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#1
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Mooney info
Seems like I never have any good info to offer but always seem to find a
question or 10. I'm a long time PA28 and C172 / C182 driver and I'm looking for something faster with a little longer legs. I've never flown a Mooney but I like the style, performance and gph numbers and some of the older ones are in my price range. My questions a 1.) Ballpark, what can I expect to spend on maintenance? I know the gear and the prop add expense. Overall how does the hourly cost compare with my PA28-161? Insurance only changes about 400.00 a year. 2.) Are there certain years/models to stay away from. 3.) Do they have any expensive, recurring AD's 4.) I know everything happens a little faster, but, other than that do they have any nasty little gotchas. (like the narrow CG range on some Bonanzas) 5.) Are replacement parts more expensive than a Piper or Cessna? I've looked at Mooney.com and mooneyowners.com but no really useful info there. Just looking for experienced Mooney drivers to shed a little honest light. Ed |
#2
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On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 06:38:56 GMT, "eddie" wrote:
Seems like I never have any good info to offer but always seem to find a question or 10. I'm a long time PA28 and C172 / C182 driver and I'm looking for something faster with a little longer legs. I've never flown a Mooney but I like the style, performance and gph numbers and some of the older ones are in my price range. My questions a 1.) Ballpark, what can I expect to spend on maintenance? I know the gear and the prop add expense. Overall how does the hourly cost compare with my PA28-161? Insurance only changes about 400.00 a year. 2.) Are there certain years/models to stay away from. 3.) Do they have any expensive, recurring AD's 4.) I know everything happens a little faster, but, other than that do they have any nasty little gotchas. (like the narrow CG range on some Bonanzas) 5.) Are replacement parts more expensive than a Piper or Cessna? I've looked at Mooney.com and mooneyowners.com but no really useful info there. Just looking for experienced Mooney drivers to shed a little honest light. Ed Real world numbers for an M20E (1965 Super 21) flown approximately 150 hrs/year, for the six years 1998-2003. Over that entire time period, I spent about $120K on maintenance, fuel and insurance. The maintenance included a new engine, prop overhaul, and I am generally meticulous about maintenance. Of course, all costs are going up these days, and I do not perform any of my own maintenance. And it takes several hours to do an oil change on my bird. On the "mature" electric gear Mooney's, there is a recurring AD on the gear actuator. Parts are generally available but expensive. I recently had to spend $350 for a starter relay from the factory. Ron (EPM) (N5843Q, Mooney M20E) (CP, ASEL, ASES, IA) |
#3
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Eddie,
It's not clear what end of the market you're looking for, Mooneys range from a mid 60's vintage 4-cyl. Lyc @ $60,000 for a nice one to a deiced 190 kt Ovation for $400,000+. What part of the market are you targeting? You can also try www.aviating.com/mooney for way more information than you can possibly assimilate. Bob Miller '65C |
#4
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eddie wrote: Seems like I never have any good info to offer but always seem to find a question or 10. I'm a long time PA28 and C172 / C182 driver and I'm looking for something faster with a little longer legs. I've never flown a Mooney but I like the style, performance and gph numbers and some of the older ones are in my price range. I switched from a PA28-180 (sole owner) to a M20J (partnership) about 3 years ago. My questions a 1.) Ballpark, what can I expect to spend on maintenance? I know the gear and the prop add expense. Overall how does the hourly cost compare with my PA28-161? Insurance only changes about 400.00 a year. Don't have much experience with this as I'm not doing either the maintenance or the bookkeeping in the partnership, but my general impression is positive. 2.) Are there certain years/models to stay away from. No, I think they're all good. There's a big gap between the M20J, and the "pre-J" models in performance. The J got the benefit of the Roy LoPresti mods. 3.) Do they have any expensive, recurring AD's 4.) I know everything happens a little faster, but, other than that do they have any nasty little gotchas. (like the narrow CG range on some Bonanzas) The Precise Flight speedbrakes are helpful to get you slowed down to gear extension speed, at least on the J. http://www.preciseflight.com/sb.html 5.) Are replacement parts more expensive than a Piper or Cessna? I've looked at Mooney.com and mooneyowners.com but no really useful info there. Just looking for experienced Mooney drivers to shed a little honest light. http://www.mooneypilots.com (MAPA) might be more helpful. mooneyowners.com is a group of disgruntled former members of MAPA. I offer http://www.employees.org/~dgbutler/201/201.html for some possibly useful information. Check the article "how to do a prepurchase inspection on an M20J, under "maintenance". Dave Remove SHIRT to reply directly. |
#5
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2.) Are there certain years/models to stay away from.
