M20E FLYING IN THE YELLOW ARC

[MATTS875]

I know that this is not to make a practice of it, but I notice that the airspeed indicator has a yellow arc that starts around 140kts.Why is that? I guess that is a mooney question but you all seem to have a lot of information on topics like this.Seems to be a little low.so tell me how you all fly your m20c and m20e's

[Parker_Woodruff]

The shortbody Mooneys had lower airspeeds where the yellow arc became an issue.  Look at the POH...you'll see that Mooney doesn't have a problem with this in cruise and flight in the yellow arc can be a regular occurence below 10,000' or so.

[Shadrach]

I am not overly concerned about cruising in the yellow arc and I would be less so in an early E... The yellow arc on my 67 F starts at 154kts which is easily attainable in descent or at times when down low, on cool, low DA days.  So, the later pre Js had a bump in yellow arc and red line over the earlier models and the J model had yet another upward bump.  AFAIK, there were no structual changes to any of those airframes. I'm not advocating that anyone ignore the the POH reccomendations; I'm merely suggesteing that there are significant margins built into all of the metal wing models and even moreso into some of the older, more conservatively limited birds...

[flight2000]

I have no issues flying it in the yellow.  It's closer to the green arc up at altitude (6-10K) anyway, but down low it is way in the yellow at times.  Just slow down if you start getting into turbulence, even if that's a little hard to do.  Anything above a light chop and I'll pull the MP back to slow the plane into the green.

Brian

[rbridges]

is there any reason the short body had a slower yellow arc?  Being relatively new, I get a little uptight when I hit any roughness when it's not in the green.  But as the OP stated, it's not hard to be out of the green.

[Shadrach]

Quote: rbridges

is there any reason the short body had a slower yellow arc?  Being relatively new, I get a little uptight when I hit any roughness when it's not in the green.  But as the OP stated, it's not hard to be out of the green.

[scottfromiowa]

I am not at all concerned about the yellow arc for reasons Ross discussed.  I slow down if in descent or down low and I start getting into turbulence.  More about comfort than concern for airframe.  I respect the VNE in descent, but like Ross said the airframe (all metal) was newer in 1966.  The yellow arc was modified with time and experience.  Bottom line our Mooney's are structurally very sound.  I'm a little color blind to yellow.

[Hank]

Quote: rbridges

is there any reason the short body had a slower yellow arc? 

[Shadrach]

Quote: Hank

I thought it had to do with control surface flutter, and was address sometime in the late 60's. Doesn't matter to me--my 1970 model has yellow from 175-200 mph, and since it's a C, I'm never there except in a descent and then barely. 165-170 MPH is typical, unless I've been given a chop-and-drop approach.

[sleepingsquirrel]

So is it possible that a Mooney could break the sound barrier?

[Shadrach]

Maybe...You'd need to rip the wings off first.

[takair]

Once!

[sleepingsquirrel]

At least there would be no post crash fire, and the only evidence of exceeding the sound barrier would be scorch marks from  friction. Oh, the remaining wreckage could be transported in an overnight bag!

[Hank]

Quote: sleepingsquirrel

So is it possible that a Mooney could break the sound barrier?