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We would like to use this opportunity to introduce SkyVoice Alert LHA 500 for certified as well as experimental aircraft. It is the only Take-off and Landing Height Announcer with LiDAR range of 590ft and Landing Gear Warning from 560ft until the gear is down and locked. It is good for general aviation aircraft's like Mooney, Cessna, Piper, Beechcraft, Diamond etc. It can announces the heights through the aircraft's Audio panel or pilots' headset (Wired or Bluetooth) when the LiDAR (Laser) measures a set of predefined altitudes. This assists pilots to gain better depth perception, and make necessary adjustments for a safer approach and touchdown. Use of the SkyVoice Alert 500 can reduce the chance of a High Final Approach, Low Final Approach, High Round Out (High Flare), Hard Landing, Late or Rapid Round Out, Floating or Ballooning during Round Out, Bouncing during Touchdown, and Porpoising. Most importantly, it helps pilots confirm or correct their perceived depth (height above ground) by comparing it to the actual depth announcement from the device. It augments pilot's spatial orientation by adding another dimension - depth - through audio announcement. Ground clearance in ft can be projected on the Heads Up Display (HUD). LiDAR Central wavelength is 905nm and Frame rate is 100Hz. • LiDAR range of 590ft. • Repeated gear warnings from 560ft until the gear is down & locked. • LiDAR based height call-outs, 500 to 1ft on Take-off/Landing. • Bluetooth or wired, HUD • Many user selectable Reminders: Check Gear, Checklist, LC GUMPS, Flaps, Check Speed, Check Tank and Check Fuel GPS/MSL Height call-outs & reminders - Check Oxygen, IFR Altimeter and Top of descent. Using 30 minute Installation kit, you can install and test fly with SkyVoice Alert 500 in less than 30-minutes. There will be no wired connection to your Aircraft. Battery in 30 minute Installation kit is good for running LHA with Bluetooth for 20 hrs. Visit https://holymicro.com/ home page & SkyVoice Alert LHA 500for the product page

