Back in the early 1970s when I was 16, I began flying out of Fullerton Airport (FUL). I received my pilot's license at 17, and added commercial, instrument, and gyroplane rating when I was 18. This aviation interest was funded by working part-time jobs, including one at the FBO at FUL.

At 19, I started working for the FAA as an air-traffic controller. A couple years later, Anita and I married and soon decided to stop flying in an effort to save for buying a home, then for doing all the responsible, respectable, logical things of life.

Fast forward 25 years...

With my retirement quickly approaching and our daughters in high school and college, Anita encouraged me to start flying again. In 2002 in the San Diego area, I got current and was once again hooked on flying. I rented and was frequently frustrated with the aircraft condition, maintenance, and availability.

The benefits of airplane ownership intrigued us, especially since Anitas shared enthusiasm and interest in aviation made flying a great adventure for both of us. I briefly considered building the kit-built RV, but liability issues nixed that idea along with the fact that it was a two-seater and would take at least two years to build the plane; we wanted to be flying! The Grumman we rented was nice, but did not compare to the Mooney. I logged hours on a rental Mooney as we searched for a Mooney to purchase.

After a few months of researching and looking at several planes for sale, I found our 1990 Mooney 201 in Olathe (home of Garmin), Kansas. Original owner, always hangared, and with only 100 hours on a factory overhaul. The owner had recently questioned his age and flying ability, concluding that it was time to hang up his wings. In March 2004, we bought the plane, though in some ways it felt more like an expensive adoption!

Shortly thereafter, we bribed---ahhh, er---"paid" Mooney for factory approval to increase the gross weight to 2900. Now we legally have much more weight leeway when flying with our daughters (or a couple of friends) and a little baggage.

A year before we purchased our plane, we put our name on several waiting lists for hangars. Timing was great: we got our hangar at Ramona Airport RNM right at the same time we bought the plane. Its a hassle-free 20-minute drive from our home near the San Diego Wild Animal Park to RNM, making it easy to stick to our tenet of flying early in the day to get to our destination before noon.

Some of our adventures have included flying to Bryce Canyon National Park, the Rockies in Colorado, Washington state San Juan Islands (Roche Harbor), Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for AirVenture 2005, visits to friends in Idaho and our daughter at graduate school in Oregon, and a sojourn to Texas which included a tour of the Mooney factory where it all began and, thankfully, continues to be. Our wanna-fly destinations include going south to Mexico, north to Alaska, meandering over to the East Coast where our younger daughter is in college, and simply flying around.

In the near future, we'd like to upgrade our avionics and freshen-up the interior plastic panels.

Closer to home, the Mooney fly-ins have introduced us to a variety of people from different backgrounds and professions, but all of whom share the same love and excitement for their Mooneys. We've learned a lot from the group at the fun fly-ins. Life is great flying a Mooney!

Larry and Anita Palmer
April 2006