Mooney Maintenance Clinic

[Marc_B]

Looks like MooneyMax is in Branson this year. I went last year and enjoyed the lectures from Frank Crawford and Bob Kramer from Mooney.  Enjoyed the factory tour. But wish there was a Mooney Owners Maintenance workshop attached. I know that years ago Maxwell did a maintenance workshop. Not sure if that could ever be revived?!?

But how about a clinic put on with Maxwell and Mooney…down in Texas that has a “work day” volunteering at Mooney to get the factory cleaned up and workshop in the shop to go through a Mooney annual first hand of what they look for, owner maintenance items, and pictures showing “the Mooney Factory is still going”!  Lunch at the factory lunch tables.  Hands on gear swings and flight control rigging.  How to properly lube and what products to use.

How cool would that be?!

Yes, I’m day dreaming. Can’t go to MooneyMax this year.  But this would be great phot op for Mooney to have people at the factory…cleaned up, and working on Mooneys. Everyone flies in to Kerrville and the Mooneys are all staged in the hangar together! Awesomeness!!

[Paul Thomas]

A maintenance clinic is something I'd make every effort to attend.

[Mister_Bevilaqua]

Sounds awesome, but I doubt it'd ever come together. A boy can dream....

[Marc_B]

@Dmax Wasn't it your shop that used to have a maintenance clinic?  Any possibility in revival?!?!

[kortopates]

There have been a great many maintenance clinics over the years.
The earliest ones i recall were done by Jerry Manthey on behalf of MAPA. Like the PPP’s, Jerry would host these at several locations across the country. They were done over a weekend and your tuition covered a large book packed full of maintenance information covering all the different Mooney’s. He didn’t have a shop to work out of most of the time, but he had lots of volunteers to open up their plane on the ramp for visual inspection. These were highly valued classes.
Since then we’ve never seen a regularly scheduled class or clinic but several different people have conducted them including @Cliffy who did a hands on one in his hangar and @Dmax who has done a few. I am sure there were others i am missing as well. But none perhaps as comprehensive as Jerry’s.


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[MooneyMitch]

22 minutes ago, kortopates said:

There have been a great many maintenance clinics over the years.
The earliest ones i recall were done by Jerry Manthey on behalf of MAPA. Like the PPP’s, Jerry would host these at several locations across the country. They were done over a weekend and your tuition covered a large book packed full of maintenance information covering all the different Mooney’s. He didn’t have a shop to work out of most of the time, but he had lots of volunteers to open up their plane on the ramp for visual inspection. These were highly valued classes.
Since then we’ve never seen a regularly scheduled class or clinic but several different people have conducted them including @Cliffy who did a hands on one in his hangar and @Dmax who has done a few. I am sure there were others i am missing as well. But none perhaps as comprehensive as Jerry’s.


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Wonderful memories of Jerry and his efforts on behalf of Mooney owners. 

[donkaye, MCFI]

2 hours ago, kortopates said:

There have been a great many maintenance clinics over the years.
The earliest ones i recall were done by Jerry Manthey on behalf of MAPA. Like the PPP’s, Jerry would host these at several locations across the country. They were done over a weekend and your tuition covered a large book packed full of maintenance information covering all the different Mooney’s. He didn’t have a shop to work out of most of the time, but he had lots of volunteers to open up their plane on the ramp for visual inspection. These were highly valued classes.
Since then we’ve never seen a regularly scheduled class or clinic but several different people have conducted them including @Cliffy who did a hands on one in his hangar and @Dmax who has done a few. I am sure there were others i am missing as well. But none perhaps as comprehensive as Jerry’s.


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The MAPA PPPs used to have maintenance as part of the class.  While one group was flying the other group would attend the clinic.  Jerry Manthey and several other maintenance experts would present.  Part of that is now included as part of the ground class on Friday.

[kortopates]

The MAPA PPPs used to have maintenance as part of the class.  While one group was flying the other group would attend the clinic.  Jerry Manthey and several other maintenance experts would present.  Part of that is now included as part of the ground class on Friday.

That’s right, after Jerry, Bruce Jaeger took that role on for years with about a half day of repeated instruction on that to catch everyone when not flying. Bruce made it more safety related though covering a lot of accidents too. Since he retired from that, the PPP’s now include an hour lecture on preventative maintenance during the Friday ground school. Not the depth covered in earlier years.


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[Mister_Bevilaqua]

In theory, we could host a weekend event centered solely around general/preventative maintenance. Make it a full-on Mooney fly-in event, social hour, meals, etc. We'd just need to get a Mooney specialist A&P/IA on board for teaching the material. 

[hammdo]

I’d consider a vintage (B, C, E, F) and modern session (Js and later). I think that would allow 2 groups - if we had 2 AP/IAs ;o)

-Don

 

[Marc_B]

also posted this on Cliffy’s thread. What are the chances something like this could be coordinated at Mooney factory? Making me wonder how many A&P’s per student and how to organize modules for students.

