Antoni Deighton

Actually it was an email from Delta Aviation, but this links is to the Mooney website: http://www.mooney.com/en/AcclaimUltra.html Anyone got more info? Looks very cool to me!

Surely the other (earlier) link in the chain would have been trying to replace the windows in your F model while flying? ;-) (just kidding)

The Mooney still has a stronger appeal for me though. I just hope I fit ;-)

Wishboneash, I'd love to take you up on your offer. Let me know next time you're headed my way. You can email or PM me if you'd prefer. (ad8n [at] gte [dot] net) Causoam, yes you're right. It has a wooden wing and spar with a tube and fabric fuselage. I'm located in the Los Angeles area and fortunately one of the marque experts is right by me in Santa Paula. The plane would need to be hangared (I've been on the waiting lists at CMA and OXR for several years!) but ultimately I'd prefer to hangar whatever I end up flying.

After over a decade of renting I'm finally looking for my own airplane. My mission has narrowed the search to a Mooney M20J or Bellanca Super Viking. I'm normally fly out of Camarillo, but can easily get to OXR, VNY, etc. If anyone is interested in giving me a ride so that I can get a better idea of how the airplane flies I would very much appreciate it. It goes without say that I will of course: Pay for gas Buy you lunch (Camarillo is home to The Waypoint Cafe!) Thanks! Antoni Deighton

As someone who is in the market for a Mooney, I have NO problem with you posting here! I've heard nothing but good things about AAA and would be more than happy if I bought my airplane from you through a posting on this site.

If you read the TSA website (and AOPA's clarification), it says it's only necessary for initial private applicants and not required for recurrent training or additional certifications or ratings. What am I missing?

Great story and great pictures! Those B-17 survival stories are part of the reason I prefer to travel on Boeing airliners rather than a Scarebus! Looking at the photos, though, I would suggest that the bomber returned to North Africa rather than crossing the Channel to Britain. The pix of it on the ground look like no part of England I've ever seen, especially East Anglia where the bases were. Perhaps that little "deception" to the story is why the censors allowed it to go through?

Count me in too (and I don't even have a Mooney currently!)

Quote: allsmiles

John, I agree with you 100%. If you go back and look at my earlier post, you will see that I mentioned financing as one of the variables. Antoni

Quote: allsmiles It's not easy but needs to happen! I don't want to increase the pool of airplane (Mooney) owners. I want owners who can afford the luxury and priviledge of aircraft ownership. Let me ask you something, driving down the highway how many 911's do you see? How many Toyota Camries? What's the difference? More people can afford a Camry but you don't see Porsche lowering prices to sell more do you? What makes you think a Mooney should be any different?

Allsmiles - It's not as easy as that. First of all, sellers are as different as the airplanes they are selling. Some own their airplanes outright, while others are paying them off. Some need the cash, while others can afford to wait. Sometimes the market is flooded with aircraft and buyers have a wide choice of planes thus lowering prices, and at other times airplanes are scarce and people will pay a premium to have it now. Simply holding out for the right price is not a realistic answer to a very complicated set of decisions. As for Lycoming, well they have the advantage that they are selling a product. By and large, one factory IO360 certified to fit in a Mooney 201 is much like another off the Lycoming production line. If you have decided a factory engine is what you need, you have but one supplier. If you want to increase the prices of used airplanes and reduce the prices of engines (and possibly new airplanes as well), you need to dramatically increase the pool of airplane owners. That means increasing the number of pilots. If you have a solution to that problem, then please share it with us. Unfortunately the market that existed in the late seventies with new Cessnas costing just double the price of a good car (about $80K in today's money) are long gone, along with the pilots that fueled it.

Follow the links, especially the Mike Busch videos, mentioned in this thread: http://www.mooneyspace.com/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=2&threadid=5457&postid=&page=1#post Lots of great information about our engines, and how to operate them.

Looks like a nice plane. I'd be interested to hear what it's valued at as well.

Congratulations! It's one of the harder tests, but well worth the effort in my opinion. I remember my DPE made me promise, as he handed me the temporary certificate, not to fly in actual IFR at night until I had built up some experience. It was good advice. Now you get the opportunity to learn about weather first hand. Enjoy and take care out there!

Helicopters and airplanes are analogous to motorcycles and cars. And while I accept that they're not for everyone, there is nothing that compares to flying a helicopter, especially if the doors are off! You must use both hands and feet all the time, so you really do get a sense of becoming part of the machine rather than simply guiding it. There is something simply amazing about being able to descend from altitude to a couple of feet in a matter of seconds repeatedly while practicing autorotations without ever touching the ground! I remember one of my instructors carefully washing each skid off one at a time in a stream after we'd practiced landing on a mud bar! Later he showed me how to tip over a cone with a skid, then come back and tip it upright, put it down again and then he picked it up with the end of the skid and took it back from the practice area to the hangar! Truly amazing machines! If I won the lottery, I'd get one along with a Mooney. But an efficient tourer is a more sensible priority for me!

I guess that happens after breaking up with Kim Kardashian! Oh, wrong Ray J, sorry! ;-)

The question is, how much for the repairs? $60K? At the end you have an airplane with damage history, in this market say $95-100K? So the most you'd want to pay for this plane is $35K, and that leaves no margin for the headaches of managing the project and the carry costs of owning a grounded plane for several months. In the end, this might prove to be an attractive deal to me at $25-30K, but any more than that and I'll keep browsing Controller and TAP!

Glad to hear everyone is okay. That's a sad picture, though.

Becareful with the moisture content of the oxygen you buy. Aviation oxygen is very dry so it doesn't freeze in the lines. While this may be unlikely if you're just slinging a bottle over a seat back (you'll know if it's cold enough to freeze) it may not be so easy to tell with a built-in system. Medical oxygen is wetter to prevent drying out of the internal tissues since it tends to be used over a much longer period. (It's cheaper too, because of the quantities consumed.)

I don't wish to hijack the thread but to further Stacey's comment, the drawings are Mooney's most valuable asset. Sure the tooling has some limited value, but if we're hoping that Mooney will restart the production line, then we need to recognize that no investor is likely to invest in the company without the drawings. Everything else is old equipment and buildings. If you want drawings in order to make new parts, the consider buying the company!

The numbers make no sense to me; especially with so many nice examples at good prices for sale right now. If this is such a good deal, why no photos? I'd love to see what the damage really is!

Congratulations on your new positions! I recently renewed my membership with the CPA after a lapse of some years. You're right, we need all the help we can get!