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Interested to see what the range of UL for M20Js is. Please fill out the poll you own an M20J, or even if you used to own one.

I've been enjoying my Rocket 305 for three years now. I've made a few upgrades along the way, always dutifully tracking the changes in the Weight and Balance log. I have also corrected a couple major mistakes in the math made long ago. Starting from the original factory Basic Empty Weight of 1923 lbs @ 43.4", 290 pounds of new equipment have been added to the aircraft (mainly the Rocket 305 conversion, built-in O2, and Charlie weights, plus a new COM radio and two G5s). 90 pounds of old equipment originally delivered with the aircraft have been removed (KFC 200, KCS 55A system, BX2000 system, and associated wiring). Q: How much *should* the aircraft weigh now? (Basic Empty Weight, including 10 gallons unusable fuel for the Rocket 305) A: 2123 lbs (@ 43.5") Q: How much does the aircraft actually weigh? A: 2273 lbs (!!!!!!!!) (@ 36.5") (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Obviously, I'm freaking out. That's a 150 lb increase and a 7 inch forward CG shift that are unaccounted for. I've been all through the airplane with my A&P. There's nothing we can find that comes anywhere near explaining even a 15 pound difference, much less a 150 pound difference. The panel looks like a ghost town with all of the ancient avionics gone. I've got 20 lbs of wiring alone that was just removed. There are no errors remaining in the historical W&B entries. I read with great interest Rspencer612's topic Mooney Missile CG. I read about the possibly incorrect arm for the main and nose axles. Even if I can justify ignoring the actual measurements we made, adjusting to the referenced numbers still leaves the CG off by at least 3" from where I expect it to be, and where other Rocket 305s are. I also read that Rspencer612 appears to have resolved his problem by installing the Charlie weights that had never been installed when the Missile conversion was performed. In my case, though, the Charlie weights are definitely installed. I also have a heavy O2 bottle that should be biasing the CG well rearward. We tried this with two different scale sets, and they agreed to within 0.2%. Yes, we followed the correct leveling procedure, twice. We weighed with full tanks and subtracted the weight of 70 gallons usable fuel, per the POH weighing instructions. Has anyone seen a ~150 lb weight increase *and* been able to explain it? I read some comments on this forum and elsewhere about significant weight gains in aircraft as they age, but I haven't found anyone that was actually able to confirm the source of the gain (as opposed to just guessing that it might be dirt and oil, etc.).

So you’re planning a flight for the next morning and realize that you have too much weight. For whatever reason you can’t take out baggage or passengers. You must offload some fuel. ( yes, you will still have plenty of reserve in this hypothetical situation ) Have you done this and what’s been your experience ? 5 gallon jugs ? Siphon hose ? Ground strap ?

1963 M20C at the paint shop...plane gets painted, time to balance ailerons and rudder...all are too heavy on trailing edge. 1963 MM has no info on adding or subtracting weight. Email to Mooney Tech support engineers explaining issue...after a few conversations Mooney Engineers say " use detailed instructions from the M20J MM, the methods apply to all models". Problem solved...Almost...now The paint shop wants to know max weight for ailerons and rudder...(for paint thickness) M20J MM states no max Weight, just paint and balance. Anyone ever hear of a max weight for the ailerons or rudder? Thanks

(I can't believe I saw this video on the Beech forum, but there you have it..)