Hooked on the 201

[jetdriven]

I met a guy who bought into a percentage of a M20E that belongs to a friend of mine. He needed ten hours of Mooney instruction to get insurance on the machine. After 8 of those hours he was really digging the Johnson bar and powerful 200HP engine. Well, one of his mags went out and we got to finish the training, so I offered us to take our 201 from Houston over to Austin and back. It was something like an hour and 5 minutes each way. After about 5 minutes he was remarking "dude, they took everything I don't like about the E model and fixed it". Electric gear, modern panel, a little more room. After a few months in the partnership he bought his own 1978 M20J. A nicer one than mine, of course. I suppose I ruined that guy.

Another friend of a friend , Alex, owned a 172 and often flew in our mutual friend's S35 Bonanza. We set a lunch fly up to Brenham and my wife and the Bonanza owner took that, Alex and I took the 201. Of course on takeoff that Bonanza blew us in the weeds, but we caught up to them. Flew formation, took a few photos, and so on. At 160 knots, Alex remarked that we were cruising right alongside the Bonanza just fine, but heard them Mooneys were slow and awful tight inside. I asked Becca what her fuel flow on the Bonanza was, "15 Gallons an hour". Of course I played this up a bit and flipped over to the FF on the engine monitor and happily bragged "eleven". This is 83% power LOP which matches 70% in the Beech. Alex was impressed, he remarked his 172 is near that on the gas, and nowhere near the speed. "That ain't nothin, watch this." Nobody ever accused a Mooney of burning too much gas, but I decided to make a point. We slowed down to 140 knots, the Bonanza is keeping the same speed. "How about now?" I asked. "Eleven gallons". I pulled that prop back to 2200 RPM and leaned on the mixture until I got a text alert that the stock price of Exxon dropped. "Seven gallons an hour". You could hang your Captain's hat on Alex's eyeballs, they were bulging out so far. So I went for the kill. Minimum fuel flow. The S35 Bonanza is struggling, but they proudly announce they got 7 gallons an hour out of it. We got down to 4.0, 3.8 at times but call it four. Which is the same, as, oh a Rotax 912 in the Remos at 65% power. Or a Cessna 150 at long range cruise. The Bonanza owner remarked that was his taxi fuel flow. And I could hear Becca laughing on the radio. Just laughing at the poor guy.

Alex's 172 was in the paint shop getting a whole kit of new radios, paint and interior. That didn't last long. He sold it and bought a cherry 1975 M20F within a year. Nicer than mine, of course.

Becca, on the other hand, enjoyed they 285 HP Continental engine's purr and the pure thrust feeling in takeoff. That and the big windows and the ceiling so tall you can wear a Texas ten-gallon hat while sitting at the controls. you climb up on that thing and sit down in it. "How much do those cost, again?"

So I guess you could say I sold two Mooneys and one Bonanza. All in all it's been a good year.

[ArtVandelay]

. A nicer one than mine, of course. I suppose I ruined that guy.

Nicer than mine, of course.

 

The other take away is you need to upgrade

[MooneyBob]

I just got back from the airport after flying my recently aquired M20J. Very,very , very nice. I can't wait until morning to get back into it and take off. My instructor that I have to do 10 hours with is very impressed with the J.

It will be busy morning tomorrow as many fancy jets are arriving for the big game - KBLM.

[PLN_FXR]

The Bonanza does have room for a hat, but no place for your legs.  Give me a Mooney over a Baron or Bonanza any day for a long-distance flight, and not simply because I like Mooneys better or because they are more efficient.  They are simply more comfortable!

[Marauder]

That is the problem with aviation. You fly in someone's else plane and it's over. I flew in Chad's 231 (bnicolette's friend) and loved the smoothness of the 6. I was ready to put the "For Sale" sign on mine when we got back.

[carusoam]

We're going to need a NJ group dynamic prop balance to help with that...

-a-

[Marauder]

That is the problem with aviation. You fly in someone's else plane and it's over. I flew in Chad's 231 (bnicolette's friend) and loved the smoothness of the 6. I was ready to put the "For Sale" sign on mine when we got back.

