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

[ToddCC22]

4 hours ago, carusoam said:

Great pirep, Todd!

What’s next?

Best regards,

-a-

I have plenty of learning to do with the new panel, autopilot and plane. Have a couple CFII’s on my home field with a 231 that I am using for training and will stretch her wings to several races this year once I am comfortable with it. Never stop learning!

[carusoam]

People that race... like their Mooneys...

Do you remember this guy...?

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=3207d048-5c7f-4eb0-8c30-72c78336f030

Transition training can be a blast... 

Best regards,

-a-

[ToddCC22]

7 minutes ago, carusoam said:

People that race... like their Mooneys...

Do you remember this guy...?

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=3207d048-5c7f-4eb0-8c30-72c78336f030

Transition training can be a blast... 

Best regards,

-a-

Yeah, almost asked him whether he still had his Mooney last week. I’m still a little bitter about him wrecking my car as we were leading Martinsville in 2015. Couldn’t get myself to start that friendly conversation. 

[carusoam]

He only had it for a short while... before transitioning to something faster...

He did make a great ambassador for Mooney...

A few Mooney owners enjoyed the PR, and explaining why they chose the speed and efficiency of their Mooney over the other offerings...
 

Who better to listen to than a guy who cruises a car at Mooney speeds..?

The nice thing about a Mooney, Cruise at Talladega speeds without any pit stops... change tires every few years... hardly ever need a fresh motor...  The only time you see traffic up close is when you are flying in formation...   
 

Go Mooney!

Best regards,

-a-

According to this quirky article...  Matt still had the Acclaim in 2016...

As a seasoned stock car racer, Matt Kenseth obviously has quite the need for speed. Which is probably why traveling at high speeds on the ground wasn’t enough for Kenseth, who got into flying one offseason after buying a Cessna 172. He now owns a Mooney Acclaim, which he uses to fly to races (but not home from races, as he gets too tired), to appearances, and on trips to see his family. Kenseth is in good company, as retired NASCAR drivers Mark Martin and Kyle Petty are also avid fliers.

[tmo]

8 hours ago, kortopates said:

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

@ToddCC22 - inquiring minds want to know can you share that info? And, as importantly, Nico's question: did you get a field approval for those switches?

Edited June 24, 2020 by tmo

[ToddCC22]

20 minutes ago, tmo said:

@ToddCC22 - inquiring minds want to know can you share that info? And, as importantly, Nico's question: did you get a field approval for those switches?

Maxwell did all the work. I told Paul what I wanted for avionics and let him work from there and don’t have the specifics off the top of my head. Headed out to the hanger today and will get some info. They all do still use an inline breaker in the right side of the panel. 

[jlunseth]

Much of this discussion so far deals with theory and not real flying conditions.  In my area, upper midwest, the majority of our flying days during the warm weather months are going to involve some kind of cloud cover.  Typical is to have clouds from somewhere around 4-7k that extend up to 12-16k. You have three choices. Fly 7 k or lower, which means flying in turbulence, and the closer to the bases you get without going through them the worse the turbulence. If you don’t have the ability to penetrate and get above the clouds you also risk, when flying over a long distance, passing through areas where the 7 k cover drops to MVFR and you are scud running. Or (2), soldier through the clouds, which means not just turbulence but part time IFR and the need from time to time to slow to Vna because you don’t know what is in the next cloud. Or (3), climb to 12 or 16 or 18 or whatever it takes, where it will be glass smooth most of the time and you will not be dealing with convection. Weather being what it is, this varies, and there are days when it takes being in the 20’s to get out of the junk. So talking about airspeeds in the mid-range, say from 6 to 12k, is just theory. Unless you really like being a good soldier, that is not a very good place to fly most days.

The other issue is dispatchability. The two-alternator rigs, the 252 on up, have it all over those of us who are limited to one alternator. If you are going to be flying real IFR frequently, then you need redundancy. It is possible to do that with a backup AI that replaces the TC and is electric, backing up the vacuum system instruments. Better is to have two alternators and be able to safely go all electric. The two alternators also gives you the ability to have a FIKI system. Without that, during the roughly five months of the year where icing is a problem at all levels, you can’t be in the clouds even if you want to. 

