TTaylor Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 After nearly ten days of work I was able to bring N6847V a 1975 20F home on Saturday and Sunday. I added an album with a few pictures. Thanks to Chris and Kurt from the list that helped me find David Bliss at Springfield TN to help with the prebuy inspection and then the clean up and annual process. Great mechanic and shop if you ever need work done. Was nice to meet Chris and Kurt in TN while working on the plane. Got to see both of their planes and took a ride with Kurt which was great to get the feel of a Mooney again. It is a long story of the process of buying a plane that was repossessed by the bank, had no log books, and had not flown in nearly five years. I will have to write some notes of the process when I recover from the trip. 1100 miles home in the winter and the plane flew very well. I loved my 20C, but the 20F had no problem climbing to 15,000 feet to clear the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the way home. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 After nearly ten days of work I was able to bring N6847V a 1975 20F home on Saturday and Sunday. I added an album with a few pictures. Thanks to Chris and Kurt from the list that helped me find David Bliss at Springfield TN to help with the prebuy inspection and then the clean up and annual process. Great mechanic and shop if you ever need work done. Was nice to meet Chris and Kurt in TN while working on the plane. Got to see both of their planes and took a ride with Kurt which was great to get the feel of a Mooney again. It is a long story of the process of buying a plane that was repossessed by the bank, had no log books, and had not flown in nearly five years. I will have to write some notes of the process when I recover from the trip. 1100 miles home in the winter and the plane flew very well. I loved my 20C, but the 20F had no problem climbing to 15,000 feet to clear the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the way home. Tim I saw that plane advertised! Glad it went to a good home. Post some pictures when you get a chance! I was wondering the story behind it. I saw the repossession and wondered what they would have taken for it. The "make us an offer" thing attracted me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 http://www.mooneyland.com/1975-m20f/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTaylor Posted December 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 http://www.mooneyland.com/1975-m20f/ Here is the direct link to my album: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottfromiowa Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Congrats! Awesome X-Mas present. I did the same almost exactly 10 years ago. I hope your journey is as rewarding (Not financially I am afraid) as mine has been. Have fun, Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Here is the direct link to my album: Cool! We are only a few serial numbers apart. I have owned my F for 21 years, so if questions come up, let me know. I have seen and done a lot over the years on mine. BTW -- I'm working on figuring out how to get a source of rocker switches. Looks like your pitot tube heat switch is broken at the top. Let me know if you are interested in any. I'm going to buy a set since the majority of them are original and starting to fail. How do you like those man sized yokes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 Congratulations. She looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The-sky-captain Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 Looks like she has some pretty country to fly in by the looks of her home airport. Congrats on the purchase! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Fox Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 If Kurts plane was the M20B , I built that plane over a five year period.... Loved that plane....I actually flew to tennesee to pull that panel mod out of a wreck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTaylor Posted December 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 Cool! We are only a few serial numbers apart. I have owned my F for 21 years, so if questions come up, let me know. I have seen and done a lot over the years on mine. BTW -- I'm working on figuring out how to get a source of rocker switches. Looks like your pitot tube heat switch is broken at the top. Let me know if you are interested in any. I'm going to buy a set since the majority of them are original and starting to fail. How do you like those man sized yokes? I switched mine out about a decade ago. Sure were nice to hold during rough weather though! I am sure I will have many questions so appreciate having a contact. Yes, the one rocker plate is broken. The switch is still functional so I will need to order a new cover. The yokes are unique, the pilot side has three switches so that will be interesting if I decide to replace it. It has the AP override as a trigger on the left side. After flying home I have a squawk list to start on. Nothing major, but will take a few months to work through them all. Overall I am very happy with the plane. Flies beautifully and the fuel injection makes a big difference in the west where we fly higher most of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTaylor Posted December 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 If Kurts plane was the M20B , I built that plane over a five year period.... Loved that plane....I actually flew to tennesee to pull that panel mod out of a wreck... Yes it was Kurt's 20B, the panel was very nice! Wish I has half the electronics you put in the B. I have a KLN 89B, but will be looking to upgrade the panel a little in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdjohn4 Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Excellent looking bird. When I saw "Sangre de Cristo" mountains, I said to myself "Yikes". My business partner (and business mentor, and damn-near father-figure, the one that inspired me to buy my E-model), Bruce Dalton (in his J-model N58119) impacted the "Blood of Christ" mountains there in southern Colorado at 12,400 ft (where the wreckage was eventually found), just three months ago. The NTSB report is still pending but I had surmised that perhaps he had trouble climbing up and over the mountains. If you are getting to 15,000 feet with no problem, then perhaps my theory is way-off. Here on the EastCoast I hardly ever have any need to go above 7-8 thousand (but cruise a little higher of course). