Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston (@KEFD)

[HRM]

I finally got to the new Lone Star Flight Museum  in Houston on Saturday and it was special ‘cause they let vets in for free all weekend and today. The museum was in Galveston for quite a while and was severely damaged by one of the hurricanes. I had visited it last just before it moved to Ellington. Anyway, I was blown away by what they have done. As I got closer to the airport I saw what I thought was a brand new, ultra-modern terminal building that turned out to be the museum. The place is just over the top!

Anyway, the reason I am posting here is that the museum is very Mooney centric (see photos, the “Naked Mite” is just too cool) and has a simulator room with eight or so stations where you can fly an Ovation. I found that to be quite humbling 

 

Something worth seeing and you can fly in if you like—they are also very pilot friendly.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2019 by HRM
Had to put the photos in.

[DualRatedFlyer]

4 minutes ago, HRM said:

I finally got to the new Lone Star Flight Museum  in Houston on Saturday and it was special ‘cause they let vets in for free all weekend and today. The museum was in Galveston for quite a while and was severely damaged by one of the hurricanes. I had visited it last just before it moved to Ellington. Anyway, I was blown away by what they have done. As I got closer to the airport I saw what I thought was a brand new, ultra-modern terminal building that turned out to be the museum. The place is just over the top!

Anyway, the reason I am posting here is that the museum is very Mooney centric (see photos, the “Naked Mite” is just too cool) and has a simulator room with eight or so stations where you can fly an Ovation. I found that to be quite humbling 

 

Something worth seeing and you can fly in if you like—they are also very pilot friendly.

 

 

 

 

New to Texas -- never heard of it.  Adding it to my list of places to visit.  Thanks for sharing!

If I wasnt at the AOPA FIRC this weekend I would definitely be attending their Beer, Planes, and BBQ Hangar Bash  http://www.lonestarflight.org/hangarbash

[Greg Ellis]

1 hour ago, HRM said:

I finally got to the new Lone Star Flight Museum  in Houston on Saturday and it was special ‘cause they let vets in for free all weekend and today. The museum was in Galveston for quite a while and was severely damaged by one of the hurricanes. I had visited it last just before it moved to Ellington. Anyway, I was blown away by what they have done. As I got closer to the airport I saw what I thought was a brand new, ultra-modern terminal building that turned out to be the museum. The place is just over the top!

Anyway, the reason I am posting here is that the museum is very Mooney centric (see photos, the “Naked Mite” is just too cool) and has a simulator room with eight or so stations where you can fly an Ovation. I found that to be quite humbling 

 

Something worth seeing and you can fly in if you like—they are also very pilot friendly.

 

 

There is an article about the Naked Mite in a recent edition of Mapa Log.  It was restored and donated to the museum by Boyd Maddox.

[MooneyMitch]

I too visited the Galveston museum prior to the loss of so many wonderful airplanes there.

And yes, the new location is fantastic too!  Unfortunately, not as many historical aircraft on display due to the losses in Galveston.

I do believe Mooney International donated the Ovation to Lone Star.

If you’re in the area sometime, I too highly recommend a visit ! 

[HRM]

47 minutes ago, Greg Ellis said:

There is an article about the Naked Mite in a recent edition of Mapa Log.  It was restored and donated to the museum by Boyd Maddox.

Close-up of the plaque below. The absolute beauty of this exhibit is that the frame is uncovered and you see the incredible woodworking skill of the Mooney factory not to mention the controls and retractable gear mechanism. In fact, the woodwork may have been done by Art Mooney himself (Al's brother).

[MooneyMitch]

3 minutes ago, HRM said:

Close-up of the plaque below. The absolute beauty of this exhibit is that the frame is uncovered and you see the incredible woodworking skill of the Mooney factory not to mention the controls and retractable gear mechanism. In fact, the woodwork may have been done by Art Mooney himself (Al's brother).

And that very skill of woodworking is the reason Ralph Harmon decided to recreate the Mooney wing into all metal.   He saw the writing on the wall, that that woodworking skill was diminishing.  

The above information came directly from Mooney legend Bill Wheat.  

