eaglebkh

Better than my first annual - a cracked engine mount - $5k. The pre-buy didn't catch that one...

A tip to minimize take-off roll is to do a U-turn before departing. As you taxi down the runway, just before you get to the end and turn around, go ahead and firewall the throttle and the plane will swing around, already having a decent roll speed. With 3-blades (which it appears you have in the avatar), climbing out won't be that big of a deal. It never is for me. Just pitch for Vx.

Made it in and out of a 2300' grass strip in AL - 600' elevation, dry field, 1/2 fuel, 1 light passenger (I'm pretty light, too), light wind, 65 degrees. My home base is 3600', and I usually get it down and stopped without much braking before the halfway point. Taking off and climbing out was no issue with 3-blades. I've got ~80 hours in the plane. You shouldn't have much problem. Just fly over it first to check for rough spots - the rubber pucks aren't really ideal for off-roading. Call someone there at the field and ask how they maintain it and get the current condition of the grass. Do some test landings on pavement and be sure you can get it down and stopped, or at least to a speed where you can make a U-turn, before 80% of the grass runway distance without much braking. Depending on field condition, the inability to do normal braking is almost cancelled out by the way the plane rolls with more resistance on grass.

Craig, I could see your folders and the titles of the individual pics, but I couldn't get any pictures to display. Just kept getting the spinning while like is was stuck. Also, don't know if this is intentional, but the thumbnail sized pics did not show up either within each folder. I haven't tried uploading any of my own yet. Thanks for working on the new feature, though...

Quote: RobertoTohme The long body Mooneys have better rudder arm than the short body type so rudder is more effective.

I'm in! Glad to help in anyway...

Unfortunately, there's nothing like this in the Eastern US that I know of. But hopefully I'm wrong!

Does it only weap through a particular panel? If so, it's not too difficult to just reseal the one panel. I had that done last year when the pilot side tank was seaping. Ended up being the wrong screws used to secure the panel (credit that one to the paint shop). Anyway, the reseal took about 36 hours to cure.

Quote: Mcstealth I am not with you guys on this one. I may or may not ever own a Mooney, but don't feel I should be excluded. My father was an engineer for Mooney in and during the Lopresti years, I still live in Kerrville, and I fly/rent out of ERV. I probably see more Mooneys T/O and landings than most. I know alot about the type even though I don't own. Don't shut people like me out because we don't own. My .02 worth. McStealth

I'm 25 and a systems engineer for Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama (the Rocket City). I, too, am new to the Mooney fold as I have owned N6925U for about 16 months now. I'll get an avitar up soon. Currently, I am only private pilot rated, but soon I will begin my instrument training. I deeply need to update my instrument panel with a new layout and modern GPS (only have 1 nav/comm and Garmin 196). There are several reasons why feel this is a better route than selling and buying another plane with an already descent panel. This can be discussed on a different post. Thanks for starting this forum! I am also on the AOPA site with the same user name. I'm on aviating.mooney.com, but my posts and questions never get answered.