When did you see your first Mooney?

[0TreeLemur]

9 hours ago, carusoam said:

15) Looking backwards… first Mooney I saw… I bought it!
 

Ditto- when I moved to the southeast in 2017 from the wild, cold, windy, high-DA, place known as Wyoming I decided to resume flying.  Hadn't flown much since 2002 because of life, kids, Wyoming, job, etc. 

Went to a local FBO and got checked out in a rental C-172.  The instructor who took me up for that check ride mentioned he had a Mooney but was going to sell it because he didn't fly it enough to justify owning it.  I asked him for a ride.  The rest is history- I bought the first Mooney I saw.  She is now a much improved and loved.

[Sue Bon]

The first Mooney I ever saw was the one that I bought a few months later. When I first saw it, I must admit that I was not impressed. Fast forward a few years and I think that my baby is the most amazing airplane on any tarmac anywhere. She is my forever airplane and I love her  (Avionics and autopilot upgrades coming this Fall).

[ohdub]

I'm sure I saw Mooneys earlier but didn't know what they were. The first time I became aware of Mooneys was reading Plane & Pilot magazine in the early '90s, there was an article about a Swiss couple who were flying their Mooney across the Atlantic. I remember thinking what a beautiful airplane it was. My interest in Mooney continued to grow reading Bill Cox's regular comments about his F model in his columns. For the next 20 or so years it was always in the back of my mind that when I could buy an airplane, Mooney would be at the top of the list. I finally bought my Mooney in 2015 and the honeymoon still hasn't ended.

Steve

[carusoam]

Could have been the honeymooney people…?

-a-

https://mooneyspace.com/search/?q=Honeymooney&quick=1

[midlifeflyer]

1994.

I'm a relative newcomer to flying. Didn't start until well into my 30s. Private in 1990 and wasn't into light airplanes in the sense of knowing the various makes and models. But after earning the certificate, started flying as many different types as I could. (I haven't stopped yet.)

July 1994. The flight school I rented from got a "new" airplane on the line. A 1970 M20C. "Now, that looks cool!" So, of course I got checked out in it and flew it for the next four months until it moved on*. Even began my commercial and did my long commercial solo cross country in it. 

And, yes, I looked it up and it is still flying. It's in Ohio.
 

(* the unusual airplane, no matter how great, rarely does well as a leaseback in a typical Piper/Cessna rental fleet)

Edited April 24, 2022 by midlifeflyer

[thinwing]

1983 ,had just sold my first airplane (a stinson 108-3) and saw N201VG on the ramp...it was for rent...got checked out in it after 2 or 3 flights back than and rented that summer...it was 1978 201 ...yellow on brown trim...wery fast compared to the Stinson and my first retractable