 Mooney |
 Mooney Side View |
 Mooney NoseView |
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 On Jacks |
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 On jacks: Nose view |
 Previous Old (plastic!) Panel with questionable wiring |
 Full View of Ripped Out Panel Not much left |
 Remnants of old (Left) Panel with cut yoke supports |
 Remnants of old (Right) Panel |
 Panel Rebuild with Paul's custom panel |
 Panel Rebuild with custom panel |
 Mooney Inflight |
 Inflight from Underneath |
 During the Alternator replacement |
Details:
1966 Mooney M20E (Super 21), short-body.
Johnson Bar (Manual) Gear, Manual Hydraulic Flaps, 2 blade Hartzell Propeller
Dorsal Fin Fairing, Tail Root Fairing, Flap Gap Seals, Aileron Gap Seals,
Rudder & Elevator Hinge Covers, Wing Tips, Brake Rotation, Cowl Closure,
201 Sloped Windshield, Landing Light Cover, New Side Glass (2003)
3-point Whelen Strobes with "Comet Flash"
LASAR custom modular instrument panel
(by Paul Loewen)
Precise Flight Standy Vacuum with vacuum failure warning annunciator
XeVision Xenon Landing Light w/ Pulsing Unit
70A Alternator Upgrade
Heated Pitot Tube
SIRS Magnetic Compass
Totally resealed fuel tanks (Fall 2006)
Switch box for portable tranceiver use with #2 Com Antenna
Two 12V power outlets (for portables)
Hobbs Meter
Fine-wire (iridium) spark-plugs
Supplemental Whelen Post-lights and overhead LED lights
Shoulder belts (front seats)
Goodyear Flight Custom III tires
Kool Scoop (Pilot Window) Ventilation device
Avionics:
Garmin GMA 340 Audio Panel with Marker Beacon Receiver, Pilot &
Co-pilot PTT with split comm function, music inputs, 4-place wired
Garmin GNS 430 GPS/Nav/Comm with GI-106A (VOR/LOC/GS/GPS CDI); IFR certified,
approach, terminal, enroute
Garmin GTX 327 Digital Transponder with altitude readout, timers, &
flight time (coupled to Garmin 430), (w/ ACK A30 blind encoder)
S-Tec 30 Autopilot with Altitude Hold (coupled to Garmin 430 GPS/Nav &
GI-106A CDI) with yoke mounted switches
JPI EDM-800 Engine Analyzer with fuel flow, oil temperature, RPM, MP, HP
readout (coupled to Garmin 430) with separate alarm annunciator
King KX-155 Nav/Comm with KI-209 (CDI w/GS)
Apollo (UPSAT) SL60 GPS/Comm (VFR only GPS) with CDI, Obs hold button
ELT w/ Dorsal fin antenna
Misc. portables:
Control Vision Anywhere WX system
(HP4700 w/ Satellite phone & GPS)
Surecheck Trafficscope
VRX
Garmin 196 GPS
Icom IC-A22 Tranceiver with PTT & adapter cords
Telex
Stratus 50D headset Much, much better than the Bose Headsets
for a noisy (124+ dB) cabin with very good fidelity
Bose ANR Aviation X headsets Comfy &
light with very good fidelity but I wish I had the Telex Stratus 50D earlier
Lightspeed 20XL modified headset
(first pair I got almost 10 yrs ago)
Portable oxygen system with Oxysaver nasal cannula & masks.
Bruce's Custom (Canopy) Cover
Lifejackets, smoke hoods, survival kit, first aid kit
Crystal-Airways
Surefire portable preheater
LASAR did a major avionics job rebuilding
the panel & upgrading the plane in general. (Thanks Lonnie, Paul, Robert,
et. al.)
