Maintenance Tip of the DAY from MOONEYLAND! Who else?!

Your maintenance Wing Tip for the day:

HOW CAN AN AIR COOLED ENGINE BE HARMED BY WATER?!

If you own an engine, then you need this!

Cheap insurance, you can build to help get you engine to its rated TBO

Continental and Lycoming typically rate their engine life from 1600 to 2000 hours of operation between overhauls on most models. However, the only owners likely to achieve that kind of rated performance are those who use their aircraft on a nearly daily basis. Why? The reason is not the flying. It is the parking!

A primary culprit for premature aircraft engine overhaul is corrosion caused by condensation within the engine cavity that occurs after shutdown. Aircraft engines that are used daily frequently reach their rated TBO because liquid condensate is boiled off on a regular basis. Low use rate often results in reduced engine life. As the engine cools and the internal temperature drops below the dew point, liquid moisture condenses out of the vapor and clings to internal engine surfaces. This liquid water then resumes its ongoing process of eating up your engine from the inside out. However, if the dew point can be made sufficiently low, then liquid water will never form. The engine dehumidifier provides a continuous positive pressure injection of extremely dry air (dew point approximately -100°F) on a 24/7 continuous flow basis. It is recovered at the crankcase blow-by vent, returned to the pump, dried again and re-injected in the oil fill port of the engine.

How it works

The dehumidifier is connected the engine as soon after engine shutdown as possible. (Before the engine cools) It is then run on a 24/7 basis. A small aquarium, type air pump forces ambient humid air thru a Plenum bottle containing Silica Gel (This is the stuff used in shipping and storing aircraft engines and electronics.) The Silica Gel has a great ability to suck up moisture and literally sucks it out of the air. The dried air is filtered and injected into the engine crankcase. Any moisture inside the engine vaporizes with the incoming dry air and is moved by the constant positive pressure from the air pump to the crankcase blow-by vent, back to the pump and the Silica Gel dryer. At some point in time, the Silica Gel will absorb all the moisture it can hold. This is oblivious because about 5% of Silica Gel crystals are dyed blue with Cobalt Chloride that changes to a Maroon Pinkish color when saturated with moisture.

When that happens:

Remove the saturated Silica Gel from the bottle. Spread it out on a cookie sheet.

Heat in oven at 275° F until the CoCI dyed silica gel turns blue again .. Cool and return to the plenum bottle.

That's' it!The frequency of this recycle rate will depend up the humidity of the local environment. This may vary from months or more in dry regions down to just a week or so in the deep humid South East. Adding more Silica Gel to the Plenum will extend the service interval. Additional Silica Gel used for drying flowers is available at the national chain of Michaels's Craft Stores

Hidden Maintenance Mistake

I was bopping along at 12-5' in Allen's gorgeous 231 on the way to El Paso, when I got a red warning light on his neat digital tach.  Then the GEM went nuts before settling on a steady 1/2 bar indication, and the digits on the tach went nuts.  Fuel flow and mixture setting changed too.

I knew then that a mag had failed.  I continued for 40 miles and put down at Ft. Stockton, TX.

The nice, but very aged mechanic and I suspected a bad "P" lead, but when we fixed where it looked like it was bad, still no right mag.

After a bit of sleuthing, we found the problem.  We had to use his brain, and my eyes to find the problem.

Not long ago, Cutter Service Center in ABQ overhauled the mags.  As news to me, there is apparently a right way and a wrong way to plug the lead from the condenser in.  If you plug it so the wire bends toward the cam on the points, the cam will wear a hole in the little condenser wire and stop your mag cold.  That wire needs to be plugged onto the little tab with the wire looped outward to avoid this possibility.

The moving cam ate through the wire in less than 100 hours.

A simple, but potentially catastrophic oversight.  If both mags had the same installation mistake, it is feasible that they could both fail on the same flight.  $40.00 for the part, $40.00 for the labor.  Not bad...thanks Mr. mechanic at Ft. Stockton.

