Bob_Belville

Rudder trim is done by bending the trailing edge. It varies some from model to model and year to year so consult the maintenance manual. It is possible there is another factor going on, I discovered the step was not retracting due to a leaking servo which caused yaw. And remember the ailerons and rubber are interlinked though that should not affect straight and level. bottom line, the ball should be centered and if it is not you can fix it relatively easily.

David, I did not, and would not have, named any MSCs specifically. I would not expect them to speak up on this very public list. But I think several of us have given adequate justification: it is legal, it is safe (in the experience and expert opinion of the shop/A&P) and it saves time and money.

David, beyond the CYA rhetoric, do you concede using the "tail hook" is not prohibited by the SI? Several MSCs and other very experienced and respected shops apparently continue to use the tail tie down. Are you calling them irresponsible? As others have pointed out, there are older planes with the squirrel cage inner cowl (whatever it's called) whose engine lift hook is removed. Someone told us it was 2 hours to get the cowl and baffle off. I suppose another 2 hours to put it back. At say $75/hr shop rate that adds $300 to the bill if he wants to raise the gear to remove the plastic housing behind the JBar as I will be doing this week. The jack points on my E are well ahead of the gear. So when the plane is on jacks it probably only takes ~50 pound of weight at the long arm at the tail hook to hold the nose off. I am going to verify the estimate this week.

I've been retired for 12 years so this '66E is personal which might be a better word than "pleasure". But I used to own TomN's '66E which I averaged about 225 hours per year in for 11 years. That was probably 90% business though the plane was owned personally. (FWIW, I charged the company $100/hour wet which well covered all expenses - avgas was $2. A factory new IO360 through Norm Bender was $10,000, complete, installed.)

ISTM, "disregard" is much too strong a word. The A&P usually has considerable latitude when it comes to methods and determination of airworthiness. "Recommended" or "not recommended" is not mandatory. Intentionally. I suppose. Frankly, I would rather have my plane (and my neck) in the hands of a smart, experienced A&P who thinks than a legalist who follows the letter of the law by rote.

Yeah, it is important to take any unsolicited pontification with a grain of salt. Sometimes it seems the more authoritatively some law is propounded, the more one needs to be suspicious. On the other hand, when a number of experienced and prudent folks add their two cents it is possible to learn something helpful. So keep the cards and letters coming...

Well... using the engine mount is not a recommendation on the SI. Seems like they're introducing other factors. I suppose engine mounts and the connection points on the firewall can handle the side loads but has your MSC had this method blessed? What I would be concerned about in any method is the plane being knocked off the main jacks. Whatever the 3rd point of lift or hold down is it is important that consideration is given to any potential side loads on the main jacks.

I think Calvin had something similar when he did my pre-purchase. I would add a caution to anyone who does use this type hold down. As mentioned above from a "C" owners manual, the tail hold down should be fixed. My concrete tub is heavy but it does roll and I intend to chock it when it in use.

The M20 was Al's 20th aircraft design. So... we suppose whatever he did was on purpose.

B26, I found the Aspen Abnormal Shutdown Procedure. 6.4 in my manual. (Chapter 6 covers expanded emergencies and abnormal procedures) Shutdown PFD (on ground) 1. PFD Master switch OFF 2. Press and hold REV Button until the display turns off. Or 1. Press the MENU button. 2. Rotate the Right Knob to the POWER SETTINGS Menu page. 3. Press the SHUT DOWN Menu key. Also to Power on Manually Press and hold the REV button until the PFD powers on.

If they are the standard equipment eye bolts they will have to come out to jack the plane.

Yeah, that's the point, isn't it?

