My first ride in a Mooney

[EtradeBaby]

Some may remember my post about purchasing a Mooney, a Cessna, or just keep renting. I would like to thank everyone that posted on that thread. I couldn't believe the response and I learned allot. I thought  I would take a moment to fill everyone in on my descision and share my experiences from Friday the 27th. 

My planned 172 flight was cancelled early in the morning due to some scheduling conflicts. Since I now had a beatiful day with absolutely nothing to do I decided to make the long overdue phone call to the folks at Don Maxwell Aviation. At this point I was pretty much dead set on a Mooney, but still had only maybe seen two in person. Both of which were before I even had a clue as to what I was looking at. So with fingers crossed I made the call. I was pleasantly surprised when Mr. Don Maxwell himself answered the phone. I explained my situation and expressed my interest in at least seeing some Mooney's in person and maybe getting a flight with his instructor. He informed me his instructor had moved on to flying jets and he could rarely get him to fly Mooney's anymore (understandable) so he couldn't guarantee me a flight. However, he had just about every model at any given time and I was more than welcome to come by and check them out. An hour and a half later I was pulling up to his Hangar. 

I really don't know what I was expecting. I was doing this all on a whim. No prepared questions. Hell I don't know enough about the individual models to even know what to ask. I knew I was at the right place though as soon as I made the right hand turn by the control tower. There were Mooney's Parked everywhere around this single kinda lonesome hangar. Holy shit I thought. I must be at the right place. 

I had to be buzzed into the building and the lady that greeted me looked puzzled when I told her I was just there to meet with Don. He was busy at the moment trying to get a part ordered for someone's plane but said I could go look around while I waited. So look around I did. When I opened the door to the hangar I had another one of those holy shit moments. I was thinking I was going to find 3 or 4 planes in some immaculate well lit space. Nope, there had to be 10 planes at least in the main area. All in various levels of repair. It was like a maze just walking around. Reminded me of what my garage looks like when I'm working on a diesel truck. Yes, there are parts everywhere. Yes, I know where every screw goes. Please don't touch anything. Knowing full well what that feels like I made sure not to touch anything. I think I kept my hands behind my back most of the time. Leaning, peering, I had to look like a "planeofile" ( yes I did just make up a word ). Finally one of the mechanics approached me. I guess they had seen this sort of thing before. He just started talking to me about some of the models, and answered what few questions I had come up with at this point. He got back to work and I got back to whaterever it was you would call what I was doing. Learning? Maybe.

I made my way outside thru the crack in the main doors. I was greeted by a very uncomfortable looking guy elbow deep in someone's instrument panel. I avoided him for now and made my way to the line of planes parked just off the concrete. If I had to give it a name it would be "the row of dreams". I don't think you could bring a child to this place. To this spot on a piece of concrete and he not instantly want to grow up and become an aviator. These planes just sitting there on this beautiful day looked like a million bucks. Hell, they prolly were worth way more than that. You can really tell these airplanes were designed to fly. And that's really all I could think about doing at this point. Flying. To bad that wasn't in the cards today. So I kept walking and staring, and walking and staring. 

I eventually made my way back to the uncontrollable guy working on the instrument panel. This time hoverever there was a new guy standing there. One who very obviously didn't work there. An owner! Perfect that's who I need to be talking to. So I wonder over and continue my creepy pattern of just staring at airplanes. (You know the more I think about it I should google "planeofile" it may actually be a condition.) I hear the mechanic ask the owner " who is that?" "Probably someone wanting to buy a plane." He replied. "Is it that obvious?" I said? So we chatted for a while. I got his take on the different models which ones he thought I should be looking at and why. He told me allot about his airplane N205MH. He introduced himself as Scott and offered to take me for a loop in the pattern. Hell yes! 

