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Not your father's airplane.

2008 Acclaim Type S and 2009 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet. Both have twin turbos and both are fast!

Since we don't have any kids, I concider these as my children 1967 427/435 roadster and my 1966 M20C. The second picture also shows my first little bird 1973 C150L. My wife said something had to go (me or one of the kids) . . . Just kidding

66 M20C and 1970 Plymouth Duster 340 for me!

Thought I had a picture of the plane and bike. The car is parked in the taxi area, so close enough?. When the weather is cloudy these were option 2. This is why we love our Mooney.. It's all about the speed -Tom

1977 M20J and a twin turbo 2009 BMW 335i. The plane is heavily worked on as detailed in other threads and so is the car. ~475 AWHP and a 12.01 quarter mile. Ought to do until I can get me a fast car. But it hauls dogs and pulls a trailer adequately. It also did 140MPH on the straight portion at Texas World Speedway. Both should do 201 MPh but only one has been verified as of yet.

I wish to share my experience in finding an issue with my ignition system. I really like the Savy Analysis tools. I can sit on the PC for hours and view the data from my flight logs. For the past several months I noticed a stumble while flying LOP. I call it a stumble but once at LOP I feel a very quick shudder almost like turbulence for a nanosecond. All engine indicators are in the green. After researching this a bit more I decided to test the ignition to see if something can be revealed as a weak link. I have a new ignition harness, recently overhauled mags, and Tempest fine wire plugs with 300 hours on them. I flew at 8500 and ran an LOP mag check per Savy instructions. Their detailed flight analysis showed the following. The L, B, and R stand for "left mag", "both mags", and "right mag". Note the EGT1 going cold during the right mag test. While on the right mag, sparkplug on cylinder 1 was cold. It was not even firing I do not believe. The engine was rough on the right mag. I replaced the plugs on cylinder #1 and ran another test. Indeed the bottom plug was bad with a cracked insulator. My A&P said it looked like it had been dropped. See the new data with new plugs in #1. Now temps are normal and the engine was very smooth at 50 LOP. Savy has some very nice analysis tools and I appreciate the help in determining the source of the issue. Just sharing this information in hopes it helps someone. Russ

I have driven so many different cars and motorcycles over the years it's hard to pick just one. But these two come close - 650+ hp Red '79 Mustang and my "Barcalounger on Wheels" '08 Ultra Glide Classic - both give me a thrill like my Mooney...(and my Hatz)

Yeah, or will be in a week.

Not by any means in order of adoration level.

During an annual there are a lot of decisions about what to fix and what to defer. Without your input the mechanic is left to make all the decisions. They may not be made strictly for your benefit. You should be involved in those decisions.

Huh? I can name loads of scenarios were it's more efficient. It's not cheaper, but additional passengers help. My bird is only good for 150kts and there are trips nearing 1000 miles that think could be done faster via Mooney than airline. Certainly more pleasant. As for the OP, to me, your post reads like it's time to get out of GA. Calling a 4 place mooney a "flying jetski" illustrates that your feelings for you own machine border on contempt. I think you should sell your plane and avoid GA or man up and buy something that's worthy of your admiration.

Looks a bit like shelter cove

The trifecta :-)

Here is a straight and level pic. TAS well over 200. I do have TKS on my plane, so that slows me a little. BTW, my Acclaim is for sale. https://premieraircraftsales.com/index.php/mooney-aircraft-inventory/2008-mooney-acclaim-n708pj Time for a PA-46T.

RV-4 It has the Mooney beat in about all aspects, except seating, which is occasionally important.

Schempp-Hirth Ventus 2a

Showing true Mooney CB status...spend thousands to fly round trip from home in SoCal to Virginia (Hampton Roads Airport, KPVG) and then get the cheapest rental clown car they offered.

Since the inception of The Money Flyer way back from May 2012, I have read every single magazine online. Each edition has fresh information and tips and techniques which are timely and appropriate for the beginning Mooney owners as well as the most experienced pilots. This is a product of the hard work of Phil Corman from California. And the reason I recognize him is because, like us at the Mooney Summit, he provides his product completely for free. Yeah, he might get a few dollar from advertising, but not nearly enough to defray the cost of the man hours this requires. He and Jim work on the magazine full time and has about 10 contributors to help in the contents. This is no easy job. Especially when you have another job to do so he can pay the costs of producing The Flyer. Speaking with Phil today, he thinks like Mike and I. We love the Mooney community and love to make better pilots through education. So keep up the good work Phil and keep making the job of flying Mooney's more interesting, safer, and entertaining. Ron Dubin

Or just a J/K that represents em all

I remember looking into my '65s wing and seeing shiny silver.

