Jody Bays

[Jody Bays]

Call a locksmith, while I’ve not seen a Meyers, but my Cessna, my Maule and I’ve been told that Beechcraft all use desk locks, the kind you can get at a home improvement store, the little bar that actually locks may be modified though.
But a Locksmith should be able to extract the lock cylinder without damaging anything, or so I’ve been told.

A locksmith made new keys for the companies C-210, it didn’t come with keys. I think he just replaced the cylinder but I wasn’t there to watch.

[Jody Bays]

Ref seats, Maule’s seats are absolutely horrible, a lot like maybe a 60’s VW seats or some other budget automobile way back when seats were flat.
Anyway Oregon Aero absolutely transformed my seats, I didn’t think it possible, but where my back was hurting in that flat seat that if anything was caved in some in the middle in an hour I could fly comfortably for hours with the Oregon Aero seats.
Has anyone sent the seats to Oregon Aero?

On the sand, we will need 100 lbs with both of us and full fuel in the baggage compt, puts us at 100 over max gross, but at the edge of CG limits, of course off loading fuel puts us within CG and below max gross.
I don’t worry as much about max gross, a 10% overload used to be easy to get the AK FSDO to buy off on, over gross tells me to back off some on turbulence penetration speed and maneuvering G’s, but we don’t fly that way anyway, and would be below max gross on landing.
But CG, depending on what set the limits, could maybe be trouble.
I’ve been told by one of Aero Commanders test pilots that was at the Albany plant why the airplane is so restricted on CG range at higher weights, but as I’ve not seen an Engineering report, I can’t be sure.
However those Engineering reports should still exist

[Jody Bays]

Thanks, hopefully I will be signing a purchase contract very soon, maybe today? and arranging for an annual as opposed to a “pre-buy”, I don’t believe in pre-buys, for one to be any good it should cover everything an annual does, and if you do that, why not reset the clock?

Anyway one member is handling the sale, and another the annual.
I don’t know protocol here so I didn’t post names, don’t know if I shouldn’t.

But if all goes well, I hope to have a D model at home in my hanger in a few weeks.

I plan on taking her “Home” to the Albany plant where she was born and taking some pictures on how they were built. What’s called the manufacturing specs are identical to what they were in 1965 when Commander built the plant, so all welding and Alodine, heat treat etc are identical, as you don’t change an accepted spec unless you have to.
I don’t know the new owners of Thrush, but know all the workers and surely the new owners won’t mind me visiting.

I’ve kind of always wanted to at least fly a Meyers, well at least since working at Thrush anyway, never really considered owning one though.

[Jody Bays]

Old post so not sure I should post. but yes flight control balancing is extremely important, yes it needs to be done if painted, the specs will be on the factory drawings and hopefully in the maintenance manual.
an improperly balanced flight control could flutter, and that can easily lead to a fatal accident, in flight break up kind.

[Jody Bays]

My last attempt to post disappeared, hopefully this one will go better.
Like you I’m in the looking to buy phase, and like you I’ve been looking at other aircraft.
First everything I’m going to say is my opinion, and it’s likely to go against what many here will say.
First I don’t have a Meyers, never even flown in one, but I’ll get back to the Meyers, let’s talk about the Bonanza.
First forget the Debonair, it was never well thought of, sort of the poor step child to the Bonanza, then secondly the A36 while a very fine aircraft, isn’t in the same price level, usually. They often are way more expensive, but if you can afford one, it’s a very good airplane, probably the best Bonanza.

That takes us most likely to the V tails, which are fine aircraft, and for some reason seem to have come down in price.
If you buy a V tail that has been well maintained and if the magnesium tail skins are in good shape and you always hanger it, you’ll be fine. There is a huge community of them, many, many shops cater to them, there are many, many STC’s available and well they are everywhere so finding a knowledgeable mechanic is easy as well as parts and did I mention the STC’s? if you want to put an autopilot in, there are several to choose from.

Don’t buy any airplane with the intent to leave it tied down outside, but especially a V tail bonanza, if you can’t afford a hanger, wait until you can.

I’m not sure anyone has an autopilot STC for a Meyers? I assume airframe parts like wing ribs etc or landing gear just don’t exist, where they do for the Bo. Sure a talented A&P can make wing ribs, but due to labor involved. it’s not going to be cheap, but I don’t know any that can build a nose gear.

The Bo can be a real four person airplane, useful load is part of the issue with a Meyers, the rest of the story is the narrow CG range that gets very narrow at higher weight, some will say they fly fine over gross, and I’m sure they do, but that’s not the reason for the low gross weight, look at the CG range and that will tell you what is.

Now I’m wanting an airplane for the two of us, so the low useful load isn’t an issue for me, and I have a personal attachment so emotion will out weigh logic to some extent.

I’m going into this with the understanding that owning a Meyers is a little like owning a classic Italian sports car, sleek, sexy etc., but difficult to find parts and not many understand how to work on them.

See,I want a Meyers and I understand the issues, I’ll take a V tail if I can’t find a Meyers, or even a 201 Mooney, because we are just two people, really logically the Mooney makes the most sense for us, but I want a Meyers,even if it’s not the most logical airplane for us.

[Jody Bays]

I’ve not on a Meyers, but as it’s an STC there is a 337 required, one guy on Ebay and IA will do the paperwork for $190 I believe.
The weight change is insignificant so no rebalance required.

My opinion is it ought to be a minor alteration and shoud not require a 337, but my opinion isn’t worth much I guess.

[Jody Bays]

I know this is an old thread, But Harold Kosola of Kosola associates in Albany Ga rebuilds most any engine mounts, steel tube landing gear etc, and as the Meyers were built in Albany Ga I’d be surprised if Harold doesn’t have a fixture.

Harold isn’t a young guy so I don’t know if the business is still up and running or not

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