Shadrach

Unless you’re in congress.

CO2 is still a good option for bicycles but compact double action pumps work well and are probably a wash weight wise. For motor vehicles, portable compressors have come a long way. Small, light and efficient in terms of energy used and output volume. I carry one in each of my cars and they’re small enough to stow in a sidewall compartment or next to a spare.

The jack and pipe were the only Items I borrowed (other than the wheel). I had all the tools need on board. Pretty sure if needed that I could lift a wing using a “bent back” squat thrust outbound of the tank. Just need a helper to slid spacers under the gear at the axle.

I had a left main fail just after touchdown while making an expedited and unplanned landing at a small airport due to an ill passenger. It was a Sunday afternoon and only about 50nm from my home drome. I had a mutual acquaintance who connected me with a mechanic that operated on field. He was out of town but was king enough to give me access to his shop. There happened to be an old 201 sitting on the tarmac that not flown in years but was under the mechanic’s tutelage. All the tires were full of air and in good shape. With his permission…Adapt and over come indeed. I returned and reinstalled the borrowed wheel within 48hrs

Been there done that. It’s close but it’s not that close. Even with the nose wheel tire totally flat I had >5” of prop clearance. Not exactly comfortable, but not as risky as it looks. That being said I would have it on a dolly as soon as possible. Ive had two flat tires in the Mooney one from FOD (#6 machine screw) and one for unexplainable tube failure.

No separate latch (at least from factory) on any of the birds AFAIK. I’ve never tried to open the door in flight wide enough to get out but had a few passengers in my college years that I wanted to ask.

MP gauge would be primary for ram air not ASI. The real world benefit that I personally see from ram air is the opposite of what you would think. It’s most useful at low altitudes because I can run more fuel through the engine while LOP. Opening the Ram air at a DA of 3000ft provides enough additional air to the engine that EGTs on the lean side drop by 30-40°. Put another way. If I set up 25° LOP cruise at a DA of 3500’ and then open the ram air, I will then need to enrichen the mixture sufficiently to raise the EGTs back my original setting. Is it a lot? Not really but it’s good for a few knots. As for the Lopresti mod not worth the cost. You could make that argument for every speed mod. However I have seen this man in the flash and it is most definitely an upgrade over the factory cowl. Slicker design, better engine access and excellent fit and finish. I would consider paying a slight premium for it during a purchase More importantly, if comparing two machines that were otherwise equal I would certainly go with the Lopresti cowled bird over stock and I think must educated buyers would also.

This is the way to do it if you can. Better to ask forgiveness than permission in most cases. Corporate legal decision making has always been interesting to me. I know of a number of people who've been in automobile accidents driving to and from meeting and work related events. Corporate liability is never a concern under those conditions. Furthermore I know of at least three DUI cases that were the result of employees leaving work sponsored events where alcohol was provided by the company; one of which resulted in an accident that took out two parked cars. The risk of letting an employee fly his own plane seems minuscule next to providing alcohol for hundreds of employees at work event

Yeah, I was totally thrown by the subject line description and some of the earlier posts. I read “slow retraction” and thought that his flaps weren’t coming up fast enough. Clearly I wasn’t the only one. It obvious now that his flap will not stay down. I agree that staking the valve to the seat is the best course of action.

Ram air originated on the E and F models in the 1960s. It was carried over to the early J models even though the filtered intake was completely different. The standard narrative is that the E/F model filtered intake was lousy and the ram air was a Band-Aid. The redesigned filtered intake on the J was supposedly so much better That Mooney was able to eliminate the ram air after a few years because it made no difference. I own an F model and have never noticed that it is strangled by its intake design compared to other aircraft. There is no question that the SCRAM air on the Lopresti cowl will boost MP above ambient. What is in question is how much. No one has done a sophisticated test, so we’ve no data other than the manufacturer’s claims. I’ll add that I’m skeptical that the 201 intake is so good (or the E/F’s so bad) that it negated the benefits of Ram Air. My take is that eliminating ram air was an easy money saver that could be marketed as superior engineering.

Sweet little turbo normalized B model that seemingly does not get flown at turbo altitudes. https://www.trade-a-plane.com/search?category_level1=Single+Engine+Piston&make=MOONEY&model=M20B&listing_id=2408336&s-type=aircraft

That checkerboard looks like an intentional artifact to block the N number, not part of the paint job.

It’s a Mooney. The N number was blurred in the news photos. B model “arrived” at 10:26 this morning.

Fourth. Cape Cod

B Model https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N74586

Which seat? Good idea to stake the ball to seat any time they’re separated.

Interesting. So the far-fetched scenario there is CO poisoning and forgetting to switch tanks for the approach

How do the flaps feel when you manually push them down from the up position? Does the return spring feel strong? Do the flaps feel like they’re binding? Next, remove the belly pan. Remove the retract cable from the lever on the side of the pump . Have a helper pump the flaps down. Manipulate the lever in various positions to see if you can improve the return speed. Ever have a bicycle derailleur stop shifting properly because of cable stretch or poor adjustment? Similar situation. Another possible but unlikely scenario is that there is FOD clogging the return circuit in the pump.

Paying someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing to repeatedly perform maintenance that isn’t correcting the problem is not really the flap system’s fault. The system is theoretically simple but it has some challenges and quirks to contend with. Most likely culprit is that the retract cable slipped out of position in the clamp after a few operations thus affecting how the cam opens the return circuit. There are few logical reasons to rebuild a flap pump because of a slow flap retraction, especially given how the problem manifested. There are a number of external adjustments and tests that could be performed long before opening the pump. IMHO, It would be a bad idea to pay someone who couldn’t sort out a hydraulic pump to do an electric conversion.

Gary, How is your engine doing 8 months later? That valve does not look worrisome to me. I can’t speak to why it’s has asymmetric deposits on the face but it does not appear to be burning.

This happened to me several years ago but later in the climb. I leveled, throttled back and trimmed for 80kts. I opened the pilots side window because I read somewhere that would help. I used the normal two handed approach to close the door. It was surprisingly easy to close and latch on the first try. Not sure if opening the window helped. All in all it delayed my climb by about 3 mins. Any one that says you can’t close a door in flight has likely never tried.

The TIO540 AF series engines are more thermally efficient (8:1CR) than most turbocharged aero engines but they are not as efficient as an IO360. A Bravo simply cannot make as much power per volume of fuel as a 201. That being said, the difference is probably not earth shattering. As to the engine's LOP manners. Has anyone managed to get a TIO540 to run smoothly LOP?

Not sure why this matters. If there is a charge, isn't it going to spark before the nozzle is grounded to the filler neck? I thought the point of external grounding was to discharge in an area away from fuel vapor.

What does LOP mean? It could be anything leaner than peak. Peak EGT is in the best BFSC range, what’s the advantage to leaning further when at 10,000msl?