I Love My Mooney

[Jimhamilton]

I have now owned my M20K for over two years. It helped during my commute from Colorado Springs to Salt Lake City. 14,000 foot peaks everywhere were no problem. Just this last week I flew from Evanston Wyoming to Colorado Springs. I flew over the peaks at 17,500 feet. Smooth air and fast.

My wife loves flying in it and the convenience of speed. I know I have said this before but I need to say it again. If you are a commuter, nothing can beat the Mooney. It is the best single I have ever flown by a huge margin.

Just needed to say it and glad new life is coming to the company.

We are blessed owners, Jim Hamilton

[BigTex]

Amen

[rbridges]

I can only imagine flying at 17,500 in my mooney.  Although my jaunts are shorter, I know what you mean.

[Jamie]

I'm coming up on a year. The plane is working perfectly for the mission I bought it for (turning a 6 hour drive into a 1.5 hour flight). As I've said before, it still doesn't seem quite real... I do a lot of "what-if"ing on skyvector.com and I'm still amazed at the answers.

 

What is annoying though, is not having ground transportation someplace I want to go. Sometimes the trip ends up planning out as "fly as close as possible, get a rental car, and drive an hour". Yuck.

[Mooneymite]

Yes, Mooneys rock.

 

My wife and I frequently fly our Mooney from our home south of Atlanta to Roanoke to visit.  Takes about two hours and a half.  This week, due to "circumstances" we took the airline:  We left the house 2 hours before scheduled takeoff to allow for parking the car, the TSA and walking the miles of concourses to the plane.  Naturally, the plane was delayed for oxygen servicing.  18 minutes of taxi time....the actual flight was only 56 minutes.  Then we had to wait while our carry-on luggage was brought up from the belly of the RJ and make our way out to the street.  All together it was almost 4 hours to go by jet.

 

Did I mention that the tickets were almost $600?

 

Yes, I love my Mooney, too.

[Raygun15E]

Hopefully I can make a similar post in a little over two years! Sounds like you're really enjoying your M20K.

[Rich]

I have twice flown at !7,000 in my Ovation 2. Once it gets up there, it uses 11 GPH (ROP) at 2,300 RPM and cruises 169-171 Kt. What fun!!

[Hector]

Today was another one of those days I feel so fortunate to own a Mooney. Flew down from JAX, Florida to Miami and back. Beautiful day, absolutely clear, flying down the east coast of Florida at 9500 I could see what seemed like 100 miles down range and the view was spectacular. Perfectly still, without a hint of turbulance, the only indication I was moving was the GPS showing 142Kts for my M20C burning 8.6 GPH at that altitude. Just over 4 hours round trip which is a heck of a lot better than 12 hours fighting I-95 traffic. Oh yeah, I love my Mooney alright.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Jimhamilton]

Great testimonies, thanks everyone

[AlanA]

Mine M20J is also a commuter - Salt Lake City to the eastern Sierras. Makes a 8.5 dangerous car dive into a 3 hour plane flight. Love it !!

[Jimhamilton]

I used to park in Heber. Too bad we never met. Now I live in Colorado Springs.

[wrench]

Talked to previous bonanza owner yesterday, traded it for an Acclaim and wishes he done it sooner.

[John Pleisse]

We came home from central Wisconsin to Northern, VA in an Aerostar 602P, VFR, 17,500. For the entire two hour trip, ATC gave us only two traffic call-outs. Both were Mooneys.

[fantom]

ATC gave us only two traffic call-outs. Both were Mooneys.

 

I'm amazed by how common that is. I too,  my Mooney.

[Hank]

Amen! LOVE OUR MOONEY! Can't say enough good about it!

(Not sure our "C" would have that performance)

I took my C to 15,000 once in the summer. "Anemic" doesn't even begin to describe it. But the descents were fun, both high speed and high rate. I later calculated DA to have been 18,800. After it was all put on, I didn't even notice the oxygen tube.

My normal travel is at 8-10K, and she does very well there.

[rbridges]

I took my C to 15,000 once in the summer. "Anemic" doesn't even begin to describe it. But the descents were fun, both high speed and high rate. I later calculated DA to have been 18,800. After it was all put on, I didn't even notice the oxygen tube.

My normal travel is at 8-10K, and she does very well there.

 

anemic meaning climb rate?  what kind of TAS were you seeing?

[Hank]

Climb a little, level off and accelerate, climb a little more, repeat. Yes, we leaned in the climb for performance. The CFII with me was an A&P working on his IA. I don't recall the speed, we were in a long racetrack pattern. Handling was more sensitive than normal. I'll have to look and see if I kept my notes.

[Hank]

Here is my C at 11,000 msl last Sunday. The only thing I didn't like was GS, but that's the wind for you. I had filed for 9000, which put me in the clouds, then I eventually flew out the top, then in and out, and asked for 9-10 block due to updrafts. The climb to 11K was for visibility, as I was in-and-out of the tops again and could not see to avoid heavy precip ahead.

 

Not too shabby for 180 hp. I did not experiment with lean of peak this time, as I spent more time in the clouds than out, and playing with things takes eyes and concentration that I didn't have to spare. So yes, the photo shows ~30 ROP at 11,000 msl.

 

Quick finger calculations show: 

 

     137 mph + 22% = 167 mph = 145 knots

 

Apparently the speed loss from my Hartzell 3-blade is balanced out by the 201-style windshield.

[Jeff_S]

It's okay to love your Mooney. Just don't LLUUVV your Mooney!