After a long hiatus, once again, I spread my wings and soared through the air. Hot and Humid air but air none the less.  Today was the first flight in the mighty Mooney M20J.  And it was strange but not for the reasons you may think…. or maybe you do.

I haven’t flown in quite a while.  The last time I slipped the bonds of earth was February 7, 2020.  Exactly 120 days between flights.  To be passenger current, you must log 3 landings in the last 90 days…. so way out of currency there. Also, our flying club rules state that if you haven’t flown in 90 days, you must be checkout out by a club flight instructor.

And ……  I am due for my flying club annual and need an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC).  So  as you can see, I am not current at a the moment.  The only thing that I have good right now is my medical… which is actually due for renewal in August.

So this new Airplane checkout is more than just checking out in a new aircraft.  Going to Knock out my 90 day currency, Aircraft Checkout, IPC, and club annual all in these flights.  It sounds like a lot but it is all pretty straight forward…. a club annual pretty much takes care of all of it, including the written test needed to checkout in a new bird.

However, it is strange because I am performing all of these checkout maneuvers in a new aircraft and pretty rusty after 120 days of not flying.  I have muscle memory for the Cessna aircraft but none really for the Mooney.  New flows, new checklists, more gadgets, new prop controls and landing gear that is not welded down.

To be honest though, thanks to my awesome flight instructor, it was really just like any other flight.  Other than mucking up my flow check a few times in the pattern, I felt I did pretty well all things considered.

So what did we cover in this flight?

  • Standard takeoff
  • Climb
  • Cruise
  • Descents
  • Steep Turns
  • Stall series
  • Autopilot
  • Leaning/Enriching strategies using the new onboard management systems
  • Short/Soft landings
  • Emergency procedures
  • And emergency manually lowering of the landing gear

… I’m sure there was more that I am not remembering at the moment.

 

My thoughts on the flight?  Like I said above, need to work on hammering the flow check into my head.  I feel like I am hanging just with the aircraft, not ahead or behind.  I need to get a little more ahead, I think that will come in the next lesson(s) with more IFR practice.  The landings went well, we performed 4 landings in total with flap variations. (half and full flaps)  Honestly, couldn’t tell how much my instructor helped on the controls. One thing that stands out is how heavy the controls are compared to the Cessna’s.  It seems to be the difference in pushrod connections versus cable connections.  I don’t think it’s a huge deal but different.

Overall, I felt like the aircraft was more stable in most phases of flight versus the Cessna’s.  Could have just been the conditions today but I felt like the steep turns, stalls, etc were much smoother.

I look forward to part 2 of the checkout process and the many more lessons that I will have in the mighty Mooney M20J.  For my commercial rating, I need 10 Dual hours in a complex or TAA aircraft.  1.9 are in the books, 8.1 to go!

Mooney M20J – N1068X