flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
Today started out as just another day. Drop a load, and wait for dispatch to tell me what my fate is.
But, what's this... Go pick up a load in Lancaster, PA, not due back in Wausau, WI until Monday? Hmmm, this day could be a good one after all.
*ring* "Hi, Ed? Kent Shook calling. I'm in Lancaster... (snip) See you at 4 then! Bye!"
Yup, today was the day I finally got to take a ride in Ed Guthrie's Mooney 201. Must have been extra-good luck, as my current trainee is a student pilot as well so he thinks going along on my various flying adventures is great fun. So, we dropped our trailer at a small truck stop a couple miles away and bobtailed to S37. Since we got there early, we took the time to admire an Aerostar on the ramp and watch an older Mooney land and take off again before Ed came rolling up on a bright yellow motorcycle. (I bet his son gets all the coolest toys... ;-)
After Ed pulled the bird out of the hangar and filled the tires, I crawled into the left seat. Wow! This has got to be THE bird for us tall folks. It was like taking a Cherokee and moving the rudder pedals back (towards the nose, that is) about 18 inches. In any other plane, I have to carefully choose my seat position so that I'm close enough to reach the controls but far enough to keep my legs down out of the way of the yoke. In the Mooney, I had my legs extended and I was in just the right position to reach everything. VERY comfortable.
Another welcome change is that the yoke moves only about 45 degrees either side of center to the stops. That makes it very easy to truly get full travel out of the controls without my legs getting in the way, and makes for a crisp, sporty feel.
After taking a few minutes to review the checklists and find all the controls, we fired up the engine and taxied out to the runway, a trip that's all of about 30 yards from Ed's hangar. The Mooney doesn't steer quite as tightly as a lot of planes, but it was more than sufficient even on the tiny taxiways at Smoketown.
The runup is similar to most other planes in its class - 2000 RPM, mag check, prop, annunciators, etc. It seemed smoother than I'm used to, though. I don't know if that was due to a different engine mount, different wing, or what.
We quickly briefed the takeoff - Rotation speed is supposedly 71 mph, but the plane wants to fly earlier than that, so when it starts getting antsy and jumping around, a light pull gets it right off the ground. Half flaps are used for takeoff; Vy is 83 and the gear must be retracted by 115. After retraction, climb at 25 squared and 101 mph resulted in a respectable 700 fpm or so. It seemed to take a lot longer than "normal" to get to 3,000 MSL, but that's because I'm used to getting about a 600-foot head start in comparison!
After our climbout to the east, we turned to the southeast and then southwest. I enjoyed the scenery for a bit - It's different than I'm used to, with a lot fewer lakes. It also kind of looks like someone took the farmland and scattered random buildings all over, rather than the cities and towns being well-defined. Very pretty in a different way than I'm used to. It was at some point during this time that Ed gave me one of the best compliments on my flying I've gotten in a long time: "I was under the impression that you were a low-time pilot." (I am, with just a hair under 150 hours after the flight.
I dirtied up the bird to do some slow flight. "Mushy" controls on the Mooney feel not unlike your average brand C or brand P bird in normal flight! As a result, I really didn't feel the stall coming, and the left wing decided to stop flying. Ed put in a legful of right rudder to help me correct before telling me an interesting story about getting into a spin during CFI training.
By this time we were in view of the Chesapeake to the south and Wilmington, DE to the east, so we turned back to the northwest to go into LNS for some touch and go's. Gear down below 155, slow to the white arc, add half flaps, keep slowing down, turn final, add the rest of the flaps, and maintain 80 knots all the way down. I had a great landing. Ed assisted on the go, as the Mooney requires some extra attention during the go - For instance, the flaps can't be retracted with one quick motion like on a Cessna (slap the handle up) or a Piper (release the "emergency brake"). The Mooney's flap control is a switch with three positions. The neutral position where the flaps do not move, the "up" position where they will retract all the way (detent keeps the switch in "up") and the "down" position, which you must hold. Since the Mooney uses half flaps for takeoff, you either have to select "up" and monitor the flap indicator and stop the retraction, or let the flaps go full up and hold "down" while monitoring the indicator. I'm sure with practice one could get used to it, but I would not have been able to do touch and go's without Ed's assistance.
After the go, we were switched around to runway 13. Lots of traffic in the pattern today, and the tower controller was quite busy and I had to ask him for landing clearance on final. Another pretty good landing this time. The third time around we were cleared only for a low approach, but we got to watch a jet depart runway 8 underneath us. Cool! Finally, one more good landing at LNS and we headed back to S37.
Ed was originally going to do the landing back at S37 (2400 ft. runway) but apparently felt confident enough after my other landings to let me do it. (Daring soul, he is!) S37 has some obstructions in the approach path, and Ed had me go for 78 on the approach. I had a bit of trouble nailing that speed, varying between 76 and 80 most of the way down. As a result, my landing wasn't as sweet as the other three. I plunked it down early into the flare, but it actually ended up working quite well, putting the wheels down pretty much on the numbers. I didn't even have to get on the brakes much to make a turnoff about 2/3 of the way down the runway (1600 feet?) so I was still pretty happy with it.
Overall, I got two big impressions: The Mooney is a nice, comfortable, fast bird; and Ed is a heck of a nice guy. I had an excellent time! Thanks Ed!
Unfortunately, Ed had to leave as soon as we got back so I didn't get a good shot of us with the plane... Y'all will just have to settle for the one pic of the two of us that my trainee took in flight.
