m20c Looking for off airport landing suggestions in an M20C

[Blondie]

While being mindful of the limitations a Mooney has with off airport, backcountry flying, I’m looking for recommendations for spots in Southern California which could be appropriate for such ambitions.

So far we’ve landed at El Mirage and Cinder Cones, dry lake beds, in Mojave. Both experiences were marvelous and we’ve enjoyed frequenting both locations. Looking for new spots, based out of KVNY!

Edited October 22, 2018 by Blondie

[carusoam]

The title of this thread is a bit misleading...

Sounds like an emergency... or tragedy...

you might consider adjusting it with words like ...   requesting ideas on...  or looking for 

Otherwise, a pandering award can be given...

Kind of like yelling fire in a crowded theater...

Best regards,

-a-

[Hank]

My first thought was also about an accident. 

For places to visit out west, look up piperpainter on youtube. Don't expect to take your Mooney everywhere that he went, but build your skills in that direction. You may be able to contact him there; he sold his Mooney and bought something more suited to those areas.

Have fun and fly safe!

[cliffy]

If you're so inclined  Burning Man Every year in the Nevada desert.

[gsxrpilot]

 

[FloridaMan]

10 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

 

Nice! What did it take to protect your plane after landing? Did you seal everything with painters tape and bag the gear? This is something that I'd love to do one year, but the concern over the dust getting into everything has me cautious. 

[Gary0747]

What kind of camera and how did you mount it?

[gsxrpilot]

51 minutes ago, Antares said:

Nice! What did it take to protect your plane after landing? Did you seal everything with painters tape and bag the gear? This is something that I'd love to do one year, but the concern over the dust getting into everything has me cautious. 

It truly is a concern. I didn't do anything with the gear, but did use painters tape, 2", to cover all the seams. On returning to civilization, I paid to have the plane detailed inside and out. I also had the oil changed and all filters changed.  Even so, I'm hesitant to go again. It's a wonderful experience and a cool place to fly. But the dust is concerning.

[gsxrpilot]

26 minutes ago, Gary0747 said:

What kind of camera and how did you mount it?

A GoPro Session 5 mounted with a GoPro Sticky mount, high on the vertical stab. I use a curved mount and put it just above the rivet line for less flex, more stability.

[MBDiagMan]

AFAIAK you have the wrong plane for the mission.  A 180 or a Maule would be MUCH better suited.  Even my 140 would be a much better choice although you wouldn’t haul as much or get there as fast.

 

My $0.02,

[kortopates]

Consider Baja this winter to pet the California Grey whales and land right by your hotel on the Sea of Cortez side at Mulege (or Loreto if you prefer) and then hop over to the Pacific side to land at San Ignacio dirt strip to pet the whales and then hop on back over to Mulege for the night.  Although @MBDiagMan would also have a great time hitting many dirt strips in Baja in his tailwheel, the Mooney is the traveling machine to get you down there and back over a 3-4 day weekend; especially when it includes some winter weather that would keep the tailwheel at home!

[kmyfm20s]

The High Sierra Fly in was just this weekend at Dead Cow. You can land at Dead Cow year round. For something closer you can go to Ocotillo Wells (L90) and eat lunch at the Blue Cafe. Then you can hop over to the Salton Sea (KSAS). 

[0TreeLemur]

Given the noted fragility of the tubular landing gear frame on the M20 series due to its susceptibility to cracks and corrosion, plus the general lack of ground clearance, I agree with @MBDiagMan and recommend  that you consider an aircraft with more robust landing gear and ground clearance for the off-airport experience.   Sure, there are some places where you can do it, but there probably fewer where it would be advised given the extreme cost of a prop-strike.    Most insurance companies probably would argue that an off-airport landing in a M20 series is poor pilotage.   Just my opinion, worth the electrons it took to send it... Good luck.

[Hank]

11 minutes ago, Fred_2O said:

Given the noted fragility of the tubular landing gear frame on the M20 series due to its susceptibility to cracks and corrosion, plus the general lack of ground clearance, I agree with @MBDiagMan and recommend  that you consider an aircraft with more robust landing gear and ground clearance for the off-airport experience.   Sure, there are some places where you can do it, but there probably fewer where it would be advised given the extreme cost of a prop-strike.    Most insurance companies probably would argue that an off-airport landing in a M20 series is poor pilotage.   Just my opinion, worth the electrons it took to send it... Good luck.

Fred, this is the first I've heard that my landing gear is fragile . . . Ground clearance is 10", with very little lost due to nose gear compression, because those shock discs don't compress much [almost none compared to pneumatic struts]. I don't go off-roading in my C, but grass strips are not a problem. Look up "piperpainter" in his bright red M20-C on youtube, and you may learn something about the "fragility" of our landing gear and where our planes can be flown. But no, don't look for me in many of those places . . . . I ain't that good! The plane, however, is fine.

[0TreeLemur]

Hank- adding detail what I thought I said: When not properly inspected and maintained, and crack detection is sometimes very difficult, tubular steel frame landing gear can exhibit sudden failure when exposed to shock.  That's all I"m saying.  I'm sure  your landing gear are fine.   Not trying to pick a fight.  As I said, my opinion only , not worth much.   In an earlier life I was a farmer.   You don't pull a plow with a tubular steel frame for a reason.  You pull it with three thick pieces of metal.