Engine Tips

In a perfect world, we would all replace our engines with factory new ones.  I don’t know of anyone who wouldn’t want to do that.  However, in the real world economics comes into play.

We have all read how Bill’s (from the Mooney news list) 201 engine cost very closely approximated the national debt.  As a result, those who are in the position of not devoting their first born college fund to an airplane must come up with alternate methods of keeping our engines running reasonably safely to at, or beyond, TBO.  THEN make a decision based on our pocket books what to do next.

Manufacturers come up with a suggested TBO based upon many variables.  We have all seen the IO-360 move from as low as a 1200 hour TBO in the 1960’s to the 2,000 hours of today.  Some of this was due to improvements (i.e. ½” valves and larger dowels, etc.), as well as proof from the field that the engine will make it to that point.

Manufacturers have taken an average from all engine uses including:  flight school planes, Ag planes, planes in highly corrosive areas, their own fear of liability, and have thus arrived at the “magic” TBO number.

While It would be prudent to take that “suggested” number into account, it really depends on the engine's health due to previous operation and maintenance techniques utilized in a particular engine application.  in short, individual pilot technique may cause the actual life of the engine to shorten or lengthen this “average” life.

I have been involved in two Mooney’s I’ve owned over the years that got an engine overhaul, and both times I was told from the engine shop that it really was not needed due to the condition of the engine at teardown.

The difference between this and most reasons why the Continental in the 231 needs a top about half the time is operational techniques of the pilot, the average altitude flown, and maintenance practices.

In my business, I have the opportunity to fly with pilots from all walks of life, and I must tell you, that a good majority of pilots I’ve flown with do not know how to properly operate an aircraft engine so as to increase its longevity.  I see the ham-handed ones jam the throttle in at takeoff.  I see others yank the power off when needed without regard to shock cooling.  Others fly them at high temps without doing anything to change that.  Others fly the Lyc’s at lower RPM’s thinking that they will add to engine life.  Still others taxi a short distance from engine start and go right to the take off run.  Let these engines warm up before pouring the coals to it!

Let’s address this a bit further.  Most Lyc’s run smoother at the higher RPMs.  I find they run smoother at 2600 RPM than 2400 RPM.  Smoother is better!  When an engine shakes through vibration, you are limiting the life of its components, as well as your radio’s, prop, and instruments.  I have seen no difference (on average) of one Lyc making it further in life based on whether the pilot baby’s the rpm’s vs. the one’s who, like me, run them.  Remember this: a pilot/owner who flies his plane at higher power settings, gets there faster, thus putting less time on the engine as well as the airframe.  An engine that runs faster, has less harmful carbon built up in it due to unburned fuel.  Carbon is an enemy of our engines, thus my touting the only product I know of that removes that.  Ya’ll know what that is, technically illegal or not.  For those of you new to the world of Mooney's and aviation- it's time to research the newsgroups to learn of it!

If I ever get off my butt and finish writing my book regarding the operation of these engines, as well as other techniques, I can address this and more in depth.  My 7 month old, as well as economic issues keep me busy in other directions right now.

So, for now, run your engines.  Change the oil and filter regularly.  If you don’t have a filter, have one added.  It will pay for itself in engine life.  Add and subtract power smoothly and not ham-handedly, keep after external and internal rust, keep your temps under control, use cowl flaps on ALL climb-outs, and for you 201 and 231 owners, adjust your cowl flaps so that they trail open even when closed in the summer, about an inch.  When you see temps nearing redline, forget the buffer in the gauge….do something to cool it.

Those who attempt to squeeze every drop of fuel savings due to leaning is false economy.  Run all your Mooney’s at least 50 degrees of peak on the rich side, unless you have Gami’s, and even then don’t be too conservative.