Talking about how fast a plane can go at 8 or 10k is nice and all, but if you want a travelin’ machine there is quite a lot more to it than that.

[ArtVandelay]

I would argue that redundancy doesn’t help dispatchability. After all you’re not gonna fly if you have a nonworking alternator just because you have a back up.

[tmo]

Some would say that of all MEL items the alternator might be the one they would fly without ;-)

[ToddCC22]

10 hours ago, ToddCC22 said:

Maxwell did all the work. I told Paul what I wanted for avionics and let him work from there and don’t have the specifics off the top of my head. Headed out to the hanger today and will get some info. They all do still use an inline breaker in the right side of the panel. 

So the switches are from Mooney directly and are the ones used in current production planes.  They are available from the factory in the $35 range and are a minor alteration which doesn't require an STC or field approval.  I really like how they make the panel clean and current!

[kortopates]

On 6/24/2020 at 8:41 AM, ArtVandelay said:

I would argue that redundancy doesn’t help dispatchability. After all you’re not gonna fly if you have a nonworking alternator just because you have a back up.

There are backup alternators, with very limited output that that will only let you finish your flight - which may be what you're thinking of - and then there are dual alternator - 2 full 70 amp alternators such as on my K which do ensure dispatchability with the majority of single alternator failures.  Dual alternators is a huge improvement.

Edited June 25, 2020 by kortopates

[Bob Vallejo]

As a new pilot with 0 hours on your PPL a Mooney is TOO much plane , you will get behind it and that's a Safety issue Build your hours with a 172 , Good Luck 

[Hank]

20 minutes ago, Bob Vallejo said:

As a new pilot with 0 hours on your PPL a Mooney is TOO much plane , you will get behind it and that's a Safety issue Build your hours with a 172 , Good Luck 

Don't be so negative! I bought my Mooney almost 12 flight hours after my PPL checkride began. Just stay in student mode and have a good CFI with lots of Mooney time to teach you.

[Pinecone]

And a few people have done their PPL in a Mooney.

Just realize, there IS a learning curve, and expect to need a number of hours to get checked out and safe.

[redbaron1982]

My recent experience of transition from a Piper Warrior to an M20J was quite uneventful/smooth. I'm a PPL with IR, 95% of my time was in a Warrior II and the remaining 5% was in a Cessna 182T for my HP endorsement. I didn't have a complex endorsement when I started transition training to M20J.

My main concerns: energy management while descending and things happening faster were not an issue at all. Landings were a bit trickier, but my landing sucks in general, so nothing new there. I even had two events of bouncing in landing, one with my CFI and another solo, and in the first bounce I just went around and it was quite easy.

So, my conclusion, an M20J is not a difficult plane to fly. Maybe an M20K with it's original engine has a much more difficult engine management workload.

[Lawmansteve]

AS a new pilot under contract to purchase my first mooney I can tell you that I was not insurable on the turbo (well they did offer 20,000 per year for the first year) but the m20j at 6000 is fine since I am planning on good transition training and IFR this year so it will be less at renewal.

 

I have gone on test flights in other mooney models and the fuel burn and speed achieved appears to vary widely, even though new at this I believe there are many F models that are better than some J models etc etc.

 

for me as a 5'7" pilot I could not see over the dash in the 70's models but I can in a 87 J model

[Mufflerbearing]

On 6/1/2023 at 6:43 PM, Bob Vallejo said:

As a new pilot with 0 hours on your PPL a Mooney is TOO much plane , you will get behind it and that's a Safety issue Build your hours with a 172 , Good Luck 

Hi @Bob Vallejo and welcome to Mooneyspace!  You will find many great pilots that have differing opinions and with open minds, is where we are able to learn from one another.

I am one of those pilots that @Pinecone referred to that learned and got my PPL and then within a month, my IFR all in my Mooney.  It is certainly doable but the process, speed and plane must certainly be respected.