which model is the best F,J,K or M

[FloridaMan]

 

23 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

Really?  I heard it was more like 185-190kts on about 11.2gph and a useful of 1300lbs.  As far as I know, Beechcraft only continues to make the A36 because of the high demand for slower and less efficient airplanes.  The theory taken to its end suggests that Beech products tend to attract the sort of egalitarian consumer that wants a fine airplane, but doesn't want over do the competition by too much. I have to say that my experience with most Beech owners matches this stereotype - humble, meek and self aware souls rarely given to boastfulness or arrogance. In a perfect world, everyone would fly a Beech...

Poe's Law?

[gsxrpilot]

I used to be in a partnership in an F33A with the big engine, 310hp. We always had to be careful about the aft CG. And it was based on fuel burn. You could start the trip just fine, but finish with a terrible aft CG condition that was quite dangerous. Of course everything can be mitigated by proper flight planning, but it sure added an additional layer of complexity that we just don't have with the Mooneys.

[Shadrach]

3 minutes ago, FloridaMan said:

 

Poe's Law?

I'll never say! The emoticon was meant to be ambiguous.  When did you become Florida man? 

[FloridaMan]

1 hour ago, Shadrach said:

I'll never say! The emoticon was meant to be ambiguous.  When did you become Florida man? 

I changed it when I was bored and wanted to see if the feature worked. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with it for 180 days. 

[Shadrach]

15 minutes ago, FloridaMan said:

I changed it when I was bored and wanted to see if the feature worked. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with it for 180 days. 

You've your own website... https://floridaman.com

[carusoam]

Submit a request to Craig to get your screen name back....

Or become Name1 or Xname... so people with less memory skill will at least recognize your input....

Best regards,

-a-

[Shadrach]

22 hours ago, KLRDMD said:

Saturday I did a flight review for a guy in a 1970 Bonanza V35. I got out of that airplane, did the flight review paperwork and immediately got into a 1999 Mooney Ovation to do a flight review for him. I gotta tell ya, the Bonanza was more comfortable and with 1000% better visibility. I felt like I was in a bunker in the Mooney with very little visibility coming right out of the Bonanza. I've been a Mooney guy for decades and have little Bonanza time but that was a dramatic difference. They're within 5HP of one another (IO-520 at 285 HP in the Bonanza and IO-550 at 280 HP in this Ovation) so fuel burn will be essentially identical. The Mooney may be a couple of knots faster in cruise but the Bonanza has about 200 lb more useful load and got off the runway in a noticeably shorter distance than the Mooney.

Gotta look into this Bonanza thing. I have a bunch of Baron time but not much Bonanza time.

Totally agree with regard to the older long bodies.  The cockpit of the Bravo I flown in felt like a gun turret compared to my F.  The combination of the higher glareshield with switches and annunciators in the panel above the windshield cuts viability.  I have heard that the panel modernization of the new aircraft improves visibility a great deal.

[Hank]

35 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

The cockpit of the Bravo I flown in felt like a gun turret compared to my F.  The combination of the higher glareshield with switches and annunciators in the panel above the windshield cuts viability.  I have heard that the panel modernization of the new aircraft improves visibility a great deal.

Check out Don Kaye's new panel, worth more than your plane and mine combined. It's beautiful, glassy, clean and still has empty space instead of being crammed full like mine is. But it's no lower, it still half-swallows the compass. Not sure how "visibility" can be improved without cutting out the top of the panel. But the seats go up and down, maybe that helps?

[Shadrach]

1 minute ago, Hank said:

Check out Don Kaye's new panel, worth more than your plane and mine combined. It's beautiful, glassy, clean and still has empty space instead of being crammed full like mine is. But it's no lower, it still half-swallows the compass. Not sure how "visibility" can be improved without cutting out the top of the panel. But the seats go up and down, maybe that helps?

It was my understanding that the interior and panel on the U and V birds was a clean slate redesign giving more visibility through 180 degrees (larger side windows in the doors).  Perhaps I misunderstood. @mike_elliott probably can confirm.

[Hank]

1 hour ago, Shadrach said:

It was my understanding that the interior and panel on the U and V birds was a clean slate redesign giving more visibility through 180 degrees (larger side windows in the doors).  Perhaps I misunderstood. @mike_elliott probably can confirm.

That may be, I didn't sit in this one at The Mooney Summit.

But the panel is definitely lower. 

[Shadrach]

1 minute ago, Hank said:

That may be, I didn't sit in this one at The Mooney Summit.

But the panel is definitely lower. 

still looks on the high side compared to the legacy birds (flush with the top cowl).

[Hank]

1 minute ago, Shadrach said:

still looks on the high side compared to the legacy birds (flush with the top cowl).