Another important area of attention is to keep your engine clean.  Oil and grease buildup, chipping cylinder paint, poor fitting or old worn baffle seals, etc. will all subtract from achievable engine time.  Heat is your mortal enemy!  Do not allow excess heat to be retained by virtue of a dirty engine.

One of the most cost effective benefits to any engine and other components, is a properly dynamic balanced prop by someone who really knows his stuff--and cares about the results.  Write this down: You want to achieve 0.07 inches per second or below when balancing.  I have owned in the past, a balance machine, and that was my goal.  I was only unable to achieve that once, but your mechanic must stay with it long enough and not give up in attempting to achieve that figure.  It can be done.  You wouldn’t believe the lowering of pilot fatigue this makes from an engine that really needs a balance.  Then you must re-do the balance every time a cylinder is removed or re-worked, prop overhauled, or otherwise each 2-300 hours as the engine wears in.

There is so much to properly operating engines in the hostile environment we face each flight, but a little research and effort will yield many more hours of safe engine operation.  This adds to the satisfaction of owning and operating an aircraft.

I always hate to see the many owners having to sell their Mooney’s just because they had to have their engines overhauled early and couldn’t afford to leave that investment sitting in their airplane.  It is a sad thing to watch loving Mooney owners cry after they see their baby’s fly away to some new home, but it happens a lot.

Squeeze as much life out of those over priced engines as you can and still be safe.  It only takes a little more effort on your part, and not a lot of money.

In addition to becoming good, safe, competent pilots, we must also become good “power managers”.  Especially, but not exclusively you high powered turbo guys.

Maybe at some point in the near future, we can address how to get an engine properly overhauled for less money, for those of us who simply cannot afford a factory remanufactured one...or a new one!

Oil Consumption

I ran my 201 up to 2200 hours on a Mattituck.  It was burning a quart every 4-5 hours.  I had an engine shop build me a first run engine, and used Cermichrome back when it was a hot item. 

My new engine burned a quart in 4-5 hours.  I honestly have never seen a Lyc in a Mooney burn better than a quart in 10, and good seems to be a quart in 7 or 8, unless the engine is run a really low power settings as a matter of practice.  Air cooled engines use oil. 

Your oil consumption will be affected by things like cruise speed settings, (I run 'em) and how many takeoff's you make.  Touch and goes will really burn oil, as your engine is working at its hardest for takeoff. 

Lyc once told me that if it's burning better than a quart an hour, you're okay as long as it's making compressions.  Filling the sump to its max capacity is another way of wasting oil.  With such a high level, you hit turbulence, and the oil splashes up onto the crank shaft and gets slung out.  I can attest that the Lyc will make oil pressure down to about a quart and a half, so keeping the Lyc's at 7 quarts is no problem. 

No matter what your oil consumption is, the thing to watch for is a sudden change in oil consumption.  It is wise to keep a record in the plane of your normal oil consumption, so that if it changes abruptly over a short period of time, you've probably got something going wrong inside your engine.

Flap Wear

There are at least two areas of concern to flap wear.  One is when electric flaps are installed, and the motor is calibrated incorrectly, allowing the motor to still operate when the flaps hit their stops.  If your flaps raise even 1/4" above maximum tolerance, you can lose up to 8 MPH, so you would lose twice (excessive movement and performance).

The other is for the short body types.  The flap hinges are made of sandwiched metal on many older models, so if moisture gathers between the sandwiches, they corrode.  Only careful examination can detect that problem. 

Personally, I'd hate to lose a flap in flight.  It is also important to those who have electric trim to be certain the motor stops in time.  I've flown some that are so jammed at the stops that it was very hard to even manually return the flaps from full back.

Main Tires

Tires are getting more expensive every day.

This month’s tip has to do with helping your main tires last about 40% longer.

As you know, your Mooney’s tires sits a bit bow legged.  Your Mooney tire’s tread wears on the outside first.  Please check your tires!!  If your outer tire is running out of tread, then this tip will definitely come in handy as it is the time to reverse your tires.

