Shadrach

If one is draining one's hydraulic system for a flush and fill, the cost delta for synthetic vs mineral based hydraulic fluid amounts to anywhere from $0.50 to around $3.00 in the US. It is readily available in the US, if pricing and availability are similar in Australia, I would insist on filing an empty system with synthetic MIL-PRF-83282 unless I had no other option.

You have tot do something in your free time...if you have any. I don't value my sweat equity time in things I enjoy the same way I do my professional time. I could be swinging a golf club or back packing or any number of other interests one might have. Restoring a forlorn aircraft would be as gratifying as any, likely more. We never did finish our talk about WA backpacking. I did find my way to Stehekin late last summer for four days in the back country. The Enchantments are on the list for a future trip if we can get organized early enough to commit to dates before permits are gone.

A lot of times there are multiple generations of bad decision making. First the owner stops flying it. At some point it ends up in probate and the heirs are either not knowledgeable or not realistic about what comes next. This J model sat at VKX for a decade. It was in an executorship for most of that time. I bet it left the airport in pieces.

Thanks! Good to know. I am betting there's a reasonable chance they would have price matched if you'd asked. Not close enough for you to go in and write a check or was the stock not in El Segundo? I have a corporate FedEx and PS account, but I do not recall having to use them. I'll have to review the invoice to see if that policy is new. I recall the 3% but the price delta from the next most competitive seller ($101 vs $138 each) was so large that that the 3% transaction fee of $33 on 11 shock discs was a no brainer.

LASAR still has quite a few oversized PMA bushings in stock. I do not understand the challenges with restocking the ones that are out of stock, but you might call them with part numbers at the ready and have easy and inexpensive solutions to several of your issues. https://lasar.com/hardware-bushings

I have thought about this a lot and think I have some insight. I think in most cases this behavior is fundamentally driven by airplane ownership remaining a large part of the owner’s personal identity long after the practicality of ownership has passed. My dad stopped exercising his privileges in 2018. He was flying so little in the years prior that currency would have been a concern for a mid lifer much less someone with 8 decades behind them. We had the talk. Insurance challenges only exacerbated the issue. What’s telling is that 6 years later, his certificate is still visible in his bill fold opposite his driver’s license. No great hardship to keep your certificate front and center, but I’m not sure what would have happened if he were the sole owner of the plane. What made it even more difficult for him is that there are several octogenarians at our drome that do stay current and fly regularly. So the possibility of “getting current” seems real even when the path is long overgrown. I think it’s the same mentality that keeps a small business going long after it has declined beyond its mature phase. We’ve all seen businesses that are not generating enough cash flow to maintain their assets or previous service levels. It’s a downward spiral of reduced pricing to hang on to ever diminishing sales and margins…with the owner sometimes loaning the company money to make up for shortfalls. Even though the decline is obvious, the owner just can’t see themselves doing anything else.

Sorry to say this is revolutionary thinking in today’s maintenance world.

According to Google the OD of 3/4” steel pipe is 1.05”.

This is an interesting thought exercise. Your statement is indeed true because deploying the flaps increase the effective angle of incidence, which in turn does increase AOA on the ground, if not in the air. I surmise that the instant changes in pitch when deploying flaps in the air are the wing seeking the same (or nearly the same) AOA as the trailing edge of the deployed flaps changes the effective wing chord. A unique aspect of flying a Mooney with hydraulic flaps is the very precise correlation of flap handle movement to nose down pitch. The feel is so closely correlated that It almost feels like you’re using a hydraulic jack to raise the tail.

I know this phenomenon is real for some Mooney airframes, but try as I may, I have never been able induce a noticeable decrease in elevator or rudder authority with any combination of flaps and or slip. I used to be a reduced flaps, increased approach speed and slip into the wind on final kind of guy. After decades of Mooney flying my preference is to use full flaps in all but the most violent conditions. I almost always crab all the way to the flare and transition to slip for touchdown. Then flaps up ASAP. I know that many Mooneys have come to grief from pattern stalls though personally, I have never seen one. I have personally seen the aftermath of at least four Mooney RLOCs (luckily non were mine) due to bringing excess energy into the runway environment.

Mine is 1”

Where in PA? How rotten is it? I know of an IA that considers restorations of the neglected.

Just so you know, I went through this with 63 C a few weeks ago and I do not believe that one was wired in such a way that allowed the SOS to fire when the starter defeat switch was activated. I pointed out the issue but it was secondary to a mag p-lead/distributor cover problem, so everyone wanted to leave well enough alone.

