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1st day of living on the moon(ey)

sdmideas

By sdmideas
in General Mooney Talk

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Hank Grand Master

Hank

Posted
Posted

Woo-hooo!! C models are great!

We need a photo, it's required. Right now, we aren't sure if you have the button-hook tail.

Mooney in Oz Mentor

Mooney in Oz

Posted
Posted
  On 7/27/2024 at 12:08 AM, sdmideas said:

Pretty excited to join the Mooney club. I’ve been looking for a while now and found a ‘71 m20c to call my own. Yay Aerostar!

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Congrats and welcome. 

The tail always reminds me of the Aerostars I flew back in the day. Like a Mooney, the Aerostar is a wonderful and fast twin to fly and an apt aircraft for Mooney to have been involved with.

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EricJ Grand Master

EricJ

Posted
Posted
  On 8/4/2024 at 3:12 PM, Hank said:

I thought the retractable steps went away in the mid-60s. The one on my 1970 C is certainly welded down.

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My J has a fixed step.   At least in the early J's the step was an option.    One of the local early J models had no step from the factory and I thought it made it pretty uncomfortable to get on and off the wing.

Flyler Collaborator

Flyler

Posted
Posted

It's so funny how when you get sucked into the Mooney world, things like a fixed step make you think "ugh, its so draggy looking."  Mine is the same.  I really wanted to buy Rob's electric step retract kit but I can't as its fixed.  I suggest those with fixed steps just look over their shoulder at the nearest 172 with fixed gear.  You know, just walk up to it and look around.  Makes you feel a bit better about your "extra draggy" fixed step :D

  • Haha 3
EricJ Grand Master

EricJ

Posted
Posted
  On 8/4/2024 at 3:37 PM, Flyler said:

It's so funny how when you get sucked into the Mooney world, things like a fixed step make you think "ugh, its so draggy looking."  Mine is the same.  I really wanted to buy Rob's electric step retract kit but I can't as its fixed.  I suggest those with fixed steps just look over their shoulder at the nearest 172 with fixed gear.  You know, just walk up to it and look around.  Makes you feel a bit better about your "extra draggy" fixed step :D

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The other side of that is to recall that the J model was essentially a  big exercise in doing drag reduction on an F model, and they left the fixed step.  They just made it an option to delete it.   I don't think I've ever seen any numbers published on what difference it makes, and I bet if they thought it made a significant difference it would be in the marketing material.

  • Like 1
Sue Bon Experienced

Sue Bon

Posted
Posted
  On 8/4/2024 at 3:30 PM, EricJ said:

My J has a fixed step.   At least in the early J's the step was an option.    One of the local early J models had no step from the factory and I thought it made it pretty uncomfortable to get on and off the wing.

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I don't have a step. It is a bit uncomfortable -- especially when you have passengers who don't know what flaps are. I've started putting the flaps all the way down before letting pax get in, and stressing multiple times, only step on the black part.

  • Like 3
Mooney in Oz Mentor

Mooney in Oz

Posted
Posted
  On 8/4/2024 at 3:50 PM, EricJ said:

I don't think I've ever seen any numbers published on what difference it makes, and I bet if they thought it made a significant difference it would be in the marketing material.

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I remember a comment many years ago from former Mooney factory test pilot, Bob Kromer on the old Mooney Mailing List way before MS that he tested this exact thing in I think it was a J with testing equipment attached, with and without a step.

The difference was no more than 0.5 of a knot without the step.

  • Like 1
Mooney in Oz Mentor

Mooney in Oz

Posted
Posted
  On 8/5/2024 at 12:24 AM, amillet said:

Was that plus or minus?  It is shaped like an airfoil :unsure:

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Sorry Alan, I just edited the post to clarify.

My 1980 J has a tube like structure from underneath the aircraft to the actual step, which except for the tube, does look like an airfoil.

I assume that yours being a much later J is entirely airfoil shaped, which I would expect to have no drag.

  • Like 1
Slick Nick Community Regular

Slick Nick

Posted
Posted
  On 8/4/2024 at 3:50 PM, EricJ said:

The other side of that is to recall that the J model was essentially a  big exercise in doing drag reduction on an F model, and they left the fixed step.  They just made it an option to delete it.   I don't think I've ever seen any numbers published on what difference it makes, and I bet if they thought it made a significant difference it would be in the marketing material.

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From an old "FLYING" magazine I have, apparently the claimed 201mph top speed was achieved by a prototype with the step removed. 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
BlueSky247 Proficient

BlueSky247

Posted
Posted
  On 8/5/2024 at 6:46 PM, Slick Nick said:

From an old "FLYING" magazine I have, apparently the claimed 201mph top speed was achieved by a prototype with the step removed. 

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That's hilarious. Nothing like having the reference plane be an accurate representation of what rolls down the assembly line. I'm guessing it had a "ringer" motor as well as a very fresh wax job. :lol:

ArtVandelay Grand Master

ArtVandelay

Posted
Posted
  On 8/5/2024 at 6:46 PM, Slick Nick said:
From an old "FLYING" magazine I have, apparently the claimed 201mph top speed was achieved by a prototype with the step removed. 

Probably didn’t have today’s complement of antennas either:
VOR, GPS, ELT, Lightning detection, ADF, ADSB…

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