Would be cool to have Mooney’s stamp on this and their label in my logs!  We can dream, right?!

https://www.ocflightlessons.com/maintenance-workshop/ 

https://aufwind.aero/workshop/

https://normanaviation.com/owner-maintenance-workshop/

A couple places offering owner maintenance workshops. A variety of topics and plans. Not sure who still offers active courses. But owner maintenance workshop seem like great idea in general. Gateway to owner assisted annuals maybe? Or at least a better understanding of what to look for and how systems work. You’d at least be better able to help troubleshoot issues, monitor post maintenance and return to service, and understand your aircraft better. 

[DC_Brasil]

Hello all,

I live in Brazil and since the number of mooneys flying here is very small, A&Ps that have experience in the type are also rare. 

I'd jump on the opportunity for a workshop like these without a doubt. 

[Becca]

I think this would be a great addition to the MAPA Safety Clinic (or from the posts above, they should bring this back to the MAPA Safety Clinic).  When I went, they devoted several classroom hours to maintenance issues and tasks - seems like the time could be better spent in a hangar instead of the classroom opening up a Mooney or two and doing simple tasks like changing oil, spark plugs, battery, lights, etc. and walking through systems. Some of the other classroom content could easily be replaced for more time to spend on this.

@jetdriven maybe something for you to consider providing this type of training if there's demand.

Edited Sunday at 10:04 PM by Becca

[PeteMc]

On 6/28/2025 at 9:43 AM, kortopates said:

The earliest ones i recall were done by Jerry Manthey on behalf of MAPA. Like the PPP’s, Jerry would host these at several locations across the country.

Weren't Jerry's Maintenance Clinics held on the Sunday after the PPPs.  I remember that they were an excellent source of info for non mechanic owners to not just go over what maintenance they could do but also what products to use.  Which pre the boom of the Internet, it was tough to get that info quickly if you were going to start a new project.  He also reviewed a lot of the Mooney specific items we should know about to be able to discuss a maintenance plan with your mechanic, if they did not work on a lot of Mooneys.

Great program that would be great to bring back to the PPPs.

 

[EarthboundMisfit]

Could anyone advise the actual content of the workshops from past events please?  I'm curious to know what's covered in the classroom/hangar.  

I am currently planning the 2026 Maintenance Seminars in Australia (Australian Mooney Pilot's Association), so I'm wondering if it's worth attending this one prior to ours.  

[PeteMc]

3 hours ago, EarthboundMisfit said:

Could anyone advise the actual content of the workshops from past events please?  I'm curious to know what's covered in the classroom/hangar.  

I remember the one I went to being in the hangar and it was a walk around the plane discussing each item we could maintain and what to use on that particular part.  When we got to some thing that was an A/P item, he discussed what to make sure was being done.  This were the pointers for if you were not going  to a real Mooney shop that already knew.

 

[kortopates]

On 7/6/2025 at 12:47 AM, Marc_B said:

What are the chances something like this could be coordinated at Mooney factory?

Way, Way, Way lower than Zero chance!! The factory is a ghost of it even recent former self.

More than 1 instructor is a very unlikely as well IMO. These classes have always been put on by a single instructor with comprehensive coverage of pretty much all Mooney's.

[MikeOH]

20 minutes ago, kortopates said:

These classes have always been put on by a single instructor with comprehensive coverage of pretty much all Mooney's.

It seems to me that YOU meet all of those qualifications, Paul!  Owner, CFII, A&P/IA...

Sounds like a biz opportunity for you!  I'd most certainly be interested in attending a PK seminar

[201Mooniac]

I would certainly attend a clinic by Paul but maybe this is an opportunity for Savvy, they can use their type experts to run them (for more than just Mooneys).  I was actually going to send Mike an email asking them to do an in person boroscope clinic as I still take lousy pictures even after watching their video.

[MikeOH]

13 minutes ago, 201Mooniac said:

I would certainly attend a clinic by Paul but maybe this is an opportunity for Savvy, they can use their type experts to run them (for more than just Mooneys).  I was actually going to send Mike an email asking them to do an in person boroscope clinic as I still take lousy pictures even after watching their video.

Me, too!  My Vividia 'scope is 5 years old, so maybe that's it?  I have noticed it's really easy to get oil/contamination on the lens (which is very hard to tell) and that will screw up the image.

A borescope training class is a great idea!

[Greg Ellis]

48 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

Me, too!  My Vividia 'scope is 5 years old, so maybe that's it?  I have noticed it's really easy to get oil/contamination on the lens (which is very hard to tell) and that will screw up the image.

A borescope training class is a great idea!

If any of you are going to Oshkosh this year, Dave Pasquale, the king of the borescope, and works with Savvy, is putting on 2 hands on borescope classes as well as another talk on the borescope and analyzing images.  Just FYI.

[kortopates]

If any of you are going to Oshkosh this year, Dave Pasquale, the king of the borescope, and works with Savvy, is putting on 2 hands on borescope classes as well as another talk on the borescope and analyzing images.  Just FYI.

Indeed Dave is our Borescope guru!


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