Utah20Gflyer

In Utah the terrain is quite high and you’ll likely reach it before you get out of the Salt lake approach area. So it doesn’t make sense to launch without being able to clear terrain VFR. Although SL approach can get very busy sometimes I’ve never not been able to get a clearance in a reasonable amount of time. This is probably because I’m based out of the KTVY which has a departure procedure that doesn’t conflict with KSLC arrivals or departures. I understand this isn’t the case for KSVR which does conflict and KBTF which you can’t get an IFR departure from. If I flew out of one of those two airports I wouldn’t want clouds lower than 5000-6000 AGL. If I flew on the east coast I might consider much lower but I don’t have any experience flying in that area. What I would accept if I found myself there would depend on terrain and airspace considerations on a case by case basis.

I had a work trip to Kanab Utah this weekend and ran into another fine looking Mooney. I believe this Mooney is associated with UteM20F who is a forum member. It’s nice to show up at a random remote airport and see another Mooney. My Mooney is the left one.

What a tragic situation! RIP Fred! He came across as a really nice guy. When I bought my Mooney I took the attitude that until proven otherwise my new plane was trying to kill me. It never did and eventually with some time I decided to give it some additional trust. Not total trust though, I still won’t fly over sustained mountainous terrain and limit my flying at night. Additionally I assumed I might do something stupid as a result of my inexperience and the plane could fairly assume I might be trying to kill it. Both the plane and I are fallible parts of a system. I don’t know what the facts of this accident are, but to me it is a reminder that extreme caution is warranted when a new combination of pilot and airplane come together. An intermittent mechanical problem can be confusing and presents a huge challenge to a new owner. It complicates diagnosis and makes it difficult to confirm the problem is fixed. It’s really a worst case scenario for someone who just bought a plane. It could be the accident wasn’t a result of a mechanical failure, but witness accounts have indicated the engine wasn’t making sound when it impacted the ground. So maybe it was. We will have to see what gets revealed in the investigation.

That’s an air horn that makes the Stuka dive bomber sound when you put it into a dive. It’s purpose is to strike fear in the hearts of Cessna and Piper pilots.

From the drop box pictures it looked like it at one time needed a whole new wing. Did that happen or did some other type of repair happen. I don’t think I’d want to fly a plane whose wing spar was bent and then straightened back out.

Some people have purchased a compatible LED bulb off Amazon and installed those. They create much less heat.

I’m going to commit heresy and just say that while I love my Mooney it probably doesn’t make sense to build airplanes the same way they were 60 years ago. This makes the equipment you would be buying from Mooney worth almost nothing. If you modernized the construction then you would essentially have a new airplane that would need to be re-certified. So why even buy the old company? Make a LSA trainer, a Mid body with doors on both sides, a long body with a new wing and gear, six seats and a rear door, and redesign the Mustang as a six place pressurized turbine. There have been advances in design over the years. It would make sense to combine the positive attributes of the old Mooneys with new features that would make them better. You don’t need old Mooney to do that. I propose a New Mooney, we could call it Nooney? Anyone have 250 million to make this happen?

If you go to an automotive paint supply shop they have books with colors in them. It should only take a couple minutes to find something that approximates the one you like.

If there was a plan to make money with the purchase of Mooney then I’ll put in 10k. But that’s a big IF. What is the plan? Buying the company or its Assets is just grabbing a tiger by the tail. The operating capital required is going to dwarf the initial purchase price. So how exactly are the Assets and a huge pile of money going to be converted into sellable products that create profits to sustain the ongoing operations and make my 10k investment turn into a 20k investment?

I have the electric step conversion and like it quite a bit. The retractable step down will cost you 2-3 knots. If you faired it I’m sure the penalty would decrease but there will still be a penalty. Personally I would do the electric conversion. You’re doing work and spending money either way, why not do it “right” and get the best possible results.

Personally I like having two modern Comm radios so I can get ahead of things. For instance at a busy airport you can have clearance, ground, tower and departure all ready to go. If it were my plane I would definitely add a radio but would do so in the easiest way possible. I would consider a comm radio that fits in a 3.125” instrument hole or another option would be an audio panel that has a Com radio such as the PS engineering PAR 200.

I would try to sell as is at a discounted price to account for the needed work. I don’t think that the financial risk and headache of doing major work is going to be worth it considering you never intend on flying the plane again anyway. Let the person who wants to fly it handle that. It really sucks that a highly depreciating event happened right before selling.

Wow, your Mooney is beautiful!

I did my private in a Cherokee. It’s the Ford Fiesta of airplanes.

If it were me I would either learn to be content with what I had or buy a K model or an Ovation. A vintage Mooney is the Honda civic of airplanes. It fills its role nicely but it isn’t a sports car. If I needed to buy a new prop because something is wrong with the old one then yeah, I’d spend more to buy the faster version, but planes are already expensive to own so why blow money trying to squeeze out a few knots out of a perfectly functional plane. Next annual you could check rigging and make sure your gear doors are nice and tight. The step being down will cost you 2-3 knots. Do you have the retractable step and is it functioning correctly? A clean and waxed plane is supposedly a couple knots faster, is the plane all polished up? Weight kills speed…are there things that can be taken out of the plane to save weight? An aft CG helps with speed. Have you tried putting everything you can in the baggage compartment? In cruise move your seat back? None of these things will make a big difference but you might be able to pick up 5 knots without spending any real money.