flight2000

Thanks! Yea, he's growing like a spring weed. Went from 5'10" to 6'3" in about 8 months. Crazy growth spurt and he's not done by a long shot... I believe Mo's new owner is a closet ND fan...lol. He lives in the SoCal area, so who knows for sure... I already have a new N number reserved (N612ND) that will get put on at some point and we certainly got lucky with the paint scheme. I'll send you a note next summer and may stop by again in June if the timing works out. Think it's safe to say I'll be moving east after this assignment. Brian

It does...now I need a step stool to check the oil and clean the windshield before a flight. Even my son (who's 6'3") commented that he couldn't sit on the wing anymore without jumping... Brian

Can't improve on perfection, so no... Actually, I've found the Bo to be a lot easier to slow down in the pattern and put it on my intended spot every time. The flaps are huge compared to the Mooney and the gear speeds are higher, so that makes it easier to slow down. Not that the Mooney was hard, just different technique. Speeds on final are very close, so didn't take that long to figure out how to land her. Brian

Thanks! Those would be the E33C and F33C models. Believe there were less than 25 total made of those. Cheers, Brian

I've got three cans here at work....but that really won't help much will it...

Photos of the backseat area and business end. I've since moved the iPad Mini to the yoke after I found an after market mount designed specifically for the Beech Ram Yoke. It was not an issue up there and had no impact on my sight lines. Cheers, Brian

So, I sold our M20E last month as mentioned in the classified section and I had made a reference that we picked up our new bird roughly 4 days later. Decided to finally reveal that I went to the "dark side" and ended up buying a 1968 Beech E33A Bonanza....I know boo-hiss... I was targeting a later model M20J or even an early model M20R but the prices and useful load that I was looking for with my current/future mission just didn't match as well as I had hoped. All the M20J's had really low useful loads, most were less than 900 pounds??? So I started looking at the F33A, S35, and V35 (straight, A, and B versions) Bonanza's just to see what else was out there. Unfortunately, prices for good F33A's are rather high (over inflated in my opinion) but we got lucky and found ours in the sub-$100K range. There are only 51 E33A's on the FAA registry, so this particular model is even more rare than some Mooney's. Production on the E33A only lasted 2 years (68-69) before changing to the F33A model in 1970. The useful load on ours is 1174 pounds and will carry 270 pounds in the baggage compartment. Huge improvement over my M20E and no way I could have my son do what he did in the second photo with a Mooney. The CG limits are not an issue (unlike the V tails, which can be a challenge sometimes) so managing our flights is easy, even with full fuel on-board. Speed wise, I gained about 20 knots over my M20E while burning about 6 gallons more per hour (...ouch) with the 2 additional cylinders to feed. The biggest selling point for my wife was the back seat area (never should have put her back there when we were looking at F33A's...) and passenger comfort. The rear seats lay almost flat in the fully reclined position and can be positioned anywhere from full up to full down. Not sure if the split seat Mooney's were capable of doing that??? Interesting to note that the Bonanza is 6 feet shorter from wing-tip to wing-tip than my M20E (I had the 201 wing-tips on mine). So, here she is just outside my hangar: Cheers, Brian former 1967 M20E owner/driver.

No way you're doing that with full fuel on board..... Brian

Active Duty Army since 1994 and still going.....for now. On my third pattern of fatigues, third set of PT uniforms, and 2nd different set of Class A's. Wish they would make up their mind, it gets expensive changing uniforms all the time. Cheers, Brian

Well, at least you technically never lose a game that way... Cheers, Brian

Thanks Jim. I learned a lot about Bonanza's in my research and just like Mooney's they have a lot of unfounded OWT's that still hang out there. We have a few members here that hang out on BeechTalk to help control those rumors, just like I still hang out here... Cheers, Brian

My old M20E would have been way out the back end of the CG envelope (just guessing the two in the back are a minimum of 230 each)...no way I would have gotten those big boys back there. My current E33A Bo on the other hand would have had no such issues....but that's not my typical mission either. Just sayin... Cheers, Brian

There is also Delta Aviation down in Boise. http://www.deltaaviation.com/ Good luck. I just went through it myself and either I was really lucky or just really lucky.... Sold my M20E within a month of listing it (I used the free ad through Controller.com and also used several forums) with zero hassle and without using a broker. Brian

So, I got the chance to complete one last flight today in old faithful. Delivered it to the new owners in SoCal this afternoon. Won't even be a week before the "new" plane is in the hangar though, heading out to pick it up on Tuesday. Sad and happy at the same time. Thanks to all that inquired about Mo. Cheers, Brian

After using both ADS-B weather and XM side by side for about 6 months, I prefer the XM weather. Just seems to be a little more reliable and accurate, especially out west where there are still gaps in the ADSB coverage at times. No issues with XM. Brian

PM sent. Thx! Brian

I guess I'm lucky that my old 67E had an eyeball vent near my left leg that allowed me to point it right at the back of the iPad (yoke mounted) for cooling. Never had it overheat in roughly 140 hours of use. We'll see if that stays true when I change over to the new aircraft.... Brian

Sale is pending on our wonderful aircraft. Mo will be in great hands... Cheers, Brian

That was from Nov 09 - Mar 10 when I did those updates, so almost 7 years ago.... A year later I put the STEC A/P in and a few other items. Cheers, Brian

That would be my better half that graduated from Notre Dame in '97. Great guess... Cheers, Brian

Thanks, I appreciate that! Have a gentlemen coming up from SoCal on Saturday morning to take a look. We'll see where this goes. Cheers, Brian

Now why would you go and do something silly like that... I have a rough idea, but I really don't want to know what's been put into Mo over the last 7 years... Cheers, Brian

There's some wiggle room, but if I know what's good for my long term health/happiness, I need to stay pretty close to that price... Cheers, Brian

If you want to go up in price a little, most of the big ticket items are already done...I just can't make the cabin bigger which is what I need right now...just sayin.... http://mooneyspace.com/topic/19236-fs-1967-m20e-asking-69000/ Never had it over in the western/eastern Rockies, but have been up to 14.5 over the Sierra Nevada range and mine's done well. Little slow in the climb at full gross with up/down drafts on a hot day, but still managed to maintain a 500 FPM climb. Cheers, Brian

Yep, here's a short history on the Division during WWII: On 25 March 1942, the 82nd Infantry Division was reactivated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana under the command of Major General Omar N. Bradley. On August 15, 1942, the Division took wings as The 82nd Airborne - becoming the U.S. Army's first airborne division - now commanded by Major General Matthew B.Ridgway. At the same time, 82nd personnel also were used in the formation of a second airborne unit - the "Screaming Eagles" of the 101st Airborne Division. In October, the 82nd was dispatched to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to pursue its new airborne training. On October 14, the 82nd absorbed the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which had formed on May 1 at Fort Benning, Georgia. By the time that they went overseas, the 82nd would consist of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment and the 504th and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments. Rest of the story is found here: http://www.ww2-airborne.us/division/82_overview.html Had to learn most of it when I was first indoctrinated into the Division, but have since suffered from memory failure..... They have an awesome museum at Fort Bragg though. Cheers, Brian