Hello! I own a 1976 Mooney M20F named Loreto. This is my first post on a Mooneyspace forum, so please forgive me if I do it wrong. ◡̈ On 2/17 I heard a slow, deep, repetitive grinding noise coming from my plane after landing that I had never heard before. It was very loud and coming from within the airframe somewhere below and slightly behind the front left seat. The green GEAR DOWN indicator light on the panel was flickering a little. When I turned the master switch off, it stopped. When I turned the master switch back on, the sound and flickering returned. If I sat very still, I could feel my seat vibrating a little in sync with the sound. The DPE sitting next to me in the plane when this occurred suggested it may be an issue with my electric landing gear motor so I took the plane to the only maintenance facility on the airfield, Foothill Aircraft at Cable Airport. The mechanics at Foothill are hypothesizing... "a spring is snapping back and hitting a switch to tell the motor to continue to push the landing gear down even though it is already down and every time the spring extends the problem continues to repeat until the power is cut off." Foothill put the plane on jacks and has still not been able to recreate the problem. This makes sense because during our flight the noise only began after we were on the ground, not in the air. Worth mentioning is that my last flight was an IFR checkride where we shot three approaches in a row and extended and retracted the gear in the air twice with no issues before our final landing which was also totally fine and the landing gear came out and locked correctly. It was only after taxiing and sitting idle during shutdown that the noise began. The sound was so alarming that I do not feel safe to fly my plane again until the issue is properly identified and corrected. I am not a mechanic so my personal knowledge is limited when it comes to understanding this issue. I’m not even entirely sure it is related to the landing gear actuator or motor; or if either of these service documents (SI M20-112 or SB M20-190B) are even connected to this issue since I recently had it removed and shipped to LASAR for a complete overhaul (March 2021) and my actuator is a ITT LA11C2114 which is technically exempt from these service announcements. Have any of you heard this sound / had this problem before? Any feedback/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I have delayed posting this information while I settled everything with the FAA and my insurance. But as I am about to get my Bravo back in the air, I thought it was time to relay what occurred back on 14 May 2021, in hopes that everyone can learn something from what happened to me. BLUF: A bird strike caused a gear malfunction that forced me to attempt a landing in a misconfigured airplane. So, there I was... The flight started at Castroville Municipal (west of San Antonio) where I hangar my Mooney. I conducted a normal preflight noting no issues with the gear or any other aircraft system. I taxied uneventfully to the self-serve fuel and added 40 gallons of fuel to the 35 gallons already in the tanks. While I was only planning about an hour flight, the extra fuel came in handy on this day. I then taxied to Rwy 16, did a normal runup and departed Runway 16 VFR to the northwest on a beautiful spring day in Texas. I flew to Hondo, where I conducted a couple practice approaches. I then flew back to Castroville VFR and entered the pattern for practice pattern work. I did one uneventful low approach to Runway 16. However, on the go when I raised the gear, I heard a thump and was aware that the gear movement seamed louder than normal. I normally don't hear much noise from the gear with my noise cancelling headset on, but this time I did. On downwind for my second pattern at Castroville, I lowered the gear. Again, I noticed that the gear movement was making more noise than usual. At the end of the gear movement, I noticed that the gear unsafe light remained on and the gear actuator circuit breaker had popped. At this point I notified an aircraft that had just landed at Castroville that I had an unsafe gear indication and asked if he could look at the gear as a flew by. Additionally, I had a Ag-Tractor who was flying in the area, join to a chase position and look over the gear. Both pilots reported that the right main and nose gear appeared down, but the left gear was barely out of the gear well and jammed against the inner gear door. At this point I departed the pattern to the south to attempt to troubleshoot the gear. So I went to the section in the PoH for nose gear and one main down and one main up. I am be facetious; there is nothing in the PoH for misconfigured gear. The way the Bravo is mechanized, with a gear box driving push rods to move the gear, they should all be down or up. But here I was in a misconfigured Mooney. I figured I would try the manual extension per the PoH for FAILURE OF LANDING GEAR TO EXTEND ELECTRICALLY. The gear handle was already down and the circuit breaker already popped, so I attempted to lower the gear by pulling the manual gear T handle. I had little hope this would do anything, since the gear was already in the down position, but I figured it was worth a try. As suspected, the T handle would not budge, as the gear was already in the extended position. At this point I attempted to break the left gear loose by g-ing up the airplane (positive and negative), and yawing the airplane, but nothing helped. I thought I would rather land gear up in the grass than land with one main up on the runway, so I attempted to raise the gear by putting the gear handle up and pushing the gear actuator circuit breaker in. However, the circuit breaker would not reset and the gear would not move. While I was doing all this, the pilots who were assisting me from the ground called the Castroville Fire Department and EMS to respond. While I awaited their response, I assessed my options. I decided to land in the grass, since the recent rain had softened the ground a bit, and I felt like this would lessen the chance of a ground loop if I could slowly settle the left wing in the grass. At this point I also decided to transition over to Kelly Field where I would have an Air Force crash response team to help if things went badly. I contacted San Antonio Approach, declared an emergency and proceeded to Kelly Field. Once in the pattern at Kelly Field, I did a couple of low approaches to survey the area and to select an appropriate spot to land. I communicated with the crash response team via the Tower about where I was going to land and then set up for a right base turn to land abeam Rwy 16 in the grass on the east side of the runway. On final I selected full flaps. Then as I approached landing, I pulled the fuel mixture to full lean, turned the fuel selector to off, and popped the latch on the door. I flew the aircraft just above the grass until the stall warning horn came on then eased it down while attempting to keep the left wing from settling. As I was losing aileron control authority, I started to ease the left wing down into the grass. It was at this point that I realized the wing stop settling and the left gear must have extended. The Fire Chief later told me that the left main extend about a second or two before it touched down in the grass. I can only assume that the bouncing through the grass broke the gear free. Once stopped, I turned off the main power, ensured the fuel selector was off, then deplaned. The Crash Response Team and the Airfield Manager met me at the airplane and also notified the FAA of the incident. Within minutes I was getting called by the FSDO about the incident. The FSDO requested pictures of the damage and a verbal account. He also worked with me, the Airfield Manager, and the Crash Response Team to provide clearance to tow the airplane to Atlantic Aviation's ramp. So what happened? During inspection of the left main gear, we found small feather fragments up in the gear well. We determined that during my first pattern at Castroville, a bird impacted the left inner gear door as it was opening/open to allow the main gear to extend/retract. The impact ripped the inner gear door off its hinge and left it hanging by the actuator and turned sideways. When I retracted the gear following the low approach, the inner gear door jammed into the left main gear hub cap (dust cover per the parts catalog), which caused the gear to jam about 20 degrees out of the gear well. When I tried to extend the gear the last time, the gear actuator did its best to force the gear down. In doing so it stretched and bent every component between the actuator and the left main gear. It is amazing to me that despite the mangled gear mechanism, the gear still managed to get into the down position once it broke loose. The lesson to me is reinforcement of what I learned in my F-16 days. You need to understand how your aircraft systems work if you want to be prepared for the unexpected. Not everything that can go wrong is in the PoH. And the Mooney PoH does a poor job of explaining how all the aircraft systems work. I have learned my systems by owner assisted annuals/maintenance. And don't forget to use external resources. I used other aircraft in the area to help me assess the situation. I also used them to contact emergency services. Once I decided to transition to Kelly Field, I used San Antonio Approach, Kelly Tower, Kelly Emergency Response Team, and finally the Airfield Manager to help me safely get my Bravo on the ground and to the ramp. After 8 months of delays getting gear parts for a 33-year-old airplane manufactured, my Bravo should be back in the air next week. I hope this incident provides one more nugget in your clue bag. Dave

