exM20K

En route, I definitely agree that: “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” However, on and immediately after takeoff, you’d better be spring loaded to jump on it and maintain airspeed and thus control. Whatever happened in the Duke crash, it was over in a blink. On reflection, I guess the reaction time must be the same for a single on or after takeoff, but at least the plane isn’t trying to roll over and kill you. great job getting the Mooney down from IMC. That shows superb control and airmanship.

Over on Beechtalk there is a long thread with contributions from Duke owners and experts. While it looks like a VMC roll, it may just be a straight high-power stall. The torque from 2x380HP apparently is sufficient to roll the aircraft over in a stall. If just a departure stall, the reasons could be anything including: pilot medical incapacitation, seat latch failure, seat back failure, water in the belly (I learned there that the Duke can accumulate as much as 100 gallons through a door if sitting in the rain!), and on and on. My takeaway is to reacquaint myself with how quickly things go bad in a twin, and it even looks quick from outside; imagine being in the pilot seat for a low-light departure and everything goes sideways/upside down? Harrd tom recover from that unless you're expecting it. -dan

Thanks, @carusoam. Yes, that's my home hangar. Hangar is sporting a couple bikes this time of year, too.... People pic is my next door neighbor and my son, who helped maneuver the RV in w/o damaging anything. With the roll-up door and driveway, it's a single-person job now. One more note: if the OP knows what's going in the hangar, work with some graph paper and overhead view cutouts to scale. One of the many great things about the mooney in a rectangular hangar is that: because of the shape of the horizontal stab, you can cock the whole plane sideways by 15-25* and gain at least 2' of front-to-back room. -de

Lots of good advice here. My $0.02: What kind of construction? Frame on foundation is a lot easier to insulate and drywall than is a pole barn, but it's more expensive; we have to go 48" down for footers here. Definitely add a man door and RV overhead door if able. If you don't expect a lot of snow/ice, then a roller door will probably be the most economical to buy and install. I have a HydroSwing which is nice because it's a weather-tight seal. Our hangar can get a few inches of water during prolonged, heavy rain, so the 1st 3' of sidewall is greenboard with bagged insulation below a barrier, all sealed with shower caulk. If water does get in, I'm replacing a 3' section of drywall and insulation, not 14.5' Finished walls, floor and ceiling will be much brighter than an unfinished, open ceiling/walls given the same lighting. we used 12x 8' double bulb, high-output florescent lighting. very bright. Floor finishing is very expensive. I haven't done mine yet.s Photos are from when we finished the interior. It got cold too quickly to put the RV driveway in, but the door alone was sufficient to back and maneuver the RV against the wall. i wish I knew why these come in upside down....

I’ll respectfully disagree. Trade shows are expensive locally, and they are hideously expensive abroad. Mooney International’s display at OSH probably cost $125,000-$200,000 plus people, plus travel plus lodging, and plus getting the planes there. Figure the whole Sheehan’s is at least $200,000 hard and softish costs. Does Mooney have distribution in Europe? If not, then to show up at aero is flag waving, not a commercial undertaking. I HO, they are doing the right thing to focus on the domestic market. Resources are scarce, they probably don’t have the headcount to meaningfully increase production, and I believe they should be able to sell their full production domestically. 30% margins on 50 units at $750,000 doesn’t throw off enough to sell abroad while rebuilding and expanding easier, less expensive sales domestically. -de

Diamond singles caster. The twins are steerable. It is probably just the mass of the twins that makes differential braking insufficient. -de

simplify and strengthen the whole system - make it castering and steer with brakes. then i could be sure to replace my brakes at least annually! It is the nose gear that stands in the way of increased Max Landing (and probably all the others) weight. The M22 Mustang gear could be adopted/adapted to replace the mains, but that nose gear is too big to put away. -de

SOP for me is to run a finger down the two down tubes on the nose gear as part of my preflight. There are no dents or paint chips. If I feel something, then something potentially bad has happened, and I’ll look more closely. sadly, even if the tug had collapsed the gear, you’d be in the same position on needing a tear down inspection and prop. My prob always stops with one blade down, not two, and that one blade has only 11” of clearance. Im a big fan of the turntable type tugs which do protect the nose gear, but I’m too cheap to replace my 22 year old power tow with the BestTug I really want. .-dan

Really enjoyed the visit Tom and Beth. The scale of the Creek is amazing as compared to our little Naper Aero (LL10). Super nice place with something for everyone. -de

Fuel or spark. Engine monitor data will tell the tale. Fuel: low boost to suppress vapor lock. Engine monitor data will show fluctuations in pressure or flow. spark: pressurized mags maybe not pressurized and crossfiring. Or, ignition harness has a bad lead. Lop test at altitude will help. Game site has the protocol -de

Original jugs at TBO in a TSIO360? You’re doing something right! (I suspect: flying the heck out of it.)

Low compression cylinders on the TSIO are less efficient. 7.5:1 vs 8.5 Bob minnis owns the Acclaim 310 STC, not Mooney. I too have mine set up for 38 GPH and no problems with temp. Typically 29” x 2500 RPM. The cylinders stay much closer in temp at 2500 than at lower RPM, so that’s where I run it. With TKS, I plan approx 5% below book speed, but I’m usually 70-100 degrees LOP to keep the TIT below 1650. Some like cooler TIT, and in my plane that would require less fuel and a lower RPM.

