Abandoned Mooneys

[Bravoman]

If someone fires it up for me I’ll fly it out of there today!

[Marauder]

9 minutes ago, Bravoman said:

If someone fires it up for me I’ll fly it out of there today!

If you don't do it, I know Alan Fox will. 

[Andy95W]

@RobertGary1-  I think there is probably a difference in what you meant vs. how it came across to me (and a few others).

[bonal]

2 minutes ago, Hyett6420 said:

How did this get so far from @Raptor05121 a original post?

Mooney Space

[Skates97]

I saw this one back in March on the ramp in Mesquite, NV. 

1961 B if I'm reading the tea leaves right. Registered to a guy in Oklahoma. Looked like it had been sitting awhile, but flight aware shows it flying just last December here in my backyard. Of course that could have been a case of a wrong number put in by ATC. It's happened with my plane. 

[Raptor05121]

Guys lets please stay on topic. Looking for pictures of abandoned Mooneys, let us keep the discussion to a minimum.

1965 Mooney M20C. Owned by William Weasner. He owned Twin Pines airport in NJ (same airport Lindberg kept his Jenny, and also scattered the ashes of his kidnapped son). Airport was closed in 2006, and William passed away in 2015. The "airport" is now being developed over and his M20C is disappearing into the grass and woods.

[steingar]

I like the discussion better. Looking at photos of abandoned Mooney’s is really depressing.

[Skates97]

3 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

Guys lets please stay on topic. Looking for pictures of abandoned Mooneys, let us keep the discussion to a minimum.

1965 Mooney M20C. Owned by William Weasner. He owned Twin Pines airport in NJ (same airport Lindberg kept his Jenny, and also scattered the ashes of his kidnapped son). Airport was closed in 2006, and William passed away in 2015. The "airport" is now being developed over and his M20C is disappearing into the grass and woods.

I actually love this picture. The old planes half grown over, the dilapidated old hangar with the paint peeling off, the contrast of the colors of he planes with the grass and the red hangar, it is framed well in the photo. The difference between a bad picture and a great picture is usually just the point of view that it is taken from.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

Guys lets please stay on topic. Looking for pictures of abandoned Mooneys, let us keep the discussion to a minimum.

1965 Mooney M20C. Owned by William Weasner. He owned Twin Pines airport in NJ (same airport Lindberg kept his Jenny, and also scattered the ashes of his kidnapped son). Airport was closed in 2006, and William passed away in 2015. The "airport" is now being developed over and his M20C is disappearing into the grass and woods.

A Mooney, a Cessna but what's in the middle?

Clarence

[carusoam]

Twin Pines was a grass strip just outside KTTN...

If anyone wants to go relic hunting.

Best regards,

-a-

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Ok. I’ll say it. It’s spelled P-I-P-E-R. And I used to own a PA28-180 and I loved it. 

Jim

What model? It doesn't look like a Tomahawk.

Clarence 

[DanM20C]

2 hours ago, M20Doc said:

A Mooney, a Cessna but what's in the middle?

Clarence

It looks like a Varga.

great photo. 

Cheers,

Dan

[carusoam]

Nice work, Dan...

http://www.pilotfriend.com/aircraft performance/varga.htm

Best regards,

-a-

I found a Flickr photo of a similar Cessna next to a varga on a grass field.  The varga is missing it’s prop in the photo.  Can't find away to post it...

turns out, it is the same planes in a better state of disrepair...  at twin pines.... Daniel Berek is the photographer.  He seems to be a photographer of many things airworthy and not so airworthy....

 

[Andy95W]

Wow, Anthony. Nice find.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, DanM20C said:

It looks like a Varga.

great photo. 

Cheers,

Dan

It looks like about 100 are still on the register.

Clarence

[N201MKTurbo]

Yes, made at my home field.

