Well, I did my commercial training in a old Mooney with a Johnson bar. Once
it gathers itself up and gets some speed on it's pretty nice. Tight
ailerons with little control wheel throw. Pitch okay. etc.

The vintage panel sucked, the luggage hole is fine for flight bags and
little stuff.

But I can imagine that packing the way we do in our Maule just wouldn't
work. We pay absolutely no attention to size, shape, or weight. We just
open the big door - or both doors, and put it in. It's easy to see that
travel in the Mooney would call for many smaller bags and a bit of planning.

Landings were sweet. Short field even sweeter. At about 80mph, I'm
guessing that whatever laminar flow characteristics the wing has falls away,
and the a/c assumes a good rate of descent, with some power, and with just
enough energy to flare with no float. Chop the power a wingspan and a half
high and you're done. (I didn't add any rpms but that would allow the wheel
to stay up after touch) I know people find some of the later models a bit
challenging at times but that wasn't my experience. Much easier to land
consistently and short over an obstacle than my Maule - though I can get the
Maule shorter just by virture of speed, but not much.

The 180hp Mooney is a hog on T.O. compared to my 180hp Maule whatever the
loading. And it feels like crap at slow speeds on initial climb or in slow
speed manuevers.

But the sweetest part is getting there 30% faster with the same engine and
fuel burn. That is sweet!

"tony" wrote in message
...

Mooneys have their shortcomings, you've IDed one of them. A hurt back can
prevent you from getting aboard, that's another. On the positive side,
among
SEL airplanes I've known, the Mooney is among the best endorphin producers
I've
known. It's easy to pick out the Mooney driver at the fixed base office
(no,
not because his suit pants are dirty because he just checked his fuel) --
we're
the ones with the big smiles on our faces. And it's NOT because we get out
tail
backwards, it's because it's a sweet airplane to fly. BTW, if you want to
land
one really short (no, damn it, with the gear down) add a few RPMs deep in
the
flare and if you get the yoke all the way back you'll be able to do a
three
point touch down the old fashioned way.

Hey, there's a good question. How many of you actually get a stall warning
in
the flare?