MBDiagMan

Thanks for the great responses guys! I have been in a hangar shuffle with the Mooney at an airport with $3.20 gas, so I began topping it off before putting away. I feel better now for leaving her full and setting for a month.

I topped off the tanks before putting her away for a month while on vacation. Was this the right thing to do? Will the fuel expand and cause leaks? Thanks for your comments.

I have only owned my Mooney for months. It is disappointing that it will be years until I know the handshake.

Yes. Check gave Sandy and I a ride while we're in Galveston at Spring Break. Chuck is a great and gracious guy and as Paul said, you will learn a ton from him. Fly safety pilot for him if you can so he can shoot an approach. I wanted to do that for him, but it didn't work out.

I left Tuesday for three weeks in Europe. I'm in Brussels right now working out jet lag, having a wonderful time, but I MISS JOYCE (my Mooney.)

Welcome! I am a recent owner. You will find MS invaluable. Look forward to following your search.

Don't worry about gear, low time, no retract experience... Just get a Mooney, the right, good condition Mooney, but a Mooney. Just do it. You won't regret it?

Thanks for posting the pic Joe!

Okay, $3,500 for the goods. Got it. How about installation cost?

I am just getting started in the Mooney world so the poll choices were not very appropriate for me. I have done some quick trips into Dallas airspace and back, but have been doing those in the taildragger. I am retired and plan on some serious distance travel after Sandy and I return from our three weeks in Europe. Along with that flying will hopefully come the IR.

I don't know how much discussion there has been about this book. I saw it mentioned on this forum and found a copy on Amazon. It cost fifty bucks and was worth every dime. The ending was quite a surprise. Al was a great designer/engineer and a fine man that was an asset to the human race. If you like Mooneys and like reading biographies, I would highly recommend it.

Annual cost on any aircraft is a wild card. If you find s solid, corrosion free example like Joyce, it should be affordable. Most folks here will recommend, and I won't disagree, that your prebuy inspection and maybe first annual should be at a Mooney Warranty Service Center. After that, if you maintain properly, and have the right IA, it will be a little more expen$ive than a Piper or cessna. You need to find a mechanic that is comfortable with a Mooney. Many are not. They are more time consuming to work on for many issues.

I am flattered! Two people have used a picture of Joyce as their profile picture. Evidently SMU colors don't bother the Ohio folks.:)

With some practice I think 2,400 feet will be plenty. My home field is 4,000 feet with a turn off at midfield. Since my transition training I have had no trouble turning off at midfield except one time in a really gusty wind I was dealing with. Even then I missed turning off only by a very short distance. I might have back taxied 50 feet.

I am 6'1", but I think I am long wasted. I fly with the seat forward. Sandy is 5'4" so she leaves some room behind her. I still don't think that two 6 footers would be comfortable in the back for very long. Haven't tried it yet though, so I might be in for a pleasant surprise. Sandy and I leave tomorrow for Europe. We will be back in three weeks and have a short flight with friends planned for then. We will see how it works out.

Chuck, maybe the forum just thought what you wrote was important enough to repeat!:)

A short body like a C or F will work well with three people. With only one in the back he/she can sit on one side with their feet in the other footwell rather comfortably. Two adults that are not small don't work out well in the backseat. For two in the back, you should consider a long body like an F or J.

This is why I have decided to keep my Cessna 140. It is great for shooting landings on a nice afternoon or tooling around the local area and flying over the home place to see what the grass, woods and ponds look like. Being a high wing, and having a very low stall speed, it is great for surveying the ground at relatively low level. It also is fun for short hops to meet friends for a quick visit. Out here in the NorthEast Texas boondocks, people you know in the next county are considered neighbors. It's a little too far by car, so ducking over and meeting someone at a small strip is a fun thing to do on a pretty day. Also the Cessna has a custom panel with six pack and center stack and is an IFR plane. I plan on logging some hours under the hood in it because I can do so on about 5 gallons per hour. So... I agree, if I didn't want something for longer distance travel, the need and justification for a Mooney would be difficult.

Great thread Paul! I am very happy with the condition and configuration of Joyce as she sits right now with only three exceptions: 1. I would like the ASI to have a clear lens. It is very foggy looking. I plan on taking care of that at annual. 2. I would like a fresh underlayment that is sandwiched between the panel and the individual switches and cables. It really looks bad and brings the otherwise nice looking panel down to a point of looking ragged. This will be more of a challenge than the air speed indicator because there would be so much work to remove all the cable and switches, not to mention the expense of having one made and lettered. 3. The interior is not totally ragged, but it brings the appearance of the plane down considerably. Not only the upholstery, but the metal work needs re painting and detailing. Not sure what direction to go on this and not sure when to tackle it.

Wow! This makes me feel like my Cessna140 is fast! It does at least 100 knots air speed true on a touch over 5 GPH. My Mooney goes point A to point B on less fuel than my 140 and gets there in much less time. For your budget you can find a nice example of whichever model you want, C, E or F. Do a proper prebuy with a Mooney savvy IA. You will love a Mooney.

I fully expect that the fact that most Mooneys falling under the same type certificate is no accident. Al began certifying aircraft with the folks in DC before he was old enough to legally drink. Literally! One of his values as a designer/engineer was his experience certifying planes. He had the system figured out quite well by the time of his 20th design.

Yetti's second item is a good way to do a preinspection before the actual prebuy inspection. Put a smart phone up into the wheel wells and take a video all around. Send it to your IA to look at for an initial corrosion inspection.

For those fortunate enough to keep their plane in a dry climate, all this is almost a non issue. My plane has always been hangared. For a few years in Dodge City, Kansas, but almost all of thatime has been in ahangar in Kerrville where it was built. As a result an old gentleman who spent years working at Mooney did the prebuy and told me that plane was amazingly corrosion free. It is difficult to beat keeping it dry.

Welcome hacair! Unless your whole family consists of dimensionally small people I dont think you will be happy with a C or E. It will be difficult to get a nice F in your budget with low time engine/ prop and a nice panel. Will you REALLY be hauling four very much? If I were near by I would be happy to give you a ride.

People make jokes about the panhandle. They are typically motivated to do so due to the geographical shock when they see the dry, flat country. Some of the greatest people I have ever met are in the Texas Panhandle. By and large, these are friendly, hard working, independent people. There is something about the lifestyle of the area that breeds it.