M20F-1968

The cost to insure a glass airplane is still higher due to the fact that repairing a glass structural part is uncertain if next to impossible. There are also concerns of how glass will maintain its structural integrity over the years and when exposed to the elements. Ultrasound structural imaging and analysis not need with aluminum. Repairing aluminum is well established. John Breda

Forget the turn coordinator. Put a 2" MidContinent Artificial Horizon in the spot. It is smaller, and adds redundancy. With a second Artificial Horizon, you do not need the Turn Coordinator. John Breda

You are correct, however just be sure the selector is in good shape. Rebuild it is necessary. The test could be, put 1-2 gallons on fuel in the tank that you will want to be dry, and fill the tank you will be taking the trip on. If I am not mistaken, after the flight, the 1-2 gallons in the proposed empty tank will be gone as the fuel selector will be drawing fuel from both tanks due to a bad seal. I think this test will work, but check with someone more knowledgeable of the functioning of the selector. John Breda

Do you know that Boston Gear is the source? If so, then they may be able to supply the gears. Do not be surprised however if they are supplying a given end product only to Mooney as an OEM part. John Breda

I might be interested in one for the shelf (I replaced mine 400 hours ago). Any idea what grade of aluminum is used and is it hardened? John Breda

You would need the specifications and data sheet from the factory to reproduce them. You would also need the material type (steel, hardening process, etc...). You likely could reproduce them as an owner made part. This would allow an owner to make them for one airplane, not for resale. Perhaps if enough owners can be assembled to make one part for their airplane, not for resale, but do it all at once, making a set to put on the shelf, it could be accomplished. The manufacturer will want to produce a given quantity to make it worth their while. John Breda

I can make travel boards but I would need to make them by hand if made from wood. The original scales can be copied, placed on a hard medium (plastics or metal) and screwed onto the wood as in the original Travelboards. I could also have a software template made from my wooden models, and make the scales in the same way. The Travelboard then may be a 1/4" lexan/plexiglas or similar with the scales screwed on. The problem is making them one set at a time is labor intensive. Making the software template and finding a shop to cut them has a cost associated with it as well as some labor time. Further sets become less time intensive. The considerations are all time and money. I have had a few people interested but in order to do the project, I need a commitment that is economically viable. Any ideas? John Breda

I did my rebuild in a T hanger in Dallas, TX. Instrumental in the process was a sheetmetal mechanic from Gulstream. We initially cleaned the tanks and sealed them in the hangar so the airplane could be flown (next stop was avionics). We could have used ferry tanks but chose to take a stab at sealing them (the tanks had already been cleaned). That allowed us to at least fly the plane to central Tx where eventually a leak developed. We then flew the airplane to Paul Beck where the tanks were restripped and done correctly. This job is more than just getting the tanks clean and painting on sealant. Experience in knowing what can and will go wrong is important. Patch the tanks if necessary before the flight. The plane can be flown on one tank, you just need to watch consumption and make more fuel stops. My experience with Paul Beck has been excellent and I would refer anyone to him without reservation. John Breda

Trimmed, my airplane flies very nicely hands off. Control inputs flying IFR, if tracking or on ILS, in no wind condition, control inputs are almost imperceptible. Just nudge the control and you are changing direction. Fingertip corrections only needed when established and stable. It is a nice feeling. The "heaviness" of the controls adds to the airplane's stability. Thus, it is stable yet very responsive to the smallest of control inputs. John Breda

Paint on wing walk I think is preferred. Very easy to repair worn sections. You can also paint the wing walk the same color as the wing if you choose, but black give passengers a better sense of where they can step and not step. John Breda

