Dmax

MooneyMax 2024 dates September 5,6,7,8 Location will be Fredericksburg, Texas at The Hangar Hotel. More details to come shortly.

MooneyMax 2024 dates September 5,6,7,8 Location will be Fredericksburg, Texas at The Hangar Hotel. More details to come shortly.

MooneyMax 2024 dates September 5,6,7,8 Location will be Fredericksburg, Texas at The Hangar Hotel. More details to come shortly.

MooneyMax 2024 dates September 5,6,7,8 Location will be Fredericksburg, Texas at The Hangar Hotel. More details to come shortly.

MooneyMax 2024 dates September 5,6,7,8 Location will be Fredericksburg, Texas at The Hangar Hotel. More details to come shortly.

MooneyMax 2024 dates September 5,6,7,8 Location will be Fredericksburg, Texas at The Hangar Hotel. More details to come shortly.

MooneyMax 2024 dates September 5,6,7,8 Location will be Fredericksburg, Texas at The Hangar Hotel. More details to come shortly.

https://youtu.be/25u2ZCFJj7g

New Style Counter Weights for AD 2023-02-04 are now available from any Mooney Service Center. Kit Pn.# M20-345-001

I have been asked to post to the various groups about TCM engines manufactured after June 1st of 2021. This applies to all TCM engines used in our Mooney's. It is not a Cirrus only problem. It applies to our Mooney aircraft as well. TCM is asking that these planes not be flown until the service bulletin comes out which hopefully will be Monday. TCM is not saying what the issue is except that it is serious. The scuttle butt from engine shops is that it has to do with the keepers that hold the counter weight pins in.

Mooney use to provide a service center training class every year. Last was 2005. One of the sessions would be on accidents. In the late 90's one of the classes was on flutter. Two Mooney Rockets had lost their tails due to elevator flutter. Both had encounter thunderstorms at high rate of speed. The pics of the elevator and empennages that were found miles from the main impact area were very sobering. Its over in seconds. There is no thinking about it. The purpose of this AD is to save lives. If it saves one life its all worth it. It takes 5 minutes and a good magnet to confirm if you are affected. Don

Justification for Immediate Adoption and Determination of the Effective Date Section 553(b)(3)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. 551 et seq.) authorizes agencies to dispense with notice and comment procedures for rules when the agency, for “good cause,” finds that those procedures are “impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.” Under this section, an agency, upon finding good cause, may issue a final rule without providing notice and seeking comment prior to issuance. Further, section 553(d) of the APA authorizes agencies to make rules effective in less than thirty days, upon a finding of good cause. An unsafe condition exists that requires the immediate adoption of this AD without providing an opportunity for public comments prior to adoption. The FAA has found that the risk to the flying public justifies foregoing notice and comment prior to adoption of this rule because corrosion on the elevator balance weight could lead to cracks that, if not addressed, could result in elevator flutter leading to elevator failure with consequent loss of control of the airplane. Because undetected corrosion could have developed over time and therefore the cracks can develop quickly and without warning, the affected elevator balance weights must be inspected before further flight. Accordingly, notice and opportunity for prior public comment are impracticable and contrary to the public interest pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B). In addition, the FAA finds that good cause exists pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d) for making this amendment effective in less than 30 days, for the same reasons the FAA found good cause to forego notice and comment.

It was only a matter of time before before there would have been an accident

The factory has been very supportive of this issue. We found the issue and reported it to them. They issued a notice about the issue followed up with Service bulletin which has now turned into an AD. They have hired a vendor to manufacture replacement weights that should be available in February. You and your mechanic can come up with an Alternate means of compliance and submit it to the FAA. Mooney would have no say. They issued an immediate notice of the problem for the owners safety. They issued a Service bulletin, The FAA issued an AD and the factory has contracted for the parts to comply with the AD noy sure what else can be done Don

2023-02-04

They wanted to get it out so that maybe they could save a life.

The bad weights were on the early 1967 F models. There were about 140 of these F models that used these weights. They mention the smooth skins elevators so as to eliminate all others. The ribbed elevators began in 1969 models. Their concern is to get them all and they could have been acquired from salvage and put on other models pre 1969. The flat skin F model elevators are different from flat skin C D &E models. The difference is the number of ribs in the elevators. The F has 9 ribs in each elevator. Other model flat skin elevators have only 4 ribs in each elevator. This post has located two more planes with bad elevators today.

M20_345.pdf

Absolutely