mooneygirl

Mitch and I had the privilege of delivering the over 1000 items donated for the military care packages today. Arbiter Troop Support was founded by Cathy Baker after her son was killed in Iraq. They have sent out on average 30 care packages a week. Their shelves were getting a bit low, but not now! We can all have airport events that help our community! Our next fun event is Fly-In Movie Night on August 4th. Hope to see you all at Oceano! http://www.FriendsofOceanoAirport.com I put photos in my gallery, couldn't get MS to load them.

Cool, thanks. We are headed there early Saturday morning for the Ambassador display.

Thank you Dan, the volunteers really do make the event. We do love having the Stearman on the field. It was also fun to have Mooney Ambassador Ian fly in with the T-6 [for when he isn't flying his Bravo!]. Folks love to look at those pieces of aviation history! All are welcome to join us for Fly-In Movie Night on August 4th. Oceano Airport [L52] bring lawn chairs, blankets, and an attitude for fun. The KOA-Kids of Oceano Airport will have s’mores and popcorn on a donation basis. The FOA-Friends of Oceano Airport will have cook your own hamburgers and hot dogs available. Camping is available $10 per night. We will be showing episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle to open and the main feature the movie Airplane! The Pacific Plaza Resort is within walking distance and offers a pilot discount. Fly and Ride Bike loan available.

We are fortunate to have about a half dozen Mooney Mites that attend Porterville Airshow, in California. They are such cool airplanes. Ed Mandibles owns the blue Mite that has one the flour bombing contest in both Porterville and Columbia, CA at Ambassador events. Fun stuff Their website: http://mooneymite.com/features.htm

Fly-In, Walk-In, Drive-In Oceano Airport [L52] bring lawn chairs, blankets, and an attitude for fun. The KOA-Kids of Oceano Airport will have s’mores and popcorn on a donation basis. The FOA-Friends of Oceano Airport will have cook your own hamburgers and hot dogs available. Camping is available $10 per night. We will be showing episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle to open and the main feature the movie Airplane! The Pacific Plaza Resort is within walking distance and offers a pilot discount. Fly and Ride Bike loan available. More information: http://www.FriendsofOceanoAirport.com

What a wonderful event, not only for Mooney owners but for your community. Congratulations and job well-done.

Rest in peace Casey and beautiful Patrick. My thoughts and prayers are with the families.

Quote: Cris Parker- You make an excellent point which caused me to look at the performance charts of an M20J-201 vs M20J-205 (Patricks) The 205 has a a 160 lb weight increase to 2900 lbs. However if operated at gross weight there is a significant performance differance in T/O and climb between the two. In fact depending on conditions it might well have been a 1000' differance to clear a 50' object. BTW the POH specifies that the landing gear should not be retracted until clearing obstacles which could explain why the gear might have been in the down position.

Thanks for the tips Dan. In talking with Rick the mgr, he echoes many of the tips you listed. Another idea is for folks to "fly" it with Google Earth, gives you a bit of a site picture too. Hope you can join us.

This is an invitation to a Mooney Ambassador event at beautiful Kern Valley, CA on May 26th. Rick Lach, the airport manager attended Oceano Airport Celebration this past weekend and pulled me aside to ask "how can I get your Mooneys to come to Lake Isabella?" I said, "we just need an airport day or display day." Well folks, their airport day is May 26th. If you are in California, Nevada or Arizona you might be able to pull off this cool Memorial weekend fly-in. Let me know if you are meeting us there! LO5- Kern Valley Airport Mitch and Jolie

Jeff you are an awesome point person for this event. I just LOVE seeing a line to get into the Mooneys. Our Ambassador events are simple, but I tell you the smiles on the faces of the kids and the adults who get in the airplanes is priceless. Plus I love the title "Good Neighbor Day" that title really says it all. Airports are good neighbors and give back to the communities. Thanks again Jeff. Hope it is on the calendar again next year.

Well, we had a great time. I will post more later. Burger Fry and Dance: 200 people, 20 airplanes and fun fun fun. I think we had 7 Mooneys for that. Then the ceiling played with our emotions on Saturday, but about 11 the sky opened up a bit and we had airplanes coming and going. I think we had 6 more Mooneys join us on Saturday. The plane-counter said we had 65. Anyway, lots of fun, look for photos and video too. Honored a bunch of veterans [over 60] and collected over 1000 items for the military care packages.

We have departed Columbia quite a bit after the Father's Day Fly-In where the Ambassadors display. It is usually hot and we are loaded [but not overloaded!]. We do lean for best RPM, but as you say, it is not a fun experience. We did witness a fellow Mooney pilot have real problems departing Big Bear, CA in very hot weather. We thought we lost him, but he was able to climb in circles over a dry lake bed. There are no such alternatives at Columbia, and it feels very similar to Jackson/Westover.

I did post photos onto my gallery in Patrick's name. Was unable to post to this thread for some reason.