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TurboExec

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Hello everyone,

 

I'm a 56 yo new student going for my A&P at a local (semi) part 147.   I just started in August.  I decided after 25 years of owning my own business in the IT field to go do something else while I am still young enough to do it.  I have been coming to this site for over a year as a guest lurker.  Learned alot.  A whole lot.  I wanted to just look thru different forums to see what the general feel from the pilot side of things were like before I jumped in with both feet to get my degree.   Thank you by the way.  This place is full of knowledge and you can tell you guys love your planes.

I am only interested in GA.  Have no interest in working for an Airline.  I do have some time in the Rotor world as a student pilot.   Hopefully I will be able to finish that out and get my fixed wing add on.  (or vice versa)

I have also been looking around for a project plane to work on while I complete my training.  Not sure what that will look like just yet.  If I find the right Mooney it will be that for sure.  

I live in the Panhandle of Texas.

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Welcome aboard Caz(again)…

We have many A&P mechanics around here… some with their IA… some with their own shop…

We also have mechanics that work on project planes over spans of time…

We have a few people buy planes to aid their training on the way to becoming pros…

Best regards,

-a-

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  • 1 year later...

Hey everybody!

Its a new year…

Have you ever… introduced yourself to the other MSers?

There is some interesting history in this thread…

It’s been a while since Caz wrote his post… I saw him around earlier in the day… just hours ago.

:)

Best regards,

-a-

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10 minutes ago, carusoam said:

Hey everybody!

Its a new year…

Have you ever… introduced yourself to the other MSers?

There is some interesting history in this thread…

It’s been a while since Caz wrote his post… I saw him around earlier in the day… just hours ago.

:)

Best regards,

-a-

 

Thanks for bumping this thread up, it is my first time seeing it.

Name is Pam, 35, RN who is now a glorified personal assistant to 8 doctors, 7 are specialists, 1 a gp.

I fly them around, or patients, organs, and such as well.

There is not much I don't do, from being in the OR, to shopping for Birthday gifts that their wives will like, to today when I went for my own hair appointment, I picked up a doctor's daughters from school, and they got hair cuts at the same time.

I try to get out for a run every second day, and the other days I hit the gym.

My dog is the best running partner a gal can have, and he loves to go flying to.

My casual boyfriend is a commercial helicopter pilot, and I to have my rotary license.

I hold a multi ifr commercial fixed wing license, with several other endorsements to, my fav being floats. 

Acrobatics are the ultimate thing for me, maybe I should have joined the Air force, but alas, did not.

I like car and motorcycle racing, boating, skydiving, skiing, softball, volleyball, fishing, quad rides, and my amazing horse.

I live in the geographical center of British Columbia , beside a lake, on 17 acres.

IMHO I have the world's best Dad, who was teaching me how to fly his Cherokee by age 7, sitting on stacks of pillows to see out, and couldn't reach the pedals, so I had the yoke, and he had the pedals.

I knew things like V1 and  rotate, or how to grease and change the oil in a semi truck, before i got to grade 2. Hated school, wanted to be home riding horses, dirt bikes, going trucking with papa, or wrestling with my older brothers.

Drove my mother crazy, because I was the youngest and only girl, she thought her wish had finally come true, a little girl who would love pink dresses, ribbons in her hair, baking, and going to the mall shopping.

I didn't enjoy any of those things.

I wanted to be outside, dirty, running the tractor, or fixing a truck, if not off riding my bike or horse. Watching wrestling on tv and dropping a flying elbow on my big brothers off the back of the couch.

Broke 6 bones before finishing high school, and if i saw a bully picking on some other kid I would step in and try to slap them around and teach them not to bully people.

It back fired once badly in grade 9, and a grade 11 boy beat me up pretty good .

That night my big brothers asked me what happened.

The next morning on his way to school that bully got a taste of his own medicine, and he never bullied the kids at school ever again. I felt pretty invincible back then with 3 big brothers to back me up if I got in over my head.

I've really mellowed with age.

Cheers

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This should be a sticky so new people can see it.  I did not see it.

My name is Terry.  And I am a Mooniac

I grew up around aviation.  My Dad was a Naval Aviator flying carrier based anti submarine warfare from 1950 - 1966, then he became a staff guy.

