Thinking about buying a Mooney

It's like driving a sports car, tight fitting and very responsive, so
be ready for that. Check your mission profile before deciding on the
airplane of your dreams. Not every aircraft is for everyone or their
purposes.

On Mon, 09 Aug 2004 12:36:00 GMT, David Megginson
wrote:

Robert Bates wrote:

Have you flown one? When I was looking for an airplane I flew a couple of
the C models because I had always heard how fast and efficient they were.
They seem unstable in roll- the first one I thought was just that particular
airplane but the second one was too.

For "unstable", substitute "responsive". A Cessna 172 or 182 has a lot of
roll damping because of hull effect, and a Cherokee has even more because of
dihedral -- that makes them very easy planes to fly, even in IMC (I love my
Warrior as an IMC platform), but it also makes them sluggish and
unresponsive for maneuvering, and in the case of dihedral, it adds drag as
well (for the 172/182, it's the struts that add the drag).

From what I understand (not having flown one), the Mooney has much less
roll damping than brands P and C, and it also uses rods rather than cables
for the ailerons so that they respond instantly to your yoke inputs (without
having to take up slack in cables first). You're also flying faster than a
PA-28, 172, or 182, so there's a higher dynamic pressure acting on the
ailerons for a plane about the same size and weight. It's not surprising
you'd find it very jumpy in the roll.


All the best,


David