My boss has an experimental made from Varga parts when they went out of business. It was assembled by their chief engineer. It is the plane he always wanted to make. A tail dragger with a bubble canopy. I flew it a couple of weeks ago.

[DaV8or]

2 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Yes, made at my home field.

My boss has an experimental made from Varga parts when they went out of business. It was assembled by their chief engineer. It is the plane he always wanted to make. A tail dragger with a bubble canopy. I flew it a couple of weeks ago.

Don't they call that a Vans RV-8?

[DaV8or]

21 hours ago, steingar said:

The real problem in all of this is many of our airplanes are no longer being made.  When they go out of the world they're gone, no one is ever going to make a replacement.  They're more than just a collection of bolts and aluminum, a lot more.  But it takes some degree of irrationality to bring them back.

Some degree.  Thing is, if you do a complete restoration on an old airframe you'll spend more than it would ever be worth.  On the other hand you'll not spend anywhere near what a new aircraft costs, but an essentially new airplane is what you'll get.  The only down side is you'd best restore an aircraft that you really like, because you'll be flying it for awhile.  You'll take a bath when you sell it, but os what?  If you sell it when you're too old to fly it and have been doing so for a couple decades, who cares?

Don't worry, the market will take care of this problem. When we actually start running out of airplanes (not anytime soon IMO), the remaining airplanes will climb in value. A lot of these ramp queens will all of a sudden not be just worth their weight in raw scrap. They will become more valuable and some will be restored and others will donate much needed parts to the rest of the fleet. This may become particularly true if Mooney goes belly up again. Think of them being held in reserve for the future.

[N201MKTurbo]

2 minutes ago, DaV8or said:

Don't they call that a Vans RV-8?

It is actually a: BISHOP RAYMOND MAX AERO SPEC 2150

Max Bishop was the chief engineer for Varga Aircraft and I work for Aerospec. The boss paid for the assembly.

[DaV8or]

Here's one at my field-

It belongs to an old guy named Jerry. I met him once. Real nice, probably getting close to 90. Has the delusion of getting 'er ready for summer... He does come out and air up the tires and sometimes cleans it off. He also owns a Piper Aztec parked just across from this one. Both have not flown since I came here in 2011. It is what it is. Lots of good parts here for the future if needed.

[DaV8or]

7 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

It is actually a: BISHOP RAYMOND MAX AERO SPEC 2150

Max Bishop was the chief engineer for Varga Aircraft and I work for Aerospec. The boss paid for the assembly.

Yeah, no I get that it's not a Vans. I was just thinking that if your boss really wanted a bubble top taildragger, Vans (with help from customers) has been building them for over a decade.

[rbridges]

3 hours ago, DaV8or said:

Here's one at my field-

It belongs to an old guy named Jerry. I met him once. Real nice, probably getting close to 90. Has the delusion of getting 'er ready for summer... He does come out and air up the tires and sometimes cleans it off. He also owns a Piper Aztec parked just across from this one. Both have not flown since I came here in 2011. It is what it is. Lots of good parts here for the future if needed.

Is that the same pic you've been showing over the years?  Wow, that is a shame.

[DaV8or]

3 minutes ago, rbridges said:

Is that the same pic you've been showing over the years?  Wow, that is a shame.

Yes it is. Still looks more or less the same as when I took this picture a few years back. The only difference is it's now moved to the tie down just behind it in the photo where there is shown a Musketeer.

[rbridges]

2 minutes ago, DaV8or said:

Yes it is. Still looks more or less the same as when I took this picture a few years back. The only difference is it's now moved to the tie down just behind it in the photo where there is shown a Musketeer.

looks like he let the registration expire in 2013.  I guess he's still hoping....

[EricJ]

There are two sitting in the sun on the north side of Deer Valley, and I don't know the stories on either.   Both are missing pieces.

Sadly, in the Phoenix area a fair percentage of the airplanes tied down outside, i.e., not in a hangar or shelter, appear to be derelict to some degree or other.