I started flying with Civil Air Patrol in high school, but then got side tracked by fumes.  Gas fumes (cars) and perfumes (girls).  And got out of flying.   My senior year in college, I decided I wanted to try to get a military slot.  And thought, it would help to start flying again.  So I found a school not too far away and started training in a Grumman Tiger.  Off a 2000 foot strip.

I was accepted by the Navy and Air Force, then found out about the Air National Guard.  I applied to my local unit and was accepted.   I was commissioned September 1980 then attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, TX.  I earned my wings October 1981.  I continued my training and returned to my ANG unit to fly the A-10.  After a few years, due to a medical issue, I got out of flying again.   This time I got into racing sailboats, owning a Laser 28.

After a break, I returned to flying, adding some ratings and having a good time flying OPAs (Other Peoples Aircraft).  A friend bought a T-34, and put me on the insurance and I did a number of airshows with it.  Including participating in a 63 airplane formation at Oshkosh 1999 opening day for the 50th anniversary of the T-34.

That airplane was lost on April 10, 2001 coming back from Sun n Fun.  My friend was killed, and I spend over 3 months in a burn center.  So I took another hiatus from flying, with an occasional flight with friends.  I did get back into performance cars and road racing.  I still teach high performance driving at Summit Point raceway in WV.

About 18 months ago, I decided to get back into flying.  I rejoined CAP (NOT the CAP of the old days) to fly their airplanes (free flying) and to get involved in bringing aviation to a younger generation.   About 10 months ago, I had some changes to my financial situation and decided to buy a plane.  I looked at Tiger's, drooled over Aerostars (but cringed at the operating costs), and finally decided a Mooney was for me.  I finally found the right plane and purchased it.  I wrote an article for Mooney Flyer about my journey to becoming a Mooniac, published in the Sept 2022 issue.

I have gathered a few ratings along the way.  I am hold a Commercial Pilot certificate, with ASMEL, IA, RH, and G ratings, plus Private ASES.   I have a CFI (not current) with ASE, IA, RH, and G ratings.  I plan on renewing my CFI this spring by adding the MEI rating.  And probably redo my ASES to the Commercial level.

Professionally, I do occupational health and safety.  I recently retired from the Federal Government, but in true gov worker fashion, I will start back part time in February.

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Ditto on making this sticky...

My name is Merrill, and I too am a Mooniac.  

My love of small planes started with an uncle who took me, as a teenager, in his 182 to a wilderness strip along the Salmon River for his annual deer hunt.

Fast forward 15 years to 1995, my wife and I saw a crashed airplane on a trailer at her friend's house.  I asked my wife to get the story.  Turns out that the friend's father owned the FBO at the local airport (KSPK) that is now named after him.  I made it a point to run into this gentleman, and he offered to teach me to fly.  My wife, being from a military family with a brother who was the GIB in a F4 Wild Weasel, was okay with me taking lessons.  I finished my PPL quickly, and joined a local club with a 172, 182, and a Bonanza V35. I flew as often as I could afford, including my favorite flights, which were back to that backcountry Idaho strip with my kids.  

About 2005 we bought horses, and I quickly learned that horses and airplanes are very similar, in that they require lots of time, money, and effort.  I found I wasn't flying enough, so sold my membership in the club and my flying stopped.  We had horses until my kids started leaving home and I had nobody that wanted to go on my horseback adventures.  So we sold the horses.

Then my son decided he wants to be an ATP for his career.  I helped him look at flight schools and such, and it quickly became obvious that if we bought an airplane, he could fly much cheaper as he builds his 1500 hours.  So he and I partnered in an old Comanche.  We only had it a few months before we lost it in a 2021 accident while a friend was flying it.  (Someday I may post about the accident, and the numerous pitfalls of non-owned aviation insurance policies!)

It took us a year to scrape up the money, then find and buy a new plane.  This time a 1967 M20F.  We had to take on two additional partners to make the money work, but so far so good, these are good partners.  We love the plane and look forward to flying it a ton. 

The plane is based in Provo, Utah (KPVU), which is about 40 minutes driving from home.  Besides my partner son who lives close, the other kids live in WA, MD, and the other will be moving to AL soon.  I'm looking forward for better weather when I can start making some of these long trips.  My wife doesn't like flying in little airplanes much, but I'm hoping I can change her attitude if it is to see the grandkids.  I think I scared her too badly when we had to turn around and leave the plane at Podunk field, and rent a car to get home, after we picked up some ice on the Bonanza's wings.  

