Hillndale

Here’s our bird with chipotle glaze just out of the pizza oven...hope all are having a fine Thanksgiving!

I’ve had a Brompton specifically bought to go with me in my Mooney. Fits through the cargo door without disassembling and doesn’t completely hog the rear cargo space. I’ve been using it for 10 years and it’s been great ground transportation.

I was cautioned about this when being checked out in my first Mooney and routinely check the backside of the tubes preflight whenever the plane has been towed. Sadly this routine was strongly reinforced when I found damage after towing by my local FBO about a year into ownership. No collapse and the FBO repaired the damage (without involving my insurance)...but I was grounded for 3 weeks. Over the past 20+ years since I continue to check and have added politely warning line men of the limited turn radius for Mooneys prior to letting them go for it.

Agree! I would rather have been taking a pic of a C172 with M20’s on the STC list on the tail!

It does a bit in that photo, but they had more Mooney’s than tarmac space could accommodate...there for various maintenance issues big & small. Being there in person definitely did not feel like a boneyard, it was quite busy and gave the feeling that the Mooney community is very much alive and well. The shop has a “get it done” no-nonsense aura to it. Definitely a pleasure to visit!

Sorry, looks like the pic of the tail got rotated during upload...a little challenged on knowledge of how to correct

Well there are more than a few dreamers out here. I’ve been waiting since before Trutrak was acquired by BK. The M20 STC seems to remain “a few months away”. I haven’t entirely given up. The STC may ultimately be more than vapor ware. I ran across the test platform while stopping in at Don Maxwell’s a while back to pick up parts...and took a few pics:

Raul A friend and I are restoring an M20G. I could scan in the POH if you’re still in need.

Not quite on target but has anyone heard follow up on Mooney’s new owner’s plan to pursue weight increase STC’s?

The Ovation is a sweet engine/airframe combination, but I wouldn’t say better or worse...just different. My brother has owned an Ovation for almost as long as I’ve had the Missile and we compare notes quite a bit. Cruise speeds are hard to compare directly because my brother runs his Ovation full out and ROP while my habit over the past 15 years or so is to run LOP. We see similar cruise speeds but I burn less fuel. To me, it’s not worth the extra 3 gph to see a 5 kt increase. The tight cowl issues seem to be just as problematic in both planes. I mentioned in an earlier post that my brother’s Ovation shared the same issue with heat damage to paint over the #6 cylinder cowl blister. But getting familiar with how best to operate the planes took care of recurrent issues for both of us early on in ownership. Brother’s Ovation has AC & it is nice, but he has more trouble keeping the engine cool in summer than I do with my Missile (but to be fair, his Ft Smith summers can run a little warmer than Louisville’s). If that were important to someone, I’m not sure how easily a Missile could be outfitted with it...so WIN Ovation. Likewise, TKS is more available to Ovations and would not be as easily added on a Missile. I used to think I wanted anti icing, but after pondering it for decades while flying, I’ve come to realize that the best “anti ice” equipment a Mooney pilot can have on board is what’s between the ears. The perfect “do it all” airplane is a illusion. The Ovation also wins in extra space for passengers, but my brother’s long body airplane is not as fast to get off the ground and doesn’t climb quite as quickly as the Missile. Admittedly, the Ovation is still a class above a 20J in performance. But looking at my flying through the years, I rarely have anyone in the back seat...90% of my flight time is solo with most of the remaining 10% with my wife or a friend. My brother has other airplanes in his stable that he flies more than the Ovation. He’s offered to sell me the Ovation at a very fair price that could have been covered by the sale of my Missile & 20J. But for me, and the kind of flying I’ve settled into over the years, I honestly favor the Missile over the Ovation.

Luckily, those are available

Found a better one to show more of the panel, and one of the Aspen taken at 11,000 ft level cruise TAS 185 kts

An interior shot of the Missile taken when I picked up my mom’s sister in Biloxi, and a shot of part of the panel... Sorry, not the greatest pic’s to show the plane (I’m usually taking photos for some other reason)...but gives you an idea. Oh and I noticed on the panel shots, the Aspens are showing TAS 183 kt at 13000...illustrating that the numbers in our threads are if anything, conservative. Ive got better interior panel shots, but these were readily available on my phone.

Here’s a spherical photo of the Missile outside at the Potomac airfield in Wash DC...looking for a better outside shot.