First, secure your aircraft from rolling when you jack up one side of the plane.  Do so just high enough to get your tire off the ground.  Depending on the year, remove clam shell door if so equipped, then remove your outer brake pad by first removing the tie wire.

Remove the pad by unscrewing the bolts holding your pads together.  Once that is accomplished, remove your hubcap and unscrew your center wheel lug attached to the spindle.  Slide your wheel off the spindle.

Remove the air valve and let the air bleed out of the tire.  Once done, split your rim by removing the bolts holding it together, then separate the wheel halves.  Inspect your wheel bearings and re-lubricate if needed.

Carefully remove your tube and inspect it for damage from pinching, or heat welding of the rubber tube to the tire.

Turn your tire around with the better tread facing outward.  Shake talcum powder inside the tire, and rub some on the tube.  This will allow your tube to move freely within the tire, and preclude any heat welding from taking place.  It also helps prevent your tube from pinching when re-assembling.  Notice the paint spot on your tire (usually red)?  Line it up with the valve stem.  This is the balancing mark.

Carefully replace the rim halves and tighten the nuts onto the bolts by first snugging one side, then the other, and so on until you have each one tight.  Add air to capacity.  Most Mooney’s tires use 30lbs. on the mains.

Clean and inspect your spindle for any gouging or damage, then add a thin coat of high speed wheel bearing grease, and reverse the removal procedure.  Be certain to tie wire your brake bolts, and clam shell door if so equipped.

Do the same for the other side.

Once you get some experience at this, you can do the whole job in about an hour.  You have just saved yourself a bunch of money, and have gotten to know your Mooney a little bit better.

If you have any doubt about this process once you have it all back together, it would be worth it to have you’re A&P inspect your work.

When it is time to replace your tires, look in Trade a Plane to find recaps.  There are those who feel that recaps can enlarge themselves and cause your gear to hang up in the well.  I have used this type of tire for hundreds of hours in several Mooney’s and never found one problem with them.  They are made according to much stricter standards than new tires, are much cheaper, and are of a heavier ply than new tires.

You can also save your old tires, and if in good enough condition, the recap companies will give you credit on them.  Usually $5.00 per tire.

Next month, we will address the importance of frequent lubrication of your aircraft between annuals.

In future “tips”, we will address such things as replacing your own side windows on the cheap, inspecting and protecting your outer tubular structure, inspecting spar caps for corrosion caused by spilled liquids in the cockpit, refinishing your ABS panels to look like new, repairing cracked clam shell doors and speed fairings, changing your oil properly and easily, easy fixes for creeping mixture and prop knobs, rotating spark plug intervals, proper engine operating techniques, and much, much more.

Dynamic Prop Balancing

Q & A

What is dynamic propeller balancing?

Dynamic Propeller Balancing is the process whereby an electronic balancer is used to measure the vibration produced by the aircraft power plant. Small trim balance weights are added to the propeller/crankshaft assembly to correct for errors in mass distribution and to reduce power plant vibration due to mass imbalance to the lowest level practical.

How is it done?

The engine/propeller combination is balanced right on the aircraft, in a flight ready state. A small vibration sensor (accelerometer) is attached to the engine in a location where vibration due to mass imbalance is maximum. A small tach pickup (photo-tach) is also mounted to the cowl or engine to produce a propeller tach signal. The engine is operated and the vibration and tach signals are processed by the electronic balancer.

The balancer produces a vibration level (magnitude) which corresponds to the amount of mass imbalance which exists. The balancer also provides a "phase angle" which corresponds to the location of the mass imbalance on the propeller disk. The vibration level and phase angle are used to compute a balance solution (weight amount and location). The balance solution is added to the propeller and the measurement is repeated until the vibration level is found to be acceptable.

My aircraft runs fine. Why should I have my prop dynamically balanced?