There are still some early models with wooden tail groups around. I would stay away from those unless my A&P was really current on inspecting and repairing wooden structures. One common problem is leaks from the wet wing. This can grow from a mere annoyance to a serious problem. If they need to be resealed find someone with current experience on doing the job right. Oil changes are easily an hour to two hours more than any other aircraft. The filter or screen is tough to get to and almost impossible to remove without spilling all over the engine compartment. If you add the suction screen as well that could be another hour. Do yourself a favor and find a really good Mooney shop for your first annual. Make sure they really go through the gear system. If done right once it should be trouble free for a number of years. I knew of one Mooney owner who brought his to a really expert Mooney shop every three years for a top notch annual and let his regular shop do the intervening two annuals. Seemed to me to be a good compromise between safety and the pocket book. John Dupre' |
#6
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Before you get very far with this, see if you can find a model in your price
range for a test flight, or at least a ride. Mooneys are great planes on paper, but they have a lot of compromises to achieve their speed and efficiency: a relatively cramped cabin with very low seat height, poor outward visibility with an obtrusive center strut in the panel (particularly on the early models), stiff controls, and skitterish ground manners on their biscuit gear. To a lot of pilots, these things are part of the Mooney "sports car" experience and no big deal - for me, they make Mooney's unacceptably uncomfortable and unsatisfying to fly. A lot has to do with your size/stature. Big guys tend to like Bonanzas and little guys like Mooneys. A 2nd thing to check into early-on is whether you have a good Mooney shop in your area. To a shop which knows Mooneys, their maintenance/repair is no big deal and you can get great service - these are well-built airplanes. But shops that don't regularly work on Mooneys tend to hate working on them because things are hard to get to. If you pass these two tests, then go for one. I'm guessing that you're perhaps looking into a $100K airplane, so I'd be looking at one of the early 201s which were good airplanes and well worth the premium over the earlier Rangers and other 180-hp models. I really like the Ovations, but I'm guessing they're in the $150K+ range. - Mark |
#7
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eddie wrote:
: 4.) I know everything happens a little faster, but, other than that do they : have any nasty little gotchas. (like the narrow CG range on some Bonanzas) I own a PA-28-180 and I borrow a Mooney 201 as much as I can. The first little bit of flight time was "oh my gawd look at the ground going by" fast. After a little bit, it wasn't really a big deal - although the plane I borrow *does* have speed brakes. People will complain about the small cabin, but I haven't found that a problem. The shoulder room is actually better than a Cherokee. Headroom is a little different: the top of the Mooney is almost circular in cross section against the Cherokee's almost square cross section, so your head is much closer to the cabin roof. I find the rudder pedals to be the most annoying, as it seems un-natural to bend my ankles to the angle needed to push rudder and no brake. The plane I fly has crank-up height adjustable seats, I am not sure if these are common or not but I would recommend them! There is one important service bulletin on tube-frame corrosion. The front of the fuselage is steel tubes, and they can rust if the paint is not in good shape. This can be expensive to fix! : I've looked at Mooney.com and mooneyowners.com but no really useful info : there. Just looking for experienced Mooney drivers to shed a little honest : light. Try mooneypilots.org as well. -- Aaron Coolidge (N9376J) |
#8
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"Dave Butler" wrote in message
... eddie wrote: Seems like I never have any good info to offer but always seem to find a question or 10. I'm a long time PA28 and C172 / C182 driver and I'm looking for something faster with a little longer legs. I've never flown a Mooney but I like the style, performance and gph numbers and some of the older ones are in my price range. I switched from a PA28-180 (sole owner) to a M20J (partnership) about 3 years ago. My questions a 1.) Ballpark, what can I expect to spend on maintenance? I know the gear and the prop add expense. Overall how does the hourly cost compare with my PA28-161? Insurance only changes about 400.00 a year. Don't have much experience with this as I'm not doing either the maintenance or the bookkeeping in the partnership, but my general impression is positive. 2.) Are there certain years/models to stay away from. No, I think they're all good. There's a big gap between the M20J, and the "pre-J" models in performance. The J got the benefit of the Roy LoPresti mods. I had a Mooney mechanic (that's all he worked on) tell me to avoid the older wooden tailed birds. I believe he said that parts had to be hand fabricated as needed, but those are pretty scarce any more. 3.) Do they have any expensive, recurring AD's 4.) I know everything happens a little faster, but, other than that do they have any nasty little gotchas. (like the narrow CG range on some Bonanzas) The Precise Flight speedbrakes are helpful to get you slowed down to gear extension speed, at least on the J. http://www.preciseflight.com/sb.html 5.) Are replacement parts more expensive than a Piper or Cessna? I've looked at Mooney.com and mooneyowners.com but no really useful info there. Just looking for experienced Mooney drivers to shed a little honest light. http://www.mooneypilots.com (MAPA) might be more helpful. mooneyowners.com is a group of disgruntled former members of MAPA. I offer http://www.employees.org/~dgbutler/201/201.html for some possibly useful information. Check the article "how to do a prepurchase inspection on an M20J, under "maintenance". Dave Remove SHIRT to reply directly. |
#9
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.. Big guys tend to like Bonanzas and little
guys like Mooneys. Being 6'3" and 200 pounds, I have to disagree with this. The seats are low to the floor, and this and some other elements give people an impression that it is tighter than it really is. Comfort is subjective, and your brush is too wide. I liked the view from the Bo, but in spite of the low seats, the Mooney won in every other comfort category. Having heard many other people make similar remarks to yours, I was rather suprised. Mooneys have the best cabin for the extremely tall pilot. I sat in a new one, and had plenty of room to push my seat farther back. Also, the yoke was not hitting my legs as it does in some Beech planes. You might want to check the actual cabin width as well, as I believe the Mooney is larger. Its the high windscreen and window arrangement that gives the Bo driver an impresssion of more size. |
#10
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Its the high windscreen and window arrangement that gives the Bo driver an
impresssion of more size. Impression or not, I feel terribly cramped in a Mooney and feel like I can relax and move around in a Bonanza. Peering over the glareshield in a Mooney makes me feel like I'm in a tank. But you're absolutely right - it is subjective. - Mark |
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