The F model was available to me as a clean, non-flying airplane. I took the opportunity to build a one of a kind F. I sought to build a relatively simple, stable instrument airplane that would not be a maintenance hog. I have all of the above in my plane, without the need for limit switches, unavailable gear springs, electric motors, etc... No need for tank selector tools as the selector valve is nor within reach, have push/pull controls, annunciator panel customized by me, Ovation style panel, Ovation yokes, bronze bearings on yoke tubes, one piece belly, Ovation interior with folding seats in the rear and fully articulating pilot and copilot seats, long range tanks, on board oxygen system from Ovation, access to avionics bay and to oxygen system either through left side or through the baggage compartment, Garmin glass avionics (G600, GTN 750, GTN 650, GTX 345, Ryan TCAD, WX500, XM Weather, S-TEC 60-2, Altitude preselector, ADSB In/Out, turbo normalizer, long range tanks, speed brakes, full set of back-up instruments.....I will stop there but many other additions are present beyond. All can be done. It just takes time and money... John Breda

Rather than snaps I would suggest what I did which works very well. I found an aviation grade velcro (3M product) along with another 3M product which is applied to both the floor and velcro and acts to enhance adhesion. I can get 3M product number next time I am at the hangar. Once the clear liquid is applied, the Velcro will not come off. I put two strips of velcro, one across the floor just in front of the seat rails and another across the floor near the pedals. The rest of the carper goes under the seat and onto the floor in the rear without the need for any further velcro. The carpet stay put without the need to drill the floor or install any mechanical fasteners. Both the Velcro and 3M adhesive/clear liquid adhesive enhancer were purchased on Amazon. John Breda

My F is essentially a J with the upgrades that do not come with the J, Johnson Bar and two independent Mags. Both are truely an upgrade. (You would thing a J model would come with a Johson Bar now woudn't you - just thought of that) The original 201 cowling which I have is just as fast as the LoPresti, and quite a bit more durable. You can buy a used 201 cowling, rebuild it and do the conversion. You will need pre-existing data for a DER sign-off. PM me about that. A J model has a different type panel, but when it is time to upgrade your panel, you will want to start from scratch. Take a look at my profile on Mooneyspace. John Breda

I am an F model owner as well. Mine is now essentially a J but with a Johnson Bar, hydraulic flaps and no inner gear doors. An F model is an excellent platform, stable IFR airplane, which stike reasonable compromises between speed, efficiency, and costs of maintenance and operational costs. It is a great retirement airplane. The one you are looking at has reasonable upgrades. If you were to upgrade further, you would likely be likely looking at extensive modifications (as I was since I started with an airplane that sat for years in a hangar in pieces - I essentially bought an airframe and engine with not much else and turned it into a "modern" F model which Mooney never made). The plane you are looking at, as represented, should serve you well provided its systems are in and working as they should. That is easily checked. If all is as it should be and the work was done correctly, the plane is likely not overpriced. You just need to spend the time and money to assess what is there. I too live in Boston. You can e-mail me at john.breda@gmail.com or call me at (617) 877-0025. John Breda

The seat-rails (at least from the mid-60's to present) have the same cross-section and (essentially if not exactly) the same pattern of rivets to install them into the floor. The patterns of holes for the seat pins and the amount of relief of the seat rails (milling away of the functional part of the seat rail) in order to get the seats out of the airplane are model specific, but not limiting. I took Ovation seats (pilot and copilot) and installed them in my F model. I needed a DER to sign the replacements of, but they work perfectly. The holes in the rails in the newer models are about 0.050" deeper than the old 1960's models, but this can be adjusted with a 1/4" drill. John Breda

The first decision is whether this is a 3-4 year plane or a lifetime plane. The fuel injected engines (E & F) will allow you to put in Gammi injectors and run LOP which I think is something you would want as a choice. Also, fuel injection takes you away from the concern of carburetor ice. The F has 64 gallons fuel which is also a plus and with long-range tanks you can carry 94 gallons of fuel. Running LOP you get you many hours of nonstop flight. At 100 ROP, I have easily done seven hour legs carrying 94 gallons of fuel. However, what I have to say about the F is biased because my plan is really not an F but much closer to J as it is highly modified. Nevertheless, the F will give you more room to grow should you want to hold onto the plane for a long time. If you are looking to buy a vintage Mooney, I would definitely buy one with manual gear. Recognize that you will probably spend some real money getting it to where you want it to be. How much, and what maintenance and upgrades you do will only be apparent once you've decided on the airplane that you want to buy. These are almost 50 year old machines and you will want to leave nothing to chance. Thus, be sure to have a wad of AMU's in your pocket for security sake. There really are no $50,000 airplanes. That being said, the F is a great plane to fly as is initially, and plan upgrades and mods as your needs and budget evolves. John Breda

