nels

I wondered the same thing.

Well, l assume you’re down and safe?

In looking at the photos I’m wandering, what is the positive stop at the end of the stroke. Also, is the end of the stroke the position where it sometimes seizes?

Inside sure looks nice! How long ago has that been? I seem to have the same sorta problem. It isn’t the available time, as I’m retired.

I’ve been considering flying from Cincinnati to Falcon Field in Mesa to visit some friends. Everyone tells me to take the long route down around El Paso and up. Your route sure looks tempting.

Great flights home by all especially Kevin on this day. You mentioned your vacuum pump failing on the maiden voyage, same happened to me when I picked my Mooney up a year and a half ago. By the way, nice looking plane!

Now that’s funny! ...and true.

If needed, can a plated cylinder be honed or would you run a risk of going through the coating?

So, what was the estimate or the cost?

Be thankful you saw your nose tire was flat inside your hangar. Sure beats having it flat during landing or at a strange airport. Always look at the good side if possible.

I think we never hear a gear horn since we most always have the gear down ahead of time. In the rare case when we don’t have it down and do hear the horn the first thing we think of is stall/ airspeed horn. They do sound similar. While we try to digest that sound information sometimes we realize it’s a gear horn and sometimes we think there is just a problem with the stall horn. After all, final is a pretty intense time of flight.

That gear up is just another reason I’m trying not to join that club. That’s why I just installed an AV17 voice annunciator to let me know the gear needs to go down.

Where is the drain button?

What is the published lift for that engine. Off hand 3/8 doesn’t sound too bad. I assume the rocker ratio is 1.5 or so? That would bring lift up to 9/16 inch. I’m not an airplane mechanic but I’d compare the lift with an indicator at each push rod.

Jeff, I believe I saw four in final assembly painted and close to completion and maybe two with wings, no interiors, no paint, one with engine one without, one or two fusalage assemblies being worked on, a main spar being riveted, a fusalage cage assembly being painted in the booth. So, it appears they have planes in process. It sounds as if they have made less than twenty units to date but a lot of that is due to ramp up of production and sales. Larry mentioned their target for this year is 24 planes or two per month. It doesn't sound unrealistic and there is work being performed on items from the base tubing structures and wing spars to final details on close to finished planes.

I was going to say, I did check it off the bucket list!

My wife and I were driving east on I 10 in South Texas on our way back to Cincinnati from Phoenix when I saw a sign "Kerrville next exit". I pulled off and explained to my wife that Mooneys are made in Kerrville and maybe they would be willing to give us a quick tour. She was ok with it and I called Mooney. I talked to the girl on the other end of the line, she took my information and said she'd have someone call me back. We went to an antique shop to kill some time and while we were there a Jeff from Mooney called and asked if we could be there in about 20 minutes or so. Daaa, I agreed. So, after arriving at the guard shack, signing in and getting our name tags we were greeted by Larry, a long time time Mooney employee. He gave us the full tour, maybe two hours, and answered all my questions and then some. Great tour guide, great employees and a very clean and neat work environment. Very impressive! I learned some new things like the the new two door planes have fiberglass skin around the passenger compartment instead of aluminum skin. No weight penalty. I assume assembly cost was reduced but more important to me, I would imagine interior noise would be reduced?? Also, I didn't know that aluminum could be heat treated but it can, he showed me the furnace and explained that after it is heated it is dipped in glycol(?) to keep the air from the surface then it is cooled to approx 32 degrees (?). It remains soft and can be metal worked and formed. After it is worked the glyco is removed and when air hits the surface the aluminum becomes hard. Hopefully I have this right. Anyway, a great day. I think these guys just might make it. They all have a good attitude and they sure make a great product.

What would you call a Mooney rat rod?? "Rat buzzard" maybe?

Do you think "rat rod" paint schemes will ever become popular on airplanes? Think of the money we could save and the value of many of our planes would sky rocket.

I agree. It appears the repair person was more interested in quantity than quality. The spots he missed are very obvious and just a hurry job. The secondary single stage coat could have sealed what he missed and I believe the intent of the secondary coat is meant to fill the pin holes or blisters left from the application of the heavy primary coat. The second application is really important for a fool proof job. Hence the reason for my question: do the guys here who have done this job follow up with the thin sealant or do some just use the thin sealant for a patch.

In patching your tanks, for those of us that have, do you use the two part patch first, wait a day and paint the single part, no catalyst sealer on top. Or..do you use one or the other only? I haven't looked inside many tank but I could imagine some prior patch jobs may be very sloppy and therefor difficult to lay the patch on even and smooth.

I used Maxwell's method but instead of soap I filled the tank with water and looked for bubbles. They are hard to see but you just need to be patient and have some idea where to look. I put a tiny party balloon over the fuel pickup to prevent any water from getting into that line. i don't think the vacuum compromises the sealant but if it did maybe the weight of the water counter acts that possibility.

Neil, I'm curious, what is the difference between the two you describe? Does one take a wider belt like 3/8 to 1/2 inch?

I had a new belt installed on my old E as directed by the mechanic. I had suspected the pulley was worn out but what do I know. I suspect you have the same problem. Does the belt ride ok on the crankshaft pulley? The two grooves, alternator and crank pulley, should be the same geometry. It is expensive to change the belt as the prop has to come off. I was also told that the alternator needed to come off to remove its pulley for the real fix. Instead, I clamped the two sides of the belt together at the alternator and took a half inch impact wrench using a portable air bottle for air and just blipped the trigger and the nut was loose. That saved me a couple hundred dollars in alternator removal labor. It took all of ten minutes.

Interesting bit of information on the M19. Too bad it doesn't still exist. Any info on its top speed? I haven't been able to find any stall numbers for these planes. I see the glide ratio is 15:1... not bad at all.