RJBrown Posted August 18, 2011 Report Posted August 18, 2011 The Beech Baron in the Tail Lights! A true story by Me. Not a silly little Bonanza mind you but the "You Have Arrived" Baron. All 600 horse power no less. Some poor guy had just bought a Baron. On his first flight out of the local (Denver) area he chose to flex his new muscles going to Santa Fe NM. Unbeknownst to either of us I left Centennial (APA) after he was enroute. I flew south just over Colorado Springs airspace at 11,500'. As I listened in on Colorado Springs approach I heard them hand off an IFR Baron to center. Cruising along in the Rocket at my normal 72% power I was doing 205 knots true. Once clear of approach I called up center for flight following. When center passed me off to Pueblo approach there was that Baron again just going back to center. Back with center it wasn't long till he started calling traffic at 12 O:clock 500 below and closing. I simple walked on by without even trying hard. I landed first in Santa Fe. We tied down, used the facilities and loaded up in the courtesy van to town. As the van pulled off the airport I saw him taxi in. We enjoyed the time in town seeing the sights and eating lunch at an outdoor cafe. Once back at the airport the girls headed to the facilities as I went out to untie and preflight the Mooney. Parked right next to me was the Baron. The pilot was preparing his plane for the flight home and we talked. He could not believe what had happened on the way down. He had tried to stay ahead and could not, he did not believe that was my normal cruise. If the power is even close there isn't a Bonanza that can keep up with a Mooney. They are just too FAT. With the same power the Bonanza is 30 knots or more slower. Face it speed just isn't what they were designed for. I took off first on the way home and never heard of him or his crushed ego again. Quote
KLRDMD Posted August 19, 2011 Report Posted August 19, 2011 Quote: RJBrown Not a silly little Bonanza mind you but the "You Have Arrived" Baron. All 600 horse power no less. Quote
drapo Posted August 19, 2011 Report Posted August 19, 2011 A typical inflight view of a Mooney! Quote
231Pilot Posted August 19, 2011 Report Posted August 19, 2011 The Mooney and the Bonanza are both excellent aircraft, each with its own particular mission. If you need more room, speed, and quality, the Bonanza may be right for you. If you need more speed, efficiency, quality, and usually fly alone or with just one passenger, then the Mooney is probably your best ride. If you are more inclined to drive a sports roadster than a high performance family car, you are probably going to be in the Mooney. The Mooney fits my mission perfectly, and I don't see myself flying anything else. Should my mission change than my choice of aircraft probably would too. In other words, it's not which plane is better, just which plane is better for you. Quote
kris_adams Posted August 19, 2011 Report Posted August 19, 2011 Kind of funny that the Bonanza/Baron guys continue to hang out on the Mooney board and are then surprised at the reception of their comments. A rocket smoking a Baron is pretty impressive; however, I suspect that a 350HP Bonanza would have done close to the same thing. This is MooneySpace not BeechSpace/BaronSpace or whatever their boards are--and no I've never gone to their boards to defend how great a Mooney is either. I’ll just be happy with my little J’s cruising along with some of the best efficiency of them all. At $6 and $7/gal, this allows me to continue to fly without thinking (too much) about the cost of fuel. Quote
KLRDMD Posted August 19, 2011 Report Posted August 19, 2011 Quote: Kris_Adams Kind of funny that the Bonanza/Baron guys continue to hang out on the Mooney board and are then surprised at the reception of their comments. Quote
rbridges Posted August 19, 2011 Report Posted August 19, 2011 Quote: KLRDMD Some of us have a tremendous amount of Mooney experience, as owners, pilots and CFI/CFIIs and we're willing to share that knowledge with current Mooney owners and wannabes. We're happy to go away if you prefer. Quote
WardHolbrook Posted August 19, 2011 Report Posted August 19, 2011 Quote: N4352H The examiner (Ross- Neil Samante from HGR) who did my commercial ride, had a 300hp V-Tail. After passing the test, we both departed FDK...me first. I started turning crosswind and looked behind me to see the thin profile of this Bo climbing behind me about to chew my tail off. I quickly leveled off to avoid the embarrassment, build some speed and not let him get me, to no avail. He caught up and blew by me at easily 170KTAS. I always tell Bonanza guys, that for the 12 KTAS they get....they also get a top OH at 750 hours, a sloppy CG creating less payload than a Mooney and burn $16 more per hour. That typically shuts them up quick. If they persist, I begin to discuss the front carry through spar AD and the fact that the American Bonanza Society is lving in denial. That usually caps it. Quote
