MBDiagMan

Well and I expect that there are few if any people at the factory with a 40 year span of Being immersed in everything Mooney, so I expect that he does have unique knowledge that is useful to the factory from time to time. I expect that there are a few other folks in the world that get similar calls.

That’s outstanding Mike. i expect that Don just sees it from a different perspective, and such viewpoints can be relative. My repeating what he said was probably a poor paraphrase of what he actually said.

Don made a comment in the course of conversation, and not in a bragging way at all, that all Mooney wants to do now is sell new airplanes, with no interest in supporting the old ones. Again, not in a bragidocius form, but said that they call him for information about the old ones. Hmmm..... I wonder why? He may very well know more about Mooney’s than anyone on Earth, and he may be the best at repairing, maintaining and restoring them, but he is something beyond that. He is just an easy going, easy to talk to, trustworthy guy. Hard to imagine how anyone could not like him. In rural Texas, we call our friends that are down the road five or ten miles our neighbors. He is about 50 miles from here, but definitely the good neighbor kind of East Texas guy. Around here someone like him is commonly called a “Good ol’ Boy.” In Texas parlance that is a complement.

I am in Northeast Texas and used to hangar my Mooney in Hugo. 6’3” is no problem even in a C or E as long as you are not too wide. IF you’re a 300 pounder you may find it cramped. My C is for sale because I hurt my shoulder and moving to electric gear. It is at Maxwells right now getting some avionics changes. I can give you a ride in my new plane in a month or so. Be happy to show you my C if you want to go to Longview. Dr. Ellis at Antlers would probably enjoy opening his hangar and show you his beautiful F that he has owned since new.

Yep, just sitting and talking with him is an education. I mostly only open my mouth to ask a question.

Don Maxwell told me that he would fly with me. I really don’t think it will take much for me to feel comfortable with her. I watched Don fly her this morning for the first time since the restoration. I had to leave before he came back, but she sounded and looked wonderful. Can’t wait until he finishes the avionics swap and I can take delivery. This has been more than finding an airplane to buy. Don and Janet as well as the others in the shop I have talked to, are really gracious and good people. They are an extreme pleasure to deal with.

Great information blue! I guess I need to try to be a Mooney flyer instead of slipping it like a taildragger. Great articles. Thanks!

Great! I slip the heck out of my C and about to move to an F. I sure would hate to be without forward slips in my arsenal.

So is cross controlling a problem with an F or J?

You’re making me feel bad Paul. I hate giving up my Johnson Bar landing gear, but I hate giving up a Mooney even more. With the shoulder unable to handle the gear any more I guess I could go to a 182 or 210......, nah. To the meat of the thread though, my new to me bird has speed brakes and I am looking forward to learning how to take advantage of them.

Yeah, as Don indicated, let us know what specific part of Fort Worth you are moving to and working in. The Dallas county choices probably won’t be best except for Grand Prairie which is on the line between Dallas and Tarant county. Let us know where and Welcome to Texas.

If you want a good anchor on a budget, I made some that work very well from a few odds and ends from the hardware store. Each anchor consists of three 12” long sections of 3/8 chain. Just cheap soft chain is fine. Hook one end of each chain to a round ring or one end of an s hook. Then use three long spikes. These are probably a foot long and look like huge nails. Spread out the three chains 120 degrees apart. Once stretched out, drive a spike at an angle to ward the center of the three legged spider through the outer link of each chain. Then hook your tie down to the s hook or whatever you used to connect the three chains. I used this at the Cessna 120-140 National Fly-in and it worked great even through a pretty significant gusty wind. Hope the description makes sense.

The F I am buying has hydraulic flaps as does my C, so I expect to feel at home in that area. I am a tail wheel pilot and don’t use flaps a lot anyway. On a visual approach I don’t adjust the sync rate with the power either. After gradually powering down during descent, I more or less, just chop the power and glide it in. I am not a very sophisticated pilot. I say that and I do use power to adjust sync rate when on an approach. There is one difference I have thought about a lot is the gear. With the Johnson Bar the position of the gear is glaringly obvious. I do have a habit of checking multiple times for a green light though.

Makes perfect sense. From all this I expect that I will end up doing a little flying with Don when I pick it up and be good to go. Thanks for all the responses.

