Any Mooney Bravo owners in NH, MA area? Considering purchasing one would appreciate possibility of checking one locally

[alexz]

Hello, I'm considering Mooney Bravo airplane for relatively long trips. Would love to get in touch with owners to chat/check the plane in order to figure out if its a right choice for me.

Regards, Alex.

[bonal]

Hi Alex, welcome,, best way to get that ball rolling around here is to let us know about your mission how many PAX useful load as well as bags etc. I think I may have beaten Anthony to the welcome wagon once again.

PP short body only, not a Bravo oner

Edited June 1, 2020 by bonal

[alexz]

Hello  Bonal,  looking at basic specs for Bravo it seems to suit my missions 2.5 PAX  900 lbs payload seems fine for 3 hour 185 kts flight with fuel reserve, assuming 20gph.  Ability to get on top of some weather seems to be a nice bonus. Looking mostly for room,  stable IFR platform, noise factor, average yearly cost (besides oil/fuel expense), and just want to get a general sense of the airplane. 

Cheers!

 

[bonal]

Great response Alex, now sit back and wait for the Bravo crews to reply expect some Ovation guys to chime in as well as the 252 crowd.

[gsengle]

Yep, with a 20k service ceiling, simpler engine, you should be looking at Ovations too...


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[alexz]

Thanks,  looking at them as well. I understand they have pretty similar body and cabin space ?

Edited June 1, 2020 by alexz

[StevenL757]

Agree with @gsengle...no reason you’d need the added expense and maintenance overhead of an “M”.  If I were you, I’d look for a TKS-equipped Ovation.  Your sweet spot for upgrading to one you can most-highly customize is one from 1994 to 2004.  Ping me offline if interested in taking a look or a ride in one.

Steve

Edited June 1, 2020 by StevenL757
Model years of the Ovation

[gsengle]

Thanks,  looking at them as well. I understand they have pretty similar body and cabin space ?

Not similar. The same. And generally newer. Ovations exist back to 94.


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[LANCECASPER]

I've had Bravos and one Ovation and has been mentioned they are the same airframe. Why I went back to the Bravo after owning a well-equipped Ovation 310hp conversion is that I like the climb performance of the turbo-charged Bravo as you get past 10,000 feet. If getting over lower weather faster is important to you, after owning both, I recommend the Bravo. If you never go past 12,000 feet it probably won't make much difference to you.

[carusoam]

+1 for the O3 powered O1, on the east coast...

Where are you flying to, how often are you flying in the FLs..?

How do you feel about the nose hose... what does the half passenger think about using O2?

What are flying currently?  All the same questions apply...

Thanks John! You beat me two days in a row...   

I better get to work...

Go Mooney!

Best regards,

-a-

 

[Danb]

9 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

I've had Bravos and one Ovation and has been mentioned they are the same airframe. Why I went back to the Bravo after owning a well-equipped Ovation 310hp conversion is that I like the climb performance of the turbo-charged Bravo as you get past 10,000 feet. If getting over lower weather faster is important to you, after owning both, I recommend the Bravo. If you never go past 12,000 feet it probably won't make much difference to you.

You don’t need to live in the hills to take advantage of an M model, there extremely useful in the summertime as the clouds raise up to the heavens. I just finished a little trip in the Bravo about 1150 miles, unstable air which became smooth above 9,000 watching them build higher. Keeping a smooth ride just requires keeping ahead of the plane and weather. Agreeing with Lance I’d have a difficult time going back to a NA plane, although all Mooney’s are great planes and IFR platforms.

[alexz]

Thanks, i'm more inclined towards Bravo, precisely for the reasons LANCECASPER, and Danb mentioned. Small PAX is ok with mask. I have  mix variety of trips, some of them short 90-150nm and about 50% longer than 300nm, spend enough time in low powered PA28s in a soup wishing to have power to avoid it, as well as to arrive to destination little bit quicker

[hypertech]

Where on the east coast?  It doesn't matter what I file, I get 6k over New York.  300 nm is nothing.  That's not even 2 hours.  Unless you expect to be at O2 requiring levels often, the turbo won't do you much good.  I have built in oxygen in my ovation.  It hasn't been refilled wince I bought the plane.  I've used it maybe 3 or 4 times.  Otherwise it seems that because of routing or headwinds, I'm not up high anyway.  I have had one trip out west and the ovation handled it just fine but if I was flying over 10k regularly, I'd think about a turbo more.  Here on the east coast though - don't need it.

[alexz]

I'm in Boston area, flights to DC, FL, and Canada. With faster plane plan to go CO and UT as well. I like the sound of 300nm not even being 2 hours

[Davidv]

4 hours ago, Danb said:

You don’t need to live in the hills to take advantage of an M model, there extremely useful in the summertime as the clouds raise up to the heavens. I just finished a little trip in the Bravo about 1150 miles, unstable air which became smooth above 9,000 watching them build higher. Keeping a smooth ride just requires keeping ahead of the plane and weather. Agreeing with Lance I’d have a difficult time going back to a NA plane, although all Mooney’s are great planes and IFR platforms.

