Jfinch

Quote: fantom Could also be dirty fuel, FBO tank or even old gas hose coming apart. Did you fuel up in the BAhamas?

I just talked to a MSC I trust, and he thinks the feeder tube to the slinger on back side of the prop is probably leaking TKS fluid. He said they have a habit of coming loose. He is not concerned about this as a safety of flight issue, and thinks it's OK to fly as is. My annual is due in January, so I'm going to let him resolve it then.

I had a similar issue with my fuel flow about two weeks ago, when departing the Bahamas. Both the Shadin and the factory fuel flow went erratic, but the engine kept running normally and all other engine parameters were normal. The readings went from normal to as high as 45 gph, and then all the way to zero, and back. This continued for the next two legs of my return flight. When I took it to my mechanic, everything was normal and he couldn't find anything wrong. It has worked well since then. I do have ocasional fleks of something (I suspect detoriating sealant) in my fuel when I sump the tanks during preflight. I am having both tanks fully redone at the end of January. I'm suspecting maybe one of those fleks of sealant may be the culprit for my fuel flow issue??

Last Friday when I landed at my home airport, after a GPS approach that put me in the clouds with light icing for about 15 minutes, the lineman noticed "smoke" coming out of my cowling. I went over to inspect and indeed there was a very light (thin) "smoke" eminating from the cowling. It didn't smell like electrical or oil or rubber burning........it had a funny smell that I didn't recognize. The freezing level was about 2,000' that day, and PIREPS were reporting light to moderate rime in the clouds; tops were 4,600' and bases about 2,900'. Appraoch cleared me to 4,000 and kept me there for about 10 minutes vectoring me around our larger regional airport here. I primed the TKS about 80 miles out, on high pump mode; then I turned it on high again just before entering the clouds, then back to normal. After a couple minutes, I noticed a little ice building up on the leading edge of the wings, so I put the pump back on high setting for a couple minutes........when the ice dissappeared then I switched back to normal. After I broke out and had the runway in sight and knew I would be clear of clouds for the rest of the flight, I turned the TKS system off. I'm thinking the "smoke" was excess TKS fluid that accumulated in the cowling and dripped down onto the muffler or other hot parts while taxiing in, and that produced the "smoke". Has anyone else had this experience, or any advice? Thanks.

I bought my M20R in Dec, 2011 and took advantage of the accelerated depreciation. Owned by my company, an S Corp. That's good advice about terminology in record keeping. I am charging 100% of all expenses to the company, and will reimburse the company for my personal use on a Hobbs hour basis (percentage of total hours per tax year). So far, almost all my hours have been business (maintenance, IFR recurrency training, or business development trips). My CPA (files my taxes) has blessed this approach.

Bruce provided my Ovation transition training (from a J model) in January, 2011 and it was fantastic. I try to attend a MAPA PPP every other year or so, and having someone train in a manner consistent with the PPP classes was great. Bruce has a calm manerism and is an excellent instructor. I highly recomend him.

My Ovation 2 is in the shop now for install of new GTN750 & 650, plus remote audio panel and remote transponder. I'm obviously sold on the value of this new equipment, after seeing an extensive demo at Sun n Fun in the Garmin Ovation 2. Expect to pick her up on May 31 and can't wait.