Bartman

I drain the oil over night every 25 hours as mentioned above, and see no reason to change the filter at 25 hours intervals. My IO360 gets a filter change every 50 hours. I add 7 quarts at all oil changes, keep it about 6 quarts on the dipstick and use about 1 or sometimes 2 quarts in 25 hours. My flights are LOP 2400 RPM in cruise and my oil starts to change color about 15-20 hours. If I go longer than 25 hours on the oil it will need top-off oil much more frequently. I have discussed this with the A+P and the IA in the shop on my field and they support this approach. They do the 50 hours oil and filter change.

Speed over the fence may be too high. Try 75 MPH over the fence, then flare with eyes on the other end of the runway about 6-12 inches off the surface. I found the most important technique is to use the electric trim intermittently all the way to the moment you touch the runway, especially while in the final moments in gound effect. This will keep the nose up and take away all of effort on the yoke. Try it. 1977 J model

I have a '77 J model as well. I can personally attest to the flexibility of the 981 lb useful load that I enjoy. Wife and I took my parents from Kentucky to New Orleans to watch UK win the NCAA Mens Basketball National Championship this past spring. We made 1 stop each way and were legal with 4 people and enough baggage for the long weekend. I have looked at Beech for an upgrade, and although it is an excellent aircraft it does not have the flexibiliity of our J, and not even close on the fuel burn.

In my 201 i leave everything as it was at idle shutdown. If it starts right away thats great. If it does not then throttle wide open and dont touch anything else and it always starts in less than 5 secons of cranking. This has never failed.

Tried to create a new thread but the message didn't show up. Must be something to do with using the Ipad so here goes a try at responding to an existing thread. we decided to go on a trip to Florida for our anniversary. Using the Garmin 430 our calculations consistently showed that we were about 6 knots slower than we used to fly. This is unacceptable so we will be getting a bracket and installing the inner gear doors as soon as practical. On a side note, we were married on 5/5/05 at 5:55 exactly 7 years ago. The squawk code we were assigned was 5557 for our leg down the Florida coast....and NASA even shot off a rocket for us in celebration.

We decided to go to Florida for our anniversary. I noticed right away our groundspeed was a bit off. Without the inner gear doors the Aluminum Mistress is about 6 knots slower than before. We have decided that this is unacceptable and will be replacing the broken bracket and installing the inner gear doors ASAP. On a side note we were amazed at the squawk code we were assigned on departure. We were maried on 5/5/05 at 5:55...7 years ago. On our flight here we were assigned 5557 from KSGS to KMLB. Thats our exact wedding date and number of years married as our squawk for our anniversary vacation flight. Its gotta mean something.

Allsmiles, 0.180 AMU.....i dont know how they sell this stuff so cheap. Seriously, I figured that little $10 part would be at least $250. And if there is little or no speed penalty I considered just flying the way it is.

Not sure what to say about the 205. My 1977 J Model POH is at the hangar, but i do remember reading that the doors can be removed for grass operations. The pages are all yellowed and came with the bird when she was hatched. I did not look in the logs, but i figure the POH reference is evidence that they were original equipment on 1TF ???

I was doing some cleaning and my springtime detailed inspection this past weekend and found a broken inner gear door bracket. It was the rear one that has 2 caged nuts and is U-shaped. No new damage to the inner or outer door, but they do have some previous repairs and appear to be fairly delicate. We removed both inner doors and we have started looking for a replacement bracket. The IA says he can probably just fabricate one if I can't find one easily. I know the POH states the inner doors can be removed for grass strips, and have considered just leaving them off. Has anyone measured the difference? What is the ACTUAL speed penalty with just leaving the inner gear doors off ? (I think the POH says about 5 knots) Jamie

I had a problem once and we discovered that there are two horn speakers in the overhead trim. One for the stall horn and one for the gear. The switch is simple on/off and easily tested. We ended up cleaning the speakers without success. I now have a new stall horn switch in the wing, but it needs adjustment. If they replace your switch please make sure they tighten the screws such that it is in the middle of its travel for adjustment. Mine is at the bottom of the adjustment and won't activate until it is very close to stall.

I have a 1977 J with the throttle quadrant layout. I understand later J models do not have this layout. Other than this and the split back seats in later J's there should be little difference except for avionics and cosmetics. My layout does take up some room.

I have over 600 hours in 5 years on my J model. The massive core plugs had about 150hrs on them when I bought the plane. After start I always lean so agressively that even opening the throttle a bit causes it to cough and sputter. Always LOP in cruise and decent until on short final, then lean on the ground again. NEVER had a "fouled plug" at runup. It just came out of Annual last week and the plugs look good i am told. On the other hand, the trainers I flew and the club plane I occasionally fly do have "fouled plugs" on runup from time to time. This is not hard evidence, but if what you are doing is working... I keep doing it unless there is hard evidence to suggest a change.

I push/pull on the prop at the base of the blade. However do not push on the spinner. You can damage the spinner and possibly the hub it attaches to. Don't ask me how i know this.

New to the forum, but have followed for a while. After reading this thread I decided to use this technique on my most recent flight. Flying the mooney I am blessed with a generous useful load. I flew my wife, brother and his wife to Destin for a long weekend, taking off at max takeoff weight. We watched the fuel consumption on the engine monitor and my brother watched the fuel pressure gauge when we got close on the first tank. It started bouncing about 1-2 needle widths for the last few minutes and then we switched tanks before it even stumbled. We landed with 9 gallons in one tank, just as my calculations and engine monitor said we would. Unfortunately with 35 to 45 knot headwinds out of the north on Sunday we had to stop on the way back to get fuel about midway.