The highest I have been is 18,000 ft. I have not gone searching for the critical altitude number. I think Rajay says 20,000 but I may be mistaken. I would need to dig out the old files again. At 18,000 I am still pretty much holding manifold pressure. I have spent time learning about other aspects of the plane. I usually fly it in the mid-teens and use higher when there is a reason. Usually run 100 ROP, but have been test LOP more often. Jean Paul at GAMI like oversquare, 40-50 LOP. My mechanic had it at 17,000 LOP and it was a 175 kt TAS airplane. John Breda

I too might like to go from the east coast (Boston). I lived in Portland for 7 years (1982 - 1989), learned to fly in Hillsboro, OR, and had my first experience with density altitude on a hot day taking off from Sunriver Resort Airport in a Cessna 150. It would be good to go visit. Is anyone willing to take a hitchhiker? John Breda

A couple nights ago I was killing time and logged on to flight aware and put in my number. To my surprise I saw about nine flights that my aircraft did not fly. I recently installed a GTX-345, and the equipment was test flown on November 21. Flightaware shows that test flight properly displayed my aircrafts information and the flight was displayed accurately. However beginning on November 25, there is one flight in Vero Beach FL and a string of flights in the Brazil area that were not flown by my my aircraft. Flightaware shows these flights linked to my N number and shows the registration information to be that of my actual airplane. My mechanic described the process of programming the flight ID, which is the N number, into the newly installed transponder. Apparently, internally within the transponder apparently exists a protocol which translates the N number into a digital ICAO code. Since an avionics shop or an individual can enter a new N number into the transponder, is possible to have two aircraft with the same N number flying simultaneously. I do not know whether this was a typo when entering an N number into the other aircraft's transponder, or whether this was deliberate act to camouflage a flight to make it look like it was done by a different airplane. I made a report to the FAA of what I had discovered and they are doing some homework. Can any of the Moneyspace gurus give me a better explanation of how this may have occurred and possibly how a GTX-345 or similar transponder creates the ICAO code. It would seem that if this was merely a typo, it would be unlikely that the entered information would correspond to an active N-number, which suggests that this was a more deliberate act. The next part of the question is how does the FAA or other investigators determine what the aircraft is displaying the improper information? I recently learned that the website Flightradar24.com can display the Squawk code of a given flight. Perhaps that can be used to trace back to the airplane involved. Is there any other information transmitted as ADSB-out information that would be unique to an aircraft such as a serial number? My mechanic checked the information displayed by my aircraft as ADSB-out and found that the information displayed from my aircraft was accurate and proper. John Breda

In one word, Skybolt. Look at their website. John Breda

All the while you are being pushed around by ATC, recognize that you are being placed into a set-up situation for forgetting something, most importantly gear down or some other procedure. Be cognizant that you are being taken outside of your routine. While you are in the 360, feel free to ask for a delay vector to retreat and regroup if necessary to stay safe. John Breda

I bought a Mobiky, made in France, folds and opens to riding position in seconds, can be wheeled about when folded so need not be carried when folded. Fits easily into the Baggage Door. John Breda

I do not recall, however considering the time it takes to clean adhesive off the door and prep it for the door seal application, the cost is not a consideration. John Breda

I tried the Aircraft Door Seals and found that the passenger door did not close well at all. I subsequently went with the Mooney factory door seal and have had no problems with it at all. Put it on 5 years ago. John Breda

I just put in a GTX-345. How does the rebate work? John Breda