Speaking of; where has Stinky Pants been? I was looking for some place to go today and SP didn't set anything up.

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[carusoam]

Must be working to pay off the Carribean fuel bill...

Or planning the next parrot trip.

We need a poll!

Best regards,

-a-

[fantom]

:) :) You da man jetdriven!

[Guest]

That is the problem with aviation. You fly in someone's else plane and it's over. I flew in Chad's 231 (bnicolette's friend) and loved the smoothness of the 6. I was ready to put the "For Sale" sign on mine when we got back.

If you were impressed with 6 cylinders, you should try 8 cylinders, 720 cubic inches and 400 HP bolted to an MT propeller

Clarence

[jetdriven]

I saw an IO-780, yes an IO-720 with some 390 jugs on it and a supercharger to boot. Something north of "eight and a quarter" he said. Stuffed into the front of a Lancair Legacy just because the twin turbo Continental IO-550 just wasn't cutting it. He finished the race in around half the time the rest of the pack did, with an average speed of 334 MPH. Talk about sound, it sounded like Reno air racer when it exploded past the finish. Then he gassed it up and flew home to Salt Lake at FL250 and 300 knots, burning 22 GPH. Google Mike Patey.

Big motors are cool. But at that rate, I'd just get a turbine and be done with it.

[RocketAviator]

So ok Byron when are you going to come fly in my old bucket of bolts with me and teach me the ropes for SWAR racing? 

[DS1980]

The 201 is the most noncompromised production airplane ever built, and it will remain so for a while.

[stevesm20b]

Cool!

[jetdriven]

So ok Byron when are you going to come fly in my old bucket of bolts with me and teach me the ropes for SWAR racing?

Taylor is 4-12-14. http://sportairrace.org/sarl/

We just can't seem to get past the brick wall at 196 MPH. After a few mods it's nearly the same. Perhaps fill the leading edge of the wing with some epoxy and micro and slap a fresh coat of paint on the old thing. You should be good enough to take down the entire fleet wit the exception of a couple real hot Glasairs. Now that would be fun to do in a production 4-seat airplane.

[RocketAviator]

Taylor is 4-12-14. http://sportairrace.org/sarl/

We just can't seem to get past the brick wall at 196 MPH. After a few mods it's nearly the same. Perhaps fill the leading edge of the wing with some epoxy and micro and slap a fresh coat of paint on the old thing. You should be good enough to take down the entire fleet wit the exception of a couple real hot Glasairs. Now that would be fun to do in a production 4-seat airplane.

I think that is the same weekend of the Mooney activity in Kerrville.

I see one in Texhoma & Hill Country, either of those might be a better option for me as I have already committed to attend the Mooney activity.

Lets get talk and see what we can work out!

[Marauder]

Taylor is 4-12-14. http://sportairrace.org/sarl/

We just can't seem to get past the brick wall at 196 MPH. After a few mods it's nearly the same. Perhaps fill the leading edge of the wing with some epoxy and micro and slap a fresh coat of paint on the old thing. You should be good enough to take down the entire fleet wit the exception of a couple real hot Glasairs. Now that would be fun to do in a production 4-seat airplane.

What's your empty weight at this point? Can you get the fat lady any lighter?

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[Bob_Belville]

That's at sea level, fire-walled?

 

I was looking @ 159k (183) on the Aspen TAS readout @ 80% @ 4500' today while breaking in my o'hauled engine.(Can't say I saw 160.) Full fuel, probably 350 below gross (2575) but cog pretty far forward.

[jetdriven]

What's your empty weight at this point? Can you get the fat lady any lighter?

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Empty weight right now is 1780. We may hold the record for weight and balance changes. I think we are on revision 14 in 3 years. This is about 25 lbs heavier than it was when we bought it due to the T/C for AI swap, Aera 500 in a panel dock, shoulder harnesses, Concorde RG35-AXC battery, Lasar wing root seals, dorsal fin, horizontal tail fairing, Aileron seals, and the Big Mambo, swapping out the WX-8 stormscope which didn't work, for a WX-1000E that adds 8 pounds. (Yeah. it was a grand cheaper than a weight-neutral WX-950. A grand for 8 lbs.) After 3 days in the shop, and 200$ worth of cable and crimping around 120 pins, the damned thing works. Anyways yeah it's heavy.