Performance Data (~2300lbs loading):
EGT,KTAS
vs. Fuel Flow at 8500' MSL
§ 6500' MSL, full throttle, 2500 RPM, 24.9" MP, 80F ROP
EGT, (~79% HP*), 11.5 gph, Ram Air open, yields 160 KTAS
§ 8500' MSL, full throttle, 2450 RPM, 21.8" MP, 100F ROP
EGT, 8C OAT, (~72% HP*), 9.5 gph, Ram Air closed, yields 156 KTAS
§ 8500' MSL, full throttle, 2450 RPM, 21.8" MP, (1st to)
Peak EGT, 8C OAT, (~70% HP*), 8.4 gph, Ram Air closed, yields 154 KTAS
§ 12500' MSL, full throttle, 2500 RPM, ~19" MP, 100F ROP
EGT, -9C OAT, (~58% HP*), Ram Air open, yields 153 KTAS
§ Usually, I'm cruising up high for safety and
for (significant) fuel savings, with nominal RPM and peak EGT leaning
so:
§ 13-14,500'MSL, full throttle, 2400RPM, ~18" MP, (1st to) peak
EGT, (~53% HP*), <8 gph, Ram Air open, yields ~144 KTAS
* HP (%) relative to
sea level full throttle (100%)
More data to come later once I get better with data logging simultaneously
with the JPI and noting KIAS. KTAS is calculated by calibration to the
4-way GPS averaging method in low winds aloft away from orographic lift/sink.
(Note: 4 way GPS method has some slight error with higher winds aloft due
to crosstrack drifts).
Misc. Notes & Comments:
* Climb: 125-150F ROP (Rich of Peak) during climb above 3000' MSL as
CHT's allow (less than 380F), 2500-2600RPM
Cruise: Pk-100 ROP EGT (full throttle), 2400-2500RPM,
(~7000' to ~15000' MSL) (depending on altitude/conditions, <75% HP)
Descent: 0-25F ROP to keep CHT's from freezing too much
(>270degF), slow MP changes to avoid possibility of "shock cooling"
LOP ops is possible but I lose a lot of speed as the
chart above
shows.
* This M20E is about as fast as a M20J and gets a better climb rate with
its lighter airframe. 2 people, some luggage, partial fuel, (2300lbs) gives
>500fpm up to 15,000msl. Without turbocharging, it gets sluggish above
~16,000msl even with light loading.
* The Garmin stack, JPI engine analyzer, and S-Tec autopilot make this
plane a joy to fly on long XC trips and IFR.
* I recommend that an engine analyzer is a practical necessity to effectively
manage the engine. The original EGT and CHT probes cylinder placements
were not the best choices. My EGT2 peaks first not EGT3 (originally), and
CHT4 is the hottest not CHT3 (originally).
* I tend to fly *high* to be within a glide ratio of an airport flying
over the Sierra's from Livermore to Carson City. Going into CXP, I usually
shoot the GPS-A MEV, cancel IFR and go to CXP. VFR I usually do the trip
in 55-60 minutes.
* The highest I've been VFR is 17,500 MSL travelling over Southern
Oregon / Northern California. Highest I've been IFR is FL190 (The engine
doesn't seem to like it that high, not enough power).
* Aggressively lean during ground ops to prevent plug fouling.
* Preheat engine & cabin in temps below 35F. Have the Crystal-Airways
Surefire portable preheater.
* Aeroshell 15W50 multigrade for wide temperature ranges I experience,
sometimes Aeroshell 100W in the summer. Philips Type M 20W50 mineral oil
for break-in.
* Satellite phone is used to call up the AWOS in Carson City, Minden
when out of radio range. This data is not available online via XM WX
or any other means.
* Yes, there are two
cats that fly with us. Shudna is the tiger tabby and Shurkan is the
black/white tuxedo. They've flown over the Sierra's over 300 times. They
have a litter box with a cat bed on top of it. Shudna hides a lot and doesn't
like the noise. Upon take-off, she hops out of the box to look at the ground
receding away. During cruise, she sits on our laps, lies in the cat bed,
or in the litter box. Shurkan pretty much sleeps the whole trip in the
cat bed. I wonder if they get hypoxic during the high cruise altitudes.
I'm planning to build an oxygen tent for them since they are getting older
and can't tolerate the altitude (airsickness).
My Mooney Story
What do I want? The Search. Mission Profile.