Here are my rides. I wish I could say both Mooneys are mine but the one on the right is my M20E.

Yes, certainy would not be worth it if that were the case. No weather on that trip. Only 11 knots on the nose, which is somewhat rare heading that direction around here, that’s why I took advantage up there, and actually the headwind was lower up higher that day. Most of the time that I am flying between Erie and Boston, I head East up in the FL’s and make the return trip lower. Performance based planning in Foreflight is expensive, but it makes those decisions easier. But a key thing for the OP to remember is that if you want to fly fast, you have to be willing to fly high. Otherwise you are not taking advantage of that nice thin air. But the price of admission is a turbocharger and an instrument rating. Brad

Assuming there are no show-stoppers, it should take a week. If it's been two weeks, I would definitely be on the phone.

Well, I would like to tell you it's crap and thus avoid a bidding war, but pilot honor forces me to reveal that my reception is excellent. Could be the radio (KX170B)

Everyone has never needed a chute. Only a few chute pulls wouldn't have been landable without it, survivability at that point is due to aircraft construction. I've seen video of Cirri arriving badly and pretty much disintegrating in a shower of tiny carbon fiber fragments, that's not survivable. So I guess I've talked myself around to the position that some planes need chutes, but Mooney isn't one of them . . . . They are built to be safe. It's up to each of us to fly safely. Then we won't find out how safe the airplane is or isn't. I've read enough to know that Mooneys are safe planes. I've also read enough to know that accidents happen. But I still consciously try to fly safely. Don't let that chute enable you to make flights that you wouldn't without its comforting presence; that's not safe behavior.

Huh? One guy lands in a field in the middle of nowhere and suddenly no one needs a chute? That's quite a leap.

You need a Heli-Coil. Its an insert, threaded on the outside to screw into (a new, larger hole in) your wing, and threaded on the inside for your tie down ring. I don't remember the tie down thread size. Your best bet, if Clarence, sabremech or someone doesn't post it, is to walk into your local industrial supply shop, set it on the counter and ask which heli-coil you need. Just don't mention "airplane"! (It frightens some people--tell 'em its a movable tie down ring to fasten things to a trailer.) They should know, or the package should say, what size hole to drill. They are simple to install. But because you'll be drilling into your plane, better involve your A&P!

I'm sure if you pony up for a new one, Mooney will paint it however you like. As for the parachute, Dan didn't need one when he landed in a field unconscious. Even if he'd had one, he couldn't have pulled it. What happens to the Chute-birds when they come down without the chute and the pilot unconscious or disabled?

Yes Anthony, the 3 into 1 probe shows up on Savy as TIT. Russ

I wonder if hes based in Gainesville, FL?

This was not my experience either. My plane spent 4 weeks in his shop for a PPi and annual. I asked him to do the 310 HP STC which he said would take less than a week. 4 weeks later the plane was still in the shop. STC was done incorrectly. Fuel flow was set too low which results in really high CHTs (he said he didn’t even check it), RPM maxed out at 2650 instead of 2700. He assured me the speedbrakes were ok and I ended up spending $5000 to overhaul them within a week of buying the plane. Brake disc was worn below limits and there were several other airworthiness issues that were missed. There was also a big fuel leak he missed. Spent over $12k at his shop and when I asked him to “make it right” he hung up on me. I’m glad you had a good experience there, but I did not. If it hadn’t been for all the praise and superlatives used when referring to Don Maxwell on this site I would have had the inspection done at the MSC I had used previously, but I had the plane flown to Texas because I wanted the “best.” In the end, I ended up flying the plane to the other MSC to have Don’s shoddy work repaired at my expense and kicked myself for not having used them in the first place and wasting my time and money with Don Maxwell. He may have the knowledge, but quality control and customer service are horrendous.

Then, that was a bad example, stop proving me wrong! I'm sending this by tapping bare wires cause all three of my computers, both phones, and my ipads failed explosively.