It wasn't long and I was climbing into a Mooney for the first time. It is a bit tricky to get into but      Wasn't terrible. I now understand the sports car analogy. You really sit down into these airframes. There is a ton of leg room though which I loved. We look off and ended up flying south of the airfield. I am still amazed at the fuel burn. 8.2 gph at cruise. I'm still just trying to take everything in when I hear " your airplane ". Whaaaaat I thought. I get to fly after all! It was at that moment I knew I wouldn't be looking at any other manufacturer. The controls were heavy but crisp. I swear the rudder pushed itself while banking to keep the ball nearly perfectly centered. It just felt automatic. As if the the plane was an extension of me. Even if I couldn't hold my altitude very well. That sight picture will take some getting use to. After a few more minutes we headed back to the airport. Scott and I ended up going to lunch together. On the way I told him of the post I had made on Mooneyspace and how surprised I was at the response. " I remember that post." He said. Turns out he was actually one of the commenters. I want to say what as small world but I shouldn't be very surprised. I was at Don Maxwell after all.

We ended up having a nice lunch and learning about each others careers and families. All in all I set out that morning to learn something, anything really, about the Mooney brand. I accomplished so much more than that. I am amazed at how nice most of the people are in the aviation community. It is amazing to me that strangers are still willing to go out of their way to share their knowledge and their time. Especially with someone to whom they owe nothing, and have zero ties. I want to give a huge shoutout to Scott McCray (SMccray on the forum) and the folks at Don Maxwell Aviation. I had a great time. I learned allot and I look forward to seeing everyone again in the near future. When I'm getting a pre buy on the Mooney I decide to purchase!

 

[carusoam]

Nice write-up...

You are not alone.  

DM is the guru of Mooney Maintenance.  Most of the planes there already come with owners like Scott.

Another Guru in the Mooney world can be found at All American Aicraft.  The cool difference is all the Mooney's there are looking for an owner!

You can really sit in a few Mooneys until you can decide which one fits you and your mission.

good luck with your next steps.

Best regards,

-a-

[Skates97]

Great write-up, I enjoyed reading it. I've had my plane for about 1 1/2 months and I'm still getting used to the sight picture in level flight, but I love every minute of flying it.

[Vance Harral]

1 hour ago, EtradeBaby said:

I swear the rudder pushed itself while banking to keep the ball nearly perfectly centered. It just felt automatic.

It likely was "automatic".  Many Mooneys have a spring interconnect between the aileron and rudder such that aileron input automatically applies a bit of rudder, and vice versa.  Still oughtta keep your feet on the pedals, though. ;-)

[Danb]

Geez, brings back memories around 1985 for sure when I drove my Warrior to KLNS and saw all the cool planes at HENRY WEBERS, Henry was also a great guy, a few months after that cool visit Henry sold be my first Mooney a sweet 1977 201 N201MZ to be correct. I started to learn to fly that day some 13 months after my first lesson and first time in a small plane. Being an accountant I decided not to rent a plane to learn in and bought a nice Warrior on the field. No social media then little about prebuys less knowledge re planes, boy was I lucky getting a good one, to this day the guy I got my Piper from is my best friend, that's the way our community is. I loved your write up it truly brought back memories, sometime around 2048 you'll get to relive yours.  Get your plane and fly safe and enjoy.

[gitmo234]

Mine was last year during a maintenance break in my 172. My voltage regulator had crapped the bed and I was hopping airport to airport from Georgia to Maryland, charging my battery at each stop and eventually i just shut off avionics when I found a way to navigate in clear airspace.

My wife and I were sitting at an airport charging our bird and someone came walking around. He was on his way to breakfast and once he found out the situation he offered to take us along. He had a mooney that was fully maxed out. He was the CEO of a corporation I'll leave un-named but he traded Mooney a TON of goods/services in return for an older model completely re-done with a new engine, glass panel, new interior and paint job. 

He let me take the controls in the air on the way there, we ate and he gave me controls on the way back through some clouds. I'm not IR rated so he watched and said I was flying like a new commercial pilot. I was shocked at the speed and ease of flight. We flew across the state (and into a new one) landed ate and came back in a few hours. It would have taken me forever to do that in my bird. I was also shocked because I'm 6'4" and there was plenty of room for me and my wife sat in the back. No issues.

 

[smccray]

It was a pleasure to show off the plane- I'm glad we had a chance to take a short flight!