Originally Posted by Pianorak
Originally Posted by Wrong Stuff
. . . deeply unpopular in the UK - possibly because they have a bad reputation for operation on grass.
Deservedly? Undeservedly? Actually, I am tempted.
The general opinion is that anything up to an M20J is ok on grass. The M20K had the heavier, turbocharged engine which reduced prop clearance too much. After the K they moved to the larger engined long bodied models. You'd have to be a brave person to try one of those on grass.
In reality with the J, the gear doors are very close to the ground and could easily get damaged. You can remove them for grass runway operation, but it's a fag. Personally, I pick destinations with hard runways as although you miss out on some great places, it's not worth the risk of a prop strike. But I know others who are a lot less cautious and are happy operating off grass.
Originally Posted by Pianorak
Originally Posted by Wrong Stuff
. . . but there's no way anyone else is flying it .
In which case yours must be the one I saw at Elstree the other day?
Nope, not me!!
Originally Posted by IO540
There is no free lunch with planes. Everything is a tradeoff against something else.
That's very true. Comparing the TB20 to the Mooney, they're very similar in terms of mission, but the Mooney burns a lot less fuel. However, with the TB20 you get those two large doors which are much more elegant to get in and out of, and a considerably more spacious cabin with enough glass to make a greenhouse.
I've always loved the efficiency of the Mooney. I never think twice about flying somewhere because it's so frugal in terms of fuel burn. And although I've got GAMIs fitted I never bother with LOP operations because the saving in fuel isn't worth losing the 10-20 knots. Against that, the cabin has a bit of a "sports car" feel - although it's well suited to tall people, it's quite narrow and you really feel it in winter if everyone's wearing bulky jackets. For European touring, though, it's difficult to beat.