How do you even get into flying Mooneys?

[wrench]

After owning a Cherokee Challenger-180 for around 18 months my wife and I was on a typical Sunday breakfast run to LDM from MKG plugging away at a blistering 115 knots. About half way there flight following called out that I was being overtaken by Cirrus traffic 1 mile off my 8 o'clock same altitude. My wife said to me why is that plane passing us, we were first!!  I explained it's a Cirrus and it's much faster than us, so much like driving on a highway airplanes can pass too. She quickly replied “well that's just not right” so after about 30 seconds of a stewing silence from her I hear “can't you do something about that!” Four months later after my second flight ever in a Mooney I had my M20J.

 

I've owned shares of a C310 a 250-Comanche and did IFR/Commercial training in Turbo Arrows C172 XP and Piper Seminoles. The Mooney M20J purchase was based on performance, range, fuel burn, cost to own, and not getting overtaken anymore. Plus just a damn good looking piece of engineering.

[zaitcev]

On 5/3/2017 at 11:14 PM, revwatch said:

How did you guys that aren't in or near large cities even get into flying a Mooney in the first place?

Actually, it's possibly to find a Mooney for rent. You may need to travel, but you can make a fun aviation adventure of it. I did that in 2011.

As far as actual transition, one typically buys the airplane, then hires a local CFI for a checkout, then ferries it home. I did that too, although I think I could checked out myself safely. However, my insurance (Avemco) required me to put 3 hours in type. Instead of going naked in an unfamiliar airplane it was easy and prudent to hire a CFI. With the checkout under my belt, the ferry flight home was completely uneventful.

Edited May 9, 2017 by zaitcev

[steingar]

I'd been interested in Mooneys for some time due to their obvious efficiency, but I'd never flown a Mooney before I bought one.  I'd only ever sat in one at a fly in, though that was enough to sell me on the breed.  Mooneys are about the only airplanes in which I can see over the nose.  

Still, if you go to any fly in event you'll likely see a couple.  You can ask to sit in one at least, might even get a flight.  We Mooney owners tend to be proud.

Edited May 10, 2017 by steingar

[golfpilot]

A wonderful gentleman from Mooneyspace took me for a ride in his E once. Dreamed about them for a few years, then two days before my commercial checkride the plane I was supposed to fly went down and I was introduced to a M20C, 2 days, 10 mooney hours and a comm rating later, I really want one now.

[Wildhorsesracing]

I was selling my 1st airplane, an Alarus 2000, and flew it to meet a potential buyer at a local airport.  The FBO manager said, "If you sell it, you need to buy this Mooney we have had sitting here in our hangar for 10 yrs" and he took me to see the plane.  I had always been told that "Mooneys are small and hard to work on" - but something about the plane drew me to her.  Up to that point I had flown Cessna 172, Cherokee 180, Cherokee 235, Citabria, J-3 and a Bonanza.

It was part of an estate and the heirs originally had an inflated value of the aircraft.  Once I sold mine I contacted the executor and she explained that they had been paying hangar rent for so long that they needed to sell it just to recover some of the money.  We negotiated a price contingent on the pre-purchase, the pre-purchase showed lots of minor issues but nothing major.  After a 6 month annual & minor resto I got to fly a Mooney for the 1st time, needless to say I was hooked!

[Ned Gravel]

When I commanded a strategic communication squadron in Quebec City from 1987 to 1989, I had my PPL, and would often rent one of the Piper Warriors from the flying school at the Ancienne Lorette Airport for pleasure and some business trips to Group Headquarters in St Hubert or to my communication detachments at stations like Bagotville (home of Eastern Canada's F-18 jocks).  

One of my Tech Sergeants was an owner of a 65 E model.  During deployments of long term comms stations for the brigade rear links, I would often get offers from the local Tac Hel Sqn to fly out to see my deployed detachments - because the Hel Sqn was always doing LO flights between the deployed brigade and the base. One day, Sgt Panaski asked if I wanted to go with him because he had some maintenance to do on the det's radios.  So I went with him to see my folks.  150 kts there and back. Try doing that in an OH-58 (Kiowa in Canada).

I finally became an aircraft owner in October 2002 and the Arrow was ground looped the following March.  I was the pilot.  Some lessons learned here included not flying an RG in temps below -25 deg C.  Others included not getting into partnership with 10 other people.  The last one was about having a mechanical linkage between my right arm and the landing gear.  Only one aircraft met that requirement.

The following summer, I started looking for a Mooney and I looked at 2 C's and 3 E's.  I paid a total of $500 for four good shops to do pre-purchase inspections on them.  Three of them were declared unairworthy and one was given back because of non reporting of one of two gear up landings.  The fifth one was looked at by Clarence in the Fall of 2004.  The owner did not believe the list of things that needed attention until he went to see the aircraft and Clarence showed him the holes and other bits that no longer worked as they should.

The owner swallowed the cost of fixing the airworthiness issues.  I bought it in January 2005 and Clarence flew it to me in Ottawa in March of the same year.  I have owned my E for twelve years.

