Aircraft Information
> Aircraft Make: Mooney Aircraft Model: M20 Nickname: Mooney
> Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Airplane SE Piston
> FAA Category and Class: Airplane Single Engine Land
> Engine Description: single piston
Aircraft Experience
> As of: 11/5/2024
> Number of Hours Flown: 19
> Number of Times Flown: 11
> Other Aircraft Models Associated: M20, M20F, M20E, M20J
First Flown Information
> Sequence First Flown: 14
> Date First Flown: 4/23/1985
> Location First Flown: NAS Moffett Field, CA (KNUQ)
> Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: Navy Moffett Flying Club
Recollections: The Mooney is a great cross country airplane and it handles really well. The company has struggled, shut down a few times but returned. The Mooney’s that I’ve flown have all been the older models, with manual flaps or manual gear or both. These manual/mechanical systems require the pilot to apply a significant amount of force to the control to raise or lower the gear and flaps and this force application often results in the “Mooney bobble”, particularly after takeoff, as the pilot’s attention is drawn away from maintaining pitch attitude to trying to raise the gear/flaps.
The airplane is small inside and, being 6’6″ tall, it was a pretty good squeeze for me. But it was worth it, as the plane was fast and very fuel efficient. It also is unique for it’s “all flying tail”, where the vertical and horizontal tail pivot together when trimming in pitch.
I got checked out at various FBO’s over the year, most recently in 2013 in Seattle but, unfortunately, the owner took it off of lease-back soon after my checkout. This is an airplane I would consider owning for transportation purposes.
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