A few days ago we took off and retracted gear and then in the middle of the flight the gear actuator circuit popped. The manual gear latch was closed and it popped when there was no apparent load on the motor. The breaker would not go back in. We manually dropped gear and took it to mechanic who could not find anything wrong. The breaker went back in and there have been no issues for 14+ takeoffs and landings. Then it happened again. Gear came up normally then in the middle of the flight it popped about 10 minutes after takeoff and when we landed the breaker pressed back in and stayed and it hasn’t happened again. I am wondering if it could be something to do with the gear up limit switch. Maybe the motor brings the gear up occasionally then doesn’t shut off which leads to the breaker popping. Has anyone had this happen and any ideas? Thanks!

Hey. Recently a good friend purchased a gorgeous 1963 Mooney M20C. Brand new paint job, 500 hours left on the engine, brand new prop. After picking it up, after an exhausting flight across the country in turbulent weather he wrecked it in a gear-up landing. For a gear-up landing it's in relatively good shape but the mechanic he talked to thinks his insurance will probably just total it, and he is, understandably, very overwhelmed and distraught at the thought that the plane he's been pursuing for months and saving up for for years might be done after just getting it home. Does anyone have any insight as to how to help lower costs and save his plane? As far as we can tell, he needs the belly panels replaced, definitely needs a new prop (2 or 3 blade is fine), and potentially will need to overhaul the engine. Everything else seems to be okay, and neither wing was damaged.

Thinking about some recent Facebook post, What are all y'all's thoughts on configuration warnings, for example: "Takeoff Warning" - flaps in the wrong position, speed brakes out, etc? "Landing Gear Warning" - Based on throttle position (some say manifold pressure, but it is really throttle position), flap position (full (landing) flaps without the gear down), etc? Different stall warning? Different landing gear warning? Etc? (you name it. Just getting some ideas to look at why (fatal) accidents happen … from a total aviation geek's perspective Pull!

There have been numerous threads on MS about making sure the gear is down for landing, but all these discussions are about the pilot putting the gear handle in the correct position. Personally, I think Mooney's gear down verification system stinks and we are all subject to gear up landings due to a[poorly designed gear indicating system. It is completely possible due to Mooney's design that the handle (or Johnson bar) could be in the down position and one or more gear not down and the pilot would never know it....until too late. If you look at the attached picture, there are two switches on the left gear pushrod....one for up, one for down. However, there is no indication of the status of the individual over-center mechanisms for each individual gear. In theory, one could disconnect all the push-rods to the gear and get perfect down and locked indications while all gear are 'not down'. In reality, a push-rod could be bent, the over-center lock not over-center and the pilot would never know until too late....unless he just happened to find it during a fortuitously timed inspection. I wonder why Mooney did not design individual gear down-lock status lights like most other aircraft? Why did Mooney feel "one green" would suffice for the traditional "three green"?

Bird is in annual and decided it was a good time to replace the landing gear doughnuts. Long overdue. Main gear went pretty well although I had to fight to separate the collar from the shaft. Lots of kroil and a heat gun. The nose landing gear actually came apart easier but then found a lot of wear on the shaft as shown in the pictures. Also, the collar was actually two separate collars. One that looks like the one shown in the Mooney parts manual and a smaller collar maybe about 1/4 inch tall that was positioned below the larger collar. My NLG strut is actually a Lasar strut that a previous owner installed so maybe the Lasar collar allows for two separate pieces (I will be calling them in the morning). Regardless, I now I need to replace the link or shaft that holds the doughnuts because of excessive wear. I hope Lasar has a spare or maybe Don Maxwell. If neither of them can help I will post an update here and hopefully someone has a spare they can sell me.

