wiseng

Since posting this. I have had the typical FBO- Insurance dilemma. Per Signatures request I was told to file on my insurance etc. Did that and am still waiting. This is at most a $3500 repair. I recently switched carriers Alienz from Global based upon my brokers recommendation (Travers). This should have been a simple negoiation and has turned into quite a mess. There is a claim rep Crawford GTS contracted to Alienz and a third party adjuster contracted by Crawford. What a CF for a $3500 claim. No telling what there fees are. I suspect its more than the total cost for repair. Note to you 2nd law of thermodynamics guys. You gets what's you puts in.. In retrospect. I should have just paid for the repair. Had my attorney sue Signature and they would have been responsible for the repair and whatever. David Wisdom, P.E.

M20doc, good suggestion on checking the rudder stops. I had not thought through the whole steering, rudder interplay. Thanks

Thanks guys. Oldguy I have never seen the 1/32" tube damage limitation. Its not In my old POH. As far as the statement being wishful. I flew for probably a half year on a previous broken tab incident and did nor find out until annual. My bad. After this incident when pulling the plane out I check the tab limits by swinging the nose gear. OK if the plane is airworthy what is the opposite. Not or un. Signature did fess up when they they broke it. I do admire that. And I am having to go through my insurance for subrogation to Signature. What a pain.. DW

My FBO tug driver (Signature-go figure) exceeded the turning radius of the nose gear stop tabs and broke the right one off. Does anyone have an opinion if this makes the airplane un airworthy. I suspect not since there is probably a lot of Mooneys flying out there that have this condition. Anyone have any thoughts. DW

Looked into replacing the existing edm-700 with certified unit. Too expensive for my taste. The can has been sent to Air parts of Lockhaven to repair the OP gauge.

Randy-The plane is in annual at present. I had them recheck the wiring etc. Since Lazar no longer sells the instrument cluster for this plane. I am sending the can off to have the OP gauge rebuilt. David

In looking at the lycoming website their are several part numbers for this engine. Which one did anyone buy when doing the conversion? I see where some have alternators or not and sky tec starters etc.

Did you buy the complete instrument cluster from Lazar? Thanks

I have a problem with the oil pressure indication. I have replaced the pressure sending unit twice and have come to realize it must be the gauge. It sticks close to zero and will suddenly come alive and indicate the correct pressure. I have taken the glare shield off and all the top row instruments are in a can. Anyone seen this?

Does any one have any experience with any of the A&P's on the field?

Does anyone have any shop suggestions and results on Lycoming IO360 cylinder repair?

When the heat is turned on the gauges react the same In a linear fashion There is not any fluctuations it is consistent. What gets me is some increase and others decrease.

Has anyone noticed that when you turn the pitot heater on it affects the quantity indicated by about 20%.. In my 78 J the Fuel level oil and fuel pressure gauges indicate ~ 20% lower . The oil temp and CHT indicate ~ 20% higher. Any ideas?

I am due for an engine soon. After reading through all this I am leaning for the field overhaul and keeping the dual mag..

Several years ago I had Firewall Forward Field overhaul my first run engine. I had the helicopter pistons put in per the STC. I never did get the oil consumption above 2hrs/Qt, and this was after a couple of complete cylinder rehones. I had the standard pistons put back in. It was quite a hassle and only after threatening to retain an attorney did they agree to pay for the swap. I understand they are under new management but from reading the posts things apparently have not changed for the better.

Well there goes the neighborhood. I see where Gemini a newly formed company will service all planes at the facility in Kerrville.

Good Luck. FBO was recently bought out and the first thing they did was double my rent. You might find a covered open hangar at MDD but there is a waiting list at MAF. Check our ODO.

Yes that was it. TKS

I think I remember someone in the forum that had an engine that was making aluminum. Turned out to be a bad head. Does anyone remember that post. There was some pictures if I remember correctly. Thanks

I feel the 50W is better for me, but I do quite a bit of winter flying and use the 20-50 for the cold monthes. My oil consumption is about 20% less using the 50.

I do the same. Phillips in Winter, Shell 50w in the summer both with camguard..

For my own education I looked on the NTSB database for the last 5 years to see If there were any fatal accidents in Mooney's that were attributed to unrecoverable spin scenarios. I was not able to find anything. Maybe I need to go back farther.. There was some stall, controlled flight into terrain, loss of control, but nothing about problems with unrecoverable spins. Has anyone heard of spin related crashes?

78 J. I usually flightplan mine for 155 kts anywhere from 7-9k running 50 ROP using the 50 rule for 75% 47 for 65 etc, and burn bout 10-11 Gal/hr. If I want to go lean I lose about 8 kts and burn 8-9. Last time I did a 4 way gps check full out @ 6000'with the ram air open I averaged 165 kts. As stated above get your POH out and see how she does against the factory numbers. You will not get 175 Kts i generally see about 8-10 knots slower than published numbers. YMMV,

On looking back the only thing I can think of I did different was to hold the nose up deeper into the stall than I normally do. Whiich I will not be doing any time soon. Go figure. Ball centered all that. Needless to say I got checked off for another two years. Its one thing to spin an airplane intentionally which I have done in a lot of Cessna's another to have it just happen...

Today during my flight review I spun da Mooney. I was doing a power off stall and before I knew it the ariplane entered a spin very qucikly and abruptly. The power was off, gear down and half flaps. Trust me the picture you see out the front screen is not one I want to see again. We were at '5,500 and made one rotation and recovered with full right rudder and a very swift and foreceful full forward yoke inpit. Looked at the a altimeter and it read 5,000'. Both the check ride pilot and myself could not believe we only lost '500'. Needless to say I have a new found respect for 51AM and now know why spins are prohibited in Mooneys. I have had this airplane for 16 years and this was a first and I hope last spin recovery I have to perform in any mooneyt.