I spent a fair bit of time looking at books to see what type of plane
would be fairly inexpensive/efficient to fly. Contenders included Piper
Cherokee 180's / Archer's / Comanche's, Cessna Cardinal 177's / Skylane's,
Grumman Tiger's, Piper Arrow's, (older) Mooney M20 series, and (much older)
Bonanza's while trying to stay within my budget. I was seriously considering
a Tiger because of its speed/simplicity. However, I needed to reliably
go over the Sierra's from Oakland to Carson City, NV. The mountains typically
require a good 13-14,000ft MSL cruise altitude to be comfortable and MEA's
generally require the ability to go a little higher such as 15,000ft. My
search narrowed to Mooney M20E's and M20F's with the fuel injected engine.
The (Mis)Purchase
Over the course of several months, I looked at various planes. Many
had poor interior/paint, AD's outstanding, fuel leaks, non-working components,
etc. I saw a great M20F but I was too late, it went fast. Then I saw an
E model in Trade-A-Plane that seemed to look good, initially. After a trip
to Texas, I agreed to buy the plane that seemed to only have a few minor
issues and we slightly adjusted the price. But it wasn't until I went to
pick up the plane that things started evolving. In short, I ended up buying
a plane from a Texas pastor with quite a lot of problems: leaking fuel
tank improperly sealed by the local mechanic, home brew avionics installation
with bad electrical wiring, a non-working nav CDI, dented nosewheel truss,
nonworking wing leveler, a mistimed mag by the mechanic, loose intake manifolds,
and a cracked muffler that developed. The most serious issue was that the
engine might have been damaged by a grossly advanced timing of the right
mag. CHT and oil temps were high and airspeeds were lower than it
should have been. The fuel leak and mistimed mag were the mechanic's fault
and that happened after I bought the plane. If all the problems had been
known early, then it would have been obvious. But it turned out that these
problems evolved during the process.
The (Continual) Upgrades
So after returning to Oakland, the plane ended up in the shop for over
a month to fix the muffler, retime the mags, rework the intake manifolds,
and repair some avionics. Fortunately, the new cyclinders withstood the
mistiming and temperatures. At the avionics shop, it turned out that I
had to upgrade the DG and altimeter to pass the pitot-static & IFR
checks. After intermittent transponder ops, I was told that *all* the wiring
was terrible and that everything should be redone. Took the plane to LASAR,
where they had repaired the nose truss, installed shoulder seatbelts, and
put new rubber donuts shock absorbers on. But I needed to schedule the
other extensive projects (fuel leak, avionics panel redo, etc.) and perform
a "real" annual.
So after flying VFR for half a year (wouldn't trust going IFR with the
wiring and especially as a recent IFR graduate), the plane finally went
into the shop for 5 months. This was a shock for the folks at LASAR when
they dug into the project discovering things like severed yoke supports
and extensive homebrew wiring. So it seemed the panel needed to be completely
redone. This is when Mooney guru, Paul Loewen, got into the act. Paul has
developed many Mooney mods including a standard T-configuration panel mod.
With my scratch project, it was an opportunity to create a modular panel
for ease of service and reconfiguration. In the end, Paul's design beautifully
fit into the tight Mooney space.
The positive side of all this was upgrading with the repairs and getting
a very well-equipped IFR Mooney thanks to the folks at LASAR.
It would just cost me more than the price of the plane again, ouch! They
say you can spend more than the price of the plane in avionics and it's
true, although I tried to keep it costs "reasonable". However,
I don't regret now being able to enjoy a wonderful autopilot, engine analyzer,
and avionics.
I chose the components for good capacity and redundancy for IFR transportation.
A moving map IFR GPS with VFR GPS backup, 3 Comms (handy), 2
Navs with Dual Glideslope CDI's, 2-axis autopilot, engine analyzer, etc.
For total electrical failure scenarios, I carry a portable GPS and handheld
transceiver that can be plugged into the ship's antenna.
Experiences
Triple failure: Alternator went offline, electrical power failure
to Garmin GPS/Nav/Comm, and vacuum pump failure, in one late evening flight
within 20 minutes. Fortunately, I was VFR.
Partial power engine failure: Just west of the Sierra Crest in light snow,
non-icing conditions. Ram Air inlet gasket defective and passed snow clogging
fuel servo's impact tubes. Check those gaskets carefully with a flashlight!
More to come later .....
