pinerunner

We all die sometime so nothing to be afraid of. I just don't want to feel like a fool when I do it.

The reason I lost so much altitude was that I made sure first to establish a decent glide before going for the fuel selector. It also caught me by surprise, even though I was expecting it so I lost a few seconds. I didn't retrim for a slower and slower speed but just let it maintain cruise. Then with the LOP settings it apparently wasn't as simple as turn the selector and instantly roar back to life. Consider that the fact that my engine had suddenly died means my fuel lines were all full of air so there would be some delay. Setting everything for maximum fuel flow made sense to me to minimize the time it took to get the bubbles out. I think I'll stick with the "on below 1000 ft" rule so I can minimize the chance I'll find myself trying to sort this kind of thing out close to the ground. But maybe not just for switching tanks.

I read about a stuck selector too. I think it was here. That really scared me. My mechanic/inspector completely inspected my gascolator at annual and I hope that means I'll never experience a stuck selector. If your seals in the selector are going bad then you maybe drawing some fuel from the wrong tank even when there's fuel in both. With fuels much higher viscosity it wouldn't be as bad as with an empty tank. I think one reason to deliberately run one dry at altitude is so that if it happens unexpectedly you'll be familiar with it. That's why I did it.

Well basically the SOP I was taught when getting checked out in my M20E was aux fuel pump on whenever changing tanks and whenever below 1000 ft, just to be on the safe side. With plenty of altitude I wouldn't be afraid to change tanks without the aux pump on but I think its important to form good habits and keep them. The only reason I'd think about losing that habit would be save wear and tear on my electric auxiliary fuel pump which I've had to have rebuilt once already. I've run a tank dry on purpose once. Had 5000 altitude and was flying in a pretty quiet area where other traffic wouldn't be a problem. I was running LOP with 8 GPH and simply switching tanks after it died got me a coughing and sputtering engine; full throttle, full rich brought it back. I lost 500-1000 ft of altitude while I was putzing around with it. I was trained on Cessnas with gravity-feed and a both setting that you never really needed to change. Learning good fuel management habits has been a big part of my Mooney transition. Even though it seems (and is) easy, its also easy to forget, particularly at the end of a long, tiring flight, or when you get particularly busy.

My pet peeve will be paying for a yearly database that my tax dollars have already paid for. Every darn one of these ought to be able to take the database straight from the format that the FAA puts it out in. That should be a starting point that would allow you to fly the approaches and airways. If Jeppessen can add value to that and get us to pay for it doesn't bother me. A monopoly does.

I was quoting from memory and got my Vne wrong.

OK that tail flutter got my attention. Is that why my M20E is redlined at 183 mph? I've always wondered about that. Did they beef up the tail when making the M20J. Is it something about the short bodies that sets up oscillations? As I recall the M20F moves the redline up.

It sounds like a lot of fun. Its good that you've set yourself up to not have much pressure. From the mechanical point of view I'd consider signing up with Mike Busch since his management service is supposed to help you find a good mechanic in a pinch just about anywhere in the country. Alternatively maybe your home mechanic knows people where you're going. When I first bought mine I basically started off with a long cross country bringing it home from SC to ME and got away with it. Over the next two years I did have a mechanical issue with the aux fuel pump that happened when I was making a lot of small local flights so no problem; got it fixed at home airport with mechanic I know and trust. I can easily imagine having a small mechanical problem on a long cross country and agonizing over if I should "limp" home or be stranded with unknown mechanic at some little airport. Something like Busch's service or list of mechanics numbers close to where you're going would come in real handy. I'd also like a list of airports that are convenient for staying overnight when weather doesn't cooperate. Easy to get hotel on short notice, etc.

One thing about the Bonanzas is they sit up a little higher and they're famous for having rugged gear. I think most of them are rated utility while the Mooney is not. If I were to be going into dirt or grass strips I might want a Bonanza instead of my Mooney. The prop on my M20E is just a few inches from the ground and might be more likely to pick up pebbles etc. I recall one case here where a bit of a depression in the taxi-way caused a prop strike. I consider the Mooneys to be basically airport aircraft. I may bring mine into a grass strip but I'll be very picky about the condition of the strip. One stupid mowed over depression could ruin my day. I'd go with a Bonanza if I were going back and forth to the back country. Actually I'd go with a Cessna 180 but those are so popular as bush planes the Bonanza might be cheaper. My Mooney's "mission" doesn't include dirt or grass strips and I really dig the efficiency and choice between go fast or slow down and much longer range. I also just like the way it feels in the air. Solid on the control. I get a kick when I take off light and get up to altitude fast. I apparently made the 182 loaded with jumpers look kind of sick. Not fair, but I didn't point that out to the ground workers who were oohing and ahhing over my "hot" plane. Forgive me father, for I have sinned.

