mooneygirl

After spending the whole week in the Mooney International tent at OSH14 I have to say I am pretty impressed. This comment might not be popular, but, our company has needed an infusion of capital for many many years. There wasn't an American in sight that stepped up. While there is still at least one American investor that I know of, the majority of the funds have come from a Chinese company that is female-owned. One of the factors that impressed me was that the long-range plan for Mooney is 5-10 years. IMO some Americans want return on investment in 5 minutes or 5 months. I am impressed with the future plans [what I know of them]. I am impressed with the commitment to our legacy through the establishment of the Mooney Museum [and education center] in KERV. As many of you know there are three Mooney locations at present: Manufacturing headquarters in Kerrville, Engineering/Design/Global headquarters in Chino, CA and the new office in China. It was fun to talk with the engineers from Chino. Like the rest of the list, they are energized and excited about the possibilities. Jack Wiegand, the young man who flew around the world in the Mooney flew in China in the past year. He relates quite an experience with permits, restrictions and pollution. I really don't care where the money came from. And I really don't care where the aircraft end up. When we started the filming of Boots on the Ground, there were 7 or 8 employees at Mooney making parts, answering phones, and keeping things going. Now there are over 100. If I am remembering correctly 10 airplanes were sold to China at OSH. Another 4 were sold in the US. It was exciting to see Mooney back at OSH. I, for one, think that manufacturing will be in Kerrville for many many years to come. And who knows, those old photos/website about Mooney in China with the millionaire's club might come to fruition....

I love my E model. As Bill Wheat Mooney Guru says, "The E model is the most fun to fly...it is spry!" I second the motion on speed control in the pattern. Our Ovation is a great airplane. But I love love love the E model. Welcome to the Mooney Family.

Welcome to the Mooney Family. Join MAPA, have fun, and hope to meet you one day.

We need some more Mooney drivers on this one. If you are going to this event and can help in the booth that would be awesome. Please let me know. MooneyAmbassadors@charter.net August 16th, AOPA Regional/Mooney Ambassador: Spokane Felts Field (SFF), Spokane, Wash. Expect a good old-fashioned day of fun. Pancake breakfast, town hall, seminars, vendors, lunch, static displays. Ambassadors will have a booth/aircraft at show central. We do need folks to help out in the booth talking Mooney or with the kid's activities. Let us know if you can donate an hour or so. Point Person: Andrew Soleimany.

We need some more Mooney drivers on this one. If you are going to this event and can help in the booth that would be awesome. Please let me know. MooneyAmbassadors@charter.net August 16th, AOPA Regional/Mooney Ambassador: Spokane Felts Field (SFF), Spokane, Wash. Expect a good old-fashioned day of fun. Pancake breakfast, town hall, seminars, vendors, lunch, static displays. Ambassadors will have a booth/aircraft at show central. We do need folks to help out in the booth talking Mooney or with the kid's activities. Let us know if you can donate an hour or so. Point Person: Andrew Soleimany.

I am sure there will be a new thread soon. But the Mooney Summit is October 24-26th, 2014.

We had 21 in the Moo-Crew at Friar Tucks. They don't accept reservations. To be honest we had so much fun talking and laughing I really didn't notice the food. I had a burger which was good. It was nice to meet Mooney Spacers and Mooney Lovers.

Mooney Lover dinner tonight at 7ish at Friar Tucks. #OSH14 Be there if you are a Backward Tail Lover.

Welcome to the Mooney Family. It is great to have more among our ranks flying the best airplane out there. In addition to Mooney specific training I would also suggest you join MAPA, our professional association if you haven't already. And if you are wanting to do some volunteer work, check out the Mooney Ambassadors. We are a service club that displays our Mooneys to support Mooney and promote GA. Again, welcome to the fold.

Mike gets to meet the fellow who pulled him from the plane. Robert is haunted that he couldn't get Bill out, God rest his soul. But this was a sweet meeting today.

Mike Elliott is out of surgery. Everything went very well and he is back in the ICU recovering.