Yes, I found the electric conversion parts available from a salvage plane. It would have meant 12 hours or so driving one way to remove it with a bad shoulder and something less than a weeks work to put it in. Parts were $4500. I may had that much more in it with my local shop doing much of it. Still that all would result in a downgrade of the plane IMHO.

Is this program still in place? What in/out transponder do you offer? I would be replacing a 430 non WAAS and a 327 Garmin transponder.

I have over 100 hours in my C. Due to a shoulder injury that prevents use of the Johnson Bar, I am moving to a beautiful F that has been gone through by Don Maxwell. It is very much a J with the 201 windshield, cowl and rear window. Speedbrakes will also be new to me. I flew a friends F a few weeks ago and landed it with no problem. Maybe I was just lucky and maybe overconfident since he was ready to take the controls if necessary. So..... do I need any transition training?

Yes Marauder that engine light is installed just to the right of the gear lights. I do realize that the position of the JPI will make me happy to have my trifocals. The group on this forum never fails to impress me. Collectively you guys are a virtual aviation encyclopedia, not to mention a friendly, encouraging and supporting group. I have a few days to make this decision. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, and Tuesday, wedding to attend Saturday, and bad weather for several days. It’s about 45nm to Dons place, so I will fly my C over there next week for whatever gear swap I decide to do. I will have to fly it gear down, but even at 120MPH, it should be less than a half hour in the air. Thanks again! I still haven’t decided, so please keep those ideas and information coming.

That is my thinking too. I don’t think I am alone in having love for the Johnson Bar. When I was looking for a C, if it didn’t have manual gear, I wasn’t interested. I think it would be a downgrade when it comes time to sell. I did not foresee my shoulder problem. As it turned out, that is the wildcard.

Yes, I did ask about the conversion. He said probably about $20K, possibly a little less.

Great information coming from this thread! jetdiven, Don pointed out the alarm light and such. It is to the right of the gear lights. He said that the JPI installation was not legal unless that light is on center or left of center, or words something to that effect.

This is a long story folks, so bear with me. I have a WONDERFUL C model that I thought I would be flying as long as I can continue to get a medical. When I got it, the panel consisted of: 430W with CDI KT76 Transponder KX155 LOC/GS King DME Marker Beacon The plane is 100% corrosion free, new paint, 250 hour SNEW engine and prop when I bought her, about 400 hours now. Tanks recently resealed by Dugosh. The plane has been hangared at Kerrville and taken care of by Dugosh for decades, before I bought her a year and a half ago. I took her to the Avionics shop for a GTX345 about two months ago. While she was there I tripped on the brick steps leading up from the pool and hurt my right shoulder breaking the fall. Turns out there is a benign growth in my shoulder and surgery is imminent. This means the Johnson Bar is out for me for a long time. I have thought about moving to a long body, but would not have given her up for a long body had this shoulder problem not entered the equation. SO...... I am buying a beautiful electric gear F from Don Maxwell that he has been going through. The plane appears to be of the same quality as my C. The panel has a 430 non WAAS and a Garmin 337(non ADS-B.) In the deal, Don agreed to swap the 430W, GTX345 and Card Compass from my C into the F (I think of it as a J since it has 201 cowl and windshield as well as back glass,) and I will take the C there for the swap. I am only about twenty Mooney minutes from Maxwells. Here is where I am asking for opinions and help in thinking this through: the 430W and the card compass are going into the F for sure. The GTX345 is where my dilemma lies. I spent a small fortune to get it into the C and it is fabulous. If I move it to the F and put the 327 in the C how much difference will this make in the marketability and price while I am selling the C? The attached photo is the F panel. Thanks in advance for your opinions, comments nd advice.

Well Paul, what if you put the J windscreen and cowl on an F?

Yeah, push comes to shove I can stow the gear. Getting it down is not too difficult.

I have never considered myself a weakling. Before my shoulder problem I could stow the gear with the best of them. I tried the dip this morning and set my shoulder on fire. At this point it is just too tender. I have had an MRI, a CT scan and two appointments with the sport medicine ortho Doc. There is a growth in there and other problems. There is no solo Mooney flying any time in my near future. I am even at the point of heaving to decide whether to convert it to electric, trade up or get out of the Mooney business. Not the best day of my life.