 

Oh and I installed dual brakes. Thats another 5 Lbs or so.

All is not lost, it just takes large amounts of money. We have a KN-61 DME which frequently reports 25 miles off and 320 knot ground speeds (data tag is 1973, my mother was 14 years old then) which weighs 12 pounds and has an antenna hanging out there (shark fin of course) and two KX 170B radios plus a KLN-89B GPS (I also installed) there may be something like 25 pounds removed after we install a Death Star 750, which puts it right where we bought it, a 974 lb useful load bit a few extra knots and the ability to shoot something other than an ILS or VOR approach.

If we really jump the shark, you may see an Aspen soon. This will dump some iron gyros and save a couple pounds but its not likely. Fortunately our panel is so obsolete we need a new indicator which is two grand and we have no HSi, plus three gyros which wear out on a time table, so the Aspen isn't as expensive as it looks considering all that.

[Bob_Belville]

Yeah, but a single Aspen doesn't get rid of your AI which has to be a backup. I got rid of an old Narco HSI and the VSI.

[cnoe]

Byron, I think I met that guy you wowed with your J. From what I hear his plane won't keep up with yours.

[Marauder]

Empty weight right now is 1780. We may hold the record for weight and balance changes. I think we are on revision 14 in 3 years. This is about 25 lbs heavier than it was when we bought it due to the T/C for AI swap, Aera 500 in a panel dock, shoulder harnesses, Concorde RG35-AXC battery, Lasar wing root seals, dorsal fin, horizontal tail fairing, Aileron seals, and the Big Mambo, swapping out the WX-8 stormscope which didn't work, for a WX-1000E that adds 8 pounds. (Yeah. it was a grand cheaper than a weight-neutral WX-950. A grand for 8 lbs.) After 3 days in the shop, and 200$ worth of cable and crimping around 120 pins, the damned thing works. Anyways yeah it's heavy.

All is not lost, it just takes large amounts of money. We have a KN-61 DME which frequently reports 25 miles off and 320 knot ground speeds (data tag is 1973, my mother was 14 years old) which weighs 17 pounds and has an antenna hanging out there (shark fin of course) and two KX 170B radios plus a KLN-89B GPS (I also installed) there may be something like 25 pounds removed after we install a Death Star 750, which puts it right where we bought it, a 974 lb useful load bit a few extra knots and the ability to shoot something other than an IlS or VOR approach.

If we really jump the shark, you may see an Aspen soon. This will dump some iron gyros and save a couple pounds but its not likely. Fortunately our panel is so obsolete we need a new indicator which is two grand and we have no HSi, plus three gyros which wear out on a time table, so the Aspen isn't as expensive as it looks considering all that.

Are there pictures of all this carnage in your gallery? I was a happy camper when my last KX-170B went "bye bye". With no HSI and you considering the DS750, it makes sense to go the Aspen or G500 route. The Aspen allowed me to not buy the Garmin G-106A for around $2k, got rid of my Narco Nav head, gave me an HSI, a cool electronic AI that had both vertical and horizontal course indicators pop up for precision approaches, a battery backup and GPSS all wrapped up in one package.

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[Marauder]

Yeah, but a single Aspen doesn't get rid of your AI which has to be a backup. I got rid of an old Narco HSI and the VSI.

Bob -- I think it's time... Time for you to update that panel of yours. Get that second MFD 1000 with the extended battery pack and you can drop your airspeed indicator and altimeter. Heck, with the second MFD, you can channel whatever is connected to that Nav head below the ASI and remove it too!

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[fantom]

Marauder......giving yourself a 'like' is wrong on so many levels     

[rbridges]

 

Marauder......giving yourself a 'like' is wrong on so many levels     

 

 

it's kinda like taking your cousin to the prom.  on the surface, it looks like someone likes you, but.....