Seth

Hello MooneySpace: I'm happy to announce that my family has grown. My third child is a health baby girl and is now 8 months old. So that means I have a 7 year old, 5 year old, and 8 month old. My son is special needs and often we will bring our Au Pair with us on family trips. Though we have not made many trips during the pandemic (we have by minivan and I've shuttle family on two back and forth trips in the Mooney), I have a math problem. My amazing Mooney Missile with a 1096 pound useful load and 185knot all day ROP cruise (170-180 LOP - she's topped out ROP max speed at 192 knots) only has four seats. I've looked a lot of different possibilities for my next aircraft that will have at least six seats. A Piper Cheyenne would be perfect. But I'm not ready to both purchase a plane at that price point nor feed it in annual costs. I wanted pressurized but that's not going to happen with this purchase. What I need is 6 seats, 800-900 payload plus fuel. Throw out some suggestions as I may not have come up with those yet. I'm leaning toward an A-36 Bonanza, Saratoga, B-58 Baron or Seneca III. I've ruled out the C414 C340 C210 and Aerostar right now, but that may change. I thought a 414 would be perfect cabin size, ice protection, pressurized, but it'll run way to much per year just on the fixed costs alone. Also, this means the Missile is going to be for sale very soon. Please PM me if interested. It has a low time motor and is the only Missile with a 4 blade MT prop. Thanks for all of your suggestions! -Seth

Great job making this M20F so unique and brought up to date. Enjoy flying your personlized Mooney for many years to come. -Seth

Sorry for being late to the party! Feel free to reach out to me as a PM. I now have a 4 blade prop on my Missile so my numbers may be different, and I'm happy to chat. Also, just make sure the auto leaning mixture is set properly. At my recent overhaul Continental did not have it set up correctly so it was running lean until we adjusted it. Very important to use fuel to keep the engine cool on take off and initial climb. -Seth

Glad they are safe. This is not good for GA image anywhere but especially not around GAI where 3-5 neighbors have started a movement to try to restrict/close the airport. Of 6000 noise complaints something like 97% were from 3 households. We just had a meeting last week about it. They caused a study to be done which the county paid for, etc. Over 100,000 customers had no power last night including many road traffic lights. Schools are closed today in the entire county so buildings can be assessed for heat, water, and connectivity. Power was not restored until after the timeline to make the decision was made. metro (DC subway) lost power to more than one station and may have limited operations. Again, I’m glad they are okay (taken to the hospital after 7 hours hanging with serious injuries) however this really affected the region and it’s going to put a black eye on GA. The Mooney really is built like a tank. That tower must have flexed and caught a 90 knot airplane on approach and brought it to zero in a short arc. I’m amazed. -Seth

Live ATC - N201RF starts around 18 min into recording. https://archive.liveatc.net/kbwi/KBWI-App-WOOLY-128.7-Nov-27-2022-2200Z.mp3

Link to local news with lots of info https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2022/11/outages-in-montgomery-co-after-small-plane-crashes-into-power-lines/

Link to rescue video

Hi gang - been a long time since I posted. Aircraft is owned by an entity and a few shares, usually 3 to 5 are owned any time be different people. Kind of like a club Mooney. I have flown in this aircraft before and know two of the previous owners. I’ll grab the ATC live link and post it later. They were on the GPS 14 approach to GAI on the way from HPN (White Plains NY). A Cheyenne ahead of them went missed, diverted to a nearby airport with an ILS and landed safely. The power line tower hit is left of centerline and well below glide path. The two occupants were rescued about 7 hours after impact and taken to the hospital with serious injuries. They were in communication with fire/rescue via cell phone. Glad they are alive. -Seth

Mooney Summit, Mike, Rick, and Seth are now aware and mobilizing. -Seth

Me too. I've been trying to figure out how to do one GI275 now and then either a second one later or a G500 with the GI 275 as the backup should I go all glass then. Dual GI275's seem to me like an extra cost, but when you look at the hookups and items necessary to get GPSS working, dual GI275's start making more sense. Wish I could find a solution to a single GI 275 as I already have an electric lifesaver gyro as a backup to mi KI276. Good luck determining your solution! -Seth

Fascinating. Also notes that there is a market gap for the 4 place pressurized aircraft for those that really don't need six seats and at a lower price point. Not sure the viability, but a nice presentation. I sincerely hope Mooney lives on. -Seth

