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Old 26th December 2002 | 02:22
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typhoonpilot
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Joined: Nov 2001
: SLF
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From: Not sure now
Hello Outback Pilot:

I worked for a Mooney dealer in the States while going to College. We had 10 Mooneys for rent divided equally between the 201 and 231. The 201 is one of my favorite G.A. aircraft. It is a great travelling machine with a real sports car feel to it. The posts I read where all good but I wanted to add two things that I emphasized while teaching the aircraft.

1. Airspeed control is the critical element to a successful approach and landing. The Mooney recommended speed needs to be held right on the dot. Some pilots think that plus five knots is okay, in some airplanes it is, but not the Mooney.

2. Point number two involves the prop strike tendnecy. One of the posters mentioned wheel barrowing. That can happen but the really interesting phenomena is increasing amplitude oscillation with the mains on the runway. In one of my first training flights in the 231 I landed with the mains on and was holding the nose off, a technique from another airplane. The nose came down rather firmly and bounced back up, naturally I increased the back pressure on the yoke to counteract. Well, the nose came down again, harder this time and bounced back up yet higher. Usually the third bounce will cause a prop strike since it will be so violent. The reason for this is that the elevator has become totally ineffective due to blockage of airflow across the horizontal stab. The correction for this, if it ever happens, is to add power to get some extra airfow across the elevator thus enabling some control of the pitch.

Good luck in your flying.

Typhoonpilot
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