[MBDiagMan]

5 hours ago, Hyett6420 said:

ah you still in europe?   Anywhere near London, fancy a trip over the UK in G-OBAL?

 

Andrew

No, we just got home yesterday.  Went all over Western Europe, but did not make it to the UK this trip.

[Drew_Wagner]

Great stories all...In 1981 I had just sold my first aircraft a 108-3 Stinson...The local fbo had a three year old J model with N201xx for rent.I asked what the 201 ment and the Fbo guy said "that's how fast it is in mph"So I got a 1 flight retract checkout and was good to rent it.It still had that new airplane smell..it was a hell of a lot faster than the Stinson ...It wasn't until 2009 that I bought my first Mooney...

I own 201XX, or as my wife calls her Dos Equis. Unless you were putting those in as a placeholder? I saw my first Mooney online and obsessively read and learned everything I could about them. It took one flight and I was hooked. I had been flying the local rental 172s and I remember taking off and doing 120kts in the climb and knowing I could never go back....


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[Mcstealth]

On May 4, 2017 at 1:25 PM, Joe Zuffoletto said:

I got my PPL while attending Princeton. Princeton had its own flying club and I was renting 152s and 172s there. Because of my heavy course load I couldn't plan flights ahead of time... it was usually last-minute when I had a few free hours open up. Back then (1985-1987) the flying club was busy and it was almost impossible to get a 152 or 172 at the last minute.

Fortunately, some wealthy alums put a brand new 201, 231 and 252 into the club. I was one of the few members who had a complex endorsement, so the 201 became my ticket to last-minute flying. I emerged from my checkout realizing that this awesome airplane left the Pipers and Cessnas I had been flying in the dust in every possible way. That's how I got hooked. I flew the snot out of that plane during my junior and senior years. It was awesome.

Here I am with that bird almost exactly 30 years ago, May 9th, 1987, one month before graduation. This was at the now closed Bader Field in Atlantic City, NJ.

 

You have got to love those 80's shorts!!!

[Joe Zuffoletto]

Just now, Mcstealth said:

You have got to love those 80's shorts!!!

Yeah, I miss the 80's body too!

[Mcstealth]

On May 4, 2017 at 4:24 PM, Bennett said:

After about a thousand hours in Cessna's, Pipers, and Beechcraft aircraft (including retracts), I bought my first Mooney. Sat down with the POH the night I wrote the check, and the next day climbed into the airplane and flew her. No instructors; just me, but with fresh knowledge from the POH. Would have it have been smarter to fly with a CFI, or a CFI familiar with Mooneys? Sure, but I found that Mooney (231) easy to fly, as I do any of the Mooneys I have owned.


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You read the POH?  

[Skeyedancer]

I had just finished my Instrument training in an Arrow in 2002, and with a mere 200 hours under my belt, decided that I wanted to buy a complex airplane.  Given that I had about 100 hours in Arrows and about 30 hours in a Cardinal RG, they both made the short list.  A friend suggested that I look for a reasonably low time Mooney, which were touted to be faster and more efficient than either the Arrow or the Cardinal.  I found a reasonably priced one on Trade-a-Plane about 600 miles away.  The owner had replaced the engine and, after 10 years with her, had purchased a new Ovation.  I had him fly it up for a test flight, fell in love, did the a pre-buy inspection, and sent him home on an airliner.  I had had gear issues in both the Arrow and the Cardinal over the years, and one driver to the final decision was the Johnson Bar gear.  There's very little opportunity for a gear failure in this Mooney!  That late afternoon flight we took in my "new" 1967 M20F Executive was the very first time I had ever sat in a Mooney!

2,400 hours later, "Matilda" and I have flown to nearly every state east of the Dakota; we've flown almost 350 Young Eagles, and over 1,000 rescued dogs.  In the past 15 years, she's received a new engine and prop, new paint, new interior, new bladder tanks, and new avionics,  But she has never failed to deliver a comfortable 140 kts IAS at <10 gal per hour.  And no gear issues after thousands of landings.  My love affair with Mooneys continues.

[BigAl]

On ‎5‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 0:14 AM, revwatch said:

I've been researching different make/models of as many single engine planes I can find the past few weeks to decide what and how much of a plane I can afford.  I find that I keep coming back to the Mooney M20 due to generally being affordable, fast enough, and relatively fuel efficient.  Today I just realized I've never even seen one for rent.  I've only rented planes at a handful of places but I've never once saw a Mooney for rent, the only person I know that owns a plane flies a Piper PA-28, and I've never seen one at my local airport. How did you guys that aren't in or near large cities even get into flying a Mooney in the first place? 

I find myself in the same boat! I posted a thread last night(Houston Mooneys) about this. There are none in the area to rent to see if it's what fits for my family. I'm drawn to them like a moth to a flame. I plan to buy one in the next year or two if my suspicion is confirmed! If anyone is ever in the Houston area for a local flight give me a shout I'll spring for the fuel, time, and Black Walnut here at KCXO.

Regards,

Alan