I think what gets the hackles up is the general attitude that if you don't use an MSC for your basic maintenance and inspections and if you don't use Weep No More for your fuel tank reseals then you're irresponsible and an accident waiting to happen. I haven't seen anyone say Paul Beck doesn't do a great job. Just that he might be a bit too pricey and might not be the only game in town.

I wouldn't grab onto a rivet with a vice grip and twist. Aluminum is a relatively soft metal and I'd be afraid of messing up perfectly good rivets. Rivets that loosen up tend to show a dark ring through the paint job. I think the ring has fine aluminum particles formed as the loosening rivet "works" against the skins it was holding together. It'll usually easy to spot a loosening rivet fairly early. If they're REALLY loose you can wiggle them with your finger. Bucking a rivet is basically a one time thing; if it goes bad you should drill it out and start fresh. A rivet kind of flows and changes shape to fill the hole and subjecting it to multiple iterations of this invites metal fatigue. Any way they're cheap. I'm not a mechanic but my dad was and I bucked maybe a thousand rivets in his multiple rebuild projects so I have a clue. Some (most?) of my opinions are kind of second-hand I'll admit. Some leaks can originate from a very different location inside the tank than where you see it on the outside. Don Maxwells website has a great description of how to find them. Just google Don Maxwell and leaks and you'll find http://www.donmaxwell.com/publications/MAPA_TEXT/_overlay/Fuel%20Tank%20Repair_How%20We%20Fix%20Them%202-05.htm

Is there any way you don't get stuck with an expensive yearly subscription? That really gets my goat. I also remember when TV was free AND we had fewer commercials.

Reading this lovefest for the GTN 750 was me wondering. If you're tight for cash, as I am, is it nearly as good to get the GTN 650. That's been my plan since it should be easier to free up the panel space and I'd save about $5K. Any WAAS GPS will be a fantastic improvement for me so I'm sure I'll be happy in the end.

I wouldn't worry about it ..much, but I would continue to investigate it. The EGTs are measured after the burned fuel air mixture comes out of course and are much cooler than that same gaseous mixture was at the top of the power stroke. As much as anything the EGT's reflect how the exhaust manifold is being cooled and where the probes were placed; therefore the caveat that one shouldn't get too hung up on the actual temperatures or go to heroic lengths trying to get them matched. Its much more important to have the cooling of the cylinders right. I'm attaching one of my early GAMI spread files done with my then-new UBG-16. When I changed the FF slowly you can see the tops of the peaks are sometimes a bit different which might account for an otherwise well-matched GAMI spread yielding a different value for the degrees LOP. You can also see why I'm thinking about GAMI injectors since my not so good GAMI spread is maybe just good enough to do LOP. I've tried swapping injectors but no joy yet (who remembers what no joy means?). DCYGamiSpread.pdf

I used to drool over Cessna 310 with their pointy wing tip tanks. I really am happy now with my old M20E. You an buy some nice looking twins real cheap.

Greg That answers the big question I had. More experience in a variety of types will help make the transition easier, of course. A pilot with just 150 hours in only Cessna Skyhawks would be well advised to get some Mooney specific transition training and go to some expense to get it, too, if need be. Thousands of hours but only in something very different could be tricky. It was up to you to make the judgment and it looks like it worked out fine. Note added: This was supposed to be quoting Greg's response explaining that he had a lot of experience in a wide variety of small aircraft, other than Mooneys.

