Does age of an airframe matter?

[aviatoreb]

6 hours ago, carusoam said:

Buying new parts…. All come from the same very expensive factory….

Buying pre-flown parts… depends on the number of similar airframes sitting in a scrap yard somewhere….

 

Don’t bend anything important…

Best regards,

-a-

Is the Mooney factory still open and producing parts?  I know it is not producing full airplanes- which is such a shame in this market.

 

[cujet]

On 3/16/2022 at 10:58 AM, A64Pilot said:

 the FAA was presenting everything fatigues and must be replaced based on cycles, our competitor agreed. I disagreed and.....

A connecting rod bolt is a great example of a part that "seems" to endure Three Hundred Million cycles! How is it that a lowly bolt and nut configuration can withstand so many brutal events? The answer is simply that the bolt only has to withstand one cycle. The torquing event stretches the bolt well beyond the load it will be asked to carry. For sake of this discussion, the bolt does not feel the stress of normal operation. It feels only the load required to keep the cap firmly in place. 

The idea that everything experiences fatigue is not correct, lightly loaded steel components have no fatigue limit.  Lightly loaded aluminum components can last for millions of cycles. 

[cujet]

On 3/16/2022 at 10:58 AM, A64Pilot said:

 the FAA was presenting everything fatigues and must be replaced based on cycles, our competitor agreed. I disagreed and.....

A connecting rod bolt is a great example of a part that "seems" to endure Three Hundred Million cycles! How is it that a lowly bolt and nut configuration can withstand so many brutal events? The answer is simply that the bolt only has to withstand one cycle. The torquing event stretches the bolt well beyond the load it will be asked to carry. For sake of this discussion, the bolt does not feel the stress of normal operation. It feels only the load required to keep the cap firmly in place. 

The idea that everything experiences fatigue is not correct, lightly loaded steel components have no fatigue limit.  Lightly loaded aluminum components can last for millions of cycles. 

[cujet]

On 3/16/2022 at 10:58 AM, A64Pilot said:

 the FAA was presenting everything fatigues and must be replaced based on cycles, our competitor agreed. I disagreed and.....

A connecting rod bolt is a great example of a part that "seems" to endure Three Hundred Million cycles! How is it that a lowly bolt and nut configuration can withstand so many brutal events? The answer is simply that the bolt only has to withstand one cycle. The torquing event stretches the bolt well beyond the load it will be asked to carry. For sake of this discussion, the bolt does not feel the stress of normal operation. It feels only the load required to keep the cap firmly in place. 

The idea that everything experiences fatigue is not correct, lightly loaded steel components have no fatigue limit.  Lightly loaded aluminum components can last for millions of cycles. An example would be an aircraft piston, capable of 300 million cycles, no prob. 

[A64Pilot]

11 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

Is the Mooney factory still open and producing parts?  I know it is not producing full airplanes- which is such a shame in this market.

 

That’s a question that I wonder as well, it seems they are producing some, how many, what model and how many do they stock is a tough question. I would assume they prioritize high profit and high turn over parts, whatever those may be.

Then how many parts for legacy aircraft do they have? Where I worked there were a great many obsolete parts on the shelves, even moved them to a separate warehouse as none ever sold, I’m talking off the wall parts like seat belts and map lights, hand held microphones and bunches of electrical switches, relays etc. every kind of and length bolt you could imagine and millions of Cherry Max and other rivets etc.

I’d bet Mooney has a bunch of stuff like that too, but is it inventoried, are there ‘certs’ still for it and does someone know what it all is? We lost a lot of that when the old parts guy retired.

Edited March 18, 2022 by A64Pilot

[carusoam]

Last we heard…

They were still in business…

Producing parts is still in fashion…

Number of people working there is quite the skeleton crew….

We have an external set of eyes who recently reported speaking briefly with one of the employees…

So… if you need something that is Mooney specific…

Get it on order asap… expect that it may take months to see it…

The no back clutch spring is a common example, and discussion around here…  it is very much a Mooney specific part, not made directly by Mooney…

PP thoughts only, not a plant insider…

Best regards,

-a-

[47U]

3 hours ago, carusoam said:

Producing parts is still in fashion…

Dan (LASAR) placed an order with the factory for me last week.  He gave me an estimated 9-week lead time.

I’m hoping to not be disappointed.