romair

Mooneys...just off the top of my head recently - the one over Yosemite (not sure if they found the guy yet), the one in Angelfire (that was indeed just plain dumb), the one in Ohio (guy mentioned about having had a drink that day), the recent forced landing that left the pilot's mother dead, now this one, several gear up landings...have to admit, does not bolster confidence for a young pilot. these are all very recent crashes. This is in light of me having found my "dual" magneto dangling in the accessory case probably a flight away from me becoming another statistic.

apparently F model...but damn whats up with so many crashes!

I am looking to start my IFR training sometime next month. I have about 50 hrs in my Mooney, and slightly over 100 in total. I never received true Mooney specific training, and this website has been incredibly helpful in terms of the collective information that it offers. I was thinking of getting my IFR training with a Mooney specific instructor, and this way pick up a few more practical tips. Any suggestions for the dfw area? Thanks, Stefan 89 m20 j

I would be interested

when I had my brake problem, I asked Don Maxwell - this is one of the things he considered "it could be the statoseal inside the master cylinder. This seal floats and is sealed when you apply the pedal making the fluid go to the wheel cylinders. When you release the pedal, this seal floats and allows the fluid from the wheel cylinder to return to the reservoir" I am not sure how this plays in light of overhauled cylinders, but just a thought? Stefan

ER doc - Dallas area Stefan 1989 M20J

Another question about crosswind. I was practicing some landings with a 10kt crosswind at 90 degrees. No gusts. After reading several threads it seems that the opinions are all over the place regarding how much flaps (if any), and what speed (faster or the usual). The method I was using was upwind wing down and maintaining centerline with rudder. No flaps. First I will definitely admit I was going way too fast - no passengers, less than half tanks - and doing around 82 kts over the numbers. This was definitely showed by how fast the plane kept on moving while on the runway. However, what really surprised me was the airplane dropping on the runway despite the rather fast airspeed - similar to flaring too high off the ground. There was no ballooning. I was power to idle, and kept on pulling on the yoke until maximum deflection, yet I still had some pretty hard landings (yes, I went and did it several times with similar results). I do know that I need better airspeed control...but I am wondering if landing in a forward slip configuration changes the stall speed to such extent that the airplane stops flying at higher airspeeds. Any advice is appreciated... Stefan 1989 M20J

Paul - I was not able to find the schematics for the brake system, but if indeed it is arranged the way you are explaining it, then it surely makes sense. Thanks! Stefan

I ended up doing the simplest thing first, which was bleeding the brakes. Now they are as good as before if not better. Not sure how long it will last, so stay tuned. It is still quite weird why the copilot brakes were completely fine while I had no brakes on the pilot side...

John So that I understand this and not get double time billed by the mechanic...what is the difference between draining and refilling the system versus flushing the system... thanks stefan

For the past few days I have been dealing with very soft brakes on the pilot side. There is significant travel of the peddal travel before any kind of braking occurs. Yesterday, I was doing the run-up, and the brakes would not hold when bringing the RPM to 1800. Co-pilot brakes are completely normal. Parking brakes work fine. No fluid that I can see on the floor. Any thoughts? Thanks Stefan 1989 M20J

Is the PCU5000 ok for a J model? I looked on their website and J models are not listed. Stefan 1989 M20J

I ended up changing the fuel pump. It solved the problem, no more fluctuations. But damn it was hard to get to it. Stefan 1989 M20J

Speaking of PathFinderIR camera, would it be possible to install one of these one the airplane? It definitely is cheaper than the EVS100, and it would just require some creativity as to where to install it...

While flying today I noticed a strange behavior on my fuel pump pressure gauge. Intermittently, the needle would wander toward the low side of the green arc, but always stayed in the green arc. When turning the boost pump on the pressure would go back to the the usual high end of the green arc. Turning the boost pump off would then make the needle go towards the low side, then back to normal, only to intermittently start wavering again. I was at 8500, running full throttle, 2400 RPMs, slightly lean of peak; engine ran well, fuel flow stayed constant. Is this a sign that the pump is trying to quit on me? This is new behavior for it to do that, and made me somewhat uncomfortable...my hand was always close to the boost pump switch, just in case. Thanks Stefan 1989 M20J

It could be internal timing, hopefully he will be able to figure it out now that I am taking the whole thing back...what I was trying to say (and I am pretty ignorant, this is a steep learning curve for me), when the mechanic was trying to do the external timing using his meter, when the "beep" would come on when moving the prop, there was a single beep. This made him think that the 2 magnetos are firing in the same time, as opposed to if there had been 2 discrete beeps which would show that the two magnetos are not timed corectly to each other. I hope this makes sense...

mixture was not full rich...and I live in Dallas, today was extra cold, so I don't think its density altitude...