By all means, have your propeller balance checked. The average airplane which has not had a Dynamic Prop Balance has a vibration level due to propeller/crankshaft mass imbalance of about .450 inches per second (IN/S) velocity. This level is more than four times higher than what is considered to be an acceptable vibration level for propellers and represents a significantly higher level of wear and fatigue on engine components and accessories. This average level is usually very noticeable to the pilot and occupants. Yours may be higher or lower than the average but only a mechanic with a vibration analyzer can tell for sure. On the average, 19 out of 20 fixed-wing aircraft can benefit from Dynamic Prop Balancing yet many will never have it done.

My engine and prop were overhauled recently. Should I have my prop dynamically balanced?

Both new and used components need to be dynamically balanced. In fact, the best time to dynamically balance a propeller/engine combination is right after overhaul when components are fresh. In the DSS study, no appreciable difference was found between the vibration levels of recently overhauled and longer time propeller/engine combinations. Even brand-new aircraft with zero time engines and propellers need to be dynamically balanced.

What level of propeller vibration is acceptable?

In most cases, the vibration level due to mass imbalance can be brought down to under .100 IN/S very easily. In the DSS study, the average level seen post-propeller balance was .039 IN/S. When propeller vibration levels are this low, the operator will generally see a significant reduction in component wear and fatigue and will find that the aircraft "feels" like a completely different machine.

In addition to that the mechanic now knows what all of the other engine vibration levels are (Prop/crankshaft mass imbalance usually dominates them) and can utilize that information if additional work is needed.

But won't having my propeller dynamically balanced "mask" other engine problems?

No! An engine with an internal problem which results in unusual vibration will not respond to balancing in the same way that an engine which only suffers from mass imbalance will. A qualified mechanic will use ALL of the information available to make a judgment about your engine, including the vibration response.

The benefits of dynamic propeller balancing:

If your prop balancing person knows what he is doing, you will realize many benefits from the dynamic prop balance.  You are actually balancing everything and anything that moves.  The yield will be longer instrument life, radio’s, panel mounts, engine mounts, window sealer, engine and prop parts, pilot fatigue, spinner and cowling cracking, noise reduction, gear door and fuselage wear, backing off of screws from vibration, etc.

When I used to do prop balancing, my goal was to reduce vibration levels down to at least 0.07 IPS (inches per second) or below.

How low your vibration level is made depends on how talented and how much time the balancer person is willing to spend getting it as smooth as possible.  The worst one I can remember started at about 18 IPS, a real shaker.

A hidden benefit is that the balancer cannot remove the vibration.  When this is the case, you may have internal engine damage beginning, and this effort will uncover that problem in its early stages.  I actually caught one once like that.

We did dozens of planes and virtually every one had a detectable difference in vibrations levels, so no matter how smooth yours may seem, it will get better with a proper balance.

The dynamic prop balance is one of the few things that you can do for your plane that is so cost effective.  Vibration and heat are the two major effects that increase wear and tear on an airplane and its components.

Anyone can and will benefit, but if you are flying around, place the back of your hand on the inside of the windshield.  If you feel any vibration there at all, you will benefit from a properly done prop balance.

It is important to note that it is best to do the balance at the engine settings you usually use in cruise.

It was always great hearing back from my customers on the difference this had made, and how this was the best bucks they had spent.

You should consider doing this every 500 hours, or after a prop overhaul or cylinder change.  As your engine wears, the balance may change some.

Keep Trim

On the trim issue, those of you who have electric trim may want to turn the switch off and test your trim manually.  If it feels a bit stiff, you would save a bundle getting your trim system properly lubed, which is often overlooked by some (many) mechanics, and that the blocks your trim jack screw rod passes through bulkheads.  Your trim chain between the seats can get gummed up with spilled soda pop, lube and dust, and other debris.  These things should be checked occasionally in all Mooney’s.  When your trim is stiff, your trim motor has to work much too hard and can cause an early death.  Mucho denero!

