Aircraft
Certification Service Washington, DC U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration
2023-02
March 3, 2023
This is information only. Recommendations
aren’t mandatory.
Introduction
This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) informs owners,
operators, and maintenance technicians of an airworthiness concern for
Mooney International Corporation (Mooney) Model M20, M20A, M20B, M20C,
M20D, M20E, M20F, M20G, M20J, M20K, M20L, M 20M, M20R, M20S, M20TN,
M20U, and M20V airplanes.
At this time, the airworthiness concern is not an unsafe condition that
would warrant airworthiness directive (AD) action under Title 14 of the
Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 39.
Background
After receiving reports of landing gear failures on Mooney M20 series
airplanes related to improper maintenance, age, operational
deterioration, and/or failure to perform established inspection and
rigging requirements and procedures in applicable maintenance
instructions, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued SAIB
CE-14-12, dated March 14, 2014, recommending that owners and operators
of Mooney M20, M20A, M20B, M20C, M20D, M20E, M20F, M20G, M20J, M20K,
M20L, M20M, M20R, M20S, and M20TN airplanes comply with Mooney Service
Instruction M20-122, dated December 12, 2013 (SI M20 -122), by
following the applicable Mooney 100 -Hour Inspection Guide and Service
and Maintenance Manual instructions at each annual (100 -hour)
inspection.
Since the FAA issued SAIB CE-14-12 and Mooney issued SI M20-122, there
have been additional incidents involving landing gear failures and
gear-up landings in both manual and electric landing gear-equipped
airplanes. In response to these additional incidents, Mooney released
Service Bulletin M20-344, dated November 28, 2022 (SB M20-344), which
contains information on how to operate and maintain manual and electric
landing gear systems.
Recommendations
The FAA recommends that all Mooney M20 series airplane owners and operators:
- Continue to comply with SI M20-122 by following the applicable Mooney
100-Hour Inspection Guide and Service and Maintenance Manual
instructions at each annual (100-hour) inspection.
- Review Mooney Service Bulletin M20-344 for information on proper
maintenance and operation of the manual and electric landing gear
systems.
Additionally, for Mooney M20 series airplane owners and operators with
a Johnson Bar landing gear system installed, the FAA recommends that
you:
- Ensure that nose gear and main landing gear tensions are to specifications.
- Ensure the gear retraction components are regularly and properly lubricated.
- Ensure landing gear is rigged correctly during routine maintenance and airplane repainting.
Finally, following any gear-up landing event, the FAA recommends
reporting the following information to the FAA contacts listed below:
- Airplane make/model/registration number.
- Type of landing gear system.
- Date of last maintenance performed on landing gear system.
Paperwork Reduction Act Burden Statement
A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not
required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for
failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection of
information displays a current valid OMB Control Number. The OMB
Control Number for this information collection is 2120-0731. Public
reporting for this collection of information is estimated to be
approximately 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing
instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and
maintaining the data needed, completing and reviewing the collection of
information. All responses to this collection of information are
voluntary. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other
aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for
reducing this burden to the FAA at: Information Collection Clearance
Officer, Federal Aviation Administration, 10101 Hillwood Parkway, Fort
Worth, TX 76177-1524.
For Further Information Contact
Ramasamy Rangan, Aerospace Engineer, Fort Worth ACO Branch, 10101
Hillwood Parkway, Fort Worth, TX 76177; phone: (817) 222-4126; email:
ramasamy.rangan@faa.gov.
Jacob Fitch, COS Program Manager, Operational Safety Branch, 10101
Hillwood Parkway, Fort Worth, TX 76177; phone: (817) 222-4130; email:
jacob.fitch@faa.gov.
For Related Service Information Contact
Mooney International Corporation, 165 Al Mooney Road North, Kerrville,
Texas 78028; phone: (800) 456-3033; email: support@mooney.com; website:
www.mooney.com.