Hi Tom! The Missile as you know is a great combination of speed and climb ability merged with the M20J mid length Mooney body. It is an STC so there are many pros and cons. If I recall correctly, and could be very wrong, N888DF was in an incident years back when one of the main gear collapsed. It's a very rare single wing gear collapse on a Mooney. Usually, if one gear folds all of them do. I could be wrong. This would have been about 10 years ago, around the time I purchased my Missile. If it's been flying a lot since then, likely I would not worry as much about it. But do look at the logs and see what if any repairs occured. Tanks are an issue with all Mooney's and should be factored into the price. If it's got long range tanks, the repairs can be more expensive due to the extra bays (a plus for the more thirsty engine of the Missile). Prices are much higher now than 2017, but you also didn't have the upkeep costs on this aircraft the last four years (I see you had a Twin Comanche). They are great airplanes. I'm sure you've researched the pros and cons of the Missile, but feel free to PM me and we'll get in touch for a phone call. Take care, -Seth

Remember to cancel your hotels if you have not yet done so already for Mooney Summit! Unless you plan to use them anyway at our discounted rate. -Seth

Possibly the R0 number. But I'm not a medical professional. Great explanation of the R0 number in the movie "Contagion" for non medical professionals. -Seth

I'd love to attend virtually!

It was hard to make this decision but also the correct decision in my opinion. We do look forward to hosting Mooney Summit in the future. For those that made hotel reservations, please cancel them. I will personally contact (likely by email) everyone who made a hotel reservation that still has their reservation on the books. Contact information for the three hotels in Tampa are: Residence Inn 813.221.4224 Courtyard 813.229.1100 Aloft 813.898.8000 For those that wish to still visit Tampa the hotels will honor the room rates. -Seth

CFI answer slightly changed - good points.

Added and I feel terrible I didn't add it to begin with.

I'm curious how many of us on MooneySpace earn some funds flying professionally (or used to). I fly for 135 charter group out of GAI and also fly organ transplant flights for the same group. Sometime we flying for the owners of the leaseback airraft in a Part 91 capacity. I've also ferried a few aircraft for individual owners. If you answer yes, what airline do you fly for, what airlines did you previously fly for, 121? 135? Part 91? Corporate? What aviation paid pilot jobs have you served? Thanks! -Seth

Likely correct!

What would it take to also pressurize the cabin? I'm kidding. I know that's not really possible. The door itself would have to be reworked, all the windows, the strength, structure, plumbing, everything. But that's what I really want. A pressurized cabin. Aerostar in the future? I remember the Turbine Aerostar. A small turbine Mooney, the Mooney Wing, Mooney Tail, and a new Carbon Fiber pressurized cabin - 4 seats - I keep coming back to this - and price it less than a M600. That's what I keep thinking may be out there, as it would be a new class of certified aircraft. a 4 place pressurized airplane at the lowest price point for those that really never fly with more than one or two in their Meridians and TBM's. Kind of like the Cirrus Jet - it competes with turboprops as the lowest slowest jet. But this would not be low and slow, it would be fast and the least expensive certified pressurized turboprop. Rocket did the STC that forced the factory to put big engines on. I'd love to you see your STC cause the factory to get a turbine up there. -Seth

I love posts with titles like this. -Seth

In my previous years they turned me around when it was a bad area. I tried to go around this was, and was marshalled in after shaking my head no and given a thumbs up and waive ahead. I should have gone with my gut and will in the future. Even if I had veered a foot or two one way or the other it may have made a difference. That said, I now have an overhauled engine and the three blade prop. In 2022 I currently plan to return to Oshkosh with my daughter, and we'll taxi on the grass. I know I have not posted in a while - I have some aircraft and family updates. -Seth

I know it's the wrong place to post, but the registration price increase occurs in about an hour. If you haven't registered yet please do! I've copied Rick's posting from the Mooney Summit section below. Hope to see many of you there! -Seth One last reminder for those, like me, who tend to wait until the last minute - this is it! Today, Wednesday June 30th is the last day to register for the Mooney Summit at the Early Bird registration fee of $99. The $149 event registration fee will go into effect starting tomorrow. We're looking forward to seeing everyone in Tampa this year! Check out the agenda at http://mooneysummit.com. Cheers, Rick

Aerospace Welding in Minneapolis does good work. They did the MissilE Exhaust R&R in 2011 and then realized they didn’t have what they needed for an Overhaul in 2020 and shipped the exhaust to Rocket for overhaul. They do good work in my experience. -Seth