But, what's this... Go pick up a load in Lancaster, PA, not due back in Wausau, WI until Monday? Hmmm, this day could be a good one after all.
*ring* "Hi, Ed? Kent Shook calling. I'm in Lancaster... (snip) See you at 4 then! Bye!"
Yup, today was the day I finally got to take a ride in Ed Guthrie's Mooney 201. Must have been extra-good luck, as my current trainee is a student pilot as well so he thinks going along on my various flying adventures is great fun. So, we dropped our trailer at a small truck stop a couple miles away and bobtailed to S37. Since we got there early, we took the time to admire an Aerostar on the ramp and watch an older Mooney land and take off again before Ed came rolling up on a bright yellow motorcycle. (I bet his son gets all the coolest toys... ;-)
After Ed pulled the bird out of the hangar and filled the tires, I crawled into the left seat. Wow! This has got to be THE bird for us tall folks. It was like taking a Cherokee and moving the rudder pedals back (towards the nose, that is) about 18 inches. In any other plane, I have to carefully choose my seat position so that I'm close enough to reach the controls but far enough to keep my legs down out of the way of the yoke. In the Mooney, I had my legs extended and I was in just the right position to reach everything. VERY comfortable.
Another welcome change is that the yoke moves only about 45 degrees either side of center to the stops. That makes it very easy to truly get full travel out of the controls without my legs getting in the way, and makes for a crisp, sporty feel.
After taking a few minutes to review the checklists and find all the controls, we fired up the engine and taxied out to the runway, a trip that's all of about 30 yards from Ed's hangar. The Mooney doesn't steer quite as tightly as a lot of planes, but it was more than sufficient even on the tiny taxiways at Smoketown.
The runup is similar to most other planes in its class - 2000 RPM, mag check, prop, annunciators, etc. It seemed smoother than I'm used to, though. I don't know if that was due to a different engine mount, different wing, or what.
We quickly briefed the takeoff - Rotation speed is supposedly 71 mph, but the plane wants to fly earlier than that, so when it starts getting antsy and jumping around, a light pull gets it right off the ground. Half flaps are used for takeoff; Vy is 83 and the gear must be retracted by 115. After retraction, climb at 25 squared and 101 mph resulted in a respectable 700 fpm or so. It seemed to take a lot longer than "normal" to get to 3,000 MSL, but that's because I'm used to getting about a 600-foot head start in comparison!
After our climbout to the east, we turned to the southeast and then southwest. I enjoyed the scenery for a bit - It's different than I'm used to, with a lot fewer lakes. It also kind of looks like someone took the farmland and scattered random buildings all over, rather than the cities and towns being well-defined. Very pretty in a different way than I'm used to. It was at some point during this time that Ed gave me one of the best compliments on my flying I've gotten in a long time: "I was under the impression that you were a low-time pilot." (I am, with just a hair under 150 hours after the flight.
I dirtied up the bird to do some slow flight. "Mushy" controls on the Mooney feel not unlike your average brand C or brand P bird in normal flight! As a result, I really didn't feel the stall coming, and the left wing decided to stop flying. Ed put in a legful of right rudder to help me correct before telling me an interesting story about getting into a spin during CFI training.
By this time we were in view of the Chesapeake to the south and Wilmington, DE to the east, so we turned back to the northwest to go into LNS for some touch and go's. Gear down below 155, slow to the white arc, add half flaps, keep slowing down, turn final, add the rest of the flaps, and maintain 80 knots all the way down. I had a great landing. Ed assisted on the go, as the Mooney requires some extra attention during the go - For instance, the flaps can't be retracted with one quick motion like on a Cessna (slap the handle up) or a Piper (release the "emergency brake"). The Mooney's flap control is a switch with three positions. The neutral position where the flaps do not move, the "up" position where they will retract all the way (detent keeps the switch in "up") and the "down" position, which you must hold. Since the Mooney uses half flaps for takeoff, you either have to select "up" and monitor the flap indicator and stop the retraction, or let the flaps go full up and hold "down" while monitoring the indicator. I'm sure with practice one could get used to it, but I would not have been able to do touch and go's without Ed's assistance.
After the go, we were switched around to runway 13. Lots of traffic in the pattern today, and the tower controller was quite busy and I had to ask him for landing clearance on final. Another pretty good landing this time. The third time around we were cleared only for a low approach, but we got to watch a jet depart runway 8 underneath us. Cool! Finally, one more good landing at LNS and we headed back to S37.
Ed was originally going to do the landing back at S37 (2400 ft. runway) but apparently felt confident enough after my other landings to let me do it. (Daring soul, he is!) S37 has some obstructions in the approach path, and Ed had me go for 78 on the approach. I had a bit of trouble nailing that speed, varying between 76 and 80 most of the way down. As a result, my landing wasn't as sweet as the other three. I plunked it down early into the flare, but it actually ended up working quite well, putting the wheels down pretty much on the numbers. I didn't even have to get on the brakes much to make a turnoff about 2/3 of the way down the runway (1600 feet?) so I was still pretty happy with it.
Overall, I got two big impressions: The Mooney is a nice, comfortable, fast bird; and Ed is a heck of a nice guy. I had an excellent time! Thanks Ed!
Unfortunately, Ed had to leave as soon as we got back so I didn't get a good shot of us with the plane... Y'all will just have to settle for the one pic of the two of us that my trainee took in flight.
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