Agreed, I just flew mine to Dallas and back in the flight levels which allowed me to make the trip non-stop and avoid all weather as well as flight over some MOAs that were active at lower levels.

[Davidv]

1 hour ago, alexz said:

I'm in Boston area, flights to DC, FL, and Canada. With faster plane plan to go CO and UT as well. I like the sound of 300nm not even being 2 hours

Good thinking, I've made the trip from FXE to Boston non-stop in my Bravo and you won't be dissapointed.   Where in the Northeast are you?  I often fly up to see my parents at 6B6 and would be happy to show you the plane if no one is able to meet you prior.

[philiplane]

19 hours ago, alexz said:

Hello, I'm considering Mooney Bravo airplane for relatively long trips. Would love to get in touch with owners to chat/check the plane in order to figure out if its a right choice for me.

Regards, Alex.

Mark Patiky is an aviation writer, and long time owner of N1085Z based at Pawtucket RI, KSFZ. He's had the Bravo for 15 years and traveled all over the country with it. It gets serviced at FlightLevel Aviation in Norwood MA KOWD. You would find him on Linked In

[alexz]

1 hour ago, Davidv said:

Good thinking, I've made the trip from FXE to Boston non-stop in my Bravo and you won't be dissapointed.   Where in the Northeast are you?  I often fly up to see my parents at 6B6 and would be happy to show you the plane if no one is able to meet you prior.

Davidv, thank you for you opinion, i'm actually 15 min away from 6B6, would love the tour, pls drop me a note once you heading our way!

What kind of flight parameters and fuel load make non stop FXE to Boston possible ? Almost 1100 miles, wow!

Edited June 2, 2020 by alexz

[alexz]

50 minutes ago, philiplane said:

Mark Patiky is an aviation writer, and long time owner of N1085Z based at Pawtucket RI, KSFZ. He's had the Bravo for 15 years and traveled all over the country with it. It gets serviced at FlightLevel Aviation in Norwood MA KOWD. You would find him on Linked In

Thank you!

[LANCECASPER]

58 minutes ago, alexz said:

What kind of flight parameters and fuel load make non stop FXE to Boston possible ? Almost 1100 miles, wow!

Jose Monroy @Gagarin who bases his Mooney M20J at KFXE has the STC for the Monroy Long Range Tanks, which makes a trip like that possible.

I had Jose install the LR tanks in 1997 a Bravo that I owned and I have the in the Bravo I own now. Best upgrade on a Mooney in my opinion, they offer a lot of options when you flight plan .

http://www.monroyaero.com/lrupgad.pdf

 

[Davidv]

1 hour ago, alexz said:

Davidv, thank you for you opinion, i'm actually 15 min away from 6B6, would love the tour, pls drop me a note once you heading our way!

What kind of flight parameters and fuel load make non stop FXE to Boston possible ? Almost 1100 miles, wow!

@LANCECASPER is correct, I have the Monroy tanks.  In my flight yesterday and covered around 1,000 NM, landed with 25 gallons and flew ROP.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Davidv

[daytonabch04]

7 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

Jose Monroy @Gagarin who bases his Mooney M20J at KFXE has the STC for the Monroy Long Range Tanks, which makes a trip like that possible.

I had Jose install the LR tanks in 1997 a Bravo that I owned and I have the in the Bravo I own now. Best upgrade on a Mooney in my opinion, they offer a lot of options when you flight plan .

http://www.monroyaero.com/lrupgad.pdf

 

What was your average GPH ROP at what settings?

[carusoam]

A long body with Monroy addition... has 130gal usable...

Standard O tanks are about 100gal...

An Ovation burns about 15gph cruising 175kts...

I use 12.5k’ usually while on the east coast...

The objective... high enough to glide somewhere... Low enough to not need O2...

If you are into aviation enough to hang out here... go turbo!

Best regards,

-a-

[Danb]

8 hours ago, daytonabch04 said:

What was your average GPH ROP at what settings?

I chart every fuel tank change, noting time, fuel used fuel remaining gph settings and temps

when I get to the hanger I’ll grab my book. My trip 1100+ miles averaged about 185 TAS @ 9-11000, 31/2200 TIT under 1600 highest cht 380, fuel flow 17.7. These are actual from last week. To make planning easy I count on 25 gal first hour then 18 gal for rest of flight. When calculating my trip for reserves it’s 25 first hour 20 remaining. This leaves a big reserve.

[Davidv]

18.2 GPH in cruise at 29/24 when I do the math on fuel usage and cruise time.  Similar to @Danb I figure 25 gph for the first 45 minutes (when climbing above 20k) and 18.5 gph for cruise.