What's my mission?

[Wakeup]

Everyone seems to have a mission for their mooney except me. Is it bad that I don't have a mission? I have always loved the look of the mooney, that's why I bought one. I don't have anywhere to go, but like knowing I can. I mostly fly to airports 30-100 nm away to practice and just Fly. I have only been on 2 flights over 500 nm and hope with experience and training I will discover my mission. Thanks Troy

[bonal]

Sounds like right now your mission is to just fly. Other than flying for business or some form of required travel that is more suited to flight I'm not sure there is such a thing. I mean if you define your mission by what is your most repeated flight then I would have to say our Mooney is our grocery getter. Second would be over the river and over the woods to grandmas house. Our mission is to have as much fun getting there as being there.

[BigTex]

Everyone seems to have a mission for their mooney except me. Is it bad that I don't have a mission? I have always loved the look of the mooney, that's why I bought one. I don't have anywhere to go, but like knowing I can. I mostly fly to airports 30-100 nm away to practice and just Fly. I have only been on 2 flights over 500 nm and hope with experience and training I will discover my mission. Thanks Troy

Wakeup, you just described your mission... You might have more airplane than you need but so what. Enjoy it and fly often.

[MooneyBob]

Everyone seems to have a mission for their mooney except me. Is it bad that I don't have a mission? I have always loved the look of the mooney, that's why I bought one. I don't have anywhere to go, but like knowing I can. I mostly fly to airports 30-100 nm away to practice and just Fly. I have only been on 2 flights over 500 nm and hope with experience and training I will discover my mission. Thanks Troy

Same here. My mission is to fly. Maybe because I am still pretty fresh pilot and very fresh IR pilot ( 300 hours total ) I fly a lot just to enjoy it and practice as much as possible. At least 3-4 times a week. Occasional business trips over 300 NM. Of course there are many cool destination on my list that I will go to right after my schedule clears a little more. But for now " I just fly " which is pretty cool.

[Andy95W]

You have just described what I have always said about the M20B/C: it is the perfect airplane.

Want to just fly around, with nothing to do but just enjoy the freedom of flight? M20B/C can do exactly that for just a tiny bit more money than a C-172.

Want to take a trip? M20B/C can do that too, at a decent speed and good efficiency.

The perfect airplane!

[Danb]

I really love this mission stuff.lwhere does that come from..I have been flying over 30+ yrs(God I'm getting old) and still don't have a mission except for decision making on a particular day, so who cares what I fly,just fly the H out of that Mooney..why fly a 152 just because you don't have. MISSION..

[rbridges]

i still haven't been on a 500nm flight.  I was just putting the plane back in the hangar yesterday and thinking how happy I was with it.

[Marauder]

Everyone seems to have a mission for their mooney except me. Is it bad that I don't have a mission? I have always loved the look of the mooney, that's why I bought one. I don't have anywhere to go, but like knowing I can. I mostly fly to airports 30-100 nm away to practice and just Fly. I have only been on 2 flights over 500 nm and hope with experience and training I will discover my mission. Thanks Troy

Sign up for Angel flights or Pilots N Paws. Gives some meaning to the people and pups you help out...

[Mooneymite]

Converting avgas into noise and lift is a perfectly acceptable "mission". :-)

[rbuck]

Troy, you described the same mission I have! I've gone on a few more long flights, but I'm more excited for the ones that I'll have in the future. Most of my flights are between 50 and 100nm-every couple of weeks, just to enjoy the adventure of flying. 

I also agree that the B/C is the perfect plane. Local flights, long flights...all efficiently and relatively quickly. Sure, a J is faster, but I don't travel far often enough to need it. 

[mikesalman]

And I thought I was the only one with that problem. I have had my F for almost 2 years been to Lamberts 3 maybe 4 times. And once to Tampa with a flight instructor the rest of the time flying around in the practice area or perfecting my landings. Total of around 50 hours in 2 years of ownership.

[Lood]

And that's what I enjoy so much about the vintage Mooney's. They are very capable to take you to far away places, at respectable speeds, burning little fuel, but then they're just as good if you want to go for the Sunday afternoon plod around the pot, at 90mph.

[Hank]

At least one FAAST seminar I have attended fairly heavily emphasized avoiding the idea of a "mission" for (most of) our flying.  The reasoning is that ours are purely optional operations that may be deferred or scrubbed when conditions are not suitable.  A "mission" has a connotation of a critical activity that must occur within certain parameters, and as such may lead to unsafe ADM in a recreational (or business or anything not "military") arena.

To think of a particular flight as a mission may bring on those notions. Here, he is talking about his mission for buying a Mooney instead of a different plane. Fortunately, vintage Mooneys have a wide mission capability, from local flightseeing to 30 nm lunch runs to cross-continent trips. Mine ranges from lunch runs to 400 nm trips visiting family, but it has included 1300+ nm vacation flights where getting there was half the fun.

But my two-for-one trip to Mooneys in the Mountains and a visit to Mom & Dad was two flights each way, but none of the flights was a "mission." They both fit my Mission for buying the Mooney; one leg was >250 nm (I haven't calculated my reroute yet), and one leg was 47 nm, and my C did both very well.

[kmyfm20s]

Sounds like your having fun in a sweet aircraft!........Mission fulfilled!

[philipneeper]

Everyone seems to have a mission for their mooney except me. Is it bad that I don't have a mission? I have always loved the look of the mooney, that's why I bought one. I don't have anywhere to go, but like knowing I can. I mostly fly to airports 30-100 nm away to practice and just Fly. I have only been on 2 flights over 500 nm and hope with experience and training I will discover my mission. Thanks Troy

Troy, my situation is similar to yours. But we do have a mission, our mission is enjoying our hobby. Our mooneys don't need to make you money but rather make you feel alive.

