What do you think about this plane (Old wood wing Mooney)?

Tom-D said:
They quit making them for a reason.
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I've read the rudder was problematic but per AD, all the airworthy ones should have been replaced. I havent read any negative about the wood wing . S'posed to be smoother in turbulence and a few knots faster. This ones wings were rebuild in 2005 which does have me wondering why. What reason(s) did they quit making them for?
 
bartmc said:
I've read the rudder was problematic but per AD, all the airworthy ones should have been replaced. I havent read any negative about the wood wing . S'posed to be smoother in turbulence and a few knots faster. This ones wings were rebuild in 2005 which does have me wondering why. What reason(s) did they quit making them for?
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It is a wooden spar, with a metal skin, they were delaminating and couldn't be inspected well.
 
I had always assumed that they changed to all-aluminum simply because of marketability and ease of production.

Shows what assuming gets you...
 
Maybe look for a Viking?


:D
 
my understanding has been that they switched to metal because they all the old guys who knew how to work with wood were retiring. Oh, now I looked at the ad. The wing was done by Mark Wiebe. I wouldn't worry about it at all.
 
Mooney (as noted above) had several of their veteran woodworkers retire, and, at the same time it was thought that to be a serious airplane, you needed to be all metal. These old wings are really beautifully constructed, are all wood (no metal skin as was stated above), have a plywood skin which is then cloth covered. They were so low drag that they lost between 5 and 8 mph when they went to the metal wing. The only real downside these days is that you really need an A&P that knows wood airplanes, and those (like the craftsmen that built them) are becoming scarce. The one listed in that ad actually caught fire and burned early in it's life and then was rebuilt (oh, how I love Google).
 
this plane already has wings that have been rebuilt by well known wood wing mooney experts. as long as you don't break anything you'll be fine. and if you do break something the plane will probably be totalled anyway. in the meantime you'll have a very nice riding, fast, cheap airplane.
 
Well, it's just a small detour out of my way for a trip I'll be making in a few weeks anyway, can't hurt to look.
 
I think they are great planes, I'm looking at one myself, since I am in need of an economical family truckster (no baby seat in my VariEze). That said, I also volunteer at an air museum, so I have the added luxury of being surrounded by lots of expertise in old flying things, and have free labor when needed (we all pitch in on each other's personal projects). Since the wing was done by a known mooney master, that shouldn't be much of a concern. I would take a good look at the fuselage tubing really well for corrosion. They riveted the aluminum skins right to the fuse tubes and it is not unheard of for the tubes under the pilot side window to corrode from water making it past those rivets. Have an experienced Mooney mechanic do a good pre-buy for you...

It looks to me like the thing in the most danger around that airplane would be my checkbook!
 
I wonder if this was the Mooney I looked at about 1990 in the Wichita/Lake Afton area. It had suffered thru a hangar fire and had survived quite well considering the odds-

misbehaved: Does this sound like the one you found on Google- datewise?

If so, then I can speak to the extent of the damage- I was going to have Mark do the work had I bought it then- did a TriPacer instead.
 
Hi Dave,

The report that I had run across said that it landed gear up which started a fire (I found it a month or so ago when this plane first appeared on Craigslist), but not I'm looking for it and can't find it. At one time I went through the list of M20s and googled them all. Now I'm wondering if I got two of them mixed up, because that N Number isn't bringing up any accidents at all...
 
I heard there are exceptions to gear ups triggering an NTSB investigation. Anyone?
 
Jaybird180 said:
I heard there are exceptions to gear ups triggering an NTSB investigation. Anyone?
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I've been around my fair share (never the cause though:wink2: )

NTSB never got involved. FAA showed up, looked at the damage to the planes and assigned remedial training as they saw fit and that was the end of it.
 
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