Mooney 201 question

[[email protected]]

Hello

I am looking at Mooney 201 airplanes, due to their performance and good
fuel consumption, and had a few questions.

1) Which model year is more desirable than other years (SB's, ADs, etc
reasons...) ?

2) Which year did the tan colored panel come out? Can an older 201 be
retrofitted with the tan panel?

3) Which autopilot is recommended? If I had two 201's side by side,
which autopilot is preferred?

etc etc

any other info on 201's is appreciated.

THANKS GUYS

[Javier[_1_]]

wrote:
> Hello
>
> I am looking at Mooney 201 airplanes, due to their performance and good
> fuel consumption, and had a few questions.
>
> 1) Which model year is more desirable than other years (SB's, ADs, etc
> reasons...) ?
>
> 2) Which year did the tan colored panel come out? Can an older 201 be
> retrofitted with the tan panel?
>
> 3) Which autopilot is recommended? If I had two 201's side by side,
> which autopilot is preferred?
>
> etc etc
>
> any other info on 201's is appreciated.

Join the Mooney mailing lists, there's a wealth of information there.

http://lists.aviating.com/mailman/listinfo/mooney

And:

http://lists.aviating.com/mailman/listinfo/mooney-tech

-jav

[Dave Butler[_1_]]

wrote:

> I am looking at Mooney 201 airplanes, due to their performance and good
> fuel consumption, and had a few questions.

Sorry I can't answer your specific questions, but maybe these links
might be of some help:

Chronology of Mooney models including 201:
http://www.mooneyevents.com/chrono.htm

Mooney pre-purchase inspection:
http://www.mooneypilots.com/
Click on "MAPA Log Sample articles"

Dave

[Robert M. Gary]

The 201 is a great airplane. I'm not aware of too many differences in
AD's in the 201 years (other than a minor aileron hing AD which
everyone has replaced). Especially in Mooneys its important to ensure
you have all the goodies in the panel when you buy the plane.
Installation prices for everything in Mooneys is higher than anything
else. When I was calling around on "fixed price" 430 installs no shop
was willing to do a Mooney install at their "fixed price".
The one thing I would avoid is the "dual mag" engines. At one point
Lycoming was producing 201 and Arrow engines with one mag case that
contained two mags. If the case had problems (like they tend to fall
off) you are left w/o a mag. Most owners have replaced these but there
are still a lot of them out there.
Also, you may want to consider the F model Mooney as well. Its about 10
knots slower but only about 60% the price of a 201.
Also, for any Mooney with electric gear you will want to check when the
gear actuator was last disassembled and the gears removed and possibly
replaced. Its now an AD on many but not all, although all are subject
to having gears jam if not inspected. Other than that just check for
the same things you would on any other plane (rust, etc). A Mooney
knowledgable A&P is always the best way to go of course for
prepurchase.
-Robert

wrote:
> Hello
>
> I am looking at Mooney 201 airplanes, due to their performance and good
> fuel consumption, and had a few questions.
>
> 1) Which model year is more desirable than other years (SB's, ADs, etc
> reasons...) ?
>
> 2) Which year did the tan colored panel come out? Can an older 201 be
> retrofitted with the tan panel?
>
> 3) Which autopilot is recommended? If I had two 201's side by side,
> which autopilot is preferred?
>
> etc etc
>
> any other info on 201's is appreciated.
>
> THANKS GUYS

[Jon Kraus]

We have a '79 201 and have had it for 2 years now. We now have it
configured the way we like it. It has a Garmin 430 GPS/Nav/Com, Garmin
340 audio panel, Garmin 106 indicator, Stormscope, TrafficScope, King
DME, Garmin 396 w/ XM weather and STEC 30 AP w/ altitude hold and GPS
Steer.

As far as which year is better, it is probably a matter of preference I
guess (the newer the better?). I don't know about the instrument panel
color. Ours is black. Why you would want to pay the I'm sure exorborant
fee to have it made tan would make me wonder about your sanity.

There is lots of info at the Mooney.com website. THe Mooneys are nice
planes. You won't be sorry.

Jon Kraus
'79 201
4443H @ UMP

wrote:

> Hello
>
> I am looking at Mooney 201 airplanes, due to their performance and good
> fuel consumption, and had a few questions.
>
> 1) Which model year is more desirable than other years (SB's, ADs, etc
> reasons...) ?
>
> 2) Which year did the tan colored panel come out? Can an older 201 be
> retrofitted with the tan panel?
>
> 3) Which autopilot is recommended? If I had two 201's side by side,
> which autopilot is preferred?
>
> etc etc
>
> any other info on 201's is appreciated.
>
> THANKS GUYS
>

[Ron Natalie]

Jon Kraus wrote:
> We have a '79 201 and have had it for 2 years now. We now have it
> configured the way we like it. It has a Garmin 430 GPS/Nav/Com, Garmin
> 340 audio panel, Garmin 106 indicator, Stormscope, TrafficScope, King
> DME, Garmin 396 w/ XM weather and STEC 30 AP w/ altitude hold and GPS
> Steer.

The STEC's with GPSS are a real hoot. I recommend them heartily.
I've got a 55X (which will also couple to the approaches).

[Jon Kraus]

Ours isn't quite as sophisticated but if you have a shallow enough
intercept angle it will fly the approach. It just won't fly a full
approach (without manually flying the procedure turn). Cool
none-the-less... Congrats on your IA by the way!! Great job!!