'66C and '09 Viper for me.

I have nothing but great things to say about Don and his family. They have always gone out of their way to help me resolve any issues I've had with my aircraft. I did purchase this aircraft directly from Maxwell. So far it's been a pretty awesome airplane.

nice find. Thanks for sharing.

Customer. I dunno, I think it looks cool.

The secret passage is IFR flight plan.

Bulk or fleet fuel pricing! Normally cost plus x¢. It's amazing the delta between retail and bulk pricing. Right now jet A cost about $2 per gallon. Some fbos will retail around $7 per gallon. I have not looked at the delta with 100LL. -Matt

Not a Mooney story, but on my solo long cross country I lost a mag on the first leg. My instructor sent a mechanic out with one and by the time he got to me and fixed the 172 I was off a bit late. Leg two took me to either Ft. Pierce or Stuart, I can't recall which one. Anyway, the one I was supposed to be at was untowered, but as I came down for my T&G I saw a tower and wondered what it was doing there. That also explained why no one was on the radio and it did seem like other planes were avoiding me. Because of the gators in Lake Okeechobee I decided to skirt it and that added a bit of time to my flight. I wound up landing in KVNC after nightfall. It was my first use of pilot controlled lighting, so cool. Anyway, I flew back the next morning and I think I overflew one of the MacDill restricted zones because an F15 flew right under me. When I landed back at KSFB my instructor ran up and said something like "Where the hell..." and I said "Has the FAA called yet?". Then I said, "You should have seen my night landing!" Then he said "But you don't know how to land at night." "I do now." We can add "student pilots" to the old saw: "God looks out for fools and babies."

Richard, Richard, Richard . . . . (I do that well, it's my brother's name, too). You can't just throw real information into a derailed thread like that! Go pull your plane out of the hangar and push it back inside three times without flying as punishment!

I remember my first commercial plane ride about 5 years old on a transcontinental trip to SF (the old continental airlines on a DC-10 - I don’t know why I remembered that).I had my head pasted to the window and was pretending to fly the plane left and right with the little ash tray cover as a steering wheel. This kid is an aviation junkie’s kid genius hero.

My experience has been if you want your plane "good enough" Maxwell is the place to go. He did a ppi on one of our planes, a plane he had worked on often. He found a bunch of little things and missed some big ones, like when his shop did gear pucks the year before the nose assembly top cap was backwards causing some screwy handling. The fuel setup wasn't right, something he said "was normal", it wasn't. Best of all, someone, and I can't say it was him, decided to go back and cross out the tsmoh entry in ink on every logbook entry he had made since the engine was worked on. This happened between when the books were scanned and when we picked the plane and physical logs up from maxwells shop, our first chance to see the physical books, after we had closed on the plane. He's certainly knowledgeable, but I wonder if he isn't maybe getting closer to thinking about retiring or if QA is slipping a bit. Maybe the planes owner had spent enough money there he wanted to help with the sale? No idea, will never know.

Well at least I now know that i am not the only one that straps in with keys still in pocket.

No patience to read any of the above. This is the way to do the pattern for the M20F from 23 years of flight instructing in Mooneys. Get my video for more demonstrations. Don Kaye, Master Flight Instructor Traffic pattern M20F.pdf

Some stories have a happy end tho... The US 1.000,00 Cherokee I follow the blog written by the owner: this old cherokee

Alarms & lights wouldn't help if your delivery tube is kinked. This can also happen: https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/NitrogenUsedToFillAircraftOxygenSystems_196776-1.html You could plug in this sort of device: http://www.surgivet.com/catalog/anesthesia-accessories/low-oxygen-pressure-alarm.html The flow meter is supposed to be part of your "scan". I usually make sure that I do the oximeter test at call out altitudes.. 12.5, 14K, 18K, cruise level off. In the end the GFC700 G1000 ESP system is the answer. If the pilot is not responsive (pushing buttons, turning knobs) , it auto-descends to a lower level, and that still wouldn't have helped for the accidents with CO problems.

The old E6B is kind of stupid. Instead use trigonometry. Or just use a E6B smartphone app. The old whiz wheel is odd and outdated. It still doesn't teach one the fundamentals of trig.

Ex SR-71 pilot said, "You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3."