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaV8or Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Congratulations, and welcome to the F troop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTaylor Posted January 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Excellent looking bird. When I saw "Sangre de Cristo" mountains, I said to myself "Yikes". My business partner (and business mentor, and damn-near father-figure, the one that inspired me to buy my E-model), Bruce Dalton (in his J-model N58119) impacted the "Blood of Christ" mountains there in southern Colorado at 12,400 ft (where the wreckage was eventually found), just three months ago. The NTSB report is still pending but I had surmised that perhaps he had trouble climbing up and over the mountains. If you are getting to 15,000 feet with no problem, then perhaps my theory is way-off. Here on the EastCoast I hardly ever have any need to go above 7-8 thousand (but cruise a little higher of course). DaV8or, Thanks, glad to join the F troop. I am loving the F so far, just got back from my first trip to California. bdjohn4, very sorry to hear about your partner and friend's accident. Mountain flying is something that should be respected but not feared. Great article in "THE MOONEY FLYER" this month. I am lucky to have about 1500 hours flying and racing gliders in the mountains so it helps with power flying as well. Looking at the accident report I flew almost directly over the accident site. On the day I flew through I used some wave lift to help me climb and made sure I was well above the ridges when approaching from the lee side. I often use mountain wave and ridge lift even when flying power in the mountains. Many power pilots try to hold altitude constant in cruise. When approaching a mountain ridge from the lee side I slow in lift and fly faster in sink. This is the opposite of what happens when trying to hold altitude. I will take a few thousand extra feet of height in these areas to ensure plenty of clearance. Also, always approach a ridgeline at no more than a 45 degree angle so you can roll away if needed. Again very sorry to hear about the accident. Here are a few link to videos of what we see in the mountains. First is just a compilation from an introduction video we used for a talk on Mountain Flying last year at the Soaring Society of America convention. The second is from my friend Bruno on a contest day at the 2011 National Championships. We were racing on the Salt River Range in Wyoming. This is essitanly the south end of the Tetons. The whole video is long but from 22 minutes to 34 minutes is very good. Watch the crossing on a spine at 30:30 if like to see close up terain. You can see my glider well at about 32:30. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaV8or Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Here's the thing I don't like about mountain flying- single engine. I know gliders have a great glide ratio of like 40:1 or better, but a Mooney (better than many) is about 12:1 so I'm told. If I fly across a wild mountain range and the engine quits, I'm not making it out alive. I avoid the mountains just like the open ocean as much as possible and I follow highways as much as possible if it's the only way through. Just me though. I do like ya all's mountain photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTaylor Posted January 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Dave, I don't want to hijack this thread into a mountain flying seminar but in general I will not fly where I can not survive if the engine fails. My decision list using the 12:1 glide is: 1. Airport paved 2. Airport dirt 3. Flat fields 4. Flat road paved 5. Flat road dirt 6. Lake If I can't reach one of these I am too low or I won't go there. I don't fly at night in general because I figure I have a 90% chance or better at survival during the day and about a 20% at night with an engine failure in the west. When I crossed the Rockies going from Liberal, KS to Durango, CO I did not fly direct but planned through two passes to give me maximum range if I had engine problems and better landing options. I also flew higher to insure I could glide to fields on one side or the other. I often see planes low over mountains when I am four to five thousand feet higher. They are the ones you read about that went into trees when the engine failed or got caught in that downdraft that drove them into the ground. My SPOT trace in the Yosemite thread will be there for a few more days. You can see my path out of CA directly over South Lake Tahoe airport. This is the narrowest part of the Sierra and there are lakes all the way up on the west side and usually I can reach Placerville Airport on glide and TVL airport is just over the crest on the east side. Mountain flying should be no different than any other, if you don't have a survivable landing spot you shouldn't be there. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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