Am I crazy?

[bonal]

Another point to consider is stalls spins and slips. During my training we spent quite a bit on these. Not something a mooney is really good for except the slips. Now if I am approaching with cross winds or if I'm high on approach I can cross control with ease. Some of my local fields are very close to hills and mountains making stabilized approaches hard to set up.

[MooneyPTG]

I took two lessons, bought a piper tomahawk...yes piper tomahawk and learned to fly. I too enjoyed the machine aspect of aviation. I think understanding the machine was very useful in learning how to fly. I owned the tomahawk for 1 year and sold it for more than I paid for it in 2 days. I found the transition from the low wing tomahawk to the mooney was pretty easy. As to what to learn on, I think finding the right instructor will dictate the plane you will learn on. If my wife ever wants to learn to fly she will learn on our mooney as that is the plane we own.

[Conrad]

@pinerunner: It's official, I've gotten to an airport! Started training out of KOAK in a regular ol C152. I certainly haven't abandoned thoughts of buying a plane though. I'm keeping eyes on the listings going through barnstormers, trade-a-plane, ASO, All American, and LASAR.  

Just found an excellent looking B for a price I can afford easily withing 100 miles of me. Cool because I could actually go take a look at it, but iffy because it's been grounded for four years. Also an anomolous plane for other reasons -- IFR GPS but still manual gear and a fixed pitch prop. Could be just right for a student who wants to put some time into learning maintenance, so long as I pin the tail on the repairs budget. http://www.lasar.com/w/id/177/new-plane-details.asp

[bonal]

Stick with it Rad flying out of Oak will be good experience and nothing wrong with a 152 they are solid tough and forgiving. As you progress make sure your instructor is going to teach full stalls and spin recovery. There are those that think its acceptable to just get the student and aircraft close but not have it completely stalled. I think it's an essential skill as is real spin recovery. If not check out Attitude Aviation in Livermore they have an excellent program to expose you to basic aerobics and unusual attitudes. As for the B just make sure you have a pre buy inspection. since LASAR is listing it I'm sure they will work with you. They will start as a pre buy and go all the way through to complete annual. If they find any issues that are deal breakers you can stop the process any time. You indicated the plane is out of annual so you would need a one time ferry permit.

Good luck and most important HAVE FUN!

[Conrad]

I'm pretty sure we'll do full stalls and spins. I definitely feel I need to know what those feel like in order to become a good pilot.

 

I'm curious about what you're saying. I definitely wouldn't want to buy a plane that's been on the ground that long without getting a complete annual as a prebuy, but what's to stop me, if I decide to buy it, (and there's nothing major wrong) from having the annual signed off on so that the plane is airworthy again? If there is anything major wrong it's going to have to be fixed before I could get the ferry permit anyway right?

[bonal]

Just trying to be helpful. There are lots of potential costly repairs that are not always airworthy issues.

I'm out

[Conrad]

Ok, makes sense.

[WaMooneypilot]

Well your first post will be my first post as well. I did it the same way you are envisioning ( almost). I found a club with a 172 that would allow a student pilot. It was a great plane to learn in and satisfied my flying needs for the first two years /150 hrs. I then began looking for greener pastures and wanted to go faster. I never really thought much of the mooney and I heard they were expensive. Then I stumbled upon a 1962 M20c. I fell in love with the manual gear and simple flaps. I had no experience with adjustable props but it's not too hard to figure out after 3-4 hours of flying. As a low time pilot with no retractable time, AVEMCO insurance charges me $1700 a year. I have found other quotes closer to $1200 and I will be switching to one of them after the this quarter. Fuel burn is 2-3 GPH more than 172 so that is a consideration as well. Over 50 hrs that is 150 more gallons you will buy to get your license.

As for your first plane, I think you will be much better served with a trainer type. A 150,172, or piper 140, etc, will be more then enough when you first start. If, after your first 20 hrs, you still think you need a mooney right now then get one. I loved the simplicity of the 172 and it was just easy to fly and confidence building. I know for certain the mooney would have made me consider quitting on the early "hard" days of pilot training.

Let us know what you end up doing. Good luck!

[gsxrpilot]

Just to add my $0.02 to this conversation.  I'm also shopping for my first Mooney and can't wait to own one.  In fact, I wish I hadn't waited so long to start this search.  But the truth is, my only regret in this whole flying thing, is not finding an instructor and starting sooner.  I spent years waiting to have more money saved up, or trying to decide if I should buy first and learn in the plane, or if I should save up first and do the whole PPL in a month.  Finally on the advice of my brother, an airline captain, I when shopping for an instructor.  I interviewed "flew with" 5 CFI's before I settled on one.  I would call up the CFI, explain I was wanting to learn to fly and looking for a CFI and ask if I could schedule an hour flight with him.  After the hour flight, I'd pay him and thank him for the time and explain I'd get back to him.  After I'd interviewed several, I settled on the one I thought matched up with me the best and one I'd enjoy spending time in the airplane with.  Then I just started flying.  There was no schedule or program, just fly as often as I had the money, time, and the availability of my instructor and the airplane.  It was a Cherokee 140, by the way.  I've found that the lessons were just as enjoyable as the 300 hours of flying since the PPL.  I just flew and flew and flew... somewhere at about 11 months, after a fun flight with the CFI, he told me he wouldn't fly with me again.  Or at least not until after I took the check ride.  I was a bit surprised and shocked that he even thought I was ready.  I was just enjoying the lessons.  But I scheduled with an examiner, had a very short check ride, where the examiner said he wanted to meet my CFI as he'd not seen anyone as well prepared.  And it was done, I had a PPL.  I just wish I'd quit thinking about all the other stuff and just started with a CFI many years sooner.

 

Now with nearly 400 hours, an IA, HP+Complex and nearly 100 hours in fast Bo's and Comanche's, I'm happy to be shopping for a Mooney.

 

Best of luck and welcome to this exclusive little community of us who fly.

 

Paul