Mooney as a Family Plane?

[BorealOne]

The M20R as a family plane rocks - i've spent the last 3 weeks 'on the road' with my 2 girls (ages 9 and 11), where we've gone from CYYR (Goose Bay, NL) to CYAZ (Tofino, BC) and CYZF (Yellowknife, NT) with a little KSFF, KBFI and KWYS on the side. All with full bags and 50+ gallons fuel, 3-4h legs and no complaints...

[carusoam]

"The M20R as a family plane rocks" - bore alone or with family

 

Ovations for the innovation of the Ovation!

[rsnowden]

Thanks again for all the feedback.  I found a M20J for sale at my airport and plan to check it out this weekend.  I am  looking forward to see first hand how creative you have to be to get in the plane.  Now, to just sell me Cherokee . . .

[rsnowden]

I posted on here two years ago that I was thinking about selling my Cherokee and looking for another plane.  After great deliberation, I finally sold my Cherokee and have decided to buy a either an M20J or K. 

 

Hopefully I will be a regular to the forum in the near future as a Mooney owner!

[carusoam]

The Ovation still rocks on! As a family plane. Even years later.

Best regards,

-a-

Upon review of this thread, everyone is still here accept possibly the PA46 guy. That one I don't recall.

[aviatoreb]

 

 

I have flown all of the models of Piper PA28 and although the back seat is about the same as a 201, I think passengers have more leg room in the Mooney.  I have read the articles that say a Mooney has 2" more cabin width than a PA28 but in reality the front seats are smaller. The fuselage curves inwards and the plane gets narrower forward of your shoulders.  Your legs go into a box or a similar to a large kayak in a mooney, where the PA28 series its all wide open down there. Even in the arrow.  Lots more room for different leg positions.  Not knocking Mooney, we bought one as well, but its not "roomy".  A 201 is also 18 knots faster than an Arrow with the same engine.

 

The upside is you sit in the plane for 20-50% less time than a Piper PA28, so it doesnt have to be as roomy.  Go sit in one.

 

 

I agree with your "kayak" foot well description - the Mooney is a car you sit in and almost wear like a roadster sports car.  But there is something mitigates that close fit, rather than makes it worse, for taller people.  At 6'4'' and with esp long legs for a person my size (and short waist), I end up sliding my pilot seat literally as far back as it will go on the rails.  That not only gives me lots of leg room like no other airplane but it makes it so only half my legs are in that kayak-like footwell area but most of my legs are out in the open.  Plus I am almost always further back from my co-pilot so there is not shoulder bumping conflict.  This makes it a very comfortable airplane for 3, but my seat is just an inch or two from touching the seat behind me.  If I have a passenger behind me, I fly in the next seat hole, but uncomfortably and that is the last one I can use - and the only person who fits behind me is my 77lb 11 year old - or a very very tiny grown up.

[rbridges]

I posted on here two years ago that I was thinking about selling my Cherokee and looking for another plane.  After great deliberation, I finally sold my Cherokee and have decided to buy a either an M20J or K. 

 

Hopefully I will be a regular to the forum in the near future as a Mooney owner!

 

That would be great.  Where do you live?  Unless you need the altitude, I'd probably stick with the J.

[stevesm20b]

What about the Cessna 210? Faster than 6 place Pipers and the 201. Cheaper than an A36.

[Alan Fox]

I dont know how you can compare any Mooney to a Long Piper , or A 36  for passenger comfort , They have Club seating , they are Frigging HUGE , The Mooneys are faster , but in reality if your Missions are typically less than 250 to 300 NM , the speed is not a huge factor , in reality ... over 500 NM the speed will come into play .... as far as fuel burn , the 6 cylider mooneys burn comparable to any Big 6 Cylinder ....The shorter trips dont realize the advantage of fuel economy like the "J" does....If Fuel burn is critical , There is really not a plane that will fill your mission totally , as said before its a tradeoff ......  but the J is a good fit , if most trips are with 3 or less people....   Good luck...

[rsnowden]

An A36 or a Saratoga would be great but at least twice the price of an M20J.  I flew in an A36 for years with my dad and love to catch a ride in one whenever I can.  It brings back lots of great memories.  However, about 90% of my flying is alone or with one other person.  There will only be a few times a year I will have my entire family in the airplane.  The longest trip we will take together is between 300 to 350 miles.  Flying from Memphis to Destin, FL in my Cherokee took from 3 to 3 1/2 hours.  I calculate that at 155 knots the 201 can do it that same trip in just over 2 hours.  With ipads in hand, 2 hours 10 min. is very tolerable. 

 

A little trick I learned years ago on how to travel light.  If you are taking a family trip and you have a bunch of luggage that will not fit in the airplane, you can always mail the cloths to your destination.  It's really easy.  I just take a big box, load it with cloths, and drop it off at a UPS store a week before I leave.  Have it shipped either to your destination or to another UPS store near your destination.  It will be there waiting for you.  I know you wouldnt want to do that all the time but in a pinch it works.

