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As of today I have owned at least one Mooney continuously for 40 years!

So when I sold my Cherokee 235, I had my sights set on a Turbo Saratoga - the thought of luxuriating in all that space while moving along at a decent clip…. My Wife told me I’m nuts. What do you need all that space for? It’s going to be just you most of the time. You should get a Mooney, she said. She thought they were the best looking birds on the ramp! So I took her advice. I’m now about 50 hours in to my Ovation and I absolutely love it. There’s no other piston engined single I would want. Oh, and here’s my picture from today. She was right, of course. All those empty seats….

Pretty excited to join the Mooney club. I’ve been looking for a while now and found a ‘71 m20c to call my own. Yay Aerostar!

This weekend trip to UK visiting Oxford and then RIAT at RAF Fairford, interesting line up this year with visiting F16s from dozens of allies air forces, the British weather did not cooperate for “proper 3D display”, so they flew “2D figures” Not as exciting as camping between propellers in Oshkosh

It's not quite that simple. Level attitude at what speed, weight, flap setting and CG? Even with the flaps fully deployed and the change in effective wing chord (straight line from trailing edge to leading edge), at reasonable approach speeds the level flight (not level pitch) attitude will still be positive enough to touch down mains first (but not by a lot while in ground effect). With the flaps up, nose up attitude will be even greater. Go do some level, slow flight with the gear down at 80kias or less and note the plane's pitch attitude. It will be significantly higher than level pitch attitude. Adding flaps will lower the pitch attitude at a given speed due to both increased lift, shift in center of pressure (aft) and effective chord change which changes the effective angle of incidence. There is a lot more going on in flight compared to simply observing the airplane on jacks. Bottom line - use the appropriate speed for the weight and configuration. It is indeed possible to fly the mains on well above stall in all configurations, but the slower the better. Nevertheless, while it is possible to fly the mains on with adequate energy to lift off again it is not best practice under most situations with the exception of formation landings were it is SOP.

Thanks for all the specific tips. I experimented with cutting into the case and thought it would be more of a thrash to do well and get sealed back properly. So I went with an overlay approach. Compared photos of the original -009 gauge pattern, measured angles in ImageJ and cobbled together a dial image in Powerpoint's vector draw facility, scaled as able and printed some dials out (someone with a real drawing program could do much better!). Used a dime to cut out the center and lined up the capacities at 22.25gal and "1/2" (estimated of course). Used clear repair tape to apply it and then installed in the plane as per prior advice above using RTV 108 silicone. Photos attached. I'm still going to either clean up the excess silicone or fill it carefully in flush, and then follow up with @PT20J's tape approach over the top. Also attached is a PDF of my Powerpoint of the dial faces (it won't let me upload the .PPTX here, can send if anyone needs it). I had to play with print scaling to get the sizing right (I put a sizing rectangle on the image to help with this). Just in case someone else has the same problem. It's not perfect but I think pretty usable and an excellent stopgap measure until the correct gauges become available again. I would imagine the approach would work with other dial ranges as well. Wing fuel gauge overlay.pdf

I flew to Grenoble, France (LFLS) to test it as a possibility for my upcoming IR/SEP check flight. It won't work for the check flight, but I had some great views of Mont Blanc and Geneva. The French Air Force was also landing there, which was really cool.

I keep my iPad nearby but not out, nor do I need to. I have trained myself to learn that there is little my G1000 cannot do very capably with a SIRIUS subscription. I do like referencing the approach charts on the iPad over the Flite Charts on the G1000. You might give a try flying a few legs without opening the iPad and see what you think. If you like it, throw away the mounting cases, just have a folding folio case in put in either in the seat next to you when flying solo or down in the map pocket.

I would round it less. You need to look at the line from the pivot down to the flat with the tab closed. There needs to be flat on that line or it will pop open.

You have a very smart wife!

