Taxi with pitot cover on

[DrQuinn]

Quick question.  The other day I needed to taxi to another parking spot and decided it was too much trouble to get back out and remove the pitot cover to taxi 100 yards.  Very shortly after startup a loud siren sounded and stayed on until shutdown.  Was it related to the pitot cover and the gears and/or why would it be triggered?

[StevenL757]

It was probably your not-so-little voice, screaming "Hey Doc, remove the damn pitot tube cover".

I'm not sure what you mean by "gears" though...

Steve

[DrQuinn]

I didn't know if it was somehow connected to a landing gear warning, I only know of two warnings, landing gear and stall (but think it was too loud for a stall warning).

[Guitarmaster]

Was it an intermittent or was it a steady horn?

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[DrQuinn]

1 hour ago, Guitarmaster said:

Was it an intermittent or was it a steady horn?

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It was pretty steady, maybe shut off for a few seconds a couple times.

[Guitarmaster]

It was pretty steady, maybe shut off for a few seconds a couple times.

Was it wet/raining? When rain or water get in the stall vane, I have found the stall warning will stay on steady sometimes.

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[mooniac15u]

3 hours ago, DrQuinn said:

Quick question.  The other day I needed to taxi to another parking spot and decided it was too much trouble to get back out and remove the pitot cover to taxi 100 yards.  Very shortly after startup a loud siren sounded and stayed on until shutdown.  Was it related to the pitot cover and the gears and/or why would it be triggered?

Weren't you having some trouble with your gear retraction system recently?

[Marauder]

If he had a pitot cover that has a red tail on it, I wonder if it didn't blow up and was pushing on the stall vane.


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[DrQuinn]

15 minutes ago, mooniac15u said:

Weren't you having some trouble with your gear retraction system recently?

Yes, before Christmas it tripped the breaker on gear up about 4 times in a row.  Next time out, a few degrees warmer mind you, the override button lit up a couple times, pressed it and up she went without a complaint and she's behaved ever since.

[DrQuinn]

17 minutes ago, Marauder said:

If he had a pitot cover that has a red tail on it, I wonder if it didn't blow up and was pushing on the stall vane.


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It does have a "remove before use" red tail.  I've always had my headsets on whenever the stall horn sounds and it isn't for that long.  I didn't wear my headsets while taxiing, is the stall horn that loud?

[DrQuinn]

of course I am just making an assumption that it has something to do with the pitot cover as it was the first time on when I started up.

 

[kortopates]

There should only be two sonic horns in C model. They are all the same decibel level. The stall horn is a continuous tone while the gear horn is a pulsating horn.

So your "pretty steady" horn was likely the stall horn. Chris may be right, but I kinda recall there is too much distance between the pitot tube and the stall warning device but I am probably wrong as that is otherwise a likely scenario if it can reach. But it also could have been stuck in the up position on its own.

Modern Mooney's will have a third and sometimes 4th Sonic horn. The third is used by some autopilots, including the popular BK ap's and not having the electric trim turned on will sound a continuous horn.

[DrQuinn]

2 minutes ago, kortopates said:

There should only be two sonic horns in C model. They are all the same decibel level. The stall horn is a continuous tone while the gear horn is a pulsating horn.

So your "pretty steady" horn was likely the stall horn. Chris may be right, but I kinda recall there is too much distance between the pitot tube and the stall warning device but I am probably wrong as that is otherwise a likely scenario if it can reach. But it also could have been stuck in the up position on its own.

Modern Mooney's will have a third and sometimes 4th Sonic horn. The third is used by some autopilots, including the popular BK ap's and not having the electric trim turned on will sound a continuous horn.

Ahhh, thank you, I believe that solved the mystery.  I also left the wing covers on.

[Marauder]

41 minutes ago, DrQuinn said:

Ahhh, thank you, I believe that solved the mystery.  I also left the wing covers on.

Well, that will do it too...

[carusoam]

Now the good Dr. is familiar with the sound of the stall horn...

This is also a good thing to test during preflight.  The stall warning systems have been known to go on hiatus for long periods of time.

your avatar needs an image...

Best regards,

-a-

Edited February 2, 2017 by carusoam

[Bob_Belville]

Good opportunity to play detective and pull CBs one at a time. A lot more fun when sitting on the ramp than when in the soup on file.

[DrQuinn]

11 hours ago, carusoam said:

................  your avatar needs an image...

Noted .... I have a 50 point something megapixel camera and plenty of very fine glass to go with it ... this is the best I could come up :S.

[DrQuinn]

11 hours ago, Bob_Belville said:

Good opportunity to play detective and pull CBs one at a time. A lot more fun when sitting on the ramp than when in the soup on file.

Great idea, thanks for it.  I will remember next time.

[1964-M20E]

20 hours ago, DrQuinn said:

Ahhh, thank you, I believe that solved the mystery.  I also left the wing covers on.

Well that is good of course flying with the pitot cover and wing covers on will keep the plane cleaner.