The company used to make a wired electric model. If you have power in the hangar (I didn’t) and don’t have to go too far, it seems to me to be the best possible configuration: no batteries to charge and replace and no engine to maintain. Maybe the company can send you the spec for the electric motor. that said... I’ve owned a model 35ez for more than 20 years, changed the oil once or twice, and it just works. The trans is getting a little vague and the tire is tired, but it just keeps going. -de

If you start with an acclaim type S, the conversion is a modification to the governor and a remarked tach. Earlier acclaims get the new prop as well. All it is doing to an Acclaim type S is spinning the propeller at 2700 RPM. This engine runs at 2700 RPM quite happily in Columbia and cirrus aircraft. As for resale, I would expect it to contribute in a small way, and if for some reason you wanted to return to stock, that would be easy. There are no obvious negatives to doing this conversion. Runway performance and climb rate are definitely better, although it is not a life-changing difference. For me it is useful because I am based on a fairly short strip. -de

I have found the best method, and one with some collateral benefits, to raise the useful load is to manage my own gross weight :-). My Acclaim has gained 20# of useful load so far this year, much to the detriment of local fast food places and maybe a tap room or two. it will be interesting to see what mooney announces at S&F this year regarding useful load increases. Lighter batteries? Lighter electrical stuff? VG’S? -DE

With the exception of the G1000, you are precisely describing the Diamond DA40XLT, current MSRP approximately $400,000. manufacturing costs are but a fraction of the total cost to the manufacturer. Have a look at an aircraft maintenance manual. Contemplate the cost to produce that. Certification costs must be recovered over a few hundred airframes per year, and a wildly optimistic estimate to certify a new aircraft would be $75 million. additionally, with cheap money, the sticker price of the plane is less important than you might think. That extra $200,000 for the DA40 vs the hypothetical composite M20 is less than half the TCO of a new plane. Ditch G1000NXI and you could probably shave another $50,000 off the cost of the Diamond. Cirrus has created demand and drawn new people into the hobby. Perhaps Mooney should concentrate on producing a more capable and useful aircraft to peel some of them off. -DE

Pedantic comment...sorry. The fuel vents are not heated on FIKI installations. The NACA ducts in which they sit is, itself, anti icing. Also... the 14V system in 201 and 231 aircraft is, itself, a disqualifier. They couldn’t get enough pressure in the system on the lower voltage systems. My 231 was kind of marginal WRT pushing electrons around. Pitot heat, prop Heat, some lights, and the gear would about max it out. i would imagine that modern LED lights and modern radios would help

congratulations. that is IMHO the best plane Mooney produced. ever. -de

There are some very expensive components that would be required: heated stall warning second w/s pump second main pump(?) I don’t remember if the inadvertent system has two i believe the panels are the same. generally, the economics for this sort of upgrade favor buying the plane configured as you want it, and there is no long term shortage of FIKI ovations

sounds like a Keeper!

The non-flying spouse/significant other is usually a big part of the decision-making process. It's not just engine failure or mid-air collisions - think: pilot has a medical event in flight; now I have a way out. the non-flying spouse often is unenthusiastically playing along with the flying spouse's dangerous hobby, and not relying on him/her but rather on "technology" is often the difference between making the sale and not. It's about feels, not careful risk analysis. -de

I don’t think the V2 release is a sign of strength. Quite the opposite: the company was contractually bound to deliver 500 airframes at $1.3 million plus escalators. That worked out to about $1.5 million. I am very familiar with the economics of a single engine jet, having lived through the D jet saga, and it does not take a very sharp pencil to conclude that they were likely losing money on every example going out the door at $1.5 million. The version to chat is a couple of very marginal changes to the airframe and a $1 million boost in price. The contract for the serous chat stipulates that the company is obligated to deliver whatever the current production model is. While this is likely a disappointment for position holders who believed that they had $1 million of equity sitting on the table, my guess is the company did this because they had to. To continue delivering the balance of 400+ airframes at a loss would be more than even their Chinese owners could absorb

Another advantage for us G1000 owners: no such dilema! ADS-B no worky! Seriously.... I keep the XM weather and entertainment going year round. I do, like most, have a protable ADS-B WX solution (Stratus 2s), and I find it useful. But the quality, update frequency, preflight availablilty, and range of coverage with SiriusXM is worth it for me. Cost? Doesn't even make the needle quiver. Plane TCO excluding cost of funds is ~$30,000 per year. Sirius XM is < $500 per year, which includes: Aviator LT weather, but getting a lot of features of the higher tier (winds aloft, freezing levels, etc) dunno why. Entertainment (plane) 2 cars (all the channels) 1 motorcycle (150ish channels). There are some different plans available depending on the hardware - XM or Sirius. this or for us legacy folks This The LT with the extra features for free is a pretty good value IMHO. Family discounts and haggling w/ SXM can get pricing down.

Actually, it’s in the event of oil pressure loss, not power outage. The former does usually precede the latter, but an engine will run for a bit without oil pressure. There are circumstances, mostly close to the ground, when the traditional behavior would be preferable. -de

The pre-GX & DX planes do have a very tall panel that yields an”tank driver” feeling. The G1000 and DX birds are much better in this respect. I have a lot of DA40 & DA42 time, and IMHO these have about the best visibility available. I find the Acclaim to be close se to the DA40 in visibility. I wonder if any of the old panel redo’s an shorten the panel height? The seating position is what it is. Some like it and some don’t. Chocolate and vanilla, I guess.