[ryoder]

Good point about the mission word having the wrong connotation. I wonder what the replacement for that word would be? My mission is training and having fun while seeing the state of Florida, soon to be Georgia. I still haven't gone anywhere in an airplane as transportation but plan to fly to my moms cabin in Georgia next month.

[carusoam]

Troy,

You have clearly defined your mission without even knowing you had one. You covered it in your first few sentences.

This mission statement shouldn't be minced with flying a mission...?

This is simply defining a shoe that fits. It accidentally uses a word that has multiple meanings...

This is a typical method engineers use to buy machinery.

We use "defining your mission" to help people identify an appropriate model of Mooney to fit their needs.

An important step early on, to help balance wants and needs with cash available. Similar efforts are used to select a proper house to meet the needs of a family.

The reason why defining the mission is important... Plane costs are high compared to personal income. The act of buying and selling a plane can cost a lot more time and money than buying and selling an automobile.

If your basic mission is to fly a factory built plane that is fast and efficient, you found a Mooney, you did well!

Some add important things like flying or training in IMC...

Some want to be able to fly in the flight levels often...

Some want to bring three other full sized people along for the ride...

Some want to depart into known icing conditions...

Know that the typical mission may change over time...

Know that it takes cash or effort to maintain the ability of the plane to meet the various mission capabilities.

Overall, when your plane exceeds your requirements, you have a good chance of being happy with it.

If it doesn't fit your needs, it may take gobs of cash to get to the next level.

Change can be good...

A simple mission is good...

The more complex the mission is, the more expensive the solutions are.

Keep in mind, I am an engineer that used to buy and sell machinery. I find this stuff....fun!

I like Troy's mission! And the dozen others that followed after!

Go Mooney!

Best regards,

-a-

[Danb]

Guys really mission..does that not change all the time,as you gain experience decide to leave the practice area, go for that 100, 209 up to 1000 mile trip...as Chris said join angel flight oops new mission....go to Bahamas challenge yourself over the water oops new mission...poor choice of word when GA pilots who don't fly for a living get caught up in trying to define what they may do in the future

Eg. When I had my 201 my wife seldom flew..now we fly on lots of trips I have a Bravo is that why .hell no..were retired and have nothing else to do..so it's Thursday and looks nice this weekend ok let's got down to New Orleans..how could I define that yrs in advance....what's changed. Our priorities

Kids out of college time to waste $$$$ why not we earned it..my 2 cents

[TWinter]

Like so many have said..Mission can be defined soooo many different ways. When I fly, the "mission" is to take my mind away from day to day business activities and challenge my mind in different areas. My mission is to make me become a better pilot in a Mooney. Most of my flying is done local 100 miles +/- and the Mooney is far more plane than I need for this, but how much challenge is there in trying to make the perfect approach and landings etc in a simpler plane.. In a Mooney things are complex and much faster then say in a Cherokee 140 or Cessna 150.. while owning these would be cheaper these planes are not so much of a challenge. The longer flights and the options the Mooney affords are just side perks of our great Mooney capabilities.

[fantom]

No matter your 'non' mission, be careful up there, and look outside once in a while  .

 

[1964-M20E]

No matter your 'non' mission, be careful up there, and look outside once in a while  .

 

God may or may not be a good co-pilot but I like to have Moses a my co-pilot so he can part the gray skies for me.

 

My mission is to arrive using a mode of transportation not available to most of the people in the country not for their lack of ability but lack of desire and determination.

[Wakeup]

Thanks guys for all the responses. Looks like several of us have the same mission. I agree..over the years my priorities, time and funds will change and that will ultimately change my mission. I just feel very lucky to be Flying...esp in a Mooney!!! Troy

[larryb]

If you don't have a mission, create one! Weekend trips to destinations too far to drive and too inconvenient to reach via commercial air. Buy a vacation cabin.

[gsxrpilot]

My mission is to arrive in style to Oshkosh every summer.  The P51 was a little out of reach and a Mooney was the second best option.

 

 

Mission Accomplished.

[aviatoreb]

Everyone seems to have a mission for their mooney except me. Is it bad that I don't have a mission? I have always loved the look of the mooney, that's why I bought one. I don't have anywhere to go, but like knowing I can. I mostly fly to airports 30-100 nm away to practice and just Fly. I have only been on 2 flights over 500 nm and hope with experience and training I will discover my mission. Thanks Troy

 

There is an interesting parallel thread over at a thread called $175k.  Over there I wrote (not using the words mission) that one of the missions my Mooney fulfills is that it is my cool hotrod, and I love having my very own hot rod in my hangar and my keys in my pocket.  Part of that mission is I enjoy waxing it.  That doesn't even take any fuel.

 

Yes I travel in it and there are weather profiles, and speed and fuel burn, and systems mission requirements for that, but also I use the very same Mooney rocket to zoom around in the sky making loud noises and enjoy the proverbial "bugs in my teeth" at 200kts.  I love that.

 

One plane does both for me.  I can go visit my mom or do work in DC - a trip that would take me 10 hours to drive takes 1:45 in the rocket, but also I go for "The Hamburger" at KSLK in 12 minutes for a drive that would take me 1:30 (but I wouldn't bother driving there for a hamburger).  (But of course it takes me longer than 12 min to pull the airplane out of the hangar and prep it - but I don't count that).