aviatoreb

I read this thread trying to understand what it is in my airplane that might eventually bite me and need replacement but I wont be able to find one - what is this part? Is it an actuator? A gear? The helix screw? Where is it? How hard is it to get to and replace if I had this part in hand?

Has New Jersey developed a case of the chicken pox?

Well I prefer Mooney - which is why it is what I have. But the Cardinal is a very nice airplane. Best looking Cessna and especially easy regress probably compared to any other small GA airplane I can think of.

I dont own a sidewinder but I have watched the guys at weepnomore use a sidewinder easily on my rocket which has an MT 4 blade.

My engine is entirely different but lead times are similar right now. My engine is literally on a truck right now going to a top shop. Why are lead times so long right now for major overhauls? Is the supply chain still messed up from Covid?

Wow - that does look handy - and easy to adapt to a tug.

Pre-emptive.

Overhaul - 20 weeks. ;-/. But at least I timed it to be down largely during the winter. Penn Yan. Btw I have little faith in factory cylinders so I’m going with superior cylinders and a superior camshaft too.

Well... I like mine - a lot. Enough that I'm doing a new engine at just shy of 2200hrs now into 12 years of ownership.

Im not sure sumping can catch all ice crystals suspended in the fuel if they are there or would even point out that there is crystals in the fuel when looking at your sump cup. How did Victor find ice in the flow divider long after the event? Wouldnt ice melt right away after landing? BTW - IPA - when I was first reading about it one thing I read is it is standard practice for the Canadian Mounties - and I figure if its good enough for them - its good enough for me - I live in a cold winter climate - but again - it can happen at altitude any time of the year.

My guess as said here - suspended ice particles in the fuel clogged the fuel screen. This is not a Mooney specific or even a Continental specific possibility. It can happen to any of us who might fly in below freezing conditions - which can happen in summer at altitude or winter at lower altitudes. I have for at least a decade put a dabble of IPA - you want extreme pure IPA rather than the drugstore stuff that has water in it which is self defeating - for this purpose. Correct dosing is mentioned here in other threads and IPA is an approved substance at correct dosages for continental engines as noted in their circulars. It doesnt take much to prevent ice crystals from suspending in the fuel and clogging the flow divider. A thought - if this does happen to anyone and it is above freezing at lower altitudes I would guess its possible that the ice would melt before landing so even if a restart is not possible early in the event during cruise it might be possible at lower altitude - so file that away in case a restart might still be possible. In any case well done - and wow! I too once upon a time had a complete loss of power in cruise - at FL16 but due to a turbo issue - and a nice dead stick landing to an airport - on a nice summers day - not ice in any form. In any case I was quite shaken after. Well done sir!

I’m going ti try your methods

Ill try that. I forgot to mention - I do tape paper or cardboard to the sides of the glasses to prevent peripheral vision.

In a pinch - having misplaced my official foggles - I have made my own in a pinch with cheap walmart glasses - and masking tape.

When does that modern mooney era begin? Starting with which models?

Mostly hours. I have felt a slight reduction in general power in the last year like getting tired but not drastic. Sone moderate elevated oil analysis values. No smoking gun but that and hours I figured ok let’s do it. In the winter a time of my choosing.

Well - it's Engine Time. I dropped my airplane off at Weber for engine overhaul. My TSIO520NB is at 2050 hrs - on a 1600hr TBO engine. It was going ok but I decided enough is enough. When I bought this airplane in 2010 it had like 700hrs on the engine but the owner I bought it from who had owned it for 1 year had bought it from a widow and it had sat unused for 3 years or so. So I was worried about corrosion and it wouldn't go the distance. But I got it for a fantastic price in that post 2007 crash economy. I was prepared to need to overhaul it sometime in 100hrs or so...but I guess it made it the distance. Hello Penn Yan. Can't wait. Is it Spring time yet? I am a flightless bird for the time being.

This guy actually did it

Yes - try not to fly in ice. But the tks works - but as described. A word of operations - avoid ice if you can, but pre-run your tks before ever entering a cold cloud even if ice is not forecast because it takes like 5 min for the system to express lots of fluid from the wings so - pre-prime it - eg on the ground before you depart to punch through a layer, etc. And run it monthly at least to keep it ready and healthy.

Well there is no doubt - I am going to refresh my airplane with a new motor and no doubt its going to cost a lot a lot a lot, but I am just saying I am going in to it I am aware that my fondest wish that it will be a flying world in another 20 years is not a sure thing. But then, here is to the hope that furthermore, in another 20 years, when I am 77, I will also be in flying condition and I will be excited to hang yet another refreshed motor on the nose!

That is a depressing, and probably true assessment. I am just about to gamble on my airplane for another 20 years investment. Its engine time and in two weeks, I am due to fly my airplane to an R&R shop for them to ship my engine off for major overhaul. Replacing an engine is crazy expensive but I feel at peace with it if I am thinking it is a 20 year investment into something I love. If somehow fuel (by regulation) or parts become unavailable in 5 years or so, and I knew that now, I might be making a different decision. But I am taking the gamble, because I love it.

Yeah. I know that routine. A Mooney crashed at Lake Placid relatively nearby here about 10 years ago. I was on a flight to Denver and at 16000 ft and I started getting texts from all sorts of people asking if I was ok. And I couldnt reply right away since somehow I receive texts sometimes in bursts at altitude but I cannot reply. It was a dad and two college age kids; he had just purchased a new to him airplane up from North Carolina and handled it improperly upon a go around at KLKP that has some sort of unusual features. Very sad.

Well there’s 2 within 5 miles within the last 5 years and 1 more within 10 mi within 10 years. Real crashes with substantial damage but not fatal. I’m amazed I hadn’t heard of them

That's a depressing website. There have been 3 crashes within 15 miles of here that I never knew about. Which for a small town area sort of surprises me.

Why is it that turbine engines are so much very much more expensive? At first blush they seem like a simpler concept. I know the thing that has to do with creating single crystal material is intensely complex but is that technology in a standard PT6 or a RR300? I just dont understand why a turbine engine is 5 or 10 times as expensive as a piston aviation engine which is already 10 times as expensive as the equivalent car engine (that last I get because of economy of scale - and the car engine has better precision in build). Well I would love to have an RR500 (that mythical engine that Mooney never got built) hanging on the end of my nose - but in reality if I had the money to think about that I wouldnt likely do it - the turbine Mooney already exists - I would more likely buy a used TBM700. And after all it is a Mooney - M in TBM is for Mooney. It's a more modern Mooney 301 - which was an early 1980 Mooney concept plane that eventually morphed and lead directly to the TBM700.