fantom Posted August 20, 2011 Report Posted August 20, 2011 Quote: Kris_Adams Kind of funny that the Bonanza/Baron guys continue to hang out on the Mooney board.... Quote
Lood Posted August 21, 2011 Report Posted August 21, 2011 Guys, it seems that my post unfortunately hi-kacked the thread and caused some disagreement among some members. Please, forgive me - it was not my intention, at all, to start a Mooney vs Beech debate nor to cause trouble on the forum. Quote
Shadrach Posted August 21, 2011 Report Posted August 21, 2011 Quote: KLRDMD I disagree. I believe that's exactly what he was saying. At the altitude he was flying, the Rocket and the Baron probably had a similar amount of HP available. The Rocket had 305 HP available. The normally aspirated Baron at 11,500 ft had what, 60% of his 260 HP per side available - 312 HP total. That's 2% more power, not 2x as much. The majority of Barons fly LOP. If the Rocket was getting 205 KTAS, he was ROP. Which means the Rocket was buring more fuel than the Baron as well. And the Baron still had probably twice the useful load of the Rocket. I simply don't see a reason for the Rocket to be smug when you fully analyze the situation. Quote
KLRDMD Posted August 21, 2011 Report Posted August 21, 2011 I wrote a very detailed response. It took me over a half hour. Probably 10 paragraphs with many links and then the website didn't post it. I don't have time to rewrite it. Suffice it to say that feeling smug when having tunnel vision and only looking at one minor aspect of an airplane really isn't the best idea. Quote
aviatoreb Posted August 21, 2011 Report Posted August 21, 2011 Quote: KLRDMD I wrote a very detailed response. It took me over a half hour. Probably 10 paragraphs with many links and then the website didn't post it. I don't have time to rewrite it. Suffice it to say that feeling smug when having tunnel vision and only looking at one minor aspect of an airplane really isn't the best idea. Quote
Shadrach Posted August 21, 2011 Report Posted August 21, 2011 Ken, We don't disagree on the above point, just on whether or not someone was actualy doing what we both agree someone shouldn't out to do... WRT the blasted "disappearing post" issue. It has happened to me a number of times regardless of browser choice and seems tied to the length of time from starting the reply to submitting it. What I've found is that if you use the back button your back in the "reply screen" and all of your txt is still there. if you "submit" again the body of the post shows up. I'm sorry you lost it, I'm sure it would have been educational. Best of luck and no hard feelings. P.S. this post cam up as blank as well after first submition and it only took a minute to write...It needed to be submitted a second time. Things seem to be getting worse. Quote
aviatoreb Posted August 21, 2011 Report Posted August 21, 2011 Quote: Shadrach Ken, We don't disagree on the above point, just on whether or not someone was actualy doing what we both agree someone shouldn't out to do... WRT the blasted "disappearing post" issue. It has happened to me a number of times regardless of browser choice and seems tied to the length of time from starting the reply to submitting it. What I've found is that if you use the back button your back in the "reply screen" and all of your txt is still there. if you "submit" again the body of the post shows up. I'm sorry you lost it, I'm sure it would have been educational. Best of luck and no hard feelings. P.S. this post cam up as blank as well after first submition and it only took a minute to write...It needed to be submitted a second time. Things seem to be getting worse. Quote
Shadrach Posted August 21, 2011 Report Posted August 21, 2011 Aviatoreb, Just so you know, Dr. Reed is not a "Johny come lately" to this forum or others. He's owned a number of Mooneys, most recently a TN'd 67' F model which I'm sure he'd still proudly extol the virtues of for the right mission...new Baron ownership not withstanding. Quote
Shadrach Posted August 21, 2011 Report Posted August 21, 2011 Quote: aviatoreb If you ever want to write a long post, maybe it is safer to write into a text editor locally in your computer and then cut and paste into the window? Quote
aviatoreb Posted August 21, 2011 Report Posted August 21, 2011 Quote: Shadrach Aviatoreb, Just so you know, Dr. Reed is not a "Johny come lately" to this forum or others. He's owned a number of Mooneys, most recently a TN'd 67' F model which I'm sure he'd still proudly extol the virtues of for the right mission...new Baron ownership not withstanding. Quote
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