[Steve Smith]

On 11/11/2019 at 3:23 PM, HRM said:

I finally got to the new Lone Star Flight Museum  in Houston on Saturday and it was special ‘cause they let vets in for free all weekend and today. The museum was in Galveston for quite a while and was severely damaged by one of the hurricanes. I had visited it last just before it moved to Ellington. Anyway, I was blown away by what they have done. As I got closer to the airport I saw what I thought was a brand new, ultra-modern terminal building that turned out to be the museum. The place is just over the top!

Anyway, the reason I am posting here is that the museum is very Mooney centric (see photos, the “Naked Mite” is just too cool) and has a simulator room with eight or so stations where you can fly an Ovation. I found that to be quite humbling 

 

Something worth seeing and you can fly in if you like—they are also very pilot friendly.

 

 

That is so cool thank you for sharing this 

[LANCECASPER]

On 11/11/2019 at 3:47 PM, MooneyMitch said:

I do believe Mooney International donated the Ovation to Lone Star.

They should have sold it to a customer and paid some of their vendors.

[MooneyMitch]

2 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

They should have sold it to a customer and paid some of their vendors.

Oh, I didn’t realize Mooney International didn’t pay some of its vendors.

[LANCECASPER]

4 minutes ago, MooneyMitch said:

Oh, I didn’t realize Mooney International didn’t pay some of its vendors.

Actually most of the vendors were on pay before delivery with Mooney International, but they were behind on some for sure, including property taxes. 

https://dailytimes.com/promotions/article_d71a5660-a787-11ea-a761-cbcb95b15659.html

 

and of course this is nothing new with a company having the name "Mooney" in it.

https://dailytimes.com/news/article_79f44218-b340-5972-b6d4-dafa36c252fd.html

[MooneyMitch]

34 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

Actually most of the vendors were on pay before delivery with Mooney International, but they were behind on some for sure, including property taxes. 

https://dailytimes.com/promotions/article_d71a5660-a787-11ea-a761-cbcb95b15659.html

 

and of course this is nothing new with a company having the name "Mooney" in it.

https://dailytimes.com/news/article_79f44218-b340-5972-b6d4-dafa36c252fd.html

I apologize for not understanding your statement “on pay”.  

Is it your knowledge Mooney International has not paid  some of its vendors?  Again, I was unaware of that.

I do recall Mooney reorganized into Mooney Airplane Co. ( prior to becoming Mooney International), leaving behind vendor debt.

[LANCECASPER]

Since they had to pay before they could get parts, as an example from Garmin and Continental, they probably didn't shut down owing too many vendors this time, like in the times past. This  is with the exception of employees who were promised things they never got toward the end of 2019 and the county tax assessor.

One financial detail that is still a mystery is where the $646,000 went from the Mooney they auctioned off after they started up back in 2014. They promised that it was all supposed to go toward the opening of a Mooney museum on the field in Kerrville.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2014-04-07/mooney-announces-production-restart-sun-n-fun

https://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft/pistons/mooney-back-action/

[MooneyMitch]

1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said:

Since they had to pay before they could get parts, as an example from Garmin and Continental, they probably didn't shut down owing too many vendors this time, like in the times past. This  is with the exception of employees who were promised things they never got toward the end of 2019 and the county tax assessor.

One financial detail that is still a mystery is where the $646,000 went from the Mooney they auctioned off after they started up back in 2014. They promised that it was all supposed to go toward the opening of a Mooney museum on the field in Kerrville.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2014-04-07/mooney-announces-production-restart-sun-n-fun

https://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft/pistons/mooney-back-action/

Yes, Jerry Chen’s intentions were sincere with the auction towards helping to fund the museum.  It was quite inspirational and exciting indeed! I was there for all this.

Obviously Dr. Chen was gone along with the museum plans......very sad.

Mishandling/mistreating  the employees is pathetic, agree.

Wishing the new dream team all things good and positive.

 

[MooneyMitch]

13 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

They should have sold it to a customer and paid some of their vendors.

In retrospect, I should have further clarified my statement regarding Mooney International donating the Ovation to the museum.  I believe the airplane was donated under the Jerry Chen rein and all intentions were positive.............prior to any financial mistreating of employees by others.