[Blondie]

Thank you all for the great suggestions! Already making plans for L90.

Happily, I do already have bladder tanks. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Blondie

[Niko182]

There Is a club called millennial wings hosting a fly in on the 3rd and 4th of November. It's a fairly short
dirt private strip in central California with no obstacle. I am going to be going with my eagle (Very lightly loaded)
do a couple fly overs and If everything looks good probably spend the night. if not. I'll land at the nearby airport and hitch
a car ride to the fly in.

Let me know if you're interested.
about an hour flight for you I'm guessing . Hour and 10 minutes for me.


 

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Niko182

[carusoam]

@Blondie,

Thanks for that title update. It really makes a difference...

As for landing on tougher surfaces.... and choosing to use your Mooney...

you really want to be able to hone your energy management skills... in your plane...

Bryan/ @piperpainter has done a great job capturing video and pics and posting to his channel on YouTube...

Bryan has recently sold his Mooney.

Airspeed control is everything for that sport...

- too slow, the plane stops flying...

- too fast, the plane misses the landing target.

- decisions or scanning too slowly, the pilot falls behind the plane, quickly...

 

Smooth landings on an unprepared surface are much better for the machine than bounces, or dropping the plane, or running out of room at the end....

PP thoughts only, not a CFI... know b4u go...

Best regards,

-a-

[steingar]

I have to agree with the naysayers.  I didn't buy a Mooney to land short unimproved strips, I got one to quickly get me to desirable destinations.  If I wanted something to go into the back woods I'd have gotten a taildragger of some stripe.  Not to say that a Mooney can't do it, just that a Mooney isn't the best tool for the job.  Sort of like my Goldwing motorcycle wasn't the best bike to zip around town, just as my fire breathing Honda 954rr wasn't the right bike for a long trip to Saskatchewan.  My thinking is when its in a remote place without a lot of services the right tool for the job becomes a little more important.

[SantosDumont]

Would not recommend flying a Mooney to Burning Man.  When I was in training for my PPL a couple idiots took the rental Grumman Tiger to 88NV... it was down for 6 months after that while the owner replaced all the filters and got all the dust out of the hoses. 

[gsxrpilot]

6 hours ago, SantosDumont said:

Would not recommend flying a Mooney to Burning Man.  When I was in training for my PPL a couple idiots took the rental Grumman Tiger to 88NV... it was down for 6 months after that while the owner replaced all the filters and got all the dust out of the hoses. 

It shouldn't take 6 months. But mine was in the shop for a week while we thoroughly cleaned it, and changed all the filters. I've only been twice, but have never been the only Mooney out there. 

On 10/22/2018 at 1:49 PM, steingar said:

I have to agree with the naysayers.  I didn't buy a Mooney to land short unimproved strips, I got one to quickly get me to desirable destinations.  If I wanted something to go into the back woods I'd have gotten a taildragger of some stripe.  Not to say that a Mooney can't do it, just that a Mooney isn't the best tool for the job.  Sort of like my Goldwing motorcycle wasn't the best bike to zip around town, just as my fire breathing Honda 954rr wasn't the right bike for a long trip to Saskatchewan.  My thinking is when its in a remote place without a lot of services the right tool for the job becomes a little more important.

But if you were going to ride the Dragon at Deals Gap in NC, which bike do you ride. The one that's comfortable for the trip down from OH or the one you want when you get there. 

I agree the Mooney isn't the best bush plane. In fact, it doesn't even make the list. But I can at least get there. From where I am deep in Texas, it is FAR to go anywhere. But with the Mooney, any point in the entire lower 48 is in reach in a single day. So even if I have to tread lightly when I get there, at least I got there.

Oh, and when you fly to Burning Man, chances are you'll be parked between a KingAir and a Pilatus PC12 and surrounded by another 200 or so airplanes. It's a popular destination.

[steingar]

4 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

But if you were going to ride the Dragon at Deals Gap in NC, which bike do you ride. The one that's comfortable for the trip down from OH or the one you want when you get there. 

From what I've seen Deal's Gap is highly overrated.  Always slow cars and Harley on the thing.  I know better roads in WV that are immaculate and untrafficked, except for the locals who drive even faster than me.

[bill98]

On 10/22/2018 at 9:50 AM, gsxrpilot said:

 

How do you have your GoPro mounted. 

[bill98]

1 minute ago, bill98 said:

How do you have your GoPro mounted. 

I see someone already asked !

[gsxrpilot]

2 hours ago, steingar said:

From what I've seen Deal's Gap is highly overrated.  Always slow cars and Harley on the thing.  I know better roads in WV that are immaculate and untrafficked, except for the locals who drive even faster than me.

I'll agree.

But a quick story. I went to western NC with the intention of riding Deals Gap. We did and it was what you described. But the rest of the week riding normal roads in the Smokey's was excellent. The best part was that we discovered a 40+ mile stretch of the Blue Ridge parkway that was closed because of a landslide across the road. We carried our sport bikes around the locked gates and ran the almost 90 miles there and back of empty (closed) twisty's. When we got back to the locked gate, the Ranger was there and wrote each of us a $50 ticket. So what did we do? Well of course, we went back and ran it again the next day. We figured $50 was cheaper than a track day and the road was better.