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Much to my parent's chagrin at the time, I'd been "crazy about airplanes" since I was around 5 years old. Growing up next to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, and the worlds largest aircraft bone yard, probably didn't help the situation much. Whenever we heard an airplane flying nearby, everyone knew to clear the path to the door, because "Dale was coming through!" When I was 13, I joined the Civil Air Patrol and eventually got my first airplane ride, in a Piper Tri-Pacer. I even won the foot race with the other two cadets, to get the right front seat! I got a second flight in a Cessna 170 about a year later.
After a 5 year dry spell in flying (although people said that I had wings on my '67 Chevelle SS 396) I joined the Army and became an Attack Helicopter Crew Chief! Once through training and assigned to the 101st Airborne at Ft Campbell, KY, I started working on my private at the Post flying club in C-150s and got my ticket Dec 22, 1976, with a check out in a T-41B (Hawk XP) the same day, and departed on my first REAL cross country the following morning heading for Tucson on Christmas leave. That flight, 43 hrs, almost doubled my total flight time! Along the way I managed to get a lot of flight and stick time in AH-1G Cobras, some in Jet Rangers and Hueys, as well as lots of time in C-172s and T-41Bs since it was about a 2 hr drive to Nashville, TN for anyone in the unit going on leave, or about 30 minutes by air. I made lots of trips!
Once out of the military and back home in Tucson, I progressed through Cherokees, Tomahawks (Yes, I'm still alive) AA-1As, AA-5s, -5As, -5Bs, I got into tail draggers when my wife "insisted" that I "Buy" an airplane rather than consider "building" one, and so was the proud owner of a 1951 Cessna 140A which I flew for three years. Back to renting with C-120s, more C-140s, Luscombe 8a, Aeronca Champs, Citabrias and J-3 Cubs, along with the Diamond Katana and a Kitfox.
My introduction to Mooneys came about when I was trying to find something which could give me some perspective before flying a new custom homebuilt! I figured the Mooney sitting so low to the ground, along with pushrod controls, the speed and power ratio, plus landing gear style (I had designed the homebuilt landing gear based on the Mooney trailing link, rubber donut design),would give me a better feel for the expected handling and "close to the ground" perception in the homebuilt.
About a year later I ran across an ad for a 1968 M20G which had been out of annual for 12 years, and when a friend encouraged me to 'check it out', I figured What the Hell... When I first drove up to N6791N, my very first thought was "I just drove 5-1/2 hrs to look at this piece of *hit?" But I figured I was there already so why not at least look at it? The more I looked, the more I liked it. It needed A LOT of attention, but it was all there, no damage that I could find, and other than not having run for 12 years, everything seemed to work! I struck a deal for the plane and then proceeded to spend just two weekends cleaning, servicing, inspecting and testing, with about 5 hours of engine ground runs and taxi testing, before getting a ferry permit and flying it home on the third weekend! I couldn't have asked for a better, non-eventful flight from CCB to CHD. Three hours, gear down (it hadn't been retracted in 12 years either!) in formation with a buddy in a Musketeer had me excited, nervous, and elated, until we got to Chandler and the tower had my friend make a straight in and me do a downwind entry. As I dropped back and Sam pulled ahead, my vision shifted from the side windows to the windshield and I realized just how bad the windshield actually was! Everything worked out alright, and I actually had a very decent landing, but once I parked and shutdown, it took me about five minutes before I calmed down enough to crawl out of the plane!
I honestly thought (at the time) that I would have the plane finished and flying within 9 months to a year! Three years later, to the day of my ferry flight, N6791N made her first flight after an extensive refurbishment. That three years included lots of learning about Mooneys and their special needs and procedures, along with gutting the interior to bare metal to allow an extensive inspection of the steel tube cockpit structure, cleaning, epoxy primer, new S/B insulation, soundproofing, all new antenna coax cables, removing tons of old unused wiring, a custom 201-ish instrument panel, added IFR GPS, intercom Electric trim for ailerons and elevator, rebuilt seats with leather covering, repaired and vinyl covered side panels and royalite, new carpet and a JPI EDM-800 engine analyzer.
Outside, I removed all three landing gear assemblies for complete overhaul, overhaul of the flap pump and actuator, all new fuel and hydraulic hoses, installed most of the popular "speed mods" such as flap and aileron gap seals, dorsal fin and horizontal stab gap seal, leading edge to fuselage fairing, cowl closure, brake rotation and wheel well closeouts. I did not go with the 201 windshield, being a mechanic, and doing my own maintenance, I wanted to keep the most access possible to the instrument panel and aft firewall area, but I installed a 1/4" windshield, and 3/16th" side windows.
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