That is what I remember......
Hangar Queen Mooneys
- Thread starter steingar
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That is what I remember......
JHW
En-Route
Dont forget the part about the seller trying to give him some instruction on how the fuel selector operated, but denver couldnt be bothered and decided to leave and launch over water on his first flight. I suspect maybe he planned to reach back and use his jack daniels bottle to tap the fuel selector.
Jimmy cooper
En-Route
IIRC.... Denver's estate sued the manufacturer of the valve, the company who sold the valve ( Aircraft Spruce, Wicks )?? and the builder and any one else withing 1000 miles of the plane.... And won a few million in an out of court settlement........
Very interesting.....about the "defective" valve. Where is this shown to be true. Also quite possible the valve company immed. Declared bankruptcy to avoid paying, if true. It usually happens this way.
hindsight2020
Final Approach
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hindsight2020
The valve was NOT defective .....but had deeper pockets then the builder...
And that's why we can't have nice things in GA.....
drapo
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PDrapeau
Funny, back in 2010, I almost bought a Tiger from Texas. My mechanic told me he wouldn't work on it and that I should spend my money on something else.
I then had a choice between Arrows and Mooneys and he told me to go for the Mooney, did the pre-buy and has been working on it ever since!
Different strokes for different folks!
drapo
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PDrapeau
Now you know why he wanted you to buy a Mooney...
Seriously, welcome and enjoy, nothing wrong with Mooneys.
colojo
Line Up and Wait
I've owned two turbo Mooneys in the past 15 years and this is utter nonsense.
bnt83
Final Approach
Wait till its about in about the same condition a lot of M20C are now. It'll be parked next to a turbo skymaster outdoors with weeds growing up through the landing gears.
LevelWing
Pre-takeoff checklist
I have an M20C currently and have no issues with it, nor does my mechanic. It is tight in there for sure, but not to the point where I have a larger bill from the mechanic due to more time spent working on it.
Jimmy cooper
En-Route
Amazing facts on this site! I've flown Mooneys for fourty years. The mechanics who worked on them admitted access to the engine was tight but they were a well built airplane. Easy to fly, fast , good looking . I agree that a lot of what's given as " fact" about them is utter nonsense. They were very popular for the reasons I stated and still are. In the sixtys and seventys, into the eightys , lots of them flying. If you flew in the seventys say, compared to today, GA is indeed dead. If they are sitting then they probably have been flown out, or the owner can't stand the expense. If their still decent, they are in a hangar.
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Jimmy cooper
En-Route
Absurd. Where is the article explaining this lawsuit?! There were witnesses. The line boy offered to fill him up. He was a very good pilot with over 2000 hours , had flown a Pitts and a Christian eagle quite a bit, and knew better than to take off with little fuel. He was not drinking at the time and was found to have no alcohol in his blood. Lots of people have flown with an expired medical so that's bogus ( as henning already mentioned) it was carelessness. Plain and simple.
hindsight2020
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My reply was not in reference to Denver, it was in reference to the valve manufacturer getting sued because it had deeper pockets than the builder. Thence there real reason why costs are the way they are and thus why we cannot, after all, have nice things in GA...
Jimmy cooper
En-Route
Waiting for some proof that there actually was a lawsuit and that denvers family won it. The main reason GA is dying is JOBS and the lack thereof. The middle class supported cessna and Piper. The middle class jobs are gone, won't be back, neither will GA. That's why people are flying old worn out aircraft and paying too much money for them.
Jimmy cooper;1821920[B said:
Google it.........
It happened.....
Dav8or
Final Approach
What in the world are you talking about?? I can find pictures of just about any brand and type of plane with weeds growing up through it.
In what regards? As far as hangar queen issues, they are pretty much common across all types.
drotto
Cleared for Takeoff
As far as actually flying one.
This is a subject of great debate.
They're both fine planes, pick the one that makes you smile more, or the one your wife prefers if married. Either one serves the same mission and does a great job at it. The primary difference I notice flying them is the seating position in the Mooney is lower to the floor, and since I had lower back surgery, I become uncomfortable in that position after a while, where as the seating position in the Beech I have flown literally coast to coast with no discomfort in those regards. The other thing I notice is that the control forces required in the Mooney are heavier than the Beech. This is neither positive or negative in the overall, but I find that hand flying in IMC in the Beech more work than in the Mooney and trim being more critical, but having fun zipping around doing maneuvers is more fun in the Beech.As far as cost goes, in the long term, there is no significant difference, that's more an issue of what condition you get it in and luck. If you start with comparable condition, at the end of 10 years /1000 hrs, the difference in what you spend will be a rounding error.
If I was getting an F33, I would want an F-33C.
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Hank S
En-Route
In the Bo, the front seats are on top of the wing spar, and you sit in it like a kitchen chair.
Mooney front seats are in front of the spar, and you sit low to the floor like in my convertible Jaguar. There's no room to put anything under the seats.
The Bo generally goes a little faster, depending on which models you're comparing, but it will use more fuel, every hour and every mile. Interior room of an F33 is quite similar to an M20-F. Don't recall baggage area size, but the Bo's door is low to the floor, making it hard to load to the ceiling; the Mooney baggage door is high, and it's easy to stack to the ceiling when needed.
Flight wise, I've flown in an F33, but have only flown an A36, and that's a very unfair comparison to my M20-C.
Mooney front seats are in front of the spar, and you sit low to the floor like in my convertible Jaguar. There's no room to put anything under the seats.
The Bo generally goes a little faster, depending on which models you're comparing, but it will use more fuel, every hour and every mile. Interior room of an F33 is quite similar to an M20-F. Don't recall baggage area size, but the Bo's door is low to the floor, making it hard to load to the ceiling; the Mooney baggage door is high, and it's easy to stack to the ceiling when needed.
Flight wise, I've flown in an F33, but have only flown an A36, and that's a very unfair comparison to my M20-C.
Jimmy cooper
En-Route
I think both are great aircraft. I have very little time flying a bonanza but it was a lot of fun. I was around Mooneys more simply because there were several on my home field and the owners raved about them.
There you go, there's a reason to prefer one over the other. Al Mooney was a tall guy and designed the plane for tall guys to fit.
