Mooney for my ifr

[bluejireh]

I’m a private pilot and I want to get my instrument rating. I’ve owned a few airplanes, but none of them were really good for IFR. I am looking at Mooney’s pretty seriously, and I am interested in a lease, or share that will allow me to handle my IFR training.  I’m located in Alabama.  My number is 205-585-1002.

[Fly Boomer]

9 hours ago, bluejireh said:

I’m a private pilot and I want to get my instrument rating. I’ve owned a few airplanes, but none of them were really good for IFR. I am looking at Mooney’s pretty seriously, and I am interested in a lease, or share that will allow me to handle my IFR training.  I’m located in Alabama.  My number is 205-585-1002.

Welcome to MooneySpace!  We have a few members here from that part of the country that can probably offer suggestions.

[PMcClure]

Welcome! Moonies make a great IFR platform. There are several Mooneys in AL but I  am not aware of any for lease or partnerships. There used to be one in Bessemer but that was dissolved. Where are you located?  JP Dice is a CFI with a Mooney based in BHM. But I am not sure he does any training in his Mooney. 

[hubcap]

@Hank is the Alabama connection. I suspect he will be able to offer some insight.

[bluejireh]

Thanks everyone.


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[jlunseth]

You will hear that Mooney’s are too fast to learn IFR in. Just remember that you can slow a Mooney down and fly around all day like a Skyhawk if you want to.

[Danb]

I started in a Cherokee after my PPL at about 70 hours I purchased my first Mooney a 1977 J I had an instructor who owned a m20-E and started towards my instrument rating along with learning transiting to my Mooney, some 40 short years ago. Have only owned Mooneys since. Say a mooneyafare..

[Hank]

I bought my Mooney five weeks post-PPL, and flew it for 2 years before starting serious work on IFR. it was great! Most approaches in my C, I set 23"/2300 then reduce throttle for speed as desired; for most approaches in my area, that's my typical cruise power setting, so 90 knots = 105 mph is generally around 18-19".

What part of Sweet Hime are you based? There are several of us scattered around. I'm outside of Auburn.

[bluejireh]

Im in hoover alabama near Birmingham


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[Hank]

Seems we have a member in greater Bham, with an O. Now what's his username? Hmm . . . .

I've not yet been to Hoover, just Shelby County, but I often hear both on the radio. In fact, KEET is loud and clear on 122.7 as I'm climbing towards pattern altitude at KALX.

[ArtVandelay]

You will hear that Mooney’s are too fast to learn IFR in. Just remember that you can slow a Mooney down and fly around all day like a Skyhawk if you want to.

Well, you can slow down or go down but you can’t do both, not in J anyway.
The J has RPM/MP limits that prevents you pulling way back on the power (Normally you’ll be level for a while to get slowed down and extend the gear before descending but if you get slam dunked you won’t, speed brakes are great tool to have in this situation. And personally there’s no way Im going to do a slip in IMC while on approach.
I would asked to fly the full approach instead of being vectored if I thought this would happen. In my experience it’s rare for them to give you a full approach, normally you get vectors.
All this complicates the process, Skyhawks don’t have this problem.

[dkkim73]

Transition to the Mooney took a bit of time to work out gouge power settings and get used to the slipperiness. It also feels to me it takes a bit of time to settle AS when flying descents by power, compared to the Skyhawk or Cherokee. But I imagine you'd get that with a similar-class other airplane(?)

One *big* plus is the stability esp. lateral. Eg. Read the thread on spiral divergence and the Bonanza example. 

And the experience will be more generalizable. And the Mooney will instantly be a better traveling plane which will motivate you. 

It wouldn't be a terrible idea to do some training in a dead simple trainer first, then switch about 15-20 hrs in. OTOH several people on this forum did the "one plane from the start" approach and were happy with the result. 

 

[bluejireh]

I fly out of shelby county. Any chance somebody knows of a mooney I can get my hands on??? Share or lease in a nearby area?


