BKlott

Might look at Tucumcari (TCC) and Winslow (INW). Rode right seat in a C Model along that route going to and from Torrance (TOA) in the summer of 1970.

Completed!

You want $25K. The next guy figures he’ll be stuck with the engine job plus avionics upgrades. It will be real easy to burn through $50k plus taking care of those two items. So it becomes a $75k plus ticket for the next caretaker right off the bat. Even if you have to take less to unload it, you avoid the engine job and that will save you some real money and the associated aggravations that go along with it. There is a lot of thought that goes into selecting an aircraft for purchase. If you have unlimited resources, that makes it easier. This experience will leave you far more enlightened for the next buying experience.

All airplanes are “projects”, it is just more readily apparent with some than with others. As someone else mentioned, building a kit plane would provide the benefit of all new components, the opportunity to corrosion proof every structural part before construction and give you the option of completing it’s annual condition examination and repairs yourself. If your heart is set on going this route with an older Mooney, why not start with a newer C or E model, instead? The newer models up through about 1967 offer more features and product improvements over the original, first all metal B model. If you’re going to pour a small fortune and your heart and soul into an airplane resurrection project, it would be preferable to end up with a more desirable model at the end. That would help with value and marketability when you are through with it.

And you have a 1964 C model too!

I am sorry that this happened. I can only imagine how you must feel. My Dad owned a 1964 C model which was an absolutely beautiful airplane when he had it. Prior to him purchasing it, the owners had taken it down to Mexico where it had run off the end of a strip and went through a fence. This required the plane to be trucked back to the States where it underwent a rebuild at Norman Larson Beechcraft at Van Nuys Airport. The rebuild took something like more than a year to complete. When Dad bought it, it had a new three color paint job, new glass, about 50 hours on a factory remanufactured engine and a freshly overhauled propellor. He had the seats recovered and it was nicer than new. After Dad sold the Mooney, the guy he sold it to landed it a bit sideways which caused the one main gear (left, I believe) to fold resulting in damage to the gear, gear door and flap. It got repaired and eventually moved on to other owners. While in the stewardship of the following owners, it experienced three (3) gear up landings that I heard of and was struck in the tail while parked on a ramp by the tip tank of a Lear jet. Not too many years ago we ran across Dad’s old Mooney as we all ended up in Florida. I used to kid my Dad that the Mooney was happy to see him again as he was the only owner that didn’t cause it any damage. I tell you all this because there are recent pictures on the internet of Dad’s old Mooney and it has a new, really sharp looking paint job on it, while it continues to actively fly. Your Mooney can be fixed too, if that is what you want.

I don’t think placing a vibrator on the wings will get the old girl excited.

I think you should go ahead and schedule an IA for a pre-buy. It would be worth it just to see look on his face when he sees the plane and to watch him struggle with advising you to “look further”.

Stopped in at Williston (X60) today and topped off my tanks with $2.60 per gallon self-serve. Full service was $3.10 per gallon. If you’re in the vicinity, you might want to take advantage of this while it lasts.

Me too! The old version where we added the DC4 seemed to work better.

Runways at Bartow has announced they are closing until further notice: To help protect our community, staff and families associated with our restaurant from the Coronavirus, we have made the proactive and short term decision to close the restaurant effective immediately.Please stay safe and we will be back with you as soon as possible. In the meantime, if you have any catering needs please feel free to contact us at (863) 701-3116.

Some of the Alons had the optional spring steel landing gear as well. I thought the A2-A was the pinnacle development of the design. The raised turtle deck gave it more of a cabin feel but, more importantly, seemed to smooth the airflow past the cockpit, reducing drag in the process. The A2-A that I flew indicated 116 mph @ 2,400 rpm on a hot day with two on board. I’ll bet the TAS was closer to 120 mph as advertised but, either way, that is good cruise performance from a thrifty 90 hp Continental. Wished Alon had stuck around long enough to build and market more of the A2-A models. It would be a fun and relatively inexpensive plane for one guy to go flying in and take an occasional friend along for a ride.

I’ve been thinking about the shutdowns, closures and folks staying home in an attempt to avoid exposure. Isn’t this just a delaying action? When you come out of your isolation, the virus will still be out there, won’t it? Unless you isolate yourself until a vaccine is created and made available, won’t we still eventually be exposed to the virus? You’ll either survive it or you won’t. I don’t believe a vaccine is likely for more than a year, if then. I understand delaying exposure so as to not overwhelm the Health Care system. I wonder if these closures are going to accomplish much more than that?

I saw an Iron Lung machine parked in the hallway while I was a kid hospitalized for surgery. That thing scared me to death! Also remember everyone getting the vaccine on a sugar cube at our Elementary School.

Since it appears that we have only tested about 11,000 people (per NBC News tonight) in the U.S., it is understandable why we have so few confirmed cases of the virus. If we had tested nobody, then I guess we would have zero confirmed cases and nothing to worry about. Clearly, once the test kits become available and the testing becomes widespread, I think we’ll begin to see the true impact of this virus. I do not believe that it will be resolved in a few short weeks.

What incentive would Sun-N-Fun have to cancel? Attendees who decide not to come and display their airplanes, suppliers and vendors who pull out will all have an impact on the event. The organizers can say “the show will go on” however; the organizers are NOT the show. The participants, the manufacturers, the vendors are the “show” and whether or not they will show up remains to be seen.