And here's the discussion I remember reading. It's from Larry Ball's "Those Remarkable Mooneys" chapter heading: Mooney Lore" p. 237 "Perky Tail" "At least that's the way one woman described it in a letter to Mooney. Others said the tail is on backwards. In truth, it is a variable incidence tailplane with the rudder swept forward. (The Lockheed JetStar also used a variable-incidence tailplane.) Al Mooney felt the swept forward rudder would remain effective in a stall long after an aft swept fin and rudder would lose effectiveness. Here again, talk with enough aerodynamicists and you will probably find one that will agree with Al Mooney. " Ralph Harmon designed the M-22 Mooney Mustang with the same distinctive Mooney tail. All production units carried this tail, but Ralph did, later on, build and flight test an M-22 with an aft swept T-tail. It's entirely possible Ralph was not convinced of the "perky tail's" value. Much later, Roy Lopresti designed and flew the Mooney 301 with a conventional swept back tail of 50 degrees. He also used conventional trim tabs on the elvator anf rudder. Although the 301 was never produced, LoPresti must have felt there was no particular advantage in staying with Mooney's trademark tail. Much later, in 1996, he told me that if he had it to do over he would have stayed with the tradition and used the Mooney tail. "Probably the safest ground to stand on is to consider the Mooney tail a trademark... and leave it at that." That's the end of Ball's story. Ball was a Beech guy through and through and I would not think he is completely objective in matters where Al Mooney's ideas departed conventional wisdom as understood in Wichita .

The obvious, to me, reason the SI was issued is apparent in the diagram of a prop stand with a big red line through it and the legend: WARNING DO NOT USE PROPELLER JACKS OR PROPELLER STANDS and this: REFERENCE DATA: also Refer to Hartzell Service Letter #HC--SL--61--231 I'm guessing Hartzell does not want their props used as jack points. We'll see how many years it is before Lycoming decides lifting airplanes via their engine lift is unacceptable. I guess my 47 year old plane has had the tail held down 100 times for every time the engine lift was used. But I am not authorizing anyone to do anything.

My '66 E has rather low speed limitations: Vno 150 (130k) (top of green) Vne 189 (164k) red line Cruise is routinely in the yellow, 500 fpm descent is close to the red line unless power id significantly reduced.

As I have referenced we have discussed this subject before to no consensus. You will note the the mention of the rear tie down is only at the end of the SI as a note: It is not recommended to use tail--tie down fitting during jacking process to lift nose wheel off ground. this is far from prohibitive. The SI also and more strongly WARNS: DO NOT leave tie down rings on Aircraft during flight. There might be several folks who have not replaced the old style tie down rings but do not remove the old ones for flight.

Hank, I modeled mine after the one my A&P/IA uses except his has an adjustable shaft to accommodate various brands. We have several Navions on the field with much higher tails. Mine is specific to my M20E.

Any actual data to support that? A&Ps have been holding down tails of tricycle gear planes for a very long time. Including Mooneys.

Yeah, there's a fairly recent thread to that effect. But I sense most folks will continue to do so rather that use the engine support eye.

I have jacks so needed weight to hold down tail trip to Harbour Freight: dolly - $12 swivel eye $5 hardware store wash tub - $24 3 - 80# bags Sakrete $10 I had a piece of scrap tube and a bolt/nut. Drilled one end of the tube for the bolt & swivel, the other end for a rod to anchor the assy in the concrete total ~$50 Should be useful.

That's interesting. I've read the manual a couple of times but I'll need to check again. Apparently it knows to run on battery rather than shut down... perhaps if in flight? It certainly has plenty of info to decide, e.g. airspeed. I'm still in the shop doing annual waiting for oil cooler being overhauled @ Pacific.

I thought I typed an answer to your questions but I do not see it. The jack is labeled a RS 232 in the installation manual. I don't see any reference to it in the owners manual. I had not noticed the VLOC flag. I guess the 750 had switched from GPS to CLOC when I shot the ILS into KPDK. It must have remained in that mode on startup for the return flight. BUT I was using the GPSS and the 750/Aspen/STEC50 seemed to be forgiving my failure to catch the flag and select GPS. Wow, I guess..

Not really, I can't speak for the long bodies but the short and medium body Mooneys are fun to take folks for airplane rides in. With the power pulled back they certainly are about as economical as anything out there and certainly for short flights 4 adults or a mix of kids are very comfortable. Everyone has a window seat. And the pilot can have a ball driving a plane that feels like a sports car. And then when you want to go from say NC to ME as we regularly do in our E just load her up and see 150 k or more on 10 gallons or less. (Admittedly, as a complex plane with constant speed prop, retractable gear, and cowl flaps, a Mooney is a little more work landing and taking off but once you're out of the pattern the complexity does not matter much.)

Tom, my E is in for annual this week. Lynn told me today the spring tension checked out right in the middle of the spec range. Gotta love that 60(?) year old design!