Aerostar Mooney

[Mooneymite]

Look what showed up at our home drome!

I understand it trues out about 200 Kts faster than a non-Aerostar Mooney E.   

This is the first Aerostar Mooney I've seen up close and personal:

 

Edited October 15, 2016 by Mooneymite

[1964-M20E]

cool

 

in the stinger there is a JATO assist and a parachute

[carusoam]

Those are two of the best answers to Mooney trivia of all!

The Butler button hook tail with the stinger extended rudder!

The extended name plate is an interesting touch.

The ADF wire and VOR antenna seem to be removed as well...

Great photos!

Best regards,

-a-

[aviatoreb]

That pointy hook thing at the top front of the tail is clearly meant to be used as a bottle opener.  Ingenious!

[jamesm]

How many of the Aerostar Mooney were made?

  Years ago there was guy who had one at the airport that I was at. But It had a slant tail like a piper.  He told me it was faster  with slant tail. I seem to remember that he had a Mooney tail install on it as well. Not sure with some of the stories he told  me how much  truth to them.  Unfortunately the plane crashed many years ago and I believe there were no survivors.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

You made me dig way back in the Mooney archives for you on this one.  Is this the plane you are talking about?  If so, I refer to it as a Comoonche.  It is a one of-a-kind and is presumably experimental.  I have no idea if it is still flying or not.

Jim

That is quite a hybrid airplane, do you know the N number?

Clarence

[jamesm]

Yep that was the one. It crashed over in Eastern Washington. If I recall correctly  they were too slow in turn to final.

I am pretty this sure is it.

http://www.ntsb.gov/GILS/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20060711X00912&ntsbno=SEA06LA134&akey=1

Edited October 15, 2016 by jamesm

[Guest paulie]

N9606V, my old airplane! There's a reason I sold it.

[Tcraft938]

The last comment on August 3, 2017 from Guest Paulie was "there's a reason I sold it".  Anyone know why the comment or know anything about N9606V?  It's up for sale again.

[Mooney-Mark]

I have trouble believing it will do 200 knots true!

[carusoam]

Welcome aboard, Tcraft.

Trail of ownership, here...

https://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N9606V

Not sure how a guest got a post in like that. But there is a Paul in the ownership chain.

Best regards,

-a-

[Tcraft938]

 

Carusoam, thank you for the welcome.  I'm looking forward to learning more about Mooneys.  I'm commercial, IFR, CFI pilot but have not used the IFR or CFI ratings much in recent years.   I'm looking forward to getting back to IFR flight.  I recently sold the very nice Taylorcraft my wife and I had (she bought it) because while we enjoyed the heck out of it, it was very mission narrow, we are getting bigger and it wasn't .  LOL   So something that is a nice IFR platform, can haul two occasionally three people around 500 nm in reasonable time, not break the bank and also can do the $100 weekend hamburger run.  It looks like J's are out of the price range but maybe a good E or F would do the job nicely.  My concern is will a reliable E or F with descent IFR avionics (either on it or added after purchase) put me in the J price range anyway.  

The last comment on August 3, 2017 from Guest Paulie was "there's a reason I sold it".  Anyone know why the comment or know anything about N9606V?  It's up for sale again.

[carusoam]

See if you can find Gecko Air LLC... The last registered owner, they seem to have a few planes registered to them...

Other than the plane showed up one day, and got its picture taken... not much history seems to be available around here...

It is a classic.  Most of the button hooks and stinger tails have been removed over time...

There is history of Mooneys that is helpful to know regarding value.  Based on the ownership of the Mooney factory... some years are more valued than others...

So... Paulie may have been expressing something peculiar to the ship, or to the year it was manufactured... hard to say with out asking Paulie what he meant...

Best regards,

-a-

[201wantabe]

I would be interested in knowing as to why Paulie sold the airplane? I managed to fly the airplane a few years ago, overall its a clean airplane, fast and has a GNS 480 installed. Its not a 200 knot airplane but you can plan on it being a 155 knot airplane.

Edited December 20, 2019 by 201wantabe

[carusoam]

Seen flying around Atlanta earlier this year...

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N9606V

-a-

[AerostarDriver]

My wife and I are now the proud owners of N9606V. I can backfill as to why I believe Mr. Paulie sold the airplane.

N9606V, 21-0012 was bought from the factory by a Mooney/Aerostar dealer called Kaigai Bussan Kaisha, Ltd in Tokyo. The aircraft was flown to Japan from Kerrville some time in the Q1 of 1971. In 1993, it was flown back and imported by a new owner in California who may or may not have skipped out on paying the ferry pilot. At the time it was brought back from Japan it was painted and a few mods where made to the airplane. Then it passed through a number of owners to the owner I bought it from. The previous owner bought it in annual and flew it until it was out of annual, he intended to do a 201 cowl and wind screen conversion on it but elected to just restore his v-tail. Upon conducting a prebuy, it was found to have major corrosion running the length of the stub spar, forward along the gear supporting rib, the airplane was ferried to Don Maxwell's shop where the whole wing was replaced with a serviceable wing. In Don Maxwell's words, it was the worst corrosion he has ever seen on a Mooney wing. You would think based on how bad the corrosion was in the wing that their would be some in the fuselage but after days of searching, we could find no evidence of such. 

