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Thread: Mooney M20B

  1. #11
    Chad Jensen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by vash View Post
    Would you say that the F had more back seat leg room?
    Yes it does...several inches more leg room.
    Chad Jensen
    EAA #755575

  2. #12
    kscessnadriver's Avatar
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    I'm a bigger guy (6'1, 240ish) and I fit in a M20B fine. It was a nice flying airplane, flew it just to get a bit of Mooney time. Simple to fly, but really it should be a 2 place with a big baggage area. Gear system was simple, with the manual johnson bar.
    KSCessnaDriver
    ATP MEL, Commercial Lighter Than Air-Airship, SEL, CFI/CFII
    Private SES

  3. #13
    Chad Jensen's Avatar
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    Oh yeah, there is loads of room up front in any Mooney for tall folks!
    Chad Jensen
    EAA #755575

  4. #14

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    As a past owner of an M20B, I can tell you that I loved the bird. It was a mite close in the cockpit (I am over 6' and 240#), but that is how the Mooney gets its speed - low frontal area. It is the simplest complex airplane out there to maintain - essentially, if the gear moves, it is adjusted properly. No hydraulics to worry about. Gear retraction time is essentially instantaneous. One thing - the manuals I read say not to weight the tail - they say to support the engine instead. What I did was to use an engine hoist and attach to the lift lug on the engine (which can be a challenge - it is much smaller than standard, due to the close cowling!). Remember - the whole Mooney tail moves for trim. The B model tends to be overlooked in STCs - most start with the C model. Also, the B slips beautifully. I have been told that one should never slip a long-body Mooney as the tail will be blanketed and can stall. Cannot confirm that - I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.Bottom line - if it passes the pre-buy, do it! You will not be disappointed.

  5. #15

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    The J might be thought of as a medium body, but there are no problems with it in a normal slip,at least not that I can remember from my 1000 hours of flying them.
    I would bet $50 that any precaution against slipping is not in the pilot's manual for that plane.
    The B and C are the short body, the F and J longer, and I think the 231 and Ovation, etc are longer still. I only have one short flight in the 231 K so can't write for sure about those.

    Sometimes you hear negative things about Mooney s and they are true, like small back seat leg room, and sometime they are dubious. Consider the source, maybe it comes from a Cessna pilot.

    When I first got my '77 M20 J I stopped at the airport at Delta. The FBO owner said there was no way the J would really go 201 mph. He insisted on having a race with his new C182 R G. Finally we took off and his plane climbed pretty well, but once in level flight the Mooney had no trouble passing. He really had little more to say, but I didn't consider it a personal thing like he seemed to.
    Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 08-08-2013 at 04:40 PM.

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