Leaderboard

You won't get insurance in California as a student pilot in a Mooney, @Parker_Woodruff tried to get it done for me last year. I'm glad though, I ended up doing most of my training in a 150 and passed my checkride in it, then bought my Mooney at around 100TT. There's a lot more going on in the Mooney, in the 150 I could concentrate on stick n rudder skills and it's harder to get behind flying a 150. Also, since I was in a club, the 150 had 100hour inspections and I never had to worry about maintenance etc other than a couple scheduling issues. Just another distraction avoided so I could focus on my training.

If you have been cyber stalking me on FlightAware, you know I haven't been flying much lately. Between my new shoulder and way too many periodic inspections and installing a new audio panel, me and the plane have been down for a while. So I decided to take a long cross country. Sorry, no pictures. The wife and I decided to fly to a Savannah GA. I got IFR current, the plane is IFR current and all my databases are up to date. We flew all the legs out there VFR so we could listen to an audio book. I should have flown the last leg IFR but I didn’t. We decided to fly the first day to Hot Springs AR. We got the last hotel room available in KHOT. We could have stayed in the fanciest suit in a 4 star hotel for what we paid for that POS room. The whole town turned out for the fireworks display. It was refreshing to see small town America in action. We got a seat on the patio at a Mexican restaurant near our hotel. We ordered a beer, chips and salsa and had a great view of the fireworks. Both legs getting to KHOT were flown at 13500. We were getting about a 15 KT Tailwind the whole way, so we were scooting along pretty good. The next morning we decided to do two legs to get to get to Savannah. We could have done it in one, but we don’t like to fly that long any more. We flew to Walker Co airport in Jasper AL at elevendy five and got lunch at the Pie Factory. It was great pizza. The crew car is a brand new Jeep Renegade, which was kind of fun. The leg to Savannah was a little more dicey. I tried to do 11500 , but the clouds kept rising and they were getting thicker. I didn’t want to get stuck on top and have to get a pop up IFR, so I just went under. It was more scenic that way anyway. And besides, there were thunderstorms ahead and I would much prefer to be VFR around thunderstorms than IFR, you have a lot more options. I had to deviate around a couple including a big one about 40 miles west of KSAV. On final there was a big one approaching from the north. The rain shaft was already covering the north half of runway 01 and the tower when I landed on 10. It was a bit sporty. After I landed the tower asked for a PIREP. They sounded very concerned. I told them it was moderate. When we got to Sheltair, it was pouring. They were nice enough to come out with umbrella's. Anyway, we are here enjoying the area. I will write another post on the way back. I may even take some pictures.

I can't let a post recommending Signature pass without comment. According to the Signature Aviation web site, fees for San Diego SAN for a piston single are as follows: Handling fee $40 waived with minimum fuel purchase. Infrastructure fee $8 per stay. Parking $115 per night. $115 is not a typo, and that's outside parking, hangar is $625 a night. Avgas is currently $9.18 per gallon. Matt didn't say when he was there, but that would be one hell of an Uber ride to cost more than those fees. Signature has done more to ruin general aviation than any other entity I am aware of. Use them at your own peril. I've used Crown Air at MYF. Busy but no complaints. Jon

Yup it’s like George Washington’s axe. Replaced the blades twice and the hub once. Still has 4000 hours since new.

A well written analysis. I recommend sending it to Phil Corman who produces the monthly Mooney Flyer as an article worthy of publishing. I do a lot of transition trainings, and by far the thing that prevents me from signing a person off is the last 5-10 seconds of the landing. It can't be done by Rote mechanical motions. While proper approach speed and slope can make the flare easy for an experienced person, recognizing the rate of pull back on the yoke as it relates to reduction of sink rate, increase in ground effect, and remaining energy requires practice and feel. After years of teaching I know when that "feel" has been achieved. Sometimes it takes 20 landings on the low side and in rare instances it has taken 300. In reading the landing accidents that were the result of pilot error---with proper training they shouldn't have happened.

Ok. here it is. brought it current and formatted it. For those that don't want the detail, here's the conclusion: Conclusion The analysis of Mooney M20R Ovation accidents highlights that landing-related issues, particularly those involving pilot technique errors, are the most common, accounting for 46.97% of all accidents and 87.10% of landing accidents. Loss of Control dominates fatal accidents (66.67%), emphasizing the risks of spatial disorientation and IMC. These findings suggest a need for targeted pilot training on landing techniques and IMC avoidance, alongside robust maintenance practices to address mechanical failures. Mooney Ovation Accident Analysis.pdf

As a Mooney specific instructor not that many DPE’s will do a checkride without right hand brakes or the Piper parking hand brake; especially for a Private. My favorite DPE, that owned a Mooney, won’t even fly without the brakes for a CPL ride! Some will though. Regardless it’s usually faster to get your private in a fixed gear trainer and then Transition to Mooney after; especially if you’re not real young. Age really matters here. Sorry but middle aged pilots are not nearly as fast learners as they were 20 years younger and personally this would be a big mistake for most anyone in their 60’s and later. Don’t even start the training till you can fly at least twice a week to get this done. Recommend completing your written before starting training to save time and $. Just my opinions as an experienced Mooney trainer. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It is almost always the field wires. Check that first.