This 100%. Our runway 36 is 2300’ and has a 3.7* VASI. Oh, and it slopes down at 0.12%. Trim for 1.2 Vso, 11-13” MAP depending on weight and wind, don’t touch anything until the ground effect, and sometimes it all works out great. @Shadrach, With the steeper approach path, I do need the full 1.2x to arrest the descent rate. Ask me how I know, lol. I didn’t know my wife was going to be out videoing my landing after my 7 hours of flying Thursday, but I’m glad she did. Put on a bit of a landing clinic :-) -dan

To add on to Ross’ post, i would add one of the most fundamental steps in learning how to land any airplane is the round out or what we use to call flare. Never do we land strictly level, but we continue to raise the nose in ground effect while keeping the cowling just below the end of the runway looking straight ahead, while allowing the mains to settle on the runway. The really proficient pilot doesn’t relax the back pressure till the yoke is fully back to take advantage of aerodynamic braking (with exceptions for crosswinds) before letting the nose wheel contact the runway. Over rotating, and losing sight of the runway straight ahead, risks a tail strike; more so in long body. We have all learned what happens when we fail to execute the round out or flare before impacting the runway; hopefully well enough in trainers so as not to be reminded in a mooney. So the pitch attitude on the ground really has nothing to do with how to land a Mooney or any aircraft. And lastly every formation pilot learns how to land their Mooney as fast as 90 kts on the runway killing the myth that you can only land at the “proper speed”. But of course a formation landing is very different from a normal landing. Aircraft need positive pitch on the ground for stability else, we’d be wheel barreling down the runway. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congrats! Quite a milestone. I hope to get there with the same Mooney for 40 years. I've owned my current M20J for 29 so still a way to go.

So I guess if all of GA stopped flying the FAA would shrink and everyone would save money? Or if we started paying a 10% of the cost the airlines would pay 10% less?

Mine is mounted on the copilots seat, unless there is someone in the copilots seat, then it is mounted in their lap.

Here’s my J Model in a level attitude. You can see that the nose wheel is firmly on the ground while the mains are 4-5 inches in the air. If you contact the ground in this attitude you are guaranteed to go bouncing and you will be in this attitude unless the airplane is slow enough to get the nose up. You can’t shorten or hurry uo the landing by “planting” it on the ground like you might do in a Cessna or something.

I don’t know who the broker is. I did a pretty good deal on my F with Jimmy Garrsion. The final piece was a 50hr scimitar prop hung for $5K on a hand shake. Jimmy failed to account for the spinner and backplate (J to F). Wasn’t even a discussion and he paid $$$ for express shipping to get me out as whole situation was unforeseen. Not sure who your broker is but 15yrs later I keep paying Jimmy back on that handshake.

I don't know... I kinda like the system we have. Having to call 1980Mooney and then all his neighbors to get permission to do traffic pattern work seems a bit unworkable. And there is NOTHING about China I would like to emulate... so there's that... We're actually all saying the same thing: WE have the best system in the world AND it's probably gonna get F$cked up sooner or later... Exactly how is the question. For my part, I'm glad to be alive now and not in 50 years. Things seem to be going downhill....

I've had the "computers will replace people" discussion multiple times over a couple decades. In my opinion, it's actually a very complicated issue, more than just some proofs of concepts in heavily-resourced and controlled environments, and more than is going to be decisively argued in a few posts. Replacing human pilots in the complex soup of the current civilian operational environment seems like an untested leap of faith. Traffic detectors and good autopilots are a large step away from replacing the pilot entirely. I'm actually a little non-plussed at the AF Times quote of the Secretary about being willing to trust it with weapons release authority. Hopefully he means that in a limited context. I'd actually heard of this project for a while (obliquely know a guy involved). While it's a necessary avenue to pursue for competitive reasons, particularly in ACM environments where the human factors can be severe, it's still a limited context. I think there are a lot of people with so much neophilia that they end up with blind spots. And there's a huge profit motive to push skilled humans out of certain roles in multiple fields, replace them with less-trained people, automation, etc. So it's also not a neutral evaluation in the civilian world. That 2 cents plus $2.97 might get you a cup of coffee.... somewhere...

Yeah, but that's not the whole story, is it? We all pay for lots of things through our taxes that we don't use. I have no children yet pay for local schools. I pay for highways I don't drive on. But I like living amongst educated people and Amazon brings me my stuff on those roads so... GA users benefit from a system that was designed for the airlines so they pay for the majority of it. Local communities benefit from having local airports so local communities pay for them. The whole country benefits from a robust aviation industry so the Federal Government subsides it. Airline passengers benefit from GA users using the "system" because it's safer for us to be on radar talking to ATC then flying around NORDO. The OP here was really making an argument for a "free" system for GA, not against it. That other aircraft had no excuse, even VFR, to not be talking to ATC and receiving flight following. If he had to pay for that service, he would have been even LESS likely to use it (rather then just being lazy which was probably the case). Had been talking to ATC, he would have been pointed out but since he was just a target, ATC was too busy to bother. And oh yeah: What's the biggest problem facing the airline industry right now? Labor. They need pilots and mechanics. Where do these people come from? GA. Killing GA through user fees would be about the most short sighted thing they could do. Which is probably why you haven't heard too much about it from the airlines lately...

