Vintage Mooney Drivers - New AD 2023-02-04, SB M20-345

masloki

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Nunya
There was a run of M20Fs that had steel + lead counterweights on the elevator and that have now started galvanically corroding. Having your elevator counterweight depart your plane could be considered not good under most circumstances. The counterweights also could have migrated from the M20Fs, to M20C-G up to model year 1968 or so, so they are all part of the AD.

Smooth skin tail, seemingly not corroded:
B5D8917E-0883-4F46-89EF-CAE5E5229FAF.jpeg.0b8eea7a6cfce7ebd2bb94b171952a70.jpeg


Corroded:
4BD64F41-CF20-4B95-91AC-1965EACCFB24.jpeg.35be9fcac1e88d95e2add265c9d7bfcb.jpeg


Beaded elevator, different part, not likely (possible?) to have the bad counterweight:
DSC08981__05142.1663783252.JPG


The AD:
https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...es-mooney-international-corporation-airplanes
 
Beaded or dimpled elevators cannot have those weights. There is not enough room, the arm of the elevator is longer.

The initial inspection takes about 1 minutes to do both sides.

Only 137 of the bad weights were made, so not a lot of airplanes .
 
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Steingar, you are mistaken. The required inspection for the AD is necessary for M20C's.
 
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