jetdriven

Thats a great article about the Bonanza. so IFR flight plan Mooney fatal accident are about 1/2-13rd of the category average. Overall fatal accident rate is about average. For the category, which includes Bonanza's and likely Cardinal RG's, commander 114s, etc. here is my source: Looking at accidents that occurred under instrument conditions, we found that the Mooney pilots seem to do a significantly better job. The IMC accident rate per 100,000 hours for the Mooney is just a little over half the accident rate of the other retractables (5.91 versus 10.14). It's even better for instrument-rated Mooney pilots on IFR flight plans, at 1.89 per 100,000 hours versus 4.97 for the comparison group. For this group of airplanes, the record proves the adage that you are definitely safer on an IFR plan. Mooney pilots also hold the advantage at night. This is the period when we typically see the accident numbers per 100,000 hours skyrocket. The group as a whole literally goes off the graph we produced in the book, while the Mooney shows only a small increase over IMC accidents in general. The question is, why? from: http://www.aopa.org/asf/asfarticles/sp9510.html

Allsmiles is right. Airtex makes a nice midlevel interior and, as Jim R. has done, you can paint the plastic. It certainly isn't going to be Aero Comfort quality, but it is a nice improvement from 1979. If you are interested in spending hours and hours. I actually used fiberglass cloth, .030 thick ABS pieces, and ABS cement to repair plastic cracks and holes. It takes time, but can be done.

Norman, how much did that Top Prop give you as far as cruise speed and climb? Quote: testwest +1 for the Hartzell 2-blade Top Prop (with the blended airfoil (BA) blades). We sure like ours!

According to AOPA, the Mooney has something like ten times less the fatal accident rate of its category when flown IFR by an instrument rated pilot. Overall the accident rate is about the same as rthe Bonanzas etc. Cirrus are substantially worse.

I use the Armstrong towbar method. Mooneys are easy to push. an A36 is not.

This is why the manual gear Mooneys are worth the same as electric gear ones. Because the manual gear is simple and works well, the electric is easier to use but has a potential 3000$ worth of stuff to go wrong between the actuator, gearset, and landing gear relays.

A dialed flange can check for a bent flange but cannot detect stress cracks anywhere on the crank. Good call splitting the case and sending the cranks and case off. You'll likely find a couple spalled lifters and a bad cam. Replace these with new parts. You can manufacture the middle belly skins pretty easily. They are just flat metal with holes for the screws. I dont think a zero time prop with an AD hub is worth much at all. Might want to reconsider having the hub zyglo'd every 100 hours that is a pain. I didnt think even a shop would assemble a Hartzell with an AD hub. I think he is unloading free parts on you for 5k. 8K gets a new 3-blade.

Ours depends on DA (temp mostly at sea level) but 18.0 GPH is average for 1,000' altitude full throttle and 2700 RPM full rich. As Ross said, the RSA-5 injector varies fuel flow based on mass air volume.

i dont think the sniff test for oil can measure viscosity, lubricating ability etc. The redline is there for a reason.

Metal fatigue only happens when you repeatedly bend the metal to the elastic limit. Since it doesnt bend, the life of your plane effectively infinite. Look at what hapens with the coil springs in your car, or the crankshaft and rods in your Lycoming engine. Nothing, because they are not stressed anywhere near their design limit. If there was a life limit, the FAA would put a limit on it. Corrosion is a separate issue, but yes, it weakens metal.

Ours will only add one bar of battery life in 3 hours to the aera. I think the system voltage is too low, the aera shows 13.5 volts, I am going to adjust it to the full 14v and see if it helps.

"how fast does it go, and how many gallons per hour" tends to piss off owners of other airplanes. But hey, what else is there?

To prevent taking off leaned: when you lean on the ground lean it as much as possible. It won't go to takeoff power like this, it just stumbles. Reminds you to go rich again.

Likely your high oil temp was because of low airflow, these planes really dont like 90 KIAS or less. I think W100 holds its viscosity better at high temperatures. 15W50 is so thin to begin with.

My take: 1. I wouldnt be concerned, but I would change the oil before flying it again. Mooneys like higher airspeeds, like 110-120 KIAS for the climb. Mixture at target (250 ROP) or a little leaner as you get higher. We csan go to 150 ROP when careful above 9,00 feet in the climb, but it likes airspeed. 2700 RPM helps the climb tremendously. Level off periodically if the oil temp keeps climbing. Careful when richening the mixture a huge amount. Shock cooling debate aside, it cant help the engine by flooding it with fuel suddenly. 2. No big deal if its a few knots. Dont make a habit of it. It is a limitation, however, so make a visual inspection of the flap skins for overstress. 3. American lost a vertical stabilizer on an A300 doing this. There later came an FAA memo that said you can overstress an airplane with rapid reversing inputs well below maneuvering speeds. I read somewhere that the envelope corner on these type ( piston) planes is usually full rudder and simultaneous full down elevator. The very first bonanza was lost doing this in 1946. The tail failed and the airplane pitchpoled, shedding a wing and then tumbled to the ground. I doubt you hurt it, but take a look at the vertical stab, rudder, and hinges for any signs of overstress. As always, a qualified mechanic is your best insurance. I dont worry much about structural failures as Mooney is just about the strongest plane built.