If have manual trim and it is getting really stiff and you have not done anything about it, do something about it.  Your trim system is a very important part of your Mooney, and is not impossible to get jammed up completely under some circumstances.  It happened to me once.  Never again!  Always be certain that the trim chain cover is installed and intact with no broken or cracked parts.  If something foreign gets caught in your chain and sprocket, guess what, the trim will jam!

Log Books

Log Books....  Protect your aircraft's value! 

Your aircraft's log books represent up to 20% of the value of your airplane.  Fact: Logs get lost, whether they are lost by you, your mechanic, or even stolen out of your mechanic's office by a disgruntled customer. 

I've had a mechanic supply me with a set of logs to hold as collateral for some money he owed me.  These logs were supposed to be the logs of a plane he owned.  They were not.  They belonged to another customer- they are worth that much. 

Bottom line is to make copies of your complete long books and keep them in a file separate from your other logs, and update them yearly.  Some aircraft owners keep their logs copies on computer disk.  There is no hard and fast rule, so long as you have SOME backup of the originals.  Again:  No matter which method you choose, don't fail to make copies. 

Some day you will be glad you did. 

As a side note, be certain to examine your log package immediately after getting it back from your mechanic.  There have been times that one or more books did not make it back into the log packet (usually due to oversight with no harm intended), and to later confront the problem with the mechanic will often yield; "Well, they were all there when I gave them back to you."

Make aircraft ownership a more pleasant experience when it comes time to part with your baby by protecting the aircraft's value.  If a memory aid is needed:  Remember that your logs could be worth up to $20,000 on a $100,000 airplane!!

MINOR MAINTENANCE ISSUES OWNERS SHOULD ADDRESS THEMSELVES:

Let's face it. Our fleet of aircraft is not getting any younger, and few of us have over half a million bux to spend on a brand new airplane; so why not take care of what we have?

Unlike some of the competition, Mooney’s are so very well constructed that when properly cared for, can outlast us all, but just like the adage that if you watch your penny's, the dollars will take care of themselves, we must do what we can to preserve the "common man's" ability to own and operate their own personal traveling air machine. I have always felt that aircraft "ownership" is much like owning land. In order to truly own something, we would have to live forever and keep our possessions to rightfully state that we "own" this or that. In actuality, we truly do not really "own" these things, but we have simply purchased the right to possess an item such as an airplane for an undetermined time, and at some point that possession gets passed on to others, so it remains that the only thing certain in life are death and taxes. We hear so much today about going "GREEN" to conserve, recycle, and preserve, which no matter to one's personal politics, this makes sense to have application to us all.

It is easy to go decades as a pilot and aircraft owner, and like anything else in life, even exciting things such as general aviation can become routine and for some even passé', but we need to remember that there is a whole nuther generation of young people who are enamored by general aviation and the world it opens up to those of us who choose to fly; therefore it is prudent to have concern for them as we do for the next generation to pass on all good things to help offset all of the bad in life. So why the soapbox? Because it is becoming more and more frustrating with time to see all of these wonderful flying machines begin to show their age when they don't have to!

Airplane ownership is an expense for sure, but quality of life is important enough to help justify the expense. While we would all want brand new paint, interior, and glass, those items are just the clothing for the basic body and in no way defines the body itself. What does define the "body" is the quality of what's beneath the clothing.