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[kris_adams]

I did my IFR training in my Mooney and 15 years later I'm so happy I didn't do my IFR in a skyhawk or any other "trainer".  Just make sure you are fully transitioned into the Mooney from a VFR perspective and then go for it.  It's a great IFR platform.  Unfortunately, I think you'll have better luck finding a rental/share of a different model.  I don't know many (any) in the southeast that fall into this category

Edited July 26 by kris_adams

[PMcClure]

21 minutes ago, bluejireh said:

I fly out of shelby county. Any chance somebody knows of a mooney I can get my hands on??? Share or lease in a nearby area?


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I am in Hoover but keep my O at Pell City. I know of at least 4-5 Mooney owners in the area. But, no Mooneys available for training/lease. Owners love them to much to share! Really suggest you contact JP Dice  - CFI out of BHM with a Mooney. Might also try Ed Murray out of KEKY. He knows a lot of people around the area. And Johnny Barns was based at Shelby with a nice F that he did some instructing in, but he may have retired. I did a lot of training with him as well.  I did my IFR training in a M20F. Bought it, flew it 400 hours and sold it for more than I bought it for.  A lot cheaper and more fun than renting a Sky Hawk.  Just a thought.....

[Marc_B]

@bluejireh sounds like plenty of Mooney owners but not so many Mooney rentals. When I was looking to buy a Mooney I found owners who’d let me look but none who would let me fly their Mooney.  So I started off with 0 Mooney time.

So if you’re looking to buy a Mooney I’d say do it and get your Instrument rating in your Mooney. This is what I did. Happened upon the right Mooney at not quite the right time but it all worked out and couldn’t be happier. Now three years later I have over 550+ hrs of Mooney time and earned both my Instrument and Commercial in the Mooney.

BTW probably a better way to see what mooneys in your area would be to look on flight aware and search each airport around you. Also probably contact local airport pilot associations, and put up signs at local FBOs. 

Edited July 26 by Marc_B

[bluejireh]

Anybody have the number for jp dice


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[PMcClure]

3 hours ago, bluejireh said:

Anybody have the number for jp dice


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PM sent....

 

[A64Pilot]

On 7/24/2024 at 12:08 PM, jlunseth said:

You will hear that Mooney’s are too fast to learn IFR in. Just remember that you can slow a Mooney down and fly around all day like a Skyhawk if you want to.

1989 I think it was I got my IFR / Commercial in a M20AT.

It was a school and their rule was we had to slow to flap speed and get flaps before gear, because they were training Commercial pilots, not Mooney pilots and apparently every airplane except Mooney you get approach flaps first, so that of course really meant you had to start slowing well in advance, but honestly it wasn’t an issue, you just had to be slowed down prior to glide slope intercept or you weren’t going to make the approach.

It’s just like landing, get slowed well before the threshold and a Mooney doesn’t float and lands fine, it’s simply a matter of becoming used to a slick airframe is all.

[Hank]

3 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

It was a school and their rule was we had to slow to flap speed and get flaps before gear, because they were training Commercial pilots, not Mooney pilots and apparently every airplane except Mooney you get approach flaps first, so that of course really meant you had to start slowing well in advance, but honestly it wasn’t an issue . . . it’s simply a matter of becoming used to a slick airframe is all.

I got my IFR in my M20-C, with no problems. Learning to slow down and land is part of the transition training, and over time you learn how everything works together, and your "distance to slow down after descent" gets shorter.

For my C:

• Vg = 120 mph 
• Vfe = 125 mph

So I always drop Flaps to Landing before reaching for the gear knob.

When VFR, I get flaps down by downwind entry, and drop gear to begin descent to land.

When IFR, I drop Flaps to Landing between IAF and FAF, and drop gear to begin descent to the field. With glideslope, I move the gear knob 1-1/2 dots before intercept and she settles right into the descent on slope and on speed. 

Know your plane, learn your power setting table.