747-200. It was delivered in 1975. I think the aircraft spent more of its life in the air than on the ground. Aircraft are built to last.

So many buyers only want the 1500 hour hangar queens. Hours are a deduction in value (same as danage history) but you essentially get the same airplane for less money. I will concede that things like rod ends, flap hinges, and screws wear out eventually and you are replacing more of these on a higher time airframe, but the structural life is essentially unlimited. For example, our company retired a plane that had 145,000 hours on it. I flew it the last week we had it, it flew great. Evaluate all planes based on condition of airframe and engine, hours, damage, equipment, paint and interior. Im sure there are a few more, but arrive at some value and if its a good deal and no major items, its a deal.

We were given a delay vector then a 360 to avoid overtaking a Challenger jet into Erie the other day.

Aircraft paint by and large is either Polyester Linear Polyurethane (Awlgeip or Alumigrip) or an Acrylic Linear Polyurethane (Imron). Yep the same thing they put on boats. key is they are single stage and provice a hard wet look without a topcoat. http://www.diy-boat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1013&Itemid=125

I suppose this is over?

CHTs over 500 degrees usually are indicative of detonation. Mike Busch of Savvy has some webinars that explain it but basically high CHT are conducive to detonation, and detonation causes high CHTs. This can leasd ot thermal runaway and engine failure in something like 90 seconds. I would definately borescope the cylinders and pistons and examine the plugs. Regarding leaning, you can lean for best power like in a 172 you can hear the engine sound change pitch and pull harder right before peak. Then richen it a healthy amount from there. The J with the McCauley prop only makes 2400~ RPM static so you can lean for peak RPM without an engine monitor. Cylinders for a parallel valve Lycoming are around a grand each and maybe twice that installed. Given the cost of these repairs an engine monitor may pay for itself in one avoided event like this. Might want to consider installing one. Quote: crxcte Thanks Swingin, I definitely did not have the mixture set right from the get go. My high cht was near instantaneous do to excessive leaning. I don't get to high DA very often but will add your procedure to a check list in the future and give it a try.

I don't see much benefit to the weather for the Foreflight coming up. Its been discussed on the Foreflight blog but its basically going to be the Baron Mobile link and XM. So, 1100-1200$ for the mobile link plus the regular XM fees. For the price of the mobile link, you can (almost) buy yourself an aera that has XM built in. Skyradar is the same price but no subscription. Quote: bd32322 a bit off-topic - but in the upgrade notes at the apple store for foreflight 4.1- it mentioned that they'll have more goodies in the next version including in-flight weather. Ofcourse its nothing definite - because I couldnt see an announcement to that effect on their website.

In the manual gear Mooneys it makes more sense to delay retraction as raising the gear is a significant distraction, In that case, climb at Vx or Vy to keep the speed down until ready to stow the gear. I have found in the J, the climb rate is more sedate and raising (or lowering) the gear is a much smaller distraction. It doesnt climb well dirty at all. In that case, positive rate, gear up. Bonanza guys maybe they care more about looking cool, I dont know. Bonanzas have more horsepower and climb very well gear up or down. A J does not. Quote: WardHolbrook I've lost an engine in a Mooney M20C a few moments after liftoff and I'm grateful that the gear was still out. I was able to simply lower the nose and land on the remaining runway. It was absolutely no big deal. I understand that the manual gear cycles very quickly, but you've got your hands very full at that point and having one more thing to do under those conditions doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I'm not buying the arguement that getting the gear up ASAP makes any kind of significant difference in altitude achieved vs leaving it extended for those few additional moments. Again, there will always be the 10,000' long runway exceptions, but I'm talking general practice. I always shake my head when I see the Bozos in their SE retracts rotate, get the gear coming up and pull the power back in one seemingly continous motion. (A stunt normally performed when they think they have an audience watching them excersizing their superior flying skills.) It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out what they are setting themselves up for. As always, this is just my personal opinion and of course, your mileage may vary.

Could be a servo. perform a preflight test and note the amount of force required to overpower the servo clutch. Do Corrosion-X lately? Century in Mineral Wells TX is the only place I'd have my autopilot repaired. Also, check your static lines especially in the tail. Ours had an issue with them, one was disconnected. The pressure inside the tailcone is less, and with changing airspeeds and pitch oscillations, the autopilot chases it. But the pressure inside the tailcone changes with airspeed.

I fly a Boeing which appears to have the same model number of radar altimeter and let me tell you its worth it. It lights up and to me that says "land or go missed". PLus the ability ewhen getting vectored in IMC just how high you are in a glance. Im not sure what the cost to repair is but start with the manual for it and try to determine if its the display, the magic box, or the sensor. We have an aera too and uncertified stuff has a lot more callouts. None of them ding at minimums though.