Mooneymite

A tiny dab of toothpaste and a soft cloth work almost as well. :-)

PITA, yes. rocket science, no. I've changed several. Once I had the special wrench, the other times I used a long, skinny screwdriver to tap on the nut edges on that bottom nut and get it turning. It never ceases to amaze me that in all the years of dealing with this periodic replacement, there has never been an improvement in the parts/installation. One pump will go a thousand hours, or more. The next will fail in two hundred hours. No rhyme, or reason. Some folk tell me that reverse rotation of the prop (as might happen during a compression check) hastens failure, but that may just be an OWT.

Ha! Different strokes for different folks. I love this part of flying: the most miles for the fewest bucks. Figuring wind components, delta-T, fuel cost, fixed cost, ramp/handling fees all part of the big equation for me. I'm a Mooniac, so price efficiency is all part of the fun. I fly for a big company that plays the fuel price game to a huge degree. It can pressure FBO's to price competitively, or we fuel around them.

Excellent! It sounds like you have a great "flight plan" for your future in aviation. That instrument rating will be a useful addition.

Your Mooney "would not start"? Do you mean it would not crank, would not fire, or would not crank, or fire? First time I encountered cold weather on my 'C', I didn't know I had to prime it a lot (lot!) more. While everyone seems to have a lot of secret formulas for hot starting the 'E', I suspect there are an equal number of tricks for a cold start. On my 'C' I've found if it won't start cold, prime it some more. And, yes, a stack fire is a possiblilty....keep cranking.

At this point in the march of technology, going to electrical gyros would be a step backward. If you want to get rid of your vacuum system, go electronic, not electric. However, the old vacuum systems, backed up by the electric TC, have a proven track record. Look before you leap. I have an acquaintance who fried both his electric AI and DG with a voltage spike on start-up ($1500 repair). I think we are in a transitory stage in the certified world. The iPad and low cost accessories have shifted the paradigm..... You might want to hang on a little longer to see "what's next".

Friend of mine did a wingtip repair much more exrensively damaged than yours. It took him a lot of layers of resin/microballons/sanding to get the surface right, but it was unskilled labor....his own...very cheap. He had a paint shop match the color....that was the only difficult part. Looks great. As a matter of fact, his repaired tip looks better than the other wing tip now! If you have some time, give it a try. You can always sand your work away if you don't like it.

Beyond 500 miles, an airline begins to make more sense for us.

I don't want to drag this thread into the area of social trends, but from my observations young people are not interested in aviation today. I fly rich shareholders (and their kids) around in private jets. In the seven years I've been doing this, I've hauled lots of kids of all ages. The cockpit is readily available...no cockpit door. Would anyone speculate on how many of the young people show any interest in the cockpit, or in flying? These are rich kids who could (presumably) easily afford to learn to fly. Once they get on the Internet, they have no interest in the world around them. Mostly they close the window shades so they can see their screens better. Very depressing. Aviation's life blood are the young folk. They simply prefer the virtual world to aviation.

I love stories with happy endings!

I, too, am a big fan of fltplan.com. I'm building a set of checklists, but I'm not done yet. It might be interesting to swap/compare when we get done. While my paper checklist is fine, I thought an electronic version might get my wife to "participate" by clicking off the items. ("It says here you need to put the gear down BEFORE landing.") I use the free charts/maps on my Android tablet with the Android app and almost always brief/file through it. My son told me about it years ago. I tried it, but it seemed somewhat difficult/mysterious. However, now I wonder how I ever did without it! The Flightdeck guide is better than an Accuquick and the weight and balance function works great. I keep a copy of my POH in the document section, so it's available wherever I am. :-)

I suspect cooler temps prevented damage to the runway. Had this happened on a hot August day, the story might have been very different.

Landing at the wrong airport usually happens in VMC. If pilots would refrain from looking out the window, this wouldn't happen! It's ATC's oldest trick: vector you until you're disoriented, then clear you for a visual. There's a famous one where a US carrier landed at the wrong airport in Europe. Every passenger in the back watching the moving map knew it was the wrong airport, but this vital information never migrated to the cockpit. Seriously, if you don't understand how this happen , wait until you get some more experience!

