Finally got my Mooney Bravo

[Jetpilot86]

Picked up my new baby over the weekend. ‘95 Bravo, 1900TT, 10 SFOH, 10SNP.  Geared up in 2021 & fresh off those repairs. 
Has a KFC150/297, a G600, just added an Avidyne 440/540 stack, and yes she needs a modern Engine Monitor sooner rather than later. The current AMU bill is at 24 and another 18 + labor is planned after the Maxwell’s clean up the pre-buy items. 
Needs paint & carpet, but the seats are in decent shape. 
Still working on the flare, I’m used to being 60’ in the air when the mains touch, not 2’.
 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Jetpilot86
Rearrange photos

[Alan Maurer]

Sounds great. None of this is ever cheap.

i had had my Ovation for four years and still

working on flare. Nail 75 kts.

hold it off stay stable, no changes and be patient. Mooneys like to float.

you cannot force the landing. 
so much fun

AlAN

N913ND

 

[Jetpilot86]

6 hours ago, Alan Maurer said:

Sounds great. None of this is ever cheap.

i had had my Ovation for four years and still

working on flare. Nail 75 kts.

hold it off stay stable, no changes and be patient. Mooneys like to float.

you cannot force the landing. 
so much fun

AlAN

N913ND

 

Thanks! Know all of that, just keep flaring just a smidge high and dropping it in from around a foot. Just enough so the nose wheel taps as part of the bounce and forced to wait and hold until it settles back on the mains. 
I just give myself minimum runway lengths, 4000’ seems to be a good number for now, while I sort it out. Been 31 years since I had a similar sight picture in a F. 

[Fly Boomer]

6 minutes ago, Jetpilot86 said:

Thanks! Know all of that, just keep flaring just a smidge high and dropping it in from around a foot. Just enough so the nose wheel taps as part of the bounce and forced to wait and hold until it settles back on the mains. 
I just give myself minimum runway lengths, 4000’ seems to be a good number for now, while I sort it out. Been 31 years since I had a similar sight picture in a F. 

Quite a few on this forum like the LHS - Landing Height System, which can provide callouts down to one foot.  Especially handy for a Mooney.

[Jetpilot86]

1 minute ago, Fly Boomer said:

Quite a few on this forum like the LHS - Landing Height System, which can provide callouts down to one foot.  Especially handy for a Mooney.

 There is already a tab on my browser open for one of these. Just a matter of survival until I put it in during the next annual. 

[GeeBee]

Congratulations! Nice airplane and a lot to work with there to make it your own.

I was in the same position as you and I installed an LHS and placed it on the "experimental setting" with 1 foot call outs. Really polished my landings. The other day I landed after some avionics work and realized after landing the LHS was off, yet I greased it so the "training wheels" are no longer needed. It still is valuable for those dark and stormy nights after breaking out.  

 

[PilotX]

Six degrees nose up. Works every time. 

[Jetman]

On 11/13/2023 at 8:00 AM, Fly Boomer said:

Quite a few on this forum like the LHS - Landing Height System, which can provide callouts down to one foot.  Especially handy for a Mooney.

 

On 11/13/2023 at 1:33 AM, Alan Maurer said:

Sounds great. None of this is ever cheap.

i had had my Ovation for four years and still

working on flare. Nail 75 kts.

hold it off stay stable, no changes and be patient. Mooneys like to float.

you cannot force the landing. 
so much fun

AlAN

N913ND

 

Land with half flaps, great attitude and just a couple knots faster, NO Porpoise what so ever. Will never land with full flaps again!

 

[Pinecone]

Just means more wear and tear on the tires and brakes.  And more stresses on the landing gear pivots when touching down faster.

Also using more runway.

[Jetpilot86]

10 hours ago, Jetman said:

 

Land with half flaps, great attitude and just a couple knots faster, NO Porpoise what so ever. Will never land with full flaps again!

 

Might have to try this until I get the sight picture down better. Since I like longer runways right now this might be a decent temporary solution. 

[Jetpilot86]

2 hours ago, Pinecone said:

Just means more wear and tear on the tires and brakes.  And more stresses on the landing gear pivots when touching down faster.

Also using more runway.

Right now surviving the bounce from dropping in vs touching down is a bigger concern, but I agree it’s not a permanent solution. 

[Schllc]

9 hours ago, Jetpilot86 said:

Right now surviving the bounce from dropping in vs touching down is a bigger concern, but I agree it’s not a permanent solution. 

In addition to all the specifics mentioned, there is an element of “feel” that I think is a bigger component that any other airplane that I’ve flown.  
I don’t know exactly when the “feel” came to me, but when it did my landings changed dramatically. Every other plane I have flown was very easy to get to a point where I could make good landings, the Mooney took me a while. (I’m sure part of this was because I was a very green pilot when I got my ovation with about 12 hours total time).  
After flying with some very experienced pilots and letting them try to land the Mooney, was evidence of its differences.  No other plane I’ve flown has as much problem slowing down as the Mooney does…
As I’m sure most other of these seasoned guys can tell you, once you get the “feel”, you can make mediocre approaches into smooth landings, and bad approaches acceptable. 
I also avoided full flaps for a while, ground effect can really mess with you with full flaps, but again, once you get the feel it gets much better. 
 

[Ethan]

I've never flown a TLS, just my trusty Mooney 231. I mostly do approaches with full flaps, trim all they way nose up, over the fence at about 70 kgs, round out at about 65 kts. Makes for nice short landings and saves on tires and brakes. 

[Red Leader]

6 minutes ago, Ethan said:

I've never flown a TLS, just my trusty Mooney 231. I mostly do approaches with full flaps, trim all they way nose up, over the fence at about 70 kgs, round out at about 65 kts. Makes for nice short landings and saves on tires and brakes. 

Yep, that's how it's done! (on a "K")

[Mac80]

Congratulations nice plane I was following on Comptroller.

You did well enjoy your ride.

[Jetpilot86]

24 minutes ago, Mac80 said:

Congratulations nice plane I was following on Comptroller.

You did well enjoy your ride.

Thanks, I can’t remember if it was up a week or a weekend before I set the deal on it. Came through Prebuy pretty clean, then a speed brake failed on my first runup. 
Probably had something to do with sitting outside in NE waiting on a new belly skin for 20 months. 
Note to self: add this to my Maxwell squawk list. 

[Jetpilot86]

1 hour ago, Ethan said:

I've never flown a TLS, just my trusty Mooney 231. I mostly do approaches with full flaps, trim all they way nose up, over the fence at about 70 kgs, round out at about 65 kts. Makes for nice short landings and saves on tires and brakes. 

Next flight I’m gonna figure out the dirty full aft electric trim speed. I’m assuming the trim can only go up so far electrically, then a bit further manually?

[LANCECASPER]

2 hours ago, Jetpilot86 said:

Next flight I’m gonna figure out the dirty full aft electric trim speed. I’m assuming the trim can only go up so far electrically, then a bit further manually?

The electric trim will take it just as far as the manual trim will. If the trim is hard to move manually make sure that you have your shop change out the grease - it gets hard and makes it hard for the electric trim motor to do its job.