While taking off the gear relay circuit breaker tripped and gear light remained in the Unsafe Position. The Red light (Gear Unsafe)was illuminated and the view port was crosshatched. Tried to reset the breaker and it popped twice. Leveled off and kept the aircraft in the white arc. I manually extended the gear until the Gear Safe light was illuminated. It took six pulls which indicates the gear was most likely about half way in its retract cycle. Going back to place the airplane on jacks and drop the belly to stat to look. Does anyone have any suggestions on troubleshooting? Any guidance would be appropriated. Thanks! Rick

I'm starting a new thread to have a better subject and tags, but this is a continuation of this earlier Mooneyspace thread regarding lack of clearance between the over center link and the main landing gear trusses. First, a review of the problem. As shown in the attached photo, with wear over time, the castle nut for the main over-center link will begin to rub the landing gear truss:

These tools are used to check the landing gear down lock preload. Sale includes both the main and nose gear tools. I used these on my own Mooney aircraft. Purchased new about 15 years ago, they have been used perhaps 15-20 times. Perfect operational condition. SOLD Free shipping within USA.

Hi Guys, I wonder for those of you who have an "F" model if I could get a picture of the clearance (on your aircraft) between the castle nut pictured and the tube where you can see paint flaked off on mine. Both left and right landing gear on my 1969 aircraft seem like the parts (bolt /castle nut and the tube structure) are touching. Now I'm wondering if this is: 1) Normal ( don't think so but Google imaging Mooney M20F > Images produces pretty much useless comparison cases 2) A typical wear patter that needs can occur over time due to wear/landing stress In addition to getting some photos for comparison (a few different angles would be greatly appreciated!!) my thoughts are if I have the issue (and if it needs priority maintenance correction) I might tip others off to look out for this. Kind regards and appreciated as always Stephen Rogers, AR

Please direct this to the appropriate thread if there is one but I couldn't find one... Recently purchase a M20J -- LOVE IT! However, on about 3 or 4 of my take off in the last 2 months since I've bought it, I've noticed that the "Gear Unsafe" light seems to stay on a few seconds longer than what I (with my whole 10 hours of Mooney time...) would consider normal. It eventually goes out, but I'm not sure why. I've found myself making "really" sure that the landing gear handle is "REALLY" up by pulling it out and wiggling it and then making "REALLY" sure about 2 or three times that it is "REALLY" in the UP position. Meanwhile I've checked the indicator between the seats and it shows the "red, hey, idiot, the gear is up" indication. And about then, the light goes out. Note that most of the time the "gear up cycle" is about what I'd expect in my 400+ hours of retract time (granted only 10ish hours in the Mooney). It goes like this: move the gear handle up, hear noises for about 5ish seconds, hear a "klunk", see lights or indicators change from "gear down" to "gear up", the end. My Mooney, does the same thing, most of the time. It's just about 3 times now it's done what was described in the first paragraph -- or in other words a delayed gear up indication. Additional notes, I find that I'm fairly consistent: at 80 - 85 knots with positive rate and no more usable runway, I'm selecting gear up. I know for a fact I'm not over speeding the gear when this happens nor have I ever over-sped the gear going up or down. Does anybody have any insight as to what may be going on? Is this normal?

does anybody know the limits on the main landing gear, i have a small amount of play when the plane is on jacks,i know the shock disks should be replaced at some time,

Hi guys, wonder if you have ever seen this. My LM LG on the Mooney I just purchased is showing chipping on the paint where a castellated nut is chipped paint off the tube as illustrated in the picture. I have not had any hard landings *yet* or landings with x-wind drift sideloads in the 14 landings I have done so I do t have an "event" to tie it to. Im obviously going to get it fixed but comparing the structure side to side the gear structure tubes look similar and just want some advise on *what* may need adjustment vs replacement. Right Main seems fine. Anyone know if this is an adjustment issue or what part may be tweaked and need replacement?

anyone ever seen this: landing gear functions fine, comes up and down quickly. every so often it won't cycle up. only happens on the up cycle. changed gear switch and up limit switch. its intermittent...happens only once in a while. on some flights its happened twice. Ideas? Mike

Does the name Lewis H. Height ring a bell for anyone? He would have been a contemporary of Al Mooney.

