UrgeToFly

You are going to love getting some seat time. Getting some TT is icing on the cake. Flying an M20C is a great way to step up to an M20R... You mention nothing finer than a fully manual carb fed... Is this because of maintenance costs and reliability or are the motorized ones nearly as reliable? -- So nothing finer yet it can be cooler? Lol.. I have seen how quickly the price goes up for a small change in the plane. Secret number 2 - are you mentioning that if you don't get the gear up that you will just let it hang until you can do some Slowflight to pull it back up? I would LOVE to get some seat time, preferably closer to my home so I can decide if Mooney is even the right fit for me or if I should start looking back at other mfg's - just having trouble finding the people and planes let alone with available time to go up. I have no idea if I will even like the way the Mooney feels, one thing I fear is that I like to be able to see out the front really well, in the 152 I put a cushion under my butt so I sit up higher in the seat. I heard you sit low like a sports car and I always HATED driving stuff like corvettes cause of that exact feeling and loss of visibility, so I am dying to try out Moonies but just have not had the chance quite yet. Objective is for work and personal flight. For up to four people, two people often flying places for day trips and activities, then longer trips - vacation and such and often bringing company along, always wanting to bring company now but the only rental plane available to me all the time is a C152 so we have been limited to two people most the time. Wanting to be able to tour the country at times like a huge road trip by air. As well as possibly use it as a work commuter - when I can make the trip in reasonable time or a tank of gas. I would LOVE to finance something that was fast enough to make the 2,000mi work trips, but looks like that would be over $1mil for something worthwhile (P.180 Avanti EVO looks like a DREAM - thought again so different would have to fly it to see if I liked how it flew.)

So what happens if you get unlucky or something stops you from the full motion, any way to get that spring back or do I now have to fly until I am out of gas and find some soft grass? lol Thanks

I would LOVE to go up, regardless of what you allow me to do, just to get a feel and idea for the way they feel. I understand completely and appreciate the offer. So are you the one with the Shark painted on the front of the Ovation by chance? Was told about this plane and think I saw it out at site November but never up close. I haven't seen many Mooneys around KSBP, when I would come and go I only saw a mooney a couple of times at the self serve, the owners looked busy and I just got the feeling they would rather be left alone so I left them be. I would ask anyone on the field that I talked to and I would get names but that was not very helpful when I had no idea where/how to get a hold of them. Basically the common answer was - there's a few out there but I don't really know any of them. My issue with the J Bar is that I am not the strongest person and I have heard it takes some effort and have read complaints about it being tough for some pilots or having their co-pilot help. I guess I would need to experience it before I knock it - I can imagine it helps with muscle memory to do it mechanically instead of pressing a button too but just fear that if I feel weak now then what happens down the road when I get older? Alex, That is a beautiful useful load with your F, I would prefer to have a higher cruise but this is what I was looking at prior to thinking about using it for longer range trips, that extra 30mph on 5 hrs 30m flight would cover an extra hour of distance compared to traveling at 165. I really have no idea the real world specs, I hear all these 201, 231, 252 numbers (not sure if they are arguing knots or mph either, thought it was mph)-- none of the stories I hear from the forums with these planes seem to be getting those speeds, or at least in the end they usually report cruising around 170-180 knots (so seems like the 201 is reasonable but above that seems to only come from high altitude flying and when really pushing the fuel to a point you lose most the efficiency - which is a HUGE boon to the mooney) Thank you all for your help even tho I am so scatter brained right now!

I am pretty green with my planes, only familiar with the 152 and 172, most my hours putting around in the 152 cause its most available for rental. I am falling in love with the specs and look of the Mooney but I have not even had a chance to check one out up close/inside or get a flight in one (hopefully get to experience some landing, to see if its something I really want to buy). I am looking to buy my own plane and have a few things I am looking for and things I am curious about. Things I would really like in a plane to buy. Looking in the 60-120k price range, anything outside range that fits just perfectly please let me know. Fastest plane I can acquire with reasonable fuel burn - would love to get the highest speeds possible with preferably ~600lbs+ useful load left (with full fuel would be great but if it can get get 4-5 hours with 600lbs then that's still likely plenty - I know some hold quite a bit of gas but if you can get 10-12 gph then the 64 gals should be plenty when carrying 4 people - able to hold more is a huge plus) The more I research I find even if you spent enough to get the Acclaim/Ovation your likely looking at only 450lbs useable load. Seems like the F and J models are the most spoken about. I would like to have an auto gear system rather than manual bar. Preferably a basic auto-pilot system, IFR certified , would love to have a panel that is already pretty well equipped and not in need of work. ADS-B compliant. Hopefully a plane that was well treated in the past and has the equipment that helps me continue to treat it well I plan to put more than 100hrs a year into it, specially if I use it for work - explained below. I am sure I am missing lots of things I really would like, but the more things I narrow down the more planes I seem to cut out that might be perfect, but I really would like reliability and not to be hit with huge costs for maintenance unexpectedly (yes I know its possible, but hopefully there are some models that are less known for these problems) One thing I am curious about, some new work clients of mine might be upwards of 800-2000 miles away, would you fly your plane for those trips or would you jump on the regionals? I HATE flying on the regionals side of things... just curious if those long flights would be reasonable to fly yourself or if that;s just to far to be comfortable and after working for a week and having to fly yourself home (but with the ability to land and grab dinner or stay for the night somewhere different, no family so plenty of freedom) - would it be better or is it better to sit in coach where I am unable to get any sleep or get comfortable and just end up suffering anyways - expected to fly over 120,000 miles in first year - would you fly it yourself or regional? (sometimes with a co-pilot, often without) My regionals experience: often getting there so early so that your plane can be late, TSA steals your water but lets Billy Bob board with his buck knife and shotgun (useless job, I miss flying before 911) - the plane always has some problem, so they have to drive hours to get repair parts, you leave hours late, connection left before you got there, had to wait for another plane, finally make it to destination 6hrs to a day later than expected -- This is what I wish to avoid, flying my own plane would be nice but is it going to be exhausting and unpleasant after a work week to fly those long distances Sorry if my message is all over the place, not even sure what questions I should be asking ect.. I just tried to get my thoughts and questions out... Thank you for your help!