Jon Kraus

Ron Natalie wrote:
> Jon Kraus wrote:
>
>> We have a '79 201 and have had it for 2 years now. We now have it
>> configured the way we like it. It has a Garmin 430 GPS/Nav/Com, Garmin
>> 340 audio panel, Garmin 106 indicator, Stormscope, TrafficScope, King
>> DME, Garmin 396 w/ XM weather and STEC 30 AP w/ altitude hold and GPS
>> Steer.
>
>
> The STEC's with GPSS are a real hoot. I recommend them heartily.
> I've got a 55X (which will also couple to the approaches).

[Ron Natalie]

Jon Kraus wrote:
> Ours isn't quite as sophisticated but if you have a shallow enough
> intercept angle it will fly the approach. It just won't fly a full
> approach (without manually flying the procedure turn). Cool
> none-the-less... Congrats on your IA by the way!! Great job!!
>
Thanks. I think your autopilot isn't the problem but the GPS.
The 480 is unique in the richness of it's database that allows
it to do all the course reversals and even missed approach
sequencing WITHOUT any button pushing or manual intervention.

Now if I just had an autothrottle connected to the whole thing
I could take a nap while the thing was flying :-)

[Robert M. Gary]

Ron Natalie wrote:
> Jon Kraus wrote:
> > We have a '79 201 and have had it for 2 years now. We now have it
> > configured the way we like it. It has a Garmin 430 GPS/Nav/Com, Garmin
> > 340 audio panel, Garmin 106 indicator, Stormscope, TrafficScope, King
> > DME, Garmin 396 w/ XM weather and STEC 30 AP w/ altitude hold and GPS
> > Steer.
>
> The STEC's with GPSS are a real hoot. I recommend them heartily.
> I've got a 55X (which will also couple to the approaches).

GPSS can now be added on to most of the STEC pilots as an additional
box that sits behind the panel. What you really start paying for is
pitch. Lots of autopilots can hold an altitude but when you want to
tell it to hold 400 fpm and capture an armed altitude its expensive. We
have that in the KAP140 that drives the new G1000 182. I looked into
putting it into my Mooney and then walked away. ;)

BTW: An autopilot in a Mooney without altitude hold is almost useless
for anything other than cruise flight. Any slight turn in a Mooney
requires back pressure. A single axis autopilot will always be dipping
as it turns, as result you have to keep your hand on the yoke the
entire time.

-Robert, CFII

[Robert M. Gary]

Ron Natalie wrote:
> Jon Kraus wrote:
> > Ours isn't quite as sophisticated but if you have a shallow enough
> > intercept angle it will fly the approach. It just won't fly a full
> > approach (without manually flying the procedure turn). Cool
> > none-the-less... Congrats on your IA by the way!! Great job!!
> >
> Thanks. I think your autopilot isn't the problem but the GPS.
> The 480 is unique in the richness of it's database that allows
> it to do all the course reversals and even missed approach
> sequencing WITHOUT any button pushing or manual intervention.

But not if the course reversal is a hold right? The G1000 goes into
suspend mode, I seem to rememeber the 430 doing the same. Unless there
is somethign new in the 480. The nice thing about the G1000 and 580 is
that after the reversal, it automatically starts to sequence again, the
430 and 530 would require you to press the "OBS" button to "unsuspend"
sequencing as I recall.

-Robert

[Ron Natalie]

Robert M. Gary wrote:

> GPSS can now be added on to most of the STEC pilots as an additional
> box that sits behind the panel. What you really start paying for is
> pitch.

Yep, my original plans were for the STEC 30 but by the time I got
around to putting in the alt. hold, GPSS, and electric trim (which
I really liked in an Arrow I used to fly with it) you might as well
upgrade to the 55X.

[Ron Natalie]

Robert M. Gary wrote:

>
> But not if the course reversal is a hold right?

Nope, the 480 does exactly one turn around the hold (unless you
press SUSP then it sits there and goes around until you release it).

> The G1000 goes into
> suspend mode, I seem to rememeber the 430 doing the same. Unless there
> is somethign new in the 480.

Not NEW, different. The 480 remember is not originally a Garmin box.
It is far superior in it's user interface for IFR in my opinion.

Further, unlike the 430/530, it doesn't need to be any button pushing
to start sequencing the missed approach. Once you fly it passed
the MAP it automatically sequences into the missed sequence (it
gets authority for this in that it has a richer set of waypoints
on the missed sequence than just the location of the holding point).

[Robert M. Gary]

Ron Natalie wrote:
> Robert M. Gary wrote:
>
> >
> > But not if the course reversal is a hold right?
>
> Nope, the 480 does exactly one turn around the hold (unless you
> press SUSP then it sits there and goes around until you release it).

Intertesting. The G1000 is not that good. It crosses the hold and puts
a message above the attitude suggesting an entry. Once it crosses the
hold it goes into suspend mode and then puts the hold at the top of the
sequence. As a result, it crosses the holding fix and then tries to do
a 180 to get back to the fix. As a result, it just wonders around. The
expectation is that you will engage "heading" mode in the autopilot.
However, once you turn back final inbound, it does automatically
unsuspend and sequence after recrossing the holding fix. If you want
multiple holds you have to manually suspend it again.

-robert

[Grumman-581[_3_]]

"Jon Kraus" > wrote in message
...
> I don't know about the instrument panel
> color. Ours is black. Why you would want
> to pay the I'm sure exorborant fee to have
> it made tan would make me wonder about
> your sanity.

Awh, come on... How expensive can a can of Krylon spray paint be?