As those of us who installed the early GFC500 autopilot know, there was a batch of servos that were defective. After numerous servo failures were experienced, Garmin solved the problem and gave owners of the bad batch 5 years of extended warranty to get them replaced. I decided to wait until one of mine went bad before having them all changed. Well, the roll servo went bad last December. Since my installation occurred not near my home airport, I had a local shop do the replacements. They spent a lot more time than Garmin had allowed so I got charged for the difference that amounted to over $1,300. I was not very happy, but all of the servos worked so I begrudgingly let it go. Following the issue on Beechtalk and maybe here on Mooneyspace, I discovered that I was one of the only ones who had been charged. I wrote a letter to Garmin describing the situation. About a month later I unexpectedly got a call from Ryan Owens from Garmin asking me about my situation. He said he would look in it. Several months went by and I heard nothing. Memory dimmed and I let it go by the wayside. I got a call from him today. He said he had been thinking about my problem and he wasn't comfortable with the outcome. He asked me if I would be satisfied to have a full year Onepak database subscription to satisfy the situation. I said, "Yes, and thank you". This isn't the first time Garmin has come through for me. I had an out of warranty Aera 760 have an issue and they did an exchange for no cost. Many have asked why I am such a Garmin supporter. In addition to liking the way their products work, I have had this kind of support throughout my dealings with them and I will continue to support them as they introduce new products that I didn't even know I wanted.

There was an awesome showing of Mooneys this year - I think they had 4-5 competing! Annabelle Kellogg & Gretchen Jahn (former CEO of Mooney) took 4th place in an M20E and Teresa Camp & Denise Robinson took 5th place in an M20J. Susan Beall - a Mooney owner - took second place flying with her race partner in a C-182. I am sad I missed it. Normally I am all about boasting about how fast my M20J is but in the 2024 race I wish it had handicapped a little slower If any of the boys on the forum have an interest in racing, I'd love a bit more competition in the Air Venture Cup! Added bonus, you get show center parking at Osh after the race if you want it! https://www.airraceclassic.org/top-ten-winners.htm

It really is unknowable which model is “safer” for at least this set of reasons: small number of incidents. Each new incident can meaningfully change the conclusion. no certainty on the denominator, definition or size. Is it hours flown? Landings? Miles? planes not uniformly equipped. If icing is a big contributor, can I eliminate or discount that from my analysis b/c I’m FIKI? Should the number of incidents in FIKI-eligible planes be inflated because *some* have FIKI and are presumably less subject to icing issues? But where I believe this phase-of-flight analysis can be useful is to find patterns in the hazardous phases of flight. For example, if the M20R has a high concentration of landing LOC mishaps, that should be a training and transition focus. It is a very different thing to say: “20% of Ovation mishaps are Landing LOC” vs “Ovation landing LOC mishaps happen twice as frequently as they do in M20E models.” Another example of concentrated risk by phase of flight would be base-to-final and especially go-around upswing-to-crosswind stall/spin wrecks in the Cirrus line. They stick out bigly, and I’ve had the misfortune of witnessing one. -dan

WOW Didn't know it went that far back but when did roll cages come to the fore? I did know it was shine runners at first though.

In some cases it makes sense to buy it back from the insurance company and have it repaired rather than starting the whole process over of looking, buying, fixing squawks, upgrading, etc.

Nice work.

If ever there was an airplane that needs a gentle touch on taxiing, takeoff, and landing, it's the Rocket. I think the prop clearance is about 9". They have been known to have a prop strike while taxiing.

Nope. Weather was OK. We had a microburst the previous day that destroyed about 6 planes at the open tie down ramps. But weather not a factor on this day. As I mentioned, an eyewitness has the plane coming in hot, hit hard, bounce, porpoise, strike prop and lose all control.

Actually, Jerry is over closer to Ft, Worth, but still in the immediate area.

He's listed here: https://themooneyflyer.com/cfi.html

Yes, and some of his designs pre-date that by quite a bit.

That has been dispelled by Bill Wheat years ago, but he still calls it a roll cage.

He was cleared into 35R which is the shorter 5000ft runway (the other 35R - 6500 ft) is. A friend who saw the accident said it was a hard landing with bounce and porpoise, strike and total loss of control. Took them nearly 4 hours to get the plane off the runway. Apparently, at least 3 occupants, all transported by paramedics. Although I hear they're OK.

