plumberpilot

On the other side of this topic I would dearly love to find a way for our friend to keep flying with us. 88 yr old tons of hours ATP current medical but our insurance company decided to non renew us with him on the policy. Flown this Mooney since ‘92. Does anyone have any advice maybe I should start a new thread but people have been gracious here so I’ll start here.

Hi I’m looking for a general value opinion of our 1990 M20J MSE TT 3980 630 SMOH at Triad roller tappet conversion Paint 9/16 Original interior just OK condition 530W 496 With xm weather GTX345 w ADSB in and out. Tanks not resealed but will be needed soon NDH The situation is one of the owners has been non renewed by our insurance 88yr old Falcon and the other 2 owners will be buying him out unfortunately. I have an idea of value but I’d like to hear opinions about it too. Thanks Ricky

Falcon with a couple members and we saw a 20% increase. We are 60 65 and 83 yr old kids. Maybe that played a factor?

Redundancy is a beautiful thing in times like these. Nav2, Stratus II, IPad, IPhone ForeFlight etc. This was an impromptu IFR flight and even though I had current paper I realized (during this flight) out of date ForeFlight cancels the georeferencing feature on maps and plates. Who knew? That’s enough for me to keep the thing updated it’s a very nice backup in the soup.

carusoam I didn't really take time to see if the unit was still providing guidance due to the situation but I didn't notice any difference on the HSI so I'd assume it was still navigating. I went to NAV2 and turned the 530 off to see if a restart would clear up the problem which it did however I was well into the approach by the time everything was reset on the 530. I tend to think its a screen problem but without the waypoint info on the screen its sketchy to trust anything you're seeing. My thinking was I had the nav2 localizer tuned and identified so fly the approach and figure it out later. It was a little unnerving and irritating at the same time, I fly practice approaches all the time in the clear so why now in imc does it take a hike? murphy

Thanks for the edit, I tried unsuccessfully to do that myself.

Thanks that’s probably the only solution but hopefully it would be the solution and not come back with the same issue even though overhauled.

Our 530W has had a few problems with the screen lately. This is a picture taken just after the initial vector to the LDA approach into KROA last Monday. I've also seen the screen rolling and unreadable couple of times in the past but cleared up on its own. This time it just went to this screen and stayed there, I turned the unit off and then back on during the approach and after it reset and I reentered the approach it worked normally. I continued the approach on Nav 2 without problems. Naturally it happened in IMC. Has anyone else experienced this?

Had a young friend at Duke battling cancer for his life all year last year. This little airport was an important part of our battle giving me the opportunity to conveniently ferry family and friends between KROA and KIGX who might not have come otherwise. Unfortunately we lost our patient to that dreadful disease. I wondered why more folks weren’t using it or why its not being improved like KBCB ?? If its a liability its only because the owners want it to be one. Signed Ricky

It's interesting to me that one can rent a Mooney, what would you guess are the pilot requirements? So sorry to hear of any fatal plane crash.

Oh yeah his 757 can land here. He was here with it a few weeks ago. He's a bidnus man why spend the extra cash when it's not needed.

It's a 1992 MSE 28V, agreed $1700.00 is higher than high that may have included the alternator too to be fair.The problems have been all over the map. Small things like the instrument light system problems, bigger things like autopilot problems seemingly related to power. Then the master breaker and regulator both burnt out together causing complete and immediate power failure all checked and replaced now regulator burnt out again. I'm not looking for possible causes as much as I'm looking for an expert to find and fix the root problem once and for all. There have been a couple of shops looking for the problem over the "YEARS" still we've got issues.

I'm in VA, NJ is close enough. The latest is a brand new $1700.00 regulator fried after only 30 hrs no warranty and frankly I don't blame them. I need a top notch person to unearth our problem and up till now I haven't found them. Thanks Ricky

I would like to know if anyone has a recommendation for a shop that can track down and fix an electrical issue in a J model Mooney. We've been chasing one for too long and want it fixed. I'm willing to travel heck I've got a plane.

No I haven't done a spin, do you think I should find an instructor and a plane and do a few?

I'm just curious, what can a student pilot be taught in a trainer aircraft that he can't be taught in a Mooney? (I think only the opposite is true) Like I said I've never flown a trainer but I don't think I missed anything or did I?

Planes and Helicopters are totally different beasts. I had basic experience with the airspace system and more experience with radio communications but my weather and flight planning capabilities were nowhere near good enough for airplane flight. I'm a much more complete pilot now since I started flying planes because I understand what's going on around me now. Flying the plane wasn't as easy as I thought it would be for sure. I remember the first time I sat in the left seat of the Mooney looking at all that stuff and thinking I'll never figure this out but with patience it all falls into place. We used to joke about the idiot switch...the master. You knew everything until you turned that switch on, then you remembered nothing. I remember being in a cold sweat waiting to key the mike to call clearance just knowing I wouldn't understand or remember anything they said. I'm sure that never happened to you guys it's funny thinking back on it. Non pilots read this stuff and think why would you put yourself through all this? I don't have a good answer for that one. Ricky

Where is it written that a student pilot must be rough on the airframe? A good CFI won't let you damage the airplane but he will let you expand your envelope through your mistakes. I wouldn't recommend a Mooney as a primary trainer for the general public but if you're going to own one then buy it and train in it and skip all the relearning and transition from another airplane. You don't want a gear up landing because you never had to mess with it in the 152 you learned in. Obviously this is my opinion but its based on my experiences.

To your original question: Yes a Mooney is an excellent first plane to fly especially if you think you're going to fly one after you get licensed. I'm a helicopter pilot who bought a M20J MSE with a couple friends 10 or so years ago. I had never flown a plane period and took all my training in our plane straight through my IR. I used a Mooney pilot CFI for all my training and everything went well. I can tell you without pause a Mooney is a tough plane it is in no way a delicate flower. Another of the owners got his training along with me so we were able to benefit from each other's stick time from the back seat. Make sure you spend enough time learning to land the plane including how to recover from a botched landing. A good CFI will teach you to fly by the numbers and land by the numbers. A mediocre CFI will have you try and land the plane too fast and here's where the problems start. Don't be too influenced by what you read about a Mooney being hard to land they actually are very easy to land as long as you are at the correct landing speed. As far as the other systems go its going to take you longer to learn than a traditional trainer but you'll know more in the end...simple thought. Flight training is fun enjoy it. Ricky