06V still needs a lot of work to be perfect, but she was in need of a good annual and a "forever home". While the stinger gives the appearance of speed, it will not true out at 200 but on the way back from East Texas we did see 165 knots true with a ground speed of 192 knots. Currently, back down for a G5 install but hoping to be flying again soon.

Edited January 21, 2021 by AerostarDriver

[carusoam]

Great / gory pics AD!

Thank you for sharing the details...

Each alloy has a different sensitivity to corrosion.... the spars that support weight, have a tendency to be more susceptible to quick moving corrosion...

If you see it, get it fixed... don’t wait for the annual somewhere out on the calendar....

Congrats on saving the stinger and the button hook!  

Always pay the pilot...

Best regards,

-a-

[AerostarDriver]

As an update, N9606V has had a panel upgrade and a pretty extensive annual. As my first Mooney and first plane I have owned outright, I could not be happier...well at least until by budget opens up for a GFC-500 and electric trim. The stinger seems to pull everyone out of the wood work, with only a few non-homedrome stops I have made, I hear "that doesn't look like any Mooney I have seen before, wonder why they stopped?" or something to that effect every place I go.  

[Hank]

So what are your new panel toys? They don't look like Aspens. Is that the GI-275 to the right? I'm still in the pre-planning stage for my C . . . .

[KLudwick]

Happy I came across this post!  I too own an Aerostar Mooney - the first one off the line - 21-001.  You're exactly right, everyone that sees the stinger tail instantly asks what it is and why it exists and they're always surprised to hear the 'Aerostar' answer!  

As a Garmin employee, I'd be remiss if I didn't say thanks for upgrading to G5s and a GI 275 MFD!  

[AerostarDriver]

54 minutes ago, Hank said:

So what are your new panel toys? They don't look like Aspens. Is that the GI-275 to the right? I'm still in the pre-planning stage for my C . . . .

Dual G5s with a GI-275 MFD. I really didn't have the budget to replace the GNS 480 and it honestly does meet my needs, however, terrain, traffic and weather can all be displaced on the GI-275 MFD as well as safe taxi. I also want to use it as a secondary engine display when I put in a second GI-275 as an EIS to replace the JPI-700 which will be next years project. Disregard the AV-20S, as much as I want to recommend it, so far I am very unhappy with it but the money has been spent and it is installed as a clock.

10 minutes ago, KLudwick said:

Happy I came across this post!  I too own an Aerostar Mooney - the first one off the line - 21-001.  You're exactly right, everyone that sees the stinger tail instantly asks what it is and why it exists and they're always surprised to hear the 'Aerostar' answer!  

As a Garmin employee, I'd be remiss if I didn't say thanks for upgrading to G5s and a GI 275 MFD!  

The G5s and the GI-275 MFD is a great combo. It is something I am surprised Garmin doesn't push it more. Thanks for making an awesome product.

[Niko182]

29 minutes ago, AerostarDriver said:

Dual G5s with a GI-275 MFD. I really didn't have the budget to replace the GNS 480 and it honestly does meet my needs, however, terrain, traffic and weather can all be displaced on the GI-275 MFD as well as safe taxi. I also want to use it as a secondary engine display when I put in a second GI-275 as an EIS to replace the JPI-700 which will be next years project. Disregard the AV-20S, as much as I want to recommend it, so far I am very unhappy with it but the money has been spent and it is installed as a clock.

The G5s and the GI-275 MFD is a great combo. It is something I am surprised Garmin doesn't push it more. Thanks for making an awesome product.

With the cost of 2 G5's and 2 GI275s, why didn't you just go with a G3X and a G5?

[AerostarDriver]

35 minutes ago, Niko182 said:

With the cost of 2 G5's and 2 GI275s, why didn't you just go with a G3X and a G5?

That assumes I paid MSRP for everything. 

My HSI G5, GAD29B and GMU 11 I got for 900 bucks. My GI-275 was part of a trade in for my GI-106B then I sold the old GI-106B harness. Then I did supervised install. As of right now, I am in the panel at 5,700. Add in the second GI-275, plus all the sensors I am right at 12k. A single G3X panel, with the GEA-24+ sensors and install is about 16k. 

[Mooneymite]

On 1/20/2019 at 5:45 PM, Mooney-Mark said:

I have trouble believing it will do 200 knots true!

Actually, the tongue-in-cheek claim was about 350 kts....

I said:  "it trues out about 200 Kts faster than a non-Aerostar Mooney E. "

On Mooneyspace we never question outlandish claims of speed.  We celebrate them.

Skepticism is strictly prohibited.