I'm looking at the KX155/165 IM. If it is wire for a KX155 with glideslope, I am not seeing any extra wiring. The composite output and G/S wires should already go to the KI209. If you install a KI206, then yes, the composite output loops back to the other connecter, and a new set of wires to the KI206. I'm thinking it will work without modification Don

Frank Crawford said the factory is fine.

I pretty sure the KX-165 will drive both indicators. You will need to add some wiring to make the 209 work. I have a bunch of King pins (actually Molex) that I doubt I’ll ever use, if you need some.

Both airports are under the busiest Bravo in the world. MYF is a very busy airport with expensive fuel yet at a more central location. SEE is a quieter but still a busy airport with cheaper fuel but usually a bit farther out of the way for most destinations. Both have restaurants. If coming in IFR both will be easy. If coming in VFR be sure to be on flight following so you can get a Bravo clearance. Our controllers are very friendly, but if VFR know how you’ll transit over/around the LAX, ONT and/or SNA airspace, depending on your route in before you arrive. One possible easy option is just stay above 10K above the LA Basin till descending into San Diego’s airspace. Another is to stay east of ONT and fly a route like KCNO-F70-KRNM-KSEE-KMYF. Regardless of which airport you choose both have excellent FAA videos on arriving and what to expect with traffic patterns and runway hotspots that are very helpful to pilots new to the area. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Perhaps it was Mooney personnel that kept insisting on referring to the tubular frame as a roll cage: Or maybe Flying Magazine picked up the idea of a roll frame when they toured the factory: https://www.flyingmag.com/photos-mooney-factory-tour/ Or maybe Mooneyspace has been the culprit in the 300 times it's been mentioned on here: https://mooneyspace.com/search/?q="roll cage"&quick=1&updated_after=any&sortby=relevancy Or heaven forbid . . . maybe it was Al Mooney himself:

Here's how mine is done.

MT Propeller bragged about this too, but it turns out that their props are infinitely repairable as long as you bring infinite amounts of money to completely replace anything that might look like it is thinking of wearing out. Aerodon

Perhaps not purposefully designed with the intent to provide roll protection (who knows what Al was thinking at the time), certainly the attributes of the steel tube fuselage structure results in providing protection to occupants in the unfortunate circumstance that aircraft goes inverted. Or penetrates trees or other obstacles on the way down. Like a roll cage. I don’t know what else they ‘get’ incorrect, but can’t you give them a pass on this one?

The Cirrus is a plastic clown plane. Not every clown has a Cirrus but every clown at the airport does. Property tax is the reason I have a 67’ F. The property tax I was being charged for my 77’ B55 drove me to sell it. My vote is for the nicest well kept old airframe you can find. IE the evil you know is better than the one you don’t.

I think these are low: Pre-buy Inspection: $1,500 Insurance: $5,000 Annual Inspection: $2,500

+1 going through annual inspection, including lube points, choice of lubricants and timing/frequency of lubrication. Common items on a Mooney PrePurchase Inspection and what to make sure gets done. Common points where corrosion are found and easy ways to look for them. Gear & flight control rigging; what's right and how to tell when it's wrong. Removing & replacing gear doors for grass field landings. Examples of various equipment on the bench (i.e. alternator, magneto) and how they're serviced, what fails, and maintenance should/must do's. Gear swings and emergency gear deployment. Easy owner performed maintenance items (oil changes, tire change, etc.).

The Garmin material states that the pre-select only works with their GFC units. I was hoping it would work with my KAP 150, but no dice.

Fly early, fly high.

There has been terrible flash floods in Kerrville, TX, home of Mooney. There are at current count about 27 dead, including 9 children at a camp who were tragically swept away out of their bed in the middle of the night. We should all hope and pray our friends at the Mooney factory are safe and if anyone has a good connection reach out and let us know how they are doing. I hear the airport at Kerrville is the center for helicopter rescue. https://www.nbcnews.com/video/drone-video-shows-deadly-flooding-in-kerrville-texas-242745413785

There was a guy at my local airport who bounced pretty hard this past winter. The plane is still sitting in the weeds with collapsed landing gear, I assume until the insurance company decides what to do with it. According to the accident report, it was on takeoff: C-FGLX, a privately registered Mooney M20J was departing from Calgary/Springbank Airport (CYBW), AB, for Lethbridge Airport (CYQL), AB. After take-off the aircraft climbed to approximately 50 feet AGL and then settled back to the runway. Mixture was full rich; the throttle was full, the propeller control was full fine for the take-off and the engine instruments were indicating in the correct range. The aircraft exited the left side of the runway and contacted an airport sign damaging the left wing and collapsing the left main landing gear.

An M20E co-owned by someone I know went off the side of a runway on landing recently and hit a taxiway sign. Damage appeared limited to the left wing between the fuel tank and pitot tube, both of which were missed. I put them in touch with Don Maxwell's shop, and Paul seemed confident he could repair it. Didn't matter--despite the relatively minimal damage, their insurance company totaled it. --Up.

The one that fits the Bravo engine is now close to $2000