[Earl]

As much as I love my Mooney I don't consider it much of a family plane, but then again, I have three kids that range in age from 17 to 23.  But even before that, I never really had a trip where it made sense to put four in the plane with luggage and have left much in the way of fuel payload.  Of course mine is a 252 which doesn't have the useful load of some other models.  I have at times considered switching the Mooney for a A36TN but could never get the money to make sense for me.  I like my turbo and the ability to fly high, fast and economical.  Last trip I got 22mpg, better than my Sequoia for sure......and way more fun!

 

As for the ingress and egress, all it takes is a little planning to fill those back seats. Pilot in first and moves their seat forward.  Rear passenger pilot side next followed by the next rear passenger and the right seater last.  No problem.  Put in the right seat person first and it is now officially impossible to get the rest on board without gymnastics.

[IndyTim]

An A36 or a Saratoga would be great but at least twice the price of an M20J.  I flew in an A36 for years with my dad and love to catch a ride in one whenever I can.  It brings back lots of great memories.  However, about 90% of my flying is alone or with one other person.  There will only be a few times a year I will have my entire family in the airplane.  The longest trip we will take together is between 300 to 350 miles.  Flying from Memphis to Destin, FL in my Cherokee took from 3 to 3 1/2 hours.  I calculate that at 155 knots the 201 can do it that same trip in just over 2 hours.  With ipads in hand, 2 hours 10 min. is very tolerable. 

 

A little trick I learned years ago on how to travel light.  If you are taking a family trip and you have a bunch of luggage that will not fit in the airplane, you can always mail the cloths to your destination.  It's really easy.  I just take a big box, load it with cloths, and drop it off at a UPS store a week before I leave.  Have it shipped either to your destination or to another UPS store near your destination.  It will be there waiting for you.  I know you wouldnt want to do that all the time but in a pinch it works.

 

Nice to see that you're still thinking about, or have actually decided on, a Mooney.

 

I just went through a lengthy process of trying to figure out what to get.  I was locked on -36 Bonanzas, and just couldn't find the right one.  I kept returning to Mooneys, and finally found a 252 in great condition which I bought.

 

I really struggled with the space issue, thinking I really needed the A- or B36 cabin.  I had three competing missions:  the 95% mission is me by myself, commuting long distances to client sites.  A Mooney is absolutely made for that mission.  My second mission profile is longish trips with my wife.  The Mooney works there, too, although I have not yet verified for certain that it will carry a Co-Motion tandem bicycle when broken down into the two packing cases.  I sure hope so....

 

The third profile is for two couples and luggage, and it's so rare that I've just let it go....  We'll figure something else out.

 

However, I did want to throw in this tidbit of information:  I'm over 6'2" and I love the Mooney.  I have plenty of leg, shoulder, and headroom even with my headset on.  Interestingly, I just flew three other people around a few evenings ago: my wife, my son, and his friend.  My son is 6'4 around 185lbs, and his buddy is about 5'10".  They sat in back, and claim to have been comfortable once they reclined the seatbacks.   FWIW.

[Bob_Belville]

I have the shortest of Mooneys, an E. Normally it's my wife and me and lots of room. But we like to take another couple for a weekend adventure. In September that was to KMRH from KMRN. ~ 1:45 each way, 4 adults averaging 200# though none of us are tall, and light bags. For a couple of hours or less even a short body can work. An F or J @ 12" longer should be fine. I burned 16 or 17 gallons each way. For Sun and Fun there were 4 of us, ~ 600# plus luggage, MRN to LAL 4:00+ going down. The back seat guy is 6', no complaints, ready to go again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKBNWcXxpuM

[Bob - S50]

I posted on here two years ago that I was thinking about selling my Cherokee and looking for another plane.  After great deliberation, I finally sold my Cherokee and have decided to buy a either an M20J or K. 

 

Hopefully I will be a regular to the forum in the near future as a Mooney owner!

Just one thing to keep an eye on.  Be sure to ask about the useful load.  You'll find J's with a useful load anywhere from 850# to just over 1000#.  That's a huge difference.  Usually, the planes with low useful load get that way because the owner has added items you may not care about like fully articulating seats, pre-heaters, anti-ice, speedbrakes, long range fuel tanks, stormscope, fancy (but heavier) interior, thicker windows, and on and on.  Figure out which ones YOU would like.  If the plane has a low useful load and a bunch of add ons you don't care about, keep looking.

 

When our group went looking for a plane, if it didn't have a useful load of at least 950# we didn't even bother looking at it.

 

I'm a fairly new Mooney owner myself but I've developed a rule of thumb for fuel planning with our '78 J.  I'll use DTC DUAT to flight plan using actual winds, but I need to give it a starting fuel.  Since I flight plan at 155 KTAS and 9.3 GPH (LOP) I start with (VFR) 6 gallons for every 100 miles of distance plus 15 gallons for start, warmup, taxi, takeoff, climb and a 10 gallon reserve.  Depending on the individual flight (weather, terrain, sight seeing, traffic congestion, etc) I'll add anywhere from 1 to 5 gallons of contingency fuel.  A 450 mile flight no wind I'd plan on 4.5 x 6 + 15 = 42 gallons plus my contingency.  That's 245 pounds of fuel which leaves me with 715 pounds (our useful load is 960) for people and bags on a 3 hour flight.  If I had the imaginary 850# useful load plane, I could only carry 605#.  Figuring on filling the baggage compartment with 120 pounds of 'stuff' and you could only carry 485# of people.