I had recently marketed a Mooney 231 that on the surface was a beautiful aircraft. The paint was sexy, fresh thick grey tinted glass, and an interior to die for, but what was the plane underneath all of that gorgeous clothing? Well, I have a multi time customer living in upstate New York who wanted to upgrade to turbo from his modified E model, so I went to work and worked hard for him. I had been in touch with the 231 owner and after seeing the pictures of the plane I got so excited for my NY customer to see this plane that I jumped on a jet to the East Coast and took the opportunity to visit and fly with another valued multi time customer in his Ovation 3 which you can read about in the "FLYING IMPRESSIONS" portion of this website. It was a fun trip indeed but with a bit of sadness at the end. What caused this sadness was the actual overall condition of the Mooney 231 beneath it's extraordinarily sharp clothing. I had met with the owner of the 231 in Virginia who had flown up from North Carolina to meet with me and then on to upstate New York from there. Once we met and I got a chance to see the 231 in person, I was a bit disappointed by the once-over I gave the plane, but hey, there is no perfect airplane so off we went. The owner was a really nice man with a young wife and baby about to be born, thus the sale of the 231 out of financial necessity. At the Virginia airport he had said that he wanted me to fly left seat PIC so he could observe how I handled the turbo aircraft and hopefully learn something.

It was a glorious day with visibilities large all the way and a most interesting flight resulting. We were having a ball skirting past the east side of Philadelphia, and because of our south to north flight path, we were pointed out and having pointed out jet airline traffic passing above us on their approaches to airports to our south until abeam New York City where traffic was everywhere. It was really cool seeing the jumbo jets as nearby as 1,000' above us which appear much closer than that due to their size, but I became concerned that some wake turbulence would eventually get us so I eventually requested and received a deviation in our route. It was about 45 minutes prior to sunset when we first spotted the area destination and the air was silky smooth which made for a beautiful flight in to the mountainous area we were closing in upon, so proceeding onward we began to notice the pucker factor providing the view of the small runway of our destination flanked by the approach end where you had to fly close to the descending tree lines on that end to the huge metal bridge at the departure end, so I knew we had to fly very close to the trees and homes within the trees in order to make the runway with enough room to land safely, but that wasn't all. I had discovered on taxi out of Virginia that the right brake was very spongy and had to be pumped quite a bit to produce enough pedal to evenly stop prior to hitting the bridge and sinking into the Hudson River a couple of thousand feet beyond the touchdown point. Oh fun! On the flare I hit the speed brakes and dumped the flaps to settle in as early as possible and of course the brakes; just the right side were floored so on top of all else I had to do, I had to pump the right brake frantically. It all worked out but you know the feeling as you pass through the seemingly long and  iffy seconds of situations we occasionally find ourselves in as pilots. As it turned out I had done everything right that time and got stopped with 1/3 of the runway before us. Taxiing to the ramp we noticed the potential buyer running and jumping down the taxi way to greet us in his excitement, and of course he wanted to fly in the plane right then and there to spite the continued setting of the sun, but bright enough to get by so we flew while the owner remained on the ground. He was very impressed with the plane initially as I was and it sure flew well. With some pointers from him about the best way to fly the approach to his runway, the subsequent landing produced much less pucker factor and the right brake worked better after just being pumped up for the previous landing. We all lovingly tucked the 231 in to bed for the night and all had an enjoyable evening together followed by the best bagel breakfast and coffee one could wish for.

Once at the airport, we taxied the 231 to the maintenance hanger and with the 4 of us armed with screw drivers including the mechanic, we had the plane opened up in minutes for the inspection. Upon opening up some of the rear tail cone inspection plates I had noticed some bubbling of paint surrounding the screws of the panels and pointed that out to the potential buyer. I told him that at times when a plane is completely stripped and painted this can happen when moisture or improper thorough prep of the bare metal can take place, (see my article on sand vs strip in the "Painting" section of this site) but it was a relatively easy fix that I would do for him while I was in New York being handy with paint and all. By this time the mechanic was on his creeper under the plane examining and what he found was somewhat astonishing. The seller had had the paint and interior done in Mexico at a place where many biz jet type planes were getting new lipstick as well. The owner had flown this plane across the Gulf of Mexico to a trip to southern Mexico and had the work done locally to his locale where he conducted business for about 4 weeks. They did an admirable job on the interior and the paint overall was okay, but the poor prep seemed to ruin what would have otherwise been an all around nice job. It turns out that in addition to painting some surfaces over a somewhat poor prep in some areas, he painted the landing gear actuation rods only in areas easy to see and get too which meant that the tops of the actuator rods didn't get any primer or paint and they were rusted at the hard to see upper portions of those areas. While the paint and interior were only about 2 years old at this point, severe rust began immediately eating through the metal hastened no doubt by left over paint stripper that they obviously did not properly wash out prior to paint. Seeing all of that had us delve even deeper in to the condition of this aircraft. Uncowled, the engine mount showed significant rust in places as did the landing gear legs themselves. Needless to say the potential buyer's smile was waning some as was mine.