I have a 12v Avionics Products landing gear actuator kept as a spare when I had my M20E. I've moved up to a 24v M20R so It's now for sale. SBN M20-279 Rev B has been done with zero time since. I need a reasonable offer above $2,000.

Would like to have my own set of rigging boards, landing gear rigging tools and bungy changing tools.( copies and homebuilt stuff fine with me.) Or rent me stuff. thanks Ken Mc 307-699-0087

Hey guys (and gals).... I very recently bought a 75 M20F. It is very low time but has sat for a while. Obviously there will be little issues with a 40 year old plane, but I don't care. She is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Anyway... I need your help. Went flying and wrung her out a little, testing the low speed envelope, did about five touch and go's and returned her to the hanger. This morning, I pulled her out and found the green gear down light not working. It would not test with the press to test and the gear horn sounded. The "unsafe" light operates normally. Everything operated normally except the gear down light. Of course, the gear horn sounded with throttle retardation. The manual indicator in the floor showed down and locked and there was no problems with the landing. I am pretty sharp with electronics and have a maintenance manual coming. I have learned that the indicator half of the down limit switch will fail on occasion. Does sound like a likely culprit? The plane sat for 14 years after the owner died and I am sure there is some grime in the switch. Is it possible to clean the contacts with contact cleaner? Thanks in advance for your ideas!

Well, searching this forum can be fun... I have been reading the thread on speed brakes and it got me to thinking to why they are needed. For me with the low VLo & VLe speeds (104 KIAS) for the electric gear, it has always required me to plan ahead for my descents. When I'm VFR, it's easy... 100 miles out, started descending When flying IFR, things are a bit more challenging. Over the years I have learned to ask for lower early and often. I think the controllers must think I'm a parrot (sorry Mike) when I repeatedly say, "Ah... Polly wants lower". So... can someone tell me a couple of things. What is the limiting factor on the electric gear speed for older Mooneys? I have heard it is because the gear doors can't handle the higher speed and I also have heard that our older gear motor is not up to the task. Is it either of these and if not, what is causing the limitation? The more important question is whether or not there are any STCs out to increase the gear speeds to something higher than what they are now?

Upgraded my 1963 M20C and have Avionics and a left instrument panel. Side interior plastics and window plastics from a 1965+ model that I found won't fit into my plane. I also have a 4 cyl CHT/EGT system that is dual gauges with separate switches that designate the cylinders. I have a couple of pictures now but can get more when requested. KT 76A XPDR KX 175B NAV/COM KR 85 ADF KI 225 ADF IND I have a complete set of Landing gear legs with doors. I am also looking for interior panels and plastics for my restoration of the 1963. Any help on finding things would be appreciated and I might have something that your looking for. Information flow never works good in a vacuum, so I am reaching out.

Since about two flights I have been hearing a strange noise when I retract the landing gear (electric). I looked at the front wheel and it seems that it touches the landing gear compartment while it retracts. Any suggestions of what may be going on... How can I adjust the front wheel?

does anybody have the tool to compress landing gear donuts,i will pay all expenses,i am very reliable,and will put deposit on the tool,and will return pronto after use,thanks mooney2201----410-336-1088...gary

A couple of months ago my 69 m20f landing gear failed to retract during takeoff at normal speed. As I continued the climb out I noticed as I got faster the landing gear would just randomly go up on its own once the aircraft hit the speed it liked. Over the course of the next month the speed required to retract got faster and faster until it just would not retract at all. I figured it was the airspeed safety switch since mine was still original 1968 and the problem seemed to be connected to the amount of speed the aircraft was traveling at. So I ordered the latest and greatest replacement from mooney. Installed it with no issues. Went flying today, and still no luck with getting the gear to retract after about 45 mins of flight time I was just flying along when out of the blue the gear retracted. So I tried to cycle the gear and it went down, went to put it back up and no luck. So the gear stayed down for the rest of the flight. I should point out I have never had any problems with the gear going down only going up. I was thinking it is maybe landing gear relay getting stuck. Anyone got any thoughts? Has anyone installed the mooney landing gear relay retrofit kit 940085-501. My relay is the original 1968 model so I can see how it could be bad. Any help would be appreciated.