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Where to go for proper rigging of a long body


Schllc

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Im not sure if this question is phrased correctly, but my question is regard to all the (adjustable) items that affect drag and aerodynamics. 

As a plane lives it gets its dings, adjustments, paint, replacement parts etc. 

I have never seen any of my planes have a comprehensive check of all of these things; control surfaces, gear doors, door, baggage door, cowling etc.

Not even sure what to request or who to go to.  I know any A&P "can" do this, but I would prefer someone who takes their time and understands the purpose.

I don't just want a lazy look at them and a log entry.

Perhaps it isn't even worth the effort, the reason I am asking is that of the five longbody mooney's that I have owned with continentals, all of them have had different cruise, and max speeds.  I would think this has to be, at least in part, the efficiency of how they are rigged?

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Travel boards aren't required to do the rigging.   Other tools work as well, imho.   It's probably more important to find somebody experienced rigging Mooneys, and it will likely need to be flown to make final adjustments.

Edit:  Paint shops have to re-rig airplanes after painting, since everything gets taken apart.   Maybe find a paint shop that has experience with long bodies?

 

 

Edited by EricJ
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The gear door alignment should get checked every annual during the gear retraction test. Alignment of the doors and cowling can be checked during preflight.

As for rigging, if the airplane flies straight I would be cautious about messing with it. If a shop doesn’t know what they are doing, they can mess things up. Here’s a good article that will explain how to evaluate you rig.

Skip

Shoptalk - rigging.pdf

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That was an excellent synopsis of the process to check the rigging. 
as soon as mine is out of the paint shop I’m going to do the test. 
I have a great mechanic, but I would think that something like this would be best suited for someone who really understands these challenges, and let’s face it, most shops are not going to really spend the time it takes to fiddle with something as sensitive and nuanced as this.  
im not even sure the plane needs it, it’s just hard to believe that things a true and straight after 13 years of flying and service...

that being said, I’m pretty green and somewhat ocd, and like to know that there is nothing wanting on my baby. 

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5 hours ago, EricJ said:

Edit:  Paint shops have to re-rig airplanes after painting, since everything gets taken apart.   Maybe find a paint shop that has experience with long bodies?

I don’t believe that’s true Eric.  I do know balance of control surfaces is checked after the paint process prior to installation of the surfaces.

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1 minute ago, MooneyMitch said:

I don’t believe that’s true Eric.  I do know balance of control surfaces is checked after the paint process prior to installation of the surfaces.

Mine has a log entry by an A&P for re-rigging after painting.   Since the paint shops typically remove all of the control surfaces and then replace them after painting/rebalancing, it seems prudent to me.   I wouldn't assume it all goes back together the same, but maybe it's done.

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8 hours ago, Schllc said:

Im not sure if this question is phrased correctly, but my question is regard to all the (adjustable) items that affect drag and aerodynamics. 

As a plane lives it gets its dings, adjustments, paint, replacement parts etc. 

I have never seen any of my planes have a comprehensive check of all of these things; control surfaces, gear doors, door, baggage door, cowling etc.

Not even sure what to request or who to go to.  I know any A&P "can" do this, but I would prefer someone who takes their time and understands the purpose.

I don't just want a lazy look at them and a log entry.

Perhaps it isn't even worth the effort, the reason I am asking is that of the five longbody mooney's that I have owned with continentals, all of them have had different cruise, and max speeds.  I would think this has to be, at least in part, the efficiency of how they are rigged?

Don Maxwell Has an excellent reputation of getting the rigging just right. 

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Don’t be surprised if an unmollested plane is still flying true...  My M20C flew beautifully after 40 years of being untouched... :)

In some cases, if you need to replace a control rod, use care when taking the old ones out, and putting the new ones in...  many of the older birds had control rods replaced around Y2K to get them updated with fillets(?)...

The moment somebody removes the control surfaces... everything is back in question...

Checking the rigging is pretty straight forwards... Put the rigging boards on and look...

Making adjustments is the hard part...  many threaded fasteners, one turn at a time...

Not only do you want a shop with the tools... but a shop who’s people are familiar with the flight testing...

The finished results will be worth the effort...  I’m sure...

 

PP thoughts only... how close to DMax are you?

Best regards,

-a-

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12 minutes ago, EricJ said:

Mine has a log entry by an A&P for re-rigging after painting.   Since the paint shops typically remove all of the control surfaces and then replace them after painting/rebalancing, it seems prudent to me.   I wouldn't assume it all goes back together the same, but maybe it's done.

My experience with 3 Mooney paint processes with Artcraft, no rigging was performed.  Only balance check of newly painted control surfaces.

Control surfaces were unbolted only and removed for painting.  No control attachment points were touched, adjusted or moved.

Intetesting though. 

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I flew my Mooney from Florida to Don Maxwell for the rigging. It was a very good experience. He first flew the plane himself, adjusted with his team everything with the Mooney travel boards ... and then flew it again.

He was very fast on that because he must have done it thousand times or so. Sure, your local mechanic would be able to do it too. But first he has to borrow the travel boards somewhere and if he had not done it before, it make take 3 times longer and not get you any improvement.

Mooney-M20F-IMG_1081.JPG

Mooney-M20F-IMG_1055.JPG


 

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You can’t go wrong with having an annual done by Brian Kendrick. Brian worked at Mooney in various capacities. I believe one of his responsibilities was quality control before planes were delivered to customers. My PPI on my Ovation turned up various items only someone with his experience would have caught. He noted my elevator was positioned incorrectly during cruise flight and made adjustments to correct. The list goes on and on. As long as Brian will have me as a customer I won’t have anyone else work on my plane. I believe he only works on Ovations and Acclaims. www.mooneysupport.com

Going down to TX to pick up my plane from him next Fri! 

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