I had some photos of the gear actuators but I cannot locate them at the moment, however picture about 3/4 of the tube that you could see covered nicely in white paint but as you ran your fingers on the upper part imagine the sick feeling of heavy rust eating away at the steel. As if that was not enough, the painters had removed the fairing below the flaps on both sides where apparently they used too large a drill to remove the speed fairing so they decided to re-drill other holes and install rivets in the new holes. However the holes they drilled were not drilled through the backing strip which lays above the wing skin, so they muscled the rivets in to the point that the rivets pushed the backing strip upward leaving a serious gap between the skins and backing strip in the areas where they were to mate together which led to the mechanic's thinking that there was damage history not recorded in the logs which was the last straw for the buyer so even when the plane's owner figured out and explained what had happened, it was too late; the buyer decided to pass on the plane. Fortunately the buyer still had faith in my efforts and had me locate a 252 Mooney for him which he is currently flying and enjoying.

This is only one example of an owner letting problems that are basically out of site/out of mind get to the point that it destroyed the credibility of an otherwise nice and low time Mooney 231. BTW, I did not further market this particular aircraft after these problems were discovered. The owner sold it to some unsuspecting private buyer who did not use an all important knowledgeable service such as we provide. The buyer was yet another unsuspecting individual who obviously subscribed to out of site/out of mind and one day soon he will find that the landing gear has collapsed due to all of the rust eating its way through the tubular structure.

I am often saddened by the fact that so few people know their airplanes mechanically enough to watch and at least check for such problems before they develop in to something a lot more serious.

Don't leave everything to your mechanic. He normally focuses on what it is he's working on and may not catch all of the problems developing in his customer's airplane, in fact, you can count on that. To me, it is up to the owner of the aircraft to get down and dirty with a flashlight on occasion in order to probe areas not easily seen by the eye, nor easily caught by the mechanic even if he seems thorough, he may not be or even care that much; after all, it's not his butt up there at 14,000', it's yours! Remember that, and remember that every Mooney owner should have my maintenance CD so they can learn all aspects of their aircraft part by part.  You should also have my in depth Mooney Inspection product that will help you to check and verify common areas of problems associated with your airplane. and (Package price available)

EPILOG: Again, it is not cheap owning any airplane, so rather than pay huge bucks adding new lipstick, be certain that the areas of importance are covered first and foremost. Keep your engine mount, landing gear legs, actuator rods, tubular structure, etc. maintained. That is a low cost way of properly maintaining your aircraft in a more youthful condition and remember; what you don't see can kill you at worst and can functionally obsolete your aircraft at best.

By way of a reminder, there are those so called professionals in general aviation that are in it for the money, and those who are in it for the love of aviation, and in this case; Mooneys in particular which is why we have been so free in providing 34 years of studying and loving Mooney aircraft as I do and passing on most of that knowledge free of charge to you. You have no doubt found a donation button to this site on just about every page, yet in all this time I have received only about half a dozen donations; period! Do you appreciate this information and want it to continue? Please help us offset the cost of running and maintaining this very popular website and take a few moments to donate towards the money and even life saving information provided.

Thanks for visiting our web site, and as always ...

Fly Safe,

zef

You need THIS and THIS (Package price available) and THIS

Hey now, who's got your back? You know dats right!

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Last modified: January 03, 2010