I think AOPA had a safety blub on exactly this phenomenon. It was strongly recommended that when you loose your AI, you cover it up with "something", even if it's a folded dollar bill out of your pocket. Covering the inop instruments improves your chances of having a successful outcome. I'll see if I can find the reference.

I have been thinking about this as well. Originally I had thought of an electric AI, but I have a buddy who has had terrible reliability issues with his, and the repairs are very expensive. He has since sold his. Even though an approach can be flown partial panel, the work load is high for those of us who don't practice nearly enough. The Dynon makes a lot of sense. Added is the fact that it can be moved to another airplane as needed and you get a lot of bang for your buck as compared to other solutions. The only problem for me, is there really isn't a great place to mount it on my panel. I'd like to try one out before I buy...... .

So...."partial panel" with three Aspens installed is when you only have TWO left? Gee. Where's the challenge in that? How about just using one eye?

I couldn't agree more! However.....even though an Aspen might prevent inadvertent inverted flight, I hate to be up-$ide down in my airplane. By the time I installed an Aspen (or two) and all the ancilliary items, it would cost me at least twice what I could recover. It is so frustrating to see what's available in the experimental world for so much less.

Actually, the vent moves very freely. I released the door from the control cable and both the door and the control cable have complete freedom of movement, so I don't think it is a binding issue. I think airstream buffetting is the issue. Based on that, returning the vent housing to "original" is only going to restart the clock. The same issue(s) will exist. I'm leaning toward a "doubler sandwich" using the previously mentioned adhesive with strips of aluminum and new bracket rivets, but this will entail removing the headliner. However, I'll keep my options open (not do anything ) as long as I'm getting input from this forum. Hopefully, there's someone out there who's found a perfect (and easy!) cure. Thanks for all the input.

Yesterday I had the good fortune to have a pilot I like and respect fly with me as a safety pilot. We took off, and at 200', he simulated a vacuum pump failure (I have no backup) with stickies over the gyros and disabling the PC while I went "under the hood". What a work out! Uh.....now where exactly is that trun coordinator? Oh! There it is. We "diverted" to my takeoff alternate about 20 miles away and shot an LPV approach to minimums, a missed approach and then an ILS approach to minimums followed by another missed approach to "VMC" (removed the hood). I had no idea an hour of Mooney time could last so long!

I couldn't find a service bulletin either. Maybe there was only a retrofit kit? Don Maxwell wrote me that he had: retro kit Pn. 660051-005, that includes a heim bearing, bolt, 2 spacers, flat washer, castle nut and cotter pin for $132.82. Contact: dmaxwell@donmaxwell.com

Yes, you are correct. The cable housing is moving....now that the material holding the bracket is cracked. Looking at the "big picture", it appears that the material that Mooney used is just too thin to handle the stress imposed by air loads on the vent door. The cracks look to me like "fatigue" induced cracking. However, if no other C model Mooney owners are having this problem, it is peculiar to my vent and may well be a mis-rigged cable housing or other issue....(like the exceptional airspeeds achieved by my Mooney!) Unfortunately, getting to the bracket holding the housing cannot be done from the outside. I'd have to remove the interior overhead and..... well, it would be a huge job. That's why I'm looking for an exterior repair. The next choice would be to just keep the vent closed and move to a cooler climate!

One of the reasons it was never stop drilled is I never brought pointed it out at annual time. As you know, the roof vent is not an airworthiness item. It has always "operated" just fine. This is a perfect example of how a "little crack" in an out-of-the-way location becomes progressively worse. The idea of "glued patch" has merit. The IA who signs off my Mooney would probably not care since airworthiness is not in question. Thanks for the suggestion. And if you haven't looked down into your roof vent lately, you might want to!

There is a service bulletin and factory kit for replacing the throttle linkage on the older Mooneys. Do you know if either of yours had this up-grade? The older style had two chances of disconnect....the barrel nut and the nut that attaches to the carburetor arm....the new style is simpler and looks to be sturdier, but anything can come loose under the right circumstances!

Heresy!!! You are cheating death. On any given approach, the proper "number" is attained through consultation with a ouija board. Put another way: if you consult 10 Mooney instructors, you will get 15-20 highly accurate numbers.

Wow! I can't believe it. The "Mooney Event of the Year" and I actually have those days off. Now, if we can just get the February weather to cooperate. I'm not sure who Dr. Don is....but thanks to all those putting this together.