We had a tail strike in a 767 that surprisingly nobody in the back heard or felt, the pilots did not know nor did the tower see but we found it on post flight inspection. So yes very easily you can have a tailstrike and not know it. Also crews have had engine pod strikes that were found out only through post flight inspection or tower reporting sparks.

Mooney mass arrival in action!

Many (most?) transactions of this nature are done as asset sales rather than stock sales for just this reason. The liabilities don’t convey in an asset sale. Some will decide the customer goodwill and company reputation warrant performing on the previous company’s promises. Some won’t. -dan

Plz call me Kevin Westbrook 539-292-0474 I worked at Brittain lcan trouble shoot and repair your system....I don't think it's a servo it's the servo control valve ty

Solar powered no less.

I had a similar experience with Jimmy (pre-Gmax), where something was missing but I did not realize it until after getting home. A check was sent for my costs, without any further discussion. As a sense of scale, I think it was about $250 in 2012. I bought a second Mooney from Jimmy in 2022 without hesitation, and had no surprises or regrets. -dan

I’m happy to report that enabling the alternate gain settings on the latest software version on my G3X has completely eliminated the porpoising I’ve been dealing with. I took the plane to the avionics shop for my altimeter certification and asked them to use the alternate gain settings we’ve heard about. I was told that I already had the correct version on the G3X but the standard gains were enabled. They enabled the alternate gains settings through configuration mode and on the flight home, the pitch oscillations I had going over were gone. YMMV, but this was the ticket for me.

I’m going to admit I’ve been looking at Cessna turbo 206s lately. I’m sure I won’t enjoy flying one as much as my Mooney but I have a lot of kids and for family adventures it has a lot of utility. In particular the 6 seats, incredible useful load and short/rougher field capability.

Friends don't let friends fly no UGLY airplane!!!!

It may be a $2000 difference and used value but it’s about $7000 to actually put that thing in

I had occasion recently to need the voltage regulator for my 1994 Mooney M20M. MooneySpace really came through! I read other posts about Consolidated Aircraft Supply in NY and I decided to contact them. They repaired mine and shipped it back to me in 12 hours at the originally quoted fee of $350 plus the cost of one transistor. Very friendly and efficient people. Here's their website for those who may need their services: Consolidated Aircraft Supply

Gipps GA-8 Air Van. It is not an airplane, it is the box the airplane came in.

Vaporware is often attractively priced.

Filed and dressed (flattened) the bottom of the locking tab as recommended (see pic). Worked like magic. Thanks! Mooneyspace rocks.

One advantage of a reputable broker is that they depend very much on referral business, and the last thing they need is bad word of mouth. Is the broker local to you? If you can't reach them via email, I'd probably try making a phone call and then stopping by during business hours. I would want them to acknowledge that the written description is different from the installed equipment. In the context of an airplane purchase, a GTX345 vs GTX330 is a rounding error (assuming the 330 is an ES and the aircraft is ADS-B out compliant), but if the description is wrong in a couple of obvious ways then it might be wrong in some not-so-obvious ways too.

It is recognized that those who make a profit from infrastructure pay more than private use. Toll roads commercial sized vehicles pay more. Taxis pay more than the same sized private vehicle. The size of the ATC infrastructure would be vastly different were it only GA part 91 operations. I dare say there would be little to no enroute radar. Finally there would be no ATC clearance requirement if it were not for government creation of controlled airspace even in IFR. All of this grew out if the Grand Canyon accident. The government wanted this system to protect public transportation and it is only right the airlines pay for the protection they get and required to have.We 91 operators should pay for the system we need, not the one the airlines need or are required to have.

If you dress the bottom of the tab with a file, it should fix it.