I had about 100 hours or so when I purchased my 65 E model. In Oregon there is no sales tax, so that is a happy thing. Prior to the Mooney I was a 1/10 owner of a Warrior. I didn't experience any real training issues. I did get Mooney-specific training and would recommend that highly. I have over 1000 hours now and love the Mooney. If you are able to do some [legal] maintenance yourself and perhaps an owner-assisted annual, there are $$ to be saved. If I had to take my plane somewhere every time I needed the oil changed, I couldn't afford it. I had my pre-buy done at the Mooney Service Center in Albany, OR. I do know that the shop in Troutdale is doing a lot of Mooney work as well. They sealed my tanks. I flew from California to have the work done there. Aircraft ownership is about choices. I drive a modest car, and live in a modest home. I bought my airplane in 2003 for $42000. If you decide to go with a Mooney I think you will be very pleased with the craftsmanship, speed and efficiency. Mooney also has a stellar safety record. As well, we are a tight knit Mooney family. There are lots of opportunities for social, educational and service events. Welcome aboard.

Big day tomorrow, Mike Elliott is going for surgery to reset his broken ribs. He continues to need your thoughts and prayers. This surgery should help speed his recovery.

Mike Elliott is writing notes asking for things. Using full sentences with big words at times. He has asked about the DOW of all things, and he watches TV. With assistance, he was able to stand today. He has a long road before he will be back on his feet, but he makes good progress every day. He also has started reading some of his emails. He will eventually respond to emails.

Minor but important update: Mike Elliott has been outfitted with a device which allows him to speak with the tracheotomy tube in place. It wears him out to speak, but he is doing really good. We are going to try to limit the amount of talking he attempts. The nurse asked if he knew Ken Elliott and he said yes. The nurse asked if he knew Carl and he said yes. Then when asked who they are, he responded "assholes." My dad has his sense of humor about him. He knows he was in a plane crash, but doesn't remember anything regarding the flight yet. Nurses say this is completely normal. He may never regain memory of the incident. We are thinking of all the healing he has to go physically and emotionally. He will need to lean on us all for support once we can let him have visitors. — with Mike Elliott.

Big update from hospital! I just heard Mike Elliott is completely off the ventilator. They have him out of bed and in a cardiac reclining chair. And the neck brace has come off! This is absolutely wonderful news. He may be out of ICU as soon as tomorrow

This was on the news today. http://wishtv.com/2014/07/14/pilots-wife-thanks-brave-men-for-trying-to-save-her-husband/ I have been in contact with one of the parties responsible for pulling Mike out. God bless them for putting themselves in harms way to help Bill and Mike.

From Nick, Mike's son Mike Elliott had a big day today. He was very alert and was communicating through head nods and lipping words. I even understood him say one word. He also was asking for Alice Barbera this morning. They took him off an IV pain killer and put his respirator to vent mode. This means he is doing all the work breathing right now. They will put him on a duel mode for the night to give him a break if he wants on breathing but this is a giant milestone. He is doing great and we couldn't be happier with his progress.

This from Mike's son, Nick on Facebook: Mike Elliott continues to improve. He is more alert everyday and he knows everyone has their thoughts and prayers for him. They are going to see if he can start breathing on his own tomorrow. Today we found Bobby Forsythe, his mom Peggy Perry, and Stan. These people are why my dad is alive today. It really speaks to a persons character to run into a burning airplane. Stan called me today and we spoke about how he helped as he and Bobby pulled my dad from the plane. They are heroes. If you can, please make sure to give them gratitude for saving Mike's life. Funeral services for Bill are Tuesday at 4pm to 8pm and Wednesday from 11am to noon. I unfortunately will be back in Orlando, but if you are able to attend and pay respects to the other hero and Mikes good friend please do. This man put a plane down in a very small space avoiding ground casualties. I walked the crash site and it is clear he was thinking of the people on the ground as he came down. I will be going to Orlando tomorrow to take care of some things. I will be retuning this weekend. We have family coverage 24 hours a day here at the hospital. Kyle will begin staying here at night starting tomorrow. Alice and kyle will make sure he knows your thoughts and prayers are with him through the week.

The website says 1701 not 1710 like Alice told me. So maybe that is the problem.

