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Sauduster, you are right. You know him, and his 54 years of experience saved them both. I am so thankful for the successful outcome. Shadrach, the bang was described by my mother as a "backfire" sound. I don't think the problem was mechanical. They both said runup was fine and unremarkable. Regarding leaning during taxi, my dad didn't. Thanks to all for showing concern for my folks. I was, and still am, a bit shaken up about it; I just hope he and my brother are able to trace the problem down to something certain. I'll update as I am updated.

My father just purchased an M20B 3 weeks ago, it had been running great and was just 100 hours since overhaul. Yesterday my parents took off from a 3500 ft strip with trees at the end. My dad rotated around 65, was keeping the speed around 80 during the initial climb to aid in bringing the gear up. Just as he was reaching for the gear handle at around 100 ft, my mother says she heard a loud bang and then there was an abrupt loss of all thrust. My dad lowered the nose immediately, and had just enough energy at the end to round it out and prevent the nose from hitting first. Hard landing, but no prop strike or damage. With maximum braking, they were just able to stop the aircraft before the end. They taxied clear of the runway, and the engine was still running. My dad said the engine responded normally on the taxi back to the hangar. He and my brother are busy tearing it down to figure out what went wrong. His gut reaction is that it was fuel contamination of some kind, but I'm not so sure. They are very fortunate; 2 people have died in similar circumstances at that airport in the last 4 months. Anybody have any thoughts? Are there any things common to Mooneys that could have contributed to this sudden loss of thrust?

Thanks all for the timely and friendly responses. This forum has already been a great resource in familiarizing myself with Mooney maintenance and best practices, and I can tell I will be back here often with more questions. After getting a bit more time in the old girl, planning on a cross country from Phx down to Guaymas; I think the wife will be pleased:) Take care all, onwards and upwards

My father just purchased a 1961 M20B-mark21. He got it at a great price and the girl has been well maintained and is in great condition. He just checked me out in it recently, handles great. Flies heavy and stable which I like, and the manual gear is a real kick in the pants. I have been scrounging the Internet for resources on the M20B, and have found a couple of old POH's that are unfortunately rather brief. I am trying to put together a couple of complete checklists for the airplane, but most of what I've found have been for the C model or later. A couple of questions to any M20B owners out there: 1) the original owners manual mentions nothing about using the carb heat on approach, but the manual for the C model does. Which is correct? 2) are there any checklists floating around specifically for the M20B? 3) is there a more updated owners manual available? 4) what are some general guidelines for climb/cruise settings? The manual I have gives very little guidance. 5) in the manual I have, the shutdown check calls for advancing to 1000 rpm, pulling the mixture, then pulling the throttle back out as it stops firing. Is this standard practice? What's the purpose? Forgive my ignorance for many of my questions. I have been flying the 737 and part 121 only for 14 years, so getting back into GA has been a reeducation to say the least. Thanks all!