Spinning off of "BEST thread drift, EVER!" I am curious about theses airplanes. What are they like to fly? Are parts available? How much is in common with the M20 series? I don't see any for sale on the popular websites.

Saw one at OSH this year.

T I N Y.

The guy at OHS had flown his from San Francisco. I was thinking to my self "wow, what a trooper"

Best,
Rich

Looks like a ton of fun

My friend’s dad had a Mooney Mite many years ago. He liked it. When it came time to sell, a fellow flew up to Wisconsin in his jet, with a co-pilot. He took the Mite up for a test fly and after a few minutes radioed back to the co-pilot “Pay the man, I am heading home”. The co-pilot peeled off a wad of cash for the full asking price, handed it to my buddy’s dad, fired up the jet and flew away.

I do believe they had wood wing spars, which would be a consideration.

We had one on the field when I was a kid. IIRC; wood & fabric. To my knowledge, no parts shared with the M20's.

In the 1970's Mooney sold the TC ... and the airplane was kit'd. Dunno if any homebuilt Mites were every completed.

A few years ago we had one in the community hangar @ ONZ, owned by a woman who flew for either NWA or ABX.

http://www.mooneymite.com/overview.htm

The entire wing and the aft fuselage (from behind the pilot seat) is wood. The tail and the front half of the fuselage is tubing. Unlike most wood airplanes, the Mite used stressed skin monocoque construction. With the exception of the cabin and cowl that is aluminium skin, the entire aircraft is fabric covered.

As with any wood airplane, be it a Viking or an early wood wing M20, wood condition is a major concern. A plugged drain hole can render the aircraft unairworthy in short order.

There are no common parts with the later models, but the M20 series shares the same basic design: Trailing ling landing gear with rubber biscuit shock absorbers, entire tail moves for pitch trim, similar flap/aileron arrangement as well as similar flight characteristics as the later models.

One of the more interesting features is the flap system is part of the pitch trim system, the last half of the trim (nose up) deploys the flaps as well as moves the tail. Works very well, you can pull the power and transition from cruise to approach without ever touching the stick. Pretty slick, just slowly crank the trim, the plane will be stabilized at about 70-75 by the time the flaps are fully extended.

Not sure if these are still for sale but they have three here for sale

http://www.mooneymite.com/sales.htm#Mites%20for%20Sale

Local pilot has two of them.
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... 8&PageNo=1

I've seen them many times over the years in his hangar... but seldom seen them fly.
Looks like a lot of fun.

Leldon

Similar to a Gulfstream, although the other way around, flaps move the tailplane

I hear it's the best airplane for married pilot couples. And it has no tie down rings. They used to call it the Texas Messerschmitt.

Whooooaaaaaa big boy. Wait your turn

I was supposed to deliver one after an annual inspection. About 1970 in Opa Locka,FL. I flew it once...sort of like being in a model airplane. It had a Beech-Roby adjustable pitch prop. A small crank with a cable moved a gear to change pitch. Fun with the canopy back, carefully turn with your arms. When you land, it feels like you are on your butt on the runway.

In the annual, they found wood rot in the spar (now they tell me!) sale canceled.

Jeff ( the termites must have held hands)

There used to be (maybe still is) a shop in the Houston area that specialized in rebuilding them.

Another interesting design feature was the gear warning. It was a vacuum powered auto windshield wiper. When you throttled back vacuum increased and operated the wiper which waived in front of the pilot letting him know to lower the gear.

If I remember the story correctly, the wig-wag gear warning system was the result of Al Mooney making a gear-up landing in front of a potential customer.....

I finally escaped the frosty North for the season. Pulled the planes out of summer storage and washed off the desert dust, all set for $100 hamburger runs!

You must have the best Mooney Mite today!