After re-finishing and re-installing the weight, they call for rebalancing the elevator. SB here: https://www.mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/sbm20-345A.pdf

Corrosion isn't always visible till the weight has been removed and the paint removed to look it over. We have one client whose weight had enough paint on it that it didn't look problematic. But when it was removed it too disintegrated where the solid bolt like material went through it - like the picture Don showed above. That was very surprising to the owner. So I get why Mooney requires removal and paint stripping to give it a detailed visual inspection. Then after refinishing them and re-installing them the SB echo's the MM to rebalance the elevator. Its really a ticking time bomb as some others have mentioned. And why I think just one visual inspection is enough to buy time to get the new weights when they're available and be done with the inspections.

You really need to read step 2 of the SB if you do believe you have the composite weights. Especially everyone that keeps claiming this is a non-event "visual inspection" because they obviously haven't read it and are just assuming. A big clue is the 6 hrs the FAA allows for step 2 "visual inspection". My prediction is that anyone with composite weights, once they get to know the facts will do the 6 hr visual inspection one time to get their Mooney flying again and promptly get on the factories list for the new weights and install the new weights before or when the next "visual inspection" is due! Or find a pair of salvage weight now if able and be done with it one time Nobody is going to want to comply with the "visual inspection" every annual - its not so trivial at all at 6hrs. The AD quotes 10 hrs to replace the weights and then no more 6 hr inspections every year. see SIM20-145 for the paperwork to get on Mooney's list (and see your added pre-flight responsibilities) https://www.mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/sim20-145.pdf

Great story, I was the only boy and grew up with 3 older sisters- but they were great to me. I hope “mellowed” means no more broken bones, but trust me, you haven’t started to “age” at 35! I am almost twice your age and also still hit the gym every other day plus mountain bike and climb for cardio. It helps with my useful load Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Personally, the R1 is easier to install, which means cheaper labor, than getting a factory one working that is missing the sensor on the mag. Its only $550. The JPI sensor for the pressurized mags in $360. I have both RPM indications - R1 and EDM-900.

You must at least have the TCM precision tunes injectors. Not as good as Gami's but often good enough. But without at least those virtually any IO-550 will have a spread of at least 0.8 GPH.

No, nor did students get any say. But hint. Very small school district and the student parking garage had a few Corvettes, Porsches and other exotic cars you wouldn't expect to see driven by HS students. Not me though, I rode a bike to school and didn't get a car till I left town for college.

The high school i went to had two oil wells - not disguised then. Paid for several enhancements most high schools didn’t have like a planetarium and a gymnasium with a moving floor that uncovered a swimming pool or covered it for a basket ball court and more… Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In addition to what Eric says above, also check for any chaffing in the wire harness between the probe junction and the firewall. Any found chaffing needs to be repaired with shrink sleeving since it can lead to grounding of the thermocouple wire.

JPI uses grounded Type K probes (Red and Yellow) ever since '85. If the Alcor # is also a grounded Type K, then the JPI is compatible - but if not keep looking. JPI started using grounded probes since '85, before that they used ungrounded. Grounded probes are in theory faster acting probes which is why JPI made the switch. The thermocouple junction is grounded at the tip of the probe to improve heat transfer and make them more responsive. You can test a probe to tell if its grounded by disconnecting the probe from the instrument and measure the resistance between the probe body and the red wire. Also measure between probe body and yellow wire. ‘Ungrounded’ probes will show open circuit. ‘Grounded’ will show 5 – 10 ohms. Getting off the subject, but the EI MVP-50/CGR-30 system can be interfaced with either grounded or un-grounded probes and can be type K or type J. But I believe that's a configuration change and requires the full set of probes to be of the same type. Their legacy units required un-grounded type K thermocouple.