Some times I long for a turbo…hearing these kind of tales makes me glad I don’t! Good luck to you @T. Peterson

@1980Mooney So, that was an amusing diatribe on the depressing future of GA....was there a point to your post? You seem to be criticizing others' viewpoints and saying we have no clout (0.1% of the vote), yet offer no solutions. I don't think giving up is a good option. What I will say is that I'm tired of hearing how I 'expect' something for nothing; whether it's FAA services while flying, decent roads while driving, or police and fire service of reasonable response and competence. See, over half of EVERY additional dollar my wife and I earn is taken by TAXES (SIT/FIT/SS/MC). With what is left we pay MORE taxes when we purchase almost ANYTHING (near 10% here in Kalifornia), and then we pay yet MORE taxes just for the privilege of owning the thing (property taxes on real estate, tax on our possessions like cars and aircraft)...shall I go on? So, I pretty vehemently resent the implication that, "I expect something for free"! GMAFB! What I EXPECT is for the government for which I'm paying dearly to actually PROVIDE services...not merely to pay their salaries with the expectation that we must pay even more for them to actually do anything! I think I'm longing for the days when you just complained about gear-ups raising your insurance premiums!

@ttflyer makes many important points. There are arguably may indirect benefits of GA and many intangibles (read: someone can't make a quick buck off of it). A pool of engineering- and flight-minded people is a non-trivial asset. I could write an essay on the value of people with tangible skills, mechanical sense, handiness, etc. People have noted that the toughness, character, and practicality of rural agrarian America feed our military readiness. I think a similar thing applies to engineering and operations. Making GA more of an elite thing than it is already become by ad-hoc fees will further stifle the community. Also, I frankly like being able to fly without worrying about landing permissions and fees at every little airport, and ATC fees I hear international folks complain about. It's kind of like being able to get in your car and drive where you want. Yes, it's subsidized in some ways (though, net of burning jet fuel on the USAF's dime, I've definitely paid a lot more tax than I've ever received back in peacetime economic services). Recall that airport subsidies are in large part to maintain infrastructure, not make a buck. But it's also one of the privileges of living in this country that a lot of people have worked for. If you want to talk about getting "freeloaders" to pay... well now that would take a bit of time now wouldn't it? There are a lot of people who want to impose mileage fees on cars, congestion fees, tax certain cars, and otherwise somehow extract every transactional dime they can for their firm/state/government entity. A lot of these people have a business to promote (eTaxation!) or a power angle. And I doubt they're going to give us a break from subsidizing other externalities in return.

Opinions based on reptile brain thinking, conformational bias, assumptions, etc. all lead to false narratives; I for one would like to see the data if it exists!!!!

Sorry, Hank, this simply isn’t true. They may hire people who are diverse AND competent, not RATHER than competent. But far and away the vast majority of those new pilots are still white males. I personally have seen no significant difference in the new First Officers I’ve flown with, regardless of color or gender. In fact, the worst F/O I’ve flow with was a white male who wasn’t new. He had failed captain upgrade twice. Every woman I’ve flown with did a great job and all have become good captains.

The microswitch in the stall detector is hard to find and it costs over $100 from Honeywell. Can’t see Mooney selling it for $9.

I think I’d spend avlot of time with a voltage meter at both ends of the circuit checking all the connections before replacing anything… Its really easy for maintenance folks to tell you something is broken and we must replace that thing. It’s harder to actually troubleshoot what is causing the problem in the first place.

come to the darkside, get Garmin Pilot 8)

Trying to get them to come to KSFF next year. I think the PNW would be a GREAT place to have one in June or Sept! ADDED: Be sure to go onto the Mooney Safety Foundation website and to go Contact (Top Right or the bottom of the page) and send in your comment!! https://www.mooneysafety.com/

There is no history of rectal cancer on my father’s side (7 aunts/uncles) nor on my mother’s side (11 great aunts/uncles). I have almost 200 living relatives third cousin to great/aunt-uncle. I have a female first cousin who had some pre-cancerous polyps removed, otherwise octogenarians. These days rectal cancer is the cancer flavor, while in years past it was more did you have family history. My intent isn’t to debate it is just to say I had no history and never a health issue. In 2022(52yrs old) I was really tired. I ascribed that to traveling 150+ days a year. Then I had some interesting digestive issues in August. By the time I finally got myself scoped in early November it was stage 4. I sat next to a fair amount of people getting chemo bullshitting and eating Cheezits. A few of them died. You do you, I am not a Doctor but I am a survivor. I have seen people who look better than me at the start melt away in the chair next to me taking chemo and die. If this message saves one person, makes me happy.