Thanks for all the great stuff you people put on Mooneyspace.  I appreciate it.

Ute (A fan/graduate of the University of Utah, The Runnin' Utes)

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Broke 6 bones before finishing high school…

I've really mellowed with age.



Great story, I was the only boy and grew up with 3 older sisters- but they were great to me.

I hope “mellowed” means no more broken bones, but trust me, you haven’t started to “age” at 35!

I am almost twice your age and also still hit the gym every other day plus mountain bike and climb for cardio. It helps with my useful load :)


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6 hours ago, kortopates said:

 


Great story, I was the only boy and grew up with 3 older sisters- but they were great to me.

I hope “mellowed” means no more broken bones, but trust me, you haven’t started to “age” at 35!

I am almost twice your age and also still hit the gym every other day plus mountain bike and climb for cardio. It helps with my useful load :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I broke 6 bones by age 18, but only 2 in the last 17 years, so I must be learning something lol.

 

When I look back to my teenage years, I feel old.

When I get to work, I am in the youngest 10% of the group, so feel youthful.

When I am skiing those black diamond runs and my knees ache on the drive home I feel ancient.

When softball and volleyball season starts and i am the most fit player on the team regardless of age, I feel like a kid again.

Edited by Canadian Gal
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My name is Jason, I am 45 and the proud owner of a 1980 M20K 261.

I grew up with a fascination of flying from an early age.  Big planes, small planes, fast planes,…it didn’t matter I just loved watching them in the sky, dreaming of being up there.   I always wanted to learn to fly but never felt like I had the money to do it consistently.  I wish I knew what I know now or had a mentor that could have shown me ways to fly early on.

I graduated college with an Engineering degree and thought about trying to join the navy to fly but that path seemed very uncertain given I didn’t even have a PPL so I went into industry to do the things Engineers traditionally do.  Fast forward 15 years and I found myself married with 3 kids and still dreaming of taking to the skies.  Cost was finally not as big of a barrier so I decided there is no time like to present to learn how to fly.  Half way through my training my job moved me from East Tennessee to Northern Virginia where we bought a home just under the downwind to Dulles airport and on the approach course to Leesburg Executive.  My wife and I spent many evenings sitting on our back deck with Flight Radar open and watching the planes on base for Dulles.  The down side was my flight training costs nearly doubled and I gained a new appreciation for flying in a congested airspace.  I finished my training and a year later finished my Instrument rating.

I love working on cars/trucks and restored several classics.  I had a 1976 Bronco I personally did a frame off restoration and it looked pristine inside and out but sat in the garage.  I decided to sale it to fund my first airplane purchase.  I immediately started looking at Mooneys thinking that a M20F would be perfect.  The only problem was I had 3 young kids and while I considered putting one in the baggage compartment my wife just wouldn’t get on board.  She suggested that we “needed” a 6 seat plane so I started the search for a Cherokee 6.  I ended up finding a partnership in Manassas with a A36TC looking for a 5th partner.  All the other partners were Commercial, CFI/II and/or ATP and while they were skeptical about me joining as a low time pilot they eventually agreed and I became an airplane owner.  The partnership was great, except they insisted on running the plane ROP, and I learned a ton from a very experienced and helpful group.  The A36TC was perfect in every way for my family except my wife never became comfortable flying in a small plane and we only went as a family a few times in it.

After 4 years in NOVA it was time to move again and this time we were off to Washington state. The downside to a partnership is when you have to sale out and you have to find someone local to the partnership to buy your share.  It took awhile to find the right person but luckily northern Virginia is a great place to find people with the means to fly.  I immediately turned my focus back to Mooneys knowing thats what I wanted in the first place and if my wife wasn’t going to fly with me I didn’t need the 6 seats.  I also considered a Bonanza F or V-tail but I find the online Mooney community much more enjoyable and helpful than the B-community.  In May of 2022 I purchased a M20K 261 that was in annual but had not been flown in over a decade.  I bought it knowing the risks and factored that into the purchase and frankly I wanted a flyable project.  It’s now almost February of 2023 and I still haven’t flown the 261 but it just finished a fresh annual and they are doing final engine tuning this week.  As soon as the 261 is in the air again I will start a separate post on that journey.  Thanks!

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