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Im not proud of this story but decided to share just encase anyone else finds themselves in flight with an open baggage door. Im based at john wayne airport in orange county ca. Last weekend i flew out to chino for fuel. fuel prices are usually about half of John wayne fuel prices. Its only about a 15 min flight. The flight there was uneventful. Weather was forcast overcast at 3900 but it was actually overcast at 3,000. I flew out at 2500 feet. Chino is 650 ft elevation John Wayne is 56ft. After landing i taxied to fuel right away worried that the ceiling might drop stranding me in Chino. Im not IFR rated. I waited while two other planes fueled than filled up hit the bathroom and started my taxi back to the runway looking at the sky worried that the ceiling looked darker and lower than it had on the flight over. Ceiling was still reported at 3900 feet. Ground handed me off to the tower and after a runup the tower cleared me for takeoff. I taxied by at least four other planes on the ground including two in the run up area. I started my takeoff roll and the noise in the cockpit sounded louder than normal. I have a very efficient bose noise canceling headset so i just assumed the batterys were running low. At about 200 ft AGL a pilot on the ground came over the tower frequency anouncing that the mooney taking off had an open baggage door! i looked over my right-shoulder and saw the wide open baggage door! My heart skipped a beat. I immediately requested to return to the airport as i thought about the POH and its warning that if the baggage door was to come open in flight the airplane would not be flight worthy. I wasnt sure what to expect would the baggage compartment act like a kite and cause the plane to yaw hard to the right? Would the engine be powerful enough to overcome the drag? I left the power setting full and followed the towers instruction to make a right crosswind. Another pilot came over frequency and reminded me to keep my speed up for stall protection. I turned downwind at pattern altitude reduced power and kept the speed 10 mph higher than usual. To my surprise the airplane was handling fine. I turned base then final and made an uneventful landing to a few cheers over the radio. After securing the baggage door i did a full preflight taxied back for takeoff the flight back went fine and the ceiling wasn't a problem. Im not sure if i simply didnt latch the door properly the first time around or somehow left it locked wide open in my hurry to leave i hadn't done a proper preflight. I learned four important lessons. 1) the plane will fly with an open baggage door 2) always do a full preflight even if it is just a quick pit stop. 3) if something dosent sound right during the takeoff role abort. 4) dont fixate! I was fixating on the weather and neglected my pre flight.