Mooney time is quality flight time!

[Mooneymite]

My youngest son got a job offer from SWA yesterday, so this is tinged with some "dad pride", but the reason that it is Mooney related is that the Mooney time in his logbook had a lot to do with his career progression.

As everyone knows, the big step in the long march to the airlines (at least for those who choose the civilian route) is that first jet job.

After doing the flight instructor thing for awhile, my son was in hot competition for his first jet job with a 135 outfit.  HIs logbook was the typical mix of training aircraft, but he had a good percentage of time flying our Mooney.  The owner felt anyone who can fly a Mooney well, can fly  a jet and my son got the job over other applicants, some with more total flight time!

I thought that was quite an endorsement for Mooneys....and their pilots.
 

[TWinter]

Congrats to you and your son..Flying a Mooney pays off in a variety of ways doesn't it? Great job of parenting and mentoring as well. Congrats, proud for you both!!!

 

-Tom

[mike_elliott]

46 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

My youngest son got a job offer from SWA yesterday, so this is tinged with some "dad pride", but the reason that it is Mooney related is that the Mooney time in his logbook had a lot to do with his career progression.

As everyone knows, the big step in the long march to the airlines (at least for those who choose the civilian route) is that first jet job.

After doing the flight instructor thing for awhile, my son was in hot competition for his first jet job with a 135 outfit.  HIs logbook was the typical mix of training aircraft, but he had a good percentage of time flying our Mooney.  The owner felt anyone who can fly a Mooney well, can fly  a jet and my son got the job over other applicants, some with more total flight time!

I thought that was quite an endorsement for Mooneys....and their pilots.
 

congrats Gus! It has been said that a 231 is the highest workload single. I can understand one's thinking if you can fly a Mooney you can fly a jet.

[Hank]

Congratulations, Gus! You and Martha did a good job with him. Hope his career continues to go well.

[1524J]

Congrats to your son! And to his parents for raising him Mooney right.

[kris_adams]

Congrats.  Now we're all going to start asking for buddy passes

[Mooneymite]

4 hours ago, mike_elliott said:

congrats Gus! It has been said that a 231 is the highest workload single. I can understand one's thinking if you can fly a Mooney you can fly a jet.

Actually most jets are simpler than a 231.....

[Andy95W]

To your son:  Welcome to flying the line.

[NotarPilot]

This is a great story and you're probably right, most jets are simpler than a turbocharged Mooney. I'm sure he'll get used to being a systems manager real quick. I don't think I could be an airline pilot. I don't feel you get to fly the plane enough.

[Andy95W]

9 hours ago, NotarPilot said:

 I don't think I could be an airline pilot. I don't feel you get to fly the plane enough.

I've never understood why people think this.  

700 hours and probably 100-200 take offs and landings per year and I'm flying the airplane as much as I want.

My airline encourages hand-flying the airplane with auto thrust off to ensure pilot's skills aren't deteriorating (workload permitting, of course).  It actually bums us out when we get a message requiring us to log an autoland.

[gsengle]

I don't imagine it is much different than in my R with my good autopilot. I never hand fly in cruise!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Parker_Woodruff]

21 hours ago, Mooneymite said:

Actually most jets are simpler than a 231.....

Congrats to your son...but flying a jet is no simple act.

There's a lot of systems and stuff happens 2-3 times faster depending on the phase of flight.

[Freight Dog]

My youngest son got a job offer from SWA yesterday, so this is tinged with some "dad pride", but the reason that it is Mooney related is that the Mooney time in his logbook had a lot to do with his career progression.

As everyone knows, the big step in the long march to the airlines (at least for those who choose the civilian route) is that first jet job.

After doing the flight instructor thing for awhile, my son was in hot competition for his first jet job with a 135 outfit.  HIs logbook was the typical mix of training aircraft, but he had a good percentage of time flying our Mooney.  The owner felt anyone who can fly a Mooney well, can fly  a jet and my son got the job over other applicants, some with more total flight time!

I thought that was quite an endorsement for Mooneys....and their pilots.

 

Congratulations!! That's a proud dad moment for sure!

Just curious - when did he interview?

I interviewed on 2/24 and am still waiting to hear.

[Shadrach]

11 minutes ago, Parker_Woodruff said:

Congrats to your son...but flying a jet is no simple act.

There's a lot of systems and stuff happens 2-3 times faster depending on the phase of flight.

My brother flies a number of Bombardier products and has repeatedly stated that flying the Mooney Single pilot IFR is more challenging in just about every way, I guess it's all in what you're used to.

[steingar]

Jets might be fast and complicated, but if that's all I do day in and day out I bet I could do it as well as any of them.  And I bet none of them could make transgenic mice through pronuclear microinjection.

Huge congrats to a justifiably proud father.

[Freight Dog]

Flying a jet is really no big deal. As someone who flew boxes in singles and light twins to build flight time many moons ago and who's currently flying a B-737NG for a living, I can assure you that flying hard IFR in an under-equipped piston airplane is FAR, FAR, FAR more challenging and demanding than anything I've done so far in either airliner jets or turboprops. 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2016 by Freight Dog

[BDPetersen]

But it's also fun! Living in Ohio, I had the luxury of commuting to my airline job in DTW in my Cessna 310F (40 min flight vs 3 hr drive, sitting reserve at home, etc.). After driving my 747-400 to the orient and back I would always find myself on the return leg getting excited because I was about to get to fly my airplane! I sometimes worried about myself.

[Mooneymite]

5 hours ago, Freight Dog said:

Congratulations!! That's a proud dad moment for sure!

Just curious - when did he interview?

I interviewed on 2/24 and am still waiting to hear.

2/20.....I think.  Congratulations on getting the interview.  As you know, the decision is made by the board after all of the verifications....sometimes that can take awhile.

[Seth]

Congrats!  Must be a great feeling for the entire family!

 

-Seth

[carusoam]

Signs of an improving economy...

1) Mooneys are being bought and sold, almost by the handful!

2) Pilots are being interviewed for real flying jobs!

3) The price of fuel is low enough I might fill one of the wing's tank.

4) Interest rates are as low as they are going to go.  They have started the upward trajectory but at a snail's pace.

5) 201er is traveling internationally, again!

6) Unemployment continues to creep lower, 4.9% in the U.S.

7) Having the kids leave the house with a job they want to have...priceless!

Best regards,

-a-