With a Bendix ignition switch, the “push in” is for the starter not the SOS. Is your SOS wired to the starter solenoid? Are saying that you have a starter defeat switch (for hand propping) and with starter disabled the SOS is silent? If the SOS bench checks ok and the ACS ignition switch engages the starter, then I would say that you have an issue with continuity to the SOS box. Try using a jumper to activate the SOS.

I’m pretty sure there’s a ruler around here somewhere…

Is it procedural that the flying pilot remains the flying pilot after trying to bend the airplane? I certainly would want the chance to wipe that off the books after going around.. That might be blamed on any number of phenomena but it looked to me like he simply started the flare late. Hard to be on your “A” game after an intercontinental flight.

Nice post! GA aircraft don’t typically have crosswind limitations other than physics, skill and sometimes luck.

My understanding is the that the orientation is not important with the exception of the nose gear, where the collar can sometimes be flipped to attain the correct gear geometry (castor).

I don’t know the previous owner but I do know the in 20+ years of vintage Mooney flying and maintenance (13 of which I have been on this board), I have never heard of anyone using ATF as hydraulic fluid in a Mooney. I’ve seen it used interchangeably with PS fluid in cars, but that’s it. There is nothing conventional nor commonplace about using non approved fluids. No competent maintenance professional would recommend such a thing. When you refill with approved. Luis, I would recommend using Synthetic Royco 782.

I would do both of the brake cylinders, the parking break and consider doing the flap pump and actuator given the system will be drained (correct course of action given that it’s been filled with ATF). The cost of the O-ring kits for the brake cylinders and flap components is trivial. 2 X Brake Cylinder seal kit - $7.48 https://lasar.com/seal-kits/brake-master-cylinder-seal-kit-drawing-for-paramount-b47g-kit090-brake-master-cyl-b47g-paramount-seal-kit 1 X Scott 4200A seal kit $8.50 https://lasar.com/seals-gaskets/parking-brake-valve-seal-kit-scott-4200-a1 1 X Flap pump seal kit - $37.54 https://lasar.com/seal-kits/flap-pump-valve-assembly-seal-kit-drawing-kit098-001-flap-pump-seal-kit-hydraulic 1 X Flap Actuator seal kit - $39 https://lasar.com/seal-kits/flap-cylinder-repair-seal-kit-drawing-flap-cylinder-seal-kit-hydraulic Since you’re paying the shipping anyway, I would buy a few seal kits for the Shaw fuel caps as well. I always keep these in stock. 2 X Shaw fuel cap seal kit -13.05 Should be <$150 for everything with shipping.

I have nothing against Ryobi tools personally, I just noticed that they are the brunt of a lot of social media jokes. Those memes were easy to find.

And for under $200…. My plug in, 6.5hp, 18gal shop vac is over $300 now.

Mine is a time capsule that is close to how it was delivered from the factory. It’s going to take several data sets to draw meaningful performance conclusions.

This was a quick time to climb flight conducted at a calculated weight of 2136lbs or 604lbs under MGW (pilot, 35gal, 6qts oil and 20lbs of random crap in the baggage compartment). Weather Temp 60 °F DP 32 °F RH 35% Wind SSE14 mph Baro 29.65 in DA was 600ft at a 701 field elevation. Pretty close to a standard day. It was bumpy and I think I could have done a better job with speed management, which is likely the cause of the significant ROC decrease after the first 1000'. Nevertheless, >1000fpm through 7000 isn't bad. Total time to ascend from 1025 to 10,025 was 8 minutes and 27 seconds which works out to an Avg ROC of 1065. Speed runs are coming soon. I will be taking some 45lb plates to the hangar to get data at higher weights. The reason that the climb interval altitudes are not exact round numbers is because there was not data for that specific anltitude available. In such cases, I took the closest altitude for which data was provided.

I hope to see this thread turn into a repository of real world performance data for the Mooney M20F (happy to see separate threads started for other models). It would be helpful for new and potential owners to know what is typical of each model. I will be periodically adding performance data and I hope others will as well. As I acquire new data, some posts may be edited with the goal of minimizing clutter and duplicative information. With the introduction of ADSB data we can now see hard data rather than wishful thinking. To that end, it would be helpful if ADSB track, weather conditions and aircraft weight were included in any posts to give a complete and accurate analysis. Summery of entries: Average Time to climb 2150lbs 10,000 1065 FPM 850 FPM Average Speed ROP 10,000 147.5KTS Average Speed LOP 10,000 142.5KTS