How many hours do you have total and how many in your Mooney??

[orionflt]

she would, except she knows I like it and doesn't want me to think i'm allowed to live at the airport.

[WardHolbrook]

You professional pilots... Please adjust to only show hours that you actually hand fly. 

What difference does that make? Experience doesn't somehow allow you to manipulate the controls any better, it lets you fly smarter. 

[DonMuncy]

I agree with both of you. Having the autopilot flying does nothing for your stick and rudder skills. Having a zillion hours in the pattern has little effect on your ability to fly (or not fly) through questionable weather or fly an approach to minimums.

Thus the fallacy of relying on "hours" for much of anything.

But I really don't know of a better system, without making it so complex it would be unworkable. 

[Mooneymite]

This discussion of "real hours" vs "autopilot hours" reminds me of a riddle that went around after the PanAM/National merger.  National, at that time was more like a SWA and Pan Am flew primarily long, over-water routes.  A real clash of cultures:

 

Q.  What are the two most dangerous aviators?

 

A:  A PanAM pilot doing a visual approach and a National pilot doing a crossword puzzle.

 

[Marauder]

Ain't that the truth! Hahaha!

I haven't added it up in ten years, but about ... 12,000-13,000? 25-30 TT Mooney, all in our M20C.

Started in the Army ... helicopters, then began getting civilian fixed-wing ratings after a few years ...

... after instructing a year or so ... flew charters part-time, a little freight at night part-time, still flew H60s in the Guard, first two airlines flew turboprops, then regional jets, now on my fifth airline in 737s ...

Bought our first airplane, a 1965 M20C this past April. between 25-30 hours in our plane, the first and only Mooney I have ever flown.

(I'm not scared, but with less than 30 hours, I am treating it with respect. Right now the pilot is a limiting factor of my Mooney's capabilities! Haven't flown any hard IMC or done any really strong crosswind landings yet ... and only three full stop night landings - I am being conservative and trying to maintain and build proficiency. Having said that, however, after only twelve hours (including five duel instruction) we took our Mooney to the Bahamas in September for seven nights. Had a very very good and safe time! After all ... That's what we bought it for!)

I am also reading and re-reading information provided by MAPA (e.g. Flying by the numbers) and as a new owner reviewing service bulletins, recurring maintenance requirements and ADs which might apply ... Hoping to get to a workshop when the budget allows!

 

I'll bet your first few landings were interesting. Either flared too high or pitched up expecting to autorotate

[jlunseth]

1200 and 900 in the K.  Autopilot hours certainly count as far as I am concerned, they offload the burden of flying the aircraft straight and level for a thousand miles.  The pilot actually has time to manage the engine, the fuel, and make decisions about the weather.  As far as stick and rudder skills go, I still get plenty of practice just larking around, and no one uses the AP in the pattern.

[Mooneymite]

... and no one uses the AP in the pattern.

 

They don't?   

 

Oh, you mean "Mooneypilots".

[WardHolbrook]

I started to flair about 30' AGL. Yeah, those first few landings, it wasn't pretty. I hadn't flown anything but 737s for nine years.

I didn't help when on short final a friend and fellow Captain who lives a few blocks over (and at our local airport) called on CTAF that "everyone was watching." I didn't think anyone was around? I purposely had NOT told him I was doing my first flight that day ... I wanted as few witnesses as possible!

 

Several years ago I got back into flying light airplanes after a 20 year hiatus of flying nothing but transport category jets. Those first few landings where humbling to say the least. The guy who was checking me out in his Turbo 210 winced after a couple of those landings. 

 

My favorite "airline guy trying to land a little airplane" experience was about 30 years ago when I was checking out one of my airline friends (Now a retired chief pilot at the airline.) in a sailplane. The guy was an accomplished glider pilot, but it had been a few years. In the meantime he had logged several thousand hours in "Seven twos" and DC-10s. You don't flare a glider and you really don't want to flare a glider 50 feet in the air.   Oh and by the way, the brakes on a glider are usually on the spoiler handle, not the rudder pedals. 

 

Fortunately, we got it on the ground and stopped without doing any damage to anything but his pride. We had a good laugh and things came back quickly. Thank goodness. 

[WardHolbrook]

I agree with both of you. Having the autopilot flying does nothing for your stick and rudder skills. Having a zillion hours in the pattern has little effect on your ability to fly (or not fly) through questionable weather or fly an approach to minimums.

Thus the fallacy of relying on "hours" for much of anything.

But I really don't know of a better system, without making it so complex it would be unworkable. 

You are correct, hours, in themselves, don't mean much. It's what you've done during those hours that matters. There is a difference between a thousand hours of experience and one hour of experience repeated 1000 times. 