Mandatory Service Bulletin M20-170A required replacement of the wood empennage with the all metal empennage assembly within one year. Quoted price was $860.00!

I thought there was an AD issued and that Mooney provided the metal replacement tail assembly “at cost” but this is from the deep, dark recesses of my memory.

I plan most of my flying trips around the weather as much as possible. When I see a window of VFR weather conditions, I plan my departure accordingly. If I caught due to weather, I’ll just stay somewhere longer. Ended up spending an extra four days in the Plymouth / Cape Cod / Boston area on one trip. Didn’t have any problems finding fun things to do. For those trips where I have to be somewhere on a specific date and there is no flexibility, I get a really nice rental car. Would’ve needed one anyway once I got there.

All-aero.com reports: M20C Mk.21 / Aerostar Ranger Engine: Lycoming O-360-A1D, 180 hp Wingspan: 35 ft 0 in / 10.67 m Length: 24 ft 1 in / 7.34 m Cabin length: 8 ft 8 in / 2.64 m Cabin max width: 3 ft 4.5 in / 1.04 m Cabin max height: 3 ft 8.5 in / 1.13 m Baggage compartment: 13.5 cu.ft / 0.38 cu.m Empty weight: 1525 lb / 691 kg MTOW: 2575 lb / 1168 kg Max speed SL: 153 kt / 176 mph / 283 kph ROC SL: 1000 fpm / 305 m/min Service ceiling: 19,500 ft / 5743 m Range 45min res: 1001 mi / 1610 km Seats: 4 1978 201 Engine: Lycoming IO-360-A3B6D, 200 hp TBO: 2000 hr Propeller: Const. spd. Landing gear type: Tri/Retr Gross weight: 2740 lb Empty weight: 1640 lb Useful load: 1100 lb Fuel: 64 USG Wingspan: 35 ft Overall length: 24 ft. 8 in Height: 8 ft. 4 in Wing area: 167 sq. ft Seating capacity: 4 Cabin width: 43.5 in

The MSE might have a cabin width of 43.5” but I believe the C and E model specs are 40.5 “. I think the 172 is 39”.

I’ll respond as a non-biased Cessna owner. You will not find a certified airplane that will provide more efficient cross country performance than a C or E model Mooney. The aircraft is also likely to be the most structurally sound airframe among the legacy high performance aircraft available. My Dad owned a stock, unmodified 1964 C model that had a factory remanufactured engine, freshly overhauled prop and new paint. It was slick. I seem to remember that he calculated it’s true airspeed at 171-172 mph at high speed cruise. I also remember his surprise at how quickly the airspeed indicator moved right up into the yellow Caution Range at cruise. It was impressive. All that from a 4 cylinder, 180 hp Lycoming burning 10 - 10.5 gph. This is something else to consider when compared to most other legacy high performance aircraft that have 6 cylinder engines in them. If you get caught with an overhaul, that 4 cylinder Lycoming should be a significantly less expensive bill for you. Now for the negatives. Mooney was inconsistent in corrosion proofing their airframes. Typically the fuselage in the area of the tube structure was zinc chromated. The rest of the fuselage and wings was typically not corrosion proofed. Some exceptions may exist due to inconsistencies in their practices over the production run which involved various ownership and management. The lack of corrosion proofing may render the airframe unairworthy due to corrosion, particularly in the wing spar. We have seen some owners unwilling to spend their money to make these repairs and have junked their airplanes. That is a sad outcome for everyone. You need to make sure that your Mooney is corrosion free before purchasing it. My only concerns about parts availability would be structural parts (like the spar) if I needed to replace one due to corrosion. Cabin room and comfort are not considered legacy Mooney strongpoints. My impression was one of sitting low with my legs stretched out looking up over the instrument panel, somewhat akin to sitting in a bathtub and looking over the edge of the tub. This is in contrast to sitting in a more upright position. I prefer the more upright seating position but that is just me. Shoulder room is, shall we say, cozy. If your mission is cross country flying and doing it efficiently, you would be hard pressed to find a better airplane to do it in than a M20C or M20E.

We had a problem with water in the right wing tank of our Grumman Cheetah. In looking in the filler neck you could see what looked like a big clear bubble of water down there. This was even after having drained samples until we got nothing but 100LL! It turns out that somewhere in the Cheetah’s past, some bozo replaced the quick drain in that tank with an incorrect part, one whose pickup was at a higher level than the correct part. This allowed water to remain in the tank even after we had drained out all the water, SO WE THOUGHT, during preflight. Of course, there was no log book entry to document this “work”. So, I will suggest that you double check and verify that you have the correct quick drain in your wing.

If their Autoland System becomes available in the SR Series, that will be ”game over” for those who value safety features in their single engine aircraft.

I’m hearing of paint and interior quotes of closer to $25,000 and up, plus “incidentals” these days. Besides that, don’t underestimate the TIME, INCONVENIENCE and AGGRAVATION that goes along with getting all of those projects completed. How many months of wasted hangar rent while your plane is away getting the work done? How many wasted months of Insurance and Annual Inspection lost while it sits parked somewhere, not flying? Purchasing an airplane with “the big bills” done, if they were done to your liking, puts you way ahead of the game even if you have to pay a bit more for it up front.