Everyone put your stones down... I'm perfectly happy with my beech, but I have a buddy looking for his first plane (and the insurance man doesn't like beech's!)

He has (and I think pretty accurately) defined his mission and planes that will do it well and come up with a short body (prefering the all manual M20C's) to satisfy that mission. Unfortunately he has never even sat in one and is looking to change that! I'm in AZ at KCHD, and wondering if anyone is close and willing to give a ride (in any mooney, preferably a vintage one, and preferably a shortbody...) that is local, and if not someone that is close that I could run him up to you?? Vegas? SoCal?

Thanks in advance for any help, and for any reasons he shouldn't get one (other than back seat space and the fact it is a mooney...), and for anything to look for (i.e. fresh reseals/bladders shock disks etc. I know just enough to be scary with mooneys.

BRandon

Forget the Mooney.

Change insurance agents. We have some right here on BT.

What he said.

Try putting this request on mooneyspace, I promise, they won't bite and there is a lot of collective wisdom there on Mooneys.

There are a few things to look for - a prop hub AD. Lots of diverse opinions about whether reseals or bladders are better - me, I'm all about the bladder, especially now that they have bladders that preserve the full amount of usable fuel. You've already hit on an opinion of electric versus manual gear. As a weak little girling, I prefer the switch myself.

I would go with a J over a C, personally, but you can look at my picture over there. He should definitely sit in both and see the difference - the J's are a lot newer airplane and they are pretty similarly priced (maybe within $10-20k) of a similarly equipped C, E or F.

Not to restart the Mooney v. Bo argument, but they are different classes of plane. If we had more money, we'd have a Bo - they are faster, less fuel efficient, more comfortable. You get what you pay for (and I mean reoccuring as well as purchase cost). You can get a GOOD M20C for $40-60k. Even if you can find a GOOD older model Bo for that, you are going to burn at least a few more gallons of fuel per hour for the same ground speed, or even a few more gallons for even faster.

Make sure he does a prebuy with someone who knows Mooneys, but that should be obvious for any airplane type. Also, make sure he does good transition training with a Mooney instructor, airspeed on landing is critical and many pilots are taught or become sloppy with landing airspeed and a Mooney is not as forgiving here as many other GA planes (though many Mooney pilots do get away with sloppiness, they use a LOT of runway).

However, factor in with the Mooney factory being out of business, parts are becoming a bigger problem, bringing Mooney maintenance in line with Bo. That would be my number one biggest concern buying a Mooney right now, though the factory is making parts, its a long lead time issue.

Is he only looking for the manual gear M20C models? I think he will find the prices for all the pre 201 models to be nearly the same (long or short bodies). Not too many of those older models running around, so he may have a difficult time to find one. Maybe he should just find a potential purchase candidate and try it.

Not sure if he is set on a model per se. I will suggest all above suggestions. Still, if you know any mooney people that can take him for a ride I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks for the quick and helpful responses.

Brandon

out of curiosity, you say that his mission is well and accurately defined. Could you share what that mission is? That way he can probably have his options already determined in case he doesn't like the feel of the Mooney.

Bill Beach - N6699S

I'll second the recommendation to have him come over to Mooneyspace with a ride request and I'm sure someone in your neighborhood will be happy to oblige!

A friend of mine has 2 short body mooneys. One is a all-manual '67 or so, the other one is from '74 and has electrical gear (and I believe flaps). They are very different aircraft. One is vintage mooney weirdness with scattershot panel, this weird 'allways on' wing leveler, proprietary instruments, hydraulic flaps, proprietary shitty audio wiring etc. The other one is a nice little plane that is fast for the amount of fuel it burns. Both are cramped and loud and held together by hundreds of drywall screws. Unless your mechanic has some extra articulations in his arms, he will curse you and all of your descendants.
Your friend really needs to ride left seat in an all-manual C before he buys into the propaganda that infests mooneyspace about them being the holy grail of mooneydom.
If I ever have a business need for a plane to carry me and a briefcase for long distances, it'll be a Bravo or Ovation with fiki-TKS, but those are a whole different kettle of fish from the short-bodies.

I need to get more accurate info from him...

But my understanding is that he is looking for a low acquisition cost, as reasonable as possible of maint costs...

While: carrying 2 ppl+ bags, and as quickly as prudent to get 300-500 miles on average. (But with per hour costs low enough that he can put holes in clouds).

I suggested a Comanche, m20j, and a/b debonair. He's been reading and came back with the short body. I will hopefully chat with him more this week, but I think it would be helpful wherever he ends up to take a ride. I'll try mooneyspace if nothing comes of this and a local plea.

Brandon

What has he been flying? Maybe an arrow is more economical or even a Sierra?

A M20C burns more fuel than an M20J and the all of the other costs on a 1965 model airplane are the same or more than the 1977+ M20J. In essence, you pay an extra 20 grand and get a ten year newer airplane that is hella faster, burls less fuel per mile,and had modern systems and panel. Over 5 years I would wager the total cost is the same and the extra 15-18 knots were free as well as the 11" of fuselage.

I like Mooneys.

My dad had one for a while when us kids were really small. I've got a few hours in them, and a friend has one now. I like the manual gear.

For the mission described, two people plus bags, a short-cabin Mooney seems ideal.

I'd much rather have the Mooney than an Arrow or Sierra. Good speed with minimal fuel.

I'm 6'-1", and only fit in the back if I sit on one side with my feet on the other, so you will never fit four adults. The biggest drawback about Mooneys is the difficulty in maintaining them. Everything is very tightly packed under the cowl, so even simple jobs may have more billed hours of labor. The Beechcraft engineers were far more thoughtful of the mechanics that would be maintaining the airplanes once they left the factory.

Hmmmm......... Good point.

Then there is re-sale value. When I briefly considered a Mooney, I put a high preference on either 201s or earlier airplanes that had the 201-style windshield and cowling.

I factored in the cost of upgrading to the 201 style to any of the short-cabin airplanes which interested me.