[scottfromiowa]

650. 550 in my M20E. Far less eventful than my 810,000 miles for work over 27+ years in too many company cars to count. I feel much safeer in the skies even though I am many thousands of feet below the many pro's that double as Mooney drivers.

[aaronk25]

1230tt 750 in m20j's,,,,,,the rest of the time is in run of the mill barley better than driving a car crap, ya know sloppy archers and 172s, 182 blah blah blah....

[Guest]

162TT and 55 in the M20C.  I came in late in the game.

[bnicolette]

Enough and not enough.

[Nemesis]

570 TT, and 315 in my K model.

 

The jitters will definitely fade but for me it was not so much having xx number of hours in any specific model, or even my K model, it was a TT thing for me as well as cross country time.

 

The first time I took a friend flying after having earned my PPL, a friend who is also interested in aviation but never did try for a PPL, we were going from Centennial Denver KAPA down to Pueblo KPUB. Now, I had made that short 80 mile CC several times with instructors, and even used PUB as part of my long CC for the PPL. It is a simple trip. Hell, I only have to parallel the giant mountains that are to the west. Even so, as we were nearing PUB, and having told the tower that I was familiar with the area, and as I was on course because I had checked just a few minutes earlier using the VOR that is just east of the field, I looked down again and had full CDI deflection to the left of course. At about the same time, the tower asked if I had the field in sight. Of course I didn't. He gave me a vector to save some face and I landed with no problems.

 

What I realized that day was that in the pattern or practice area, only two of the BIG 3 skills are being used, aviate and communicate. I had the ability to navigate that I proved before my checkride but not all of the skills taught for a PPL had gelled together. Navigate was the last to be integrated for me and that did not happen until I started to make those short hops to unfamiliar fields (as another pointed out in an earlier post.)

 

With perhaps 125 or 150 hours, and as I was then stretching those CC flights to 500 or 600 NM, and using various different navigation methods instead of just one, that was the point when many of the skills started to gel and be more fluid together and when I really started to settle.

 

At just over 200 hours I got the K model. After 10 hours with Bruce Jeager for insurance, and after a 488 NM CC to take my K model home, I was comfortable enough to operate my new machine. That's not to say that I did not have more to learn about the K, and aviation in general, and still do, but I was safe to have myself and my machine in the air, and off to the next adventure.

 

Use the time in your new machine wisely Troy, and stretch your legs a bit.

 

Dave

[Seth]

162TT and 55 in the M20C.  I came in late in the game.

Never too late!  Better late than never.

[mooney389]

20,000TT 300+ M20E 100+ M20J Would like to own a 252 some day!

[flhelo]

Approximately 5000tt. 4700 RW, 300FW (all Mooney time) 

[gjensen]

300 tt with 50 in the m20j. Insurance companies obviously don't like my low hours with the liability limits they offer me.

[Dave Marten]

3800TT mostly AF jets, plus about 1000 GA. 350 Mooney (my 231 with a healthy peppering across the rest of the models).

 

The learning never stops. When/if it ever does then I'll hang up my wings. Every flight is a new challenge!

[JohnL]

1035TT with 64 in a 81 M20K Rocket. Having a great time flying the Mooney with its speed and economy.

[SkyPilot]

7000 hrs, 5000 of it on floats. Only about 160 in a Mooney, `150 of that on my M20F.  It's nice to fly to runways and taxi in to a hanger rather than checking for floating logs, boats full of drunken fisherman, and a docking in a 7kt current on rivers full of spring run-off trees. So much more relaxing..

[aviatoreb]

700hrs, 350 in my current airplane, my Rocket and 250+ in my previous airplane, a Diamond DA40, and a little bit in C172's, an Alarus (that's one pokey airplane), a C150, a Cherokee 140 and a 180, a Twinkie, an eurcoupe and a glider.  Currently working on commercial.

[PTK]

1400 hours of which approx 450 in my Mooney.

[dfgreene61]

550 Total, 3 in a Mooney.  Most of my hours were spent in my previous plane a 79 Turbo Arrow.  I'm still learning my way around the M20J but like what I've learned so far.  Fast, stable, fun to fly.  I purchased this plane for making trips from 150-500nm economically.  I'm unaware of any production aircraft that can match it for speed and economics.  My budget was up to $200K.  I spent MANY hours contemplating what to purchase.  The turbo-arrow market is pretty sad.  Not many good aircraft to be found.  I was close to going with a G1 Cirrus but just couldn't wrap my head around buying a platic plane with a max hours limitation.  I know they're roomy, high-tech and you can throttle back and save money.  So instead I'll gain experience with 62G and start spending the money I saved on upgrades, etc.

[BorealOne]

1600h, 900 Mooney, 600 Lake Amphib, rest in various aircraft, multi, floats and wheels.

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