Have a questions regarding excessive magneto drop. I just had my magneto IRANed. After all that needed to be replaced was replaced, the magneto was bench tested and seemed to be working fine. Put it on the plane and when checking for the individual magnetos the left one dropped 150 and the right one 250. Previously it was about 130 drop on one and 150 on the other. Checked the spark wires under tension - they seem to be good. Checked the spark pugs under tension and cleaned them as well, they check good too. Then, since I changed one of the capacitos that is in the harness we decided to change the connections going from the capacitos to the magnetos. Tried it again, and this time the left magneto dropped 250 and the right one dropped 150 (totally reversed). Case solved, capacitor is the problem...not really!! Went to the shop that did my mags (thankfully it was local, and he is the same guy Don Maxwell uses), and we bench tested the capacitors. They seem to be good. Regardless, got a pair of different capacitors (used, but only 400 hours on them), put those on, and again...250 drop on the left, 150 on the right. We then ran the engine for 15 minutes on the "bad" magneto and checked temperature with infrared gun for the spark plugs, intake and exhaust stacks. Within reason they are about the same (colder on the sides that were not firing because it was running on one mag only). then did a compression check of the cylinders...all above 75/80. Checked the tach with a window tach to make sure that I was getting correct readings, and it correlates. At this point I pulled the entire dual magneto (back side included), as well as all the wires and going to the magneto shop to have it bench tested. With the exception of the excessive mag drop, the engine runs smooth, and no back-firing at all. Do you guys have any thoughts? The internal timing is good (points close together at the same time) and the external timing has to be pretty good too, as the engine runs quite smooth... Thanks Stefan 1989 M20J

Not to make anybody more paranoid about this single point of failure in our planes, but to the left is the old clamp that was on the magneto when it started being loose, and on the right is a brand new one. Yes, they are the same. I initially thought that I had the old style clamps and therefore that's why the securing mechanism failed. But it appears that I had the new style ones...to add insult to injury the plane was in annual 30 hours ago - Don Maxwell. I guess I will be removing the cowling more frequently from now on and give a good push to the magneto. Stefan 1989 M20J

Hey Byron You mentioned that the quick drain fitting that threads into the blue elbow should be safety wired to the elbow. Could you snap a picture of that when you get a chance so I can visualize what I need to do? Thanks Stefan

I think I found the reason for the oil leak. The "oh crap" exclamation by the mechanic sums it up. http://youtu.be/Tu49aOhfhNA 100%

Its time for the magnetos to be sent for an IRAN. I will pull those out Wednesday. Will also take that opportunity to look at the newly installed vacuum pump see if that's the culprit. Oil change is due as well, so I will look/replace the O-ring at the quick drain valve. Will also replace the oil drainback tubes.Will also check out what OR75 is suggesting. I'm running the engine at 5 quarts so its not due to overfilling it. Also did not see marked change in consumption, but this just started. Trying to fix easy things first before having to spend lots of money and mechanic time... Stefan

I was hoping you guys can help me with an oil leak. I'm a fairly new pilot and this Mooney is my first plane. 1989 J, 1759 hours on the original engine since new. Looks like for the past 8 years it was barely flown. Initially there were some oil leaks on the floor and my mechanic helped me change the gaskets on the cylinder head covers and that seemed to have taken care of the problem. There was still some oil on the floor but it was always on the left side, right by the oil breather line, so I don't think that was something to worry about. Yesterday I went to the hanger and noticed a few more leaks, but this time they were under the front gear doors, and on the gear doors themselves. Mechanic looked at it, thought it could be due to spreading of oil from the breather line while flying and said to keep an eye on it. Took it up today, and when I landed there was definitely more oil on the gear doors as well as some on the front tire. There was just a bit seeping from one spot on top of the cowling, so I decided to take it off. There was definitely some oil splattered on the firewall, as well as some oil on top of the magneto box, and under it. The only thing that we changed recently was the vacuum pump, but that seems to work just fine. I'm attaching some pictures. Any ideas? No noticible change in oil pressure during the flight today Thanks Stefan 1989 M20J .

Thanks Jose! Stefan 1989 M20J

So for the past 2 days my starter seems to be acting strange. When I first engage it, nothing happens...just buzzzzz. I then try again, and on the second try (every time so far) everything engages normally, and the engine starts within 3-4 seconds (same as before). What do you think it could be? Signs of the starter going out, or do I need to consider other things? Thanks Stefan 1989 M20J