But it's below the compass rather than in the middle of it. Be thankful for small favors.  

[mike_elliott]

The G1000 panels on the Bravo's Acclaims and Ovations are lower than the non G1000 affording more front visibility. The 93 Bravo Don has has the same tall panel the 99 Bravo I flew had and the forward visibility is not as good as the newer planes. You can sure load a lot of avionics AMU's into them, however!

 

[Sixstring2k]

On 1/2/2019 at 9:52 AM, FloridaMan said:

When I've encountered pilots who are learning to land, I teach them to think of the sight picture you have riding down an escalator. You typically focus towards the bottom of the escalator  as you're riding it down, but as you start to round off at the bottom, you change your focus to look ahead of you.

When you're on final, you only care about two things: airspeed and runway. Get your speed correct using pitch (I know; easier said than done when you're learning, but master control of airspeed and landings will be easy). If the runway is moving up in the windscreen, you're sinking. Add power. If the runway is moving down, pull power out. As for rudder work, my solution for the confusion as to which foot to press in a crosswind to straighten the plane out was to imagine the foot that you press pulls the nose towards it; at the same time action/reaction and all of that, the opposite wing will drop on its own and you just need to make sure to track centerline. I had CFIs go into all sorts of "drop a wing" and "opposite rudder" and all of that which overloaded me as back as a primary student. Stay loose on the pedals and remember that rudder work isn't just pressing with one foot, you lift with the other or you'll fighting yourself when stressed. 

I need to write this one down, thanks for the great tip

[LANCECASPER]

On 1/8/2019 at 8:22 PM, mike_elliott said:

The G1000 panels on the Bravo's Acclaims and Ovations are lower than the non G1000 affording more front visibility. The 93 Bravo Don has has the same tall panel the 99 Bravo I flew had and the forward visibility is not as good as the newer planes. You can sure load a lot of avionics AMU's into them, however!

 

. (See EDIT below - this is an '03 Ovation DX with the lowered panel)

Previous models could have three rows of instruments, after this change only two rows of instruments fit. This is an '89 TLS with the tall panel.

EDIT: this is a 2000 Ovation with a re-done tall panel

 

The G1000 Mooneys (GX) stayed with the lower instrument panel

 

 

EDIT 12/19/2021: Correction -  the panels were not lowered two inches until 2003. There's an AOPA article on the Ovation DX that explains this. (https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2003/june/pilot/mooney-m20r-ovation2-dx

So although the DX Bravos and Ovations had the Moritz gauges from late '99 on, just late '03 and all '04 Bravos and Ovations would have the lowered panel.

 

[carusoam]

A couple of interesting inches....

Any shorter, you would see the back of the engine...

Great pics, Lance!

Best regards,

-a-

[ToddCC22]

So I bought a Cherokee 180 for my first 250 hours for my ppl and instrument rating and just picked up my Mooney. So fortunate to get to know Don and Paul Maxwell as they converted a 252 to an Encore for me. Just over 1100# useful load. Can’t express how much I appreciate this entire community for information and knowledge!

[mike_elliott]

N252TG is a beauty Todd. Hopefully, you knocked some of that attention to detail into DMAX that you and the rest of the captains group displayed yesterday #12congrats!!!

[EricJ]

That's a nice airplane!   Maxwells are awesome.

 

[Danb]

Nice ride at Todd welcome to the gang, you’ve got a beautiful bird, many feel it’s the best Mooney made.

[carusoam]

Great pirep, Todd!

What’s next?

Best regards,

-a-

[Niko182]

5 hours ago, ToddCC22 said:

So I bought a Cherokee 180 for my first 250 hours for my ppl and instrument rating and just picked up my Mooney. So fortunate to get to know Don and Paul Maxwell as they converted a 252 to an Encore for me. Just over 1100# useful load. Can’t express how much I appreciate this entire community for information and knowledge!

did you get a field approval for those switches? I have the identical panel except for the PMA450B instead of the GMA350

[M016576]

6 hours ago, ToddCC22 said:

So I bought a Cherokee 180 for my first 250 hours for my ppl and instrument rating and just picked up my Mooney. So fortunate to get to know Don and Paul Maxwell as they converted a 252 to an Encore for me. Just over 1100# useful load. Can’t express how much I appreciate this entire community for information and knowledge!

Beautiful!

[kortopates]

1 hour ago, Niko182 said:

did you get a field approval for those switches? I have the identical panel except for the PMA450B instead of the GMA350

Pretty nice, What kind of switches are they? Are they circuit breaker switches too?

[ToddCC22]

4 hours ago, Danb said:

Nice ride at Todd welcome to the gang, you’ve got a beautiful bird, many feel it’s the best Mooney made.

I can’t wait to see its capabilities. This site and its supporters lead me to it. What a great community.