VMG fly in at GGG

[The-sky-captain]

Here are some photos of the flyin at Longview this weekend. Thanks to Don Maxwell and his crew for a good time and great food!

http://mooneyflyin.blogspot.com/

[Sven]

Great post, Bodie. In it you said, "Don gave us a wonderful show and tell time.......It was like a 45 minute cram course on what to do and not to do with our Mooney." Do you care to share a couple of highlights from that talk. I'd love to hear the high points. Thanks.

-Sven

[Stefanovm]

I posted my photos from the event on this site in my Photo Gallery. It WAS well worth the trip. We stayed overnight to tour Longview. Sunday had broken at 3 so it was a slower flight back, 180 nm to 07TS.

We got to see about three dozen parts that can cause problems with Mooney's. I should have taken photos, but was heat beat by that time. We toured the aircraft in his shop with examples of well maintained Mooney's and some that were on the way to being so. It pointed out the problems sometimes associated with less than acceptable repairs from supposedly certified people. This provides a good reason to be intimately familiar with proper procedures and your airplane.

Don Maxwell only works on Mooneys. The expertise shows!

[The-sky-captain]

Quote: Sven

Great post, Bodie. In it you said, "Don gave us a wonderful show and tell time.......It was like a 45 minute cram course on what to do and not to do with our Mooney." Do you care to share a couple of highlights from that talk. I'd love to hear the high points. Thanks.

-Sven

[airfoill]

Sven,

 

I attended also.  Great show and tell from Don along with great food and got to meet other Mooney pilots.  Some of the more interesting pieces pieces in the show and tell were the steering horns and how they can get damaged by the uninformed lineboys that go beyond the steering radius of the front end and end up bending the steering horns.  This is why I always place a lock on my towbar so that it can only be towed by hand.

Also Don stressed changing the o-rings; especially the small tiny o-ring located on the shaft,  every annual on the fuel caps and keep them lubricated with oil.  You won't get water in the tanks if you do this religiously.  Very important safety tip especially if you park you plane outside.

Don also showed how some landing gear shock discs look like when they are worn vs new.  He indicated that if you live in a cold climate up north and you try to retract the electric gear with worn out discs, the gear probably won't retract in a timely fashion because the discs are compressed. 

One thing that I really didn't know is that only in the 77 model year of the 201 incorporated certain type of gears located within the gear actuator that looked different than what I had seen.  If you have ever had to perform the gear actuator AD http://donmaxwell.com/publications/MAPA_TEXT/AD%2075-23-04_Dukes/AD75-23-04%20Dukes.htm  and seen what worn gears look like you would have thought that the ring gear Don had on display was worn.  In fact the example that Don had as an example was concave and appeared worn but he said that this was a new gear and this was the way it was manufactured concave.   I did not know that.

 

 

[clh]

Sorry I couldn't make it.  Plane got hung up in some "while we are at its" during annual.  Hope to make it next time.

[Sven]

Thanks, Herb. That's good info. If you think of more stuff, pass it on.

-Sven

[airfoill]

Another point of interest.  Don defined overhaul vs. repair.  If you go to a repair shop and you have a part and tell them you want it "overhauled," the shop is required to go through the entire set of procedures published by that manufacturer in overhauling that item which means more $.  If you take your part and tell them you want it "repaired", they will inspect and repair those items that are broken; which will result in a lower repair bill.  It's a personal choice I guess.

[The-sky-captain]

One area that I found interesting was how he says to tighten the spinner bolts. He recommends starting at the top and working your way around the spinner, tightening each bolt making a full circle, versus the "X" method. (tightening one on the top, going halfway around and tightening the other.)

I also used his tip of lubing a hard to open gas cap. Just a drop of oil on the lever and it works like a charm...