Thinking about buying a Mooney

In article , Dude wrote:
They are not that small at all. That's a big myth in many ways. Don't
write them off as small without sitting in one to see how well it fits you.
If you are long legged, it can be a good choice (Mooney's have LONG seat
rails that can turn it into a 3 seater if the pilot is tall enough).

My main beef with the Mooney (I've not got that many hours in them, and
I've been in the older manual gear ones as well as a 1994 or thereabouts
newer model) is that the forward visibility was terrible. The panel
seems very high, and the windscreen very small. The older one felt
almost 'tank slit' like. Although the physical width of the Mooney cabin
is the same as a Bonanza, the Bonanza felt much bigger, probably because
I could see out of it (I have long legs and a short body, maybe people
with short legs and a long body don't have this problem).

I'm not keen on Pipers for much the same reason
(especially the Cherokee Six - the one I've been
in may have just had an over inflated nose-strut, but that huge long
nose combined with a slight nose up attitude on the ground meant that
the view ahead was more like in a tailwheel plane than a nosedragger).
The Lance has to be the worst though - with that huge long nose, not
only is the forward visibility crap, but the plane looks ugly and
misproportioned too.

As with anything - the best thing to do is to try the plane on for size.
I found the Mooney a great flying plane, but due to the rather poor
outward visibility, if I had that kind of money I'd be buying a Bonanza
instead.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Dylan Smith wrote:

My main beef with the Mooney (I've not got that many hours in them, and
I've been in the older manual gear ones as well as a 1994 or thereabouts
newer model) is that the forward visibility was terrible. The panel
seems very high, and the windscreen very small. The older one felt
almost 'tank slit' like.

Did you have the seat pulled forward so you could press the rudder pedals to
full deflection? I find pulling the seat forward gives you a great angle of
vision because you're so close to the windscreen. OTOH, some people find it
uncomfortable -because- they're so close to the windscreen. Claustrophobia, you
know.

if I had that kind of money I'd be buying a Bonanza instead.

If I had Bonanza money, I'd fly a Bonanza, too. Mooney and Bonanza are not the
same kind of money.

Dave