I have to say that Bill and Mike's accident have deeply affected me. My deepest sympathies go out to Bill's families and prayers to Mike. Some of you may know my story, but for those who don't, here is what happened to me and what I did in the wake of a plane crash. In 2003 I was flying left seat in my Dad's C model-N6619U with my Dad in the right seat and my daughter and her boyfriend in the back seat. We were flying them back to college in Eugene Oregon out of Hood River OR. What I came to find out in the ensuing weeks after investigation was that a valve came unseated on a compression stroke shortly after take off. I was maybe 100 feet in the air, about one to two minutes after take off. The terrain was rising, and we were not. Big trees, houses, your father and child on board. Not such a great experience. I decided to cut the engine and try to "land" in the tree tops. We started impacting trees at 55 mph. We ended up in a mud pond, upside down. After falling backwards into the canopy of the forest, the tail was nearly spun completely around. We missed a house by 50 yards or so. The six trees we took out landed on top of us. We did not have shoulder harnesses. We were very fortunate to be able to extricate ourselves out of the door that popped open upon final impact. We were doubly fortunate that our injuries were lacerations, bruises and whiplash. I can tell you that being covered in mud in that emergency room after having smashed my head into the glare shield, I thought I should have died. I was so mortified that something I did, or didn't do, as a pilot caused this. Falling into the darkness not knowing if your child was going to die or your father was the worst. The rumors flew. It was hot [it was not], I was heavy [i was not], I could have turned around [i would have stalled/spun]. Getting in an airplane again left seat took place a week later with my instructor. I have to say it was terrifying. I also have to say it was my best landing ever in a Warrior I was part owner of. If you want to talk about fear of flying, or thinking that the last flight might be your last, I doubt if you can think of something I haven't tortured myself with. I now have about 900 more hours than I did on that August day. I got counseling, my husband helps me and I have to remember no one is in that pond. As others have said, we have a risky hobby. We all mitigate that risk through planning, continued training, and consultation with those more knowledgeable. I always say that a Mooney is the only plane I will own. Now you know why. She protected us all the way to the ground. I can certainly understand if you are questioning a flight or whether something bad might happen to you. The truth is, that we are in one of the safest planes, if not the safest ever built. We need to use good judgement and lessen risk. I told my Dad the night of the crash that I felt like a failure and that I had failed him. he said the only failure would be if I didn't fly again.

Attached are some screen shots from the AOPA Article: http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/July/12/PYM-Fly-In For those on Facebook, an album with 20 or so photos uploaded. Here is the update from Rae and Candie: Hi Jolie, Wow, what a day! Ideal weather, for starters. There HAD to be over 2000 people; I heard an AOPA person say 1500 had RSVPed, but that they had served 2000 breakfasts. Not everyone had breakfast, and judging by the crowds, there were many more. We were in the perfect spots due to Rae and Pete getting up there on Thursday. Both planes attracted SO much interest that we were busy the ENTIRE DAY. Pete and we were all amazed at the number of serious Mooney shoppers, most of them already well informed about the marque but just needing to sit in the plane and ask some questions. Most of them were looking for J models, so we were just right. Most of them were also very tall, from 6'3" to 6'5". Both Rae and Pete are 6'3" so in spite of many of these guys having misconceptions about "mooney room", they all were fine in the planes. Nonstop interest, all day. Some pilots already owning Mooneys stopped by, but they were greatly outnumbered by the ones with future Mooney aspirations. My friend Sue was there also, and the folks from CT. I think they brought in 7 lunch trucks and they pretty much were emptied. I believe they had to bring in more food. There were LOTs of volunteers to park planes, etc. they were great. The only negative comments I heard were about pilots not following the arrival procedure, and cutting others off in the pattern. One friend of ours from NJ tried to land 3 times and finally left. It was BUSY. We did have some people with kids stop by. Rae will be sending you lots of pictures. A huge success, in our opinion! Rae and Candie Falmouth Airpark

Mike Elliott continues to do well this morning. Some of the doctors have come in to get readings before they bring the whole gaggle in to talk about the case. They have made side comments stating he is doing very well. He looks better everyday. He had a good nights rest last night according to the nurses. I actually got a little sleep last night as well. There isn't anything that can be done right now but let his body heal itself. Once the lungs heal a little more they will start to take him off the ventilator. No internal organs have been damaged. No spinal or neurological problems have been detected. It looks like he really got the best outcome in a series of tragic events. This is from Facebook: Nick Elliott