What was total time when you bought First Mooney?

[KLRDMD]

Quote: danb35

Your safety pilot only needs to be 'category and class.' That's airplane, single engine land. He also needs a current flight review and medical (as he is required crew). He doesn't have to have a complex endorsement nor be instrument rated.

[danb35]

Quote: KLRDMD

All true, but none of that was brought up as an issue 

[RobertoTohme]

45.3 hours on log when I bought my Eagle....  My first well made decision in my pilot lifetime!!  The speed and robustness of Monney had always lured me, and guess what?  Not a single regret about it!  Even now that I don't fly it much anymore, it still is my sweetheart and thank it for the invaluable experince I acquired in it that allowed me to move easily into bigger and much more complex aircraft.   I may fly a lot more on the bigger "M30", but at heart, I will always be a Mooney pilot.

Quote: Bob

According to the poll, someone purchased at under 50hrs.  Please share.

[Comatose]

Under 50 hours was me. Actually bought the plane two weeks before my checkride (my checkride was bumped by the examiner for like six consecutive weeks.) so I bought it with 42 hours. Checkride at 47.

I held off starting my flight training until I felt I could afford to buy a plane. Having the license and not the plane always struck me as an exercise in frustration.  I was training in a Cherokee 180, and lets face it, other than being just slightly faster in cruise my M20C isn't all that different. Lands about the same if you have the gear extended... 

Insurance company required 25 hours dual, which in retrospect was about right.

[bjmacdonald]

I had around 45 hrs i had enough of rentals and wanted a airplane i would keep and enjoy, i was afraid of buying a Piper or Cessna and after a few months being frustrated that i doesnt go anywere so i bought mine and finished up my ticket and started my instrument that was 150 hours ago and 1 trip to Minnesota and Florida its the best choice i ever made!!

63 M20c Lady Virginia

[67E]

Learned to fly - with all my hours logged until Private ticket in a 20E,  Purchased that E and still happy to be flying her! Proof that there are some brave and wonderful CFI's still out there. I have a little tail wheel/upside down time in an Super Cub and North American P-51 thanks to a good friend (understand why guys fly them), but the little Mooneys are hard to beat for travel.

[carusoam]

120 hours. 

M20C, it was for sale at my home drome.  I had sat in it when it was up for sale years earlier.  I had first heard of Mooneys when an aviation magazine compared Mooneys and Corvettes (or ferraris or something).

 

[Gone]

Quote: RobertoTohme

[jelswick]

I had a whopping 12.7 hours in my logbook when I purchased N6886U, a 1963 Mooney M20C.  The insurance company tried to tell me students shouldn't be in Mooneys with the first years insurance premium at about $3,700, but I really wanted to buy what I wanted to fly long term.  I loved it and got both my private and my instrument rating in the aircraft.  It did admittedly take me a lot longer on my private though.  I thought I was Joe Airline Captain landing the Cessna 150 at about 6 hrs total time, but it took me another few months to land properly once I got 86U.  I remember my instructor 1/2 jokingly telling me "if you don't learn to land this thing today, we need to put a for sale sign in her window!" 

I picked it up in Fargo, ND to fly her back to Columbus, Ohio December 23rd, 2002 with my instructor.  I've never seen cold like they had there!  And both of our wives told us that if we missed Christmas with our families over that flight, just go ahead and get an apartment there together, don't bother about a return flight!    It was the best Christmas present I've ever had and I logged about 500 hours in the M20C and have put about 200 on the M20J I purchased after selling the 86U.  No, they're not in my opinion a great student's aircraft, but I have no regrets over that decision.  My daughter refers to the airplane as "Jim's other woman!"

[skyking]

how come i cant see any posts past page 1?

[davidfreedman]

60.3 hours.  Finished my PPL and picked her up in New Jersey 9 days later.  My first "real" cross country was the ferry flight from N87 to KSMO. 

[scottfromiowa]

I had to "log in" to see the posts...and the poll updates Skyking.

[67M20F]

About 62 for me, and now she's on her way back to me.

 

Still trying to find a way to put her on FLOATS!

[BaronSmith]

What insurance companies are most of you using to get insured with low time? I have just over 120 total now with about 26 dual in the Mooney, and our current insurance is wanting 50 hours dual. Is there a company that anyone would recommend that may insure me with the 26 hours dual I already have?

[skyking]

why cant i see any posts past the first page?

when i click on next or page 2 all i get is a blank screen except fot the header.

[scottfromiowa]

Check other "insurance" post for more information on companies...Skyking, try logging in again to see poll and other pages...

[scottfromiowa]

Well, it looks like nearly 50% of Mooney pilots had 400-500+ hours upon buying their Mooney's.  That is a pretty experienced group.  I was definitely on the LOW end with just over 100 hours total time.  I am now past 400 hours and looking forward to achieving my IFR rating in 2011-2012.

[danb35]

I had about 75 hours when I bought '48Q, and got insurance through the AOPA insurance agency, with AIG (now Chartis) as the carrier.  I had 1.5 complex at the time, and the policy required 15 hours dual, then 10 hours solo before carrying passengers.  About $1800 for $66k hull value.

[jax88]

Quote: BaronSmith

What insurance companies are most of you using to get insured with low time? I have just over 120 total now with about 26 dual in the Mooney, and our current insurance is wanting 50 hours dual. Is there a company that anyone would recommend that may insure me with the 26 hours dual I already have?

[carusoam]

Baron,

I had used USAIG.  Needed 15 hrs of dual (with similar experience as you).  Are you sure your guy said  50 and not 15?

15 seemed excessive at the time, the last five hours of dual were just not required.  The mooney is magical in its abilities to fly far, fast and economically.  They are not dangerous or that different from skills required to fly other planes.

Also try Falcon

or check out the previous thread....

http://www.mooneyspace.com/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=3&threadid=353

 

-a-

-a-

[Qwalton]

I'm insured through the aopa insurance company.  I had about 120 hours total and no mooney or complex time when I got our Mooney.  The insurance required that I get 10 hours of dual and then 10 hours solo before I carried passengers.  Aopa was very easy to work with and their rates seem veyr reasonable I highly recommend them.

[drapo]

Just bought my first Mooney after 130 hrs of Cherokee time. The insurance company up here in Canada is asking for 10hrs dual time and they charge just over $2,000 with taxes.

N5779Q, a very well preserved 65 M20E, is about to become C-GJDP and I can't wait to go through the dual time so I can start learning!

[Gone]

Drapo:

Bienvenue chez nous.  You will enjoy flying your Mooney.  It is a great aircraft - but you probably already know that. 

Where are you going to keep C-GJDP?  You have a number of choices in and around Montreal.  Wish I had as many here in Toronto.  I miss Rockcliffe already.

 

[BaronSmith]

Thanks for all the replies on Insurance companies everyone.

Carusoam: Yes, the policy states 50 hours. It is excessive... Though the dual as stated in the policy can be with my father who has hundreds of hours in Mooneys. I got my complex endorsement in two lessons with my instructor after we bought 82W, and got my high performance endorsement in my instructor's friend's F33A a few days after, so hopefully a different insurance company won't require as many dual hours.

We'll contact some of the mentioned insurance companies tomorrow and see what they have to offer.

[drpep]

When I started flying in 1982 I completed my PPL and joined a group renting a 172. After 26 hours on the Cessna I had enough and I purchased a Mooney 76F with a friend who owned a float plane. Since it was IFR we both did our IFR rating. This  was after 68 hours total. Over the years I have flown other planes as well as participated in building a Glasair II. For me I have never been able to get the Mooney fever out of my skin... I am thankful for being able to own such a superb airplane.