My introduction to the Mooney was kind of extreme. I had not flown for decades but when I did start at it hard and got my commercial (no instrument though). Also was raised on a seaplane base so got that rating as well. Soloed conventional geared J-3 cub. Complex time about 10 hours in a 180-HP Comanche. The seller let me get my biannual flight review in the M20E I was considering with his National Guard pilot buddy who had gotten his complex time in a Mooney so he was competent in them but not famously so. As an instructor he could take you to your ATR if you wanted and had lots of time flying military heavys. I found my Mooney to be a nice flying airplane that I kind of fell in love with right from the get go. I knew speed control in landing would be important, paid more attention to it, and found it wasn't as bad as advertised. I did scare myself on one occasion by not landing on the most full tank. The next morning was when I realized it and found out I had been pretty close to empty on that tank and had left the other one full. That runway had a sharp drop-off at the end of the runway so I had set myself up for more than damage to my bank account. A bit of imagining how it would be to actually run out while on final gave me that sudden "stone cold sober" feeling. I had been at the end of a very long cross country, with a couple delays, and somewhat dehydrated on one of the hottest days of the summer. My predominantly Cessna experience had taught me to "just leave fuel on both" and tired and beat I had reverted. That scared me even though, through dumb luck, no incident had come out of it and I didn't even know until the next day. I don't think a Mooney specific instructor would have made much difference but you want one that is familiar for sure. Then you have to hammer down the new habits and use the checklist appropriately. I don't know when the training period ends and you don't need to be concerned about possible bad habits; I haven't got there yet.

Avoiding high humidity is helpful if you can manage it. Aluminum has a very long life even if gets wet unless you through salt into the equation. I've visited old wrecks out in the woods in Maine and marveled at how well the aluminum holds; it almost looked like new, although bent. My hangar is unheated and I see a little dew occassionally in the morning. I have a couple of electrical outlets and have been considering some kind of dehumidification strategy. If I come up with something good I'll post it. If I could afford a heated, actively dehumidified hangar I would have it but , .... alas $$$$$

I agree with the folks above that 3-4 weeks is a short time to be worried about it. If you want to be super conservative you could use dessicator plugs in the spark plug holes (but be careful taking them out; I had one open up and spill its silica beads so now I have to take that jug off to be sure no beads down inside). A heated hangar or workshop would help (to help fight dew in the morning). If money were no object I'd want a heated hangar with a dehumidifier going. 4 weeks isn't very long so I'd be cautious about trying something new.

I think "gear up inspection" might just mean checking the manual gears functioning. No mention of a prop strike in the original post.

When I first got my UBG-16 I got a little hung up over EGT differences. Looking at data like in this post made me feel better about the numbers I was seeing. Also reading Deakins and Busch as others have mentioned helped me understand better. Don't worry too much about differences in exhaust gas temperature. If you could see what the temperatures were at the beginning of the power stroke, right over your nice aluminum piston, you'd really freak. But that's how its made to work; it just doesn't get enough time to dump all that heat into the piston and melt a hole in the top. When you think about it you should worry if the EGT goes too low. Where did the extra heat go? The Busch vids show some great diagnostic tricks to help you get the most out of your engine monitor.

Also be patient about it even if you want it. After a year of not selling he might see reason. I offered 4K less than the seller was asking and he jumped on it after trying to sell my M20E for a year. He might not be reasonable right away but later.... Also I'd start shopping for my mechanic sooner rather than later.

For an update I'm beginning to settle into my mechanic's line of thinking. I'll probably be getting the Garmin GTN 650 due to its small size in the panel. I just talked to my go to avionics shop (Craig in Concord, NH) and he's installed a bunch of GTN 650's and people love them. No one has wanted to install the King and I don't want to be the first in New England and the first Mooney in the country to test it out. I suppose if King could turn that around in the next year I might take a second look but I'm not holding my breath. I beginning to believe the new Garmins are what most will be flying with, knowing, and loving. I don't want to be stuck with an Edsel.

A sensible point. The comparison that comes to mind then is the Bonanza. Maybe the old Piper Comanche too. The Bonanza has quite a reputation as a fast plane that's rugged in the utility category and has very rugged landing gear. I think its heavier and needs more horsepower to get the same performance as a Mooney.

To be fair to Cessna the old spring steel landing gear was famous for it's ruggedness. My dad (a bush pilot) told of seeing a 180 land so hard that the steps plowed little furrows in the grass strip and the gear came through OK. Nose wheels not so much and my dad's last rebuild project, an older 182,ended up wiping out nose gear on a gravel bar in Alaska. Tough and hard aren't the same thing and you need a little give to be tough and last through abuse. I do believe that sharp, sudden, flexing of the wing can loosen up sealant in our wet wings. The plane we used in our seaplane service eventually needed an airframe overhaul (you don't see that talked about anymore) and that included drilling out and replacing rivets that had worked loose. A seaplane has no shock absorbers per se and depends on the squishiness of the water which can get kind of hard at take-off speed. A little dark ring, showing up through the paint around a rivet, is a tell tale for this. I looked for that when I was shopping for my M20E. It clearly had had an easier life than the old seaplane.