When we moved from Canada to the U.S. in 1967, I told my wife that I was going to learn to fly and that my mind was made up I wanted to buy a Mooney as soon as we could afford it. I had done alot of reading of pilot reports and felt that the Mooney aircraft was the best buy on the market.

I started taking lessons in August 1967 on a limited basis and in 1969 I received my pilots license.

In 1972, we had sufficient money saved for the down payment and the bank for whom I worked had approved our loan. Now the search began. I had settled on what I wanted, a 1965 Mooney Mark 21. I should mention I was working on obtaining my U.S. Citizenship. At the time you had to be a citizen to own an aircraft.

Also, at this time the Mooney Factory was shut down and we had the gas shortage.

The very first Mooney we looked at and would have purchased, was a 1965 Mark 21 located at Brackett Field in Pomona but we could not agree on a price - he wanted $10,500. and I was willing to pay $10,000. Three weeks went by and somebody paid him his asking price. So now began an almost years search. We toured the airports in Southern California, we found some Mooneys but they did not measure up. In September 1973 we happened to stop at Torrance airport where I learned to fly and sitting on the ramp was N6829N. Asking price $14,500. This was more than we thought we could afford, so we just looked at it and left. About three weeks later, we stopped by and N6829N was still there, we looked at it again and then the salesman came by. He stated that if we took the airplane now, they would reduce the price to $13,200. We accepted provided we get a flight in the airplane, a fresh annual, and the airplane had to pass a pre-purchase inspection at Santa Paula. When the aircraft was delivered to Santa Paula, the mechanic who was to do the pre-buy, stated as 29N taxied in was that we would buy it. The mechanic, Deck Kelly, was considered a guru on Mooney aircraft.

You are probably wondering why the plane had to be delivered - I had no Mooney time, I only had 104 flying hours - all in Cessna 150's and Cessna 172's.

So on October 23, 1973, 29N became our airplane. Information on 29N at the time of purchase -

• 110th Mooney Statesman manufactured in 1968.
• 4-10-68 date of manufacture.
• 1267 total airframe hours.
• 267 S.M.O.H.
• 2 previous owners:
• a contractor
• a Rental car company

Mooney Aircraft manufactured approximately 190 M20G's in a production run of three years. Most were made in 1968, with only 20 in 1969, and 6 in 1970. The Statesman differs from the 1968 M20C (Ranger) in that it has the cabin stretched by about 8 inches, a retractable step, and dorsal fin. The '68 models came with the manual gear and hydraulic flaps. In '69 and '70 the gear and flaps were electric.

When we purchased the airplane, we had to register it in a friend's name since I was not yet a citizen. On December 7, 1973 I became a citizen. The Judge stated I should have no difficulty in remembering the date I became a citizen.

In the years of ownership, we have made at least 40 trips to Canada, 1 to MN, 4 or 5 to TX, 1 to Branson , MO, several to Denver, CO, and 1 to Tulsa, OK -to have the wing leveler worked on at the factory. With the exception of 2 occasions we have experienced no mechanical difficulties in our cross country flying. The 1st was a problem with the regulator on a return flight from Texas. In fact, I have had 2 other occasions when the regulators have gone bad - after it was replaced with a new model, I have had no further problems. The other time I accidently left the master switch on for 2 days and it "fried" the 70 amp. circuit breaker.

In 1988 I replaced the old Mark 12A radio with a King KX 155, along with a KMA 24 audio panel, KI 209 with glideslope, and a Sigtronics 4 place inter-com. A 2001 11Tomorrow GPS was added in 1994. In 2001 a Garmin GTX 327 Transponder replaced the old Genave.

1993 the aircraft was repainted by Santa Paula Aircraft Painting. The aircraft was painted exactly as it came out of the factory.

We attended the MAPA flyin in Kerrville, Texas in the fall of '93 and entered our Mooney in the beauty contest. We won the "best of series". I am a charter member of MAPA #241.We also attended the 1st MAPA flyin in 1974, and three or four since then.

In 2003 with the engine time around 1960 hours SMOH, I felt it was time to either overhaul the engine or get a factory re-manufacture. The existing engine was running fine and the compression was 78/80, 78/80, 78/80, 79/80. A lot of feed back was why not continue to fly with it. I am a worrier and with the cross country flying we do, I just did not want to get somewhere and the engine go "south" on me. After much number crunching, I decided to go with a factory re-man. I ended up going with Air Power out of Arlington TX. I was impressed with this company, the whole transaction went very smoothly and would recommend them to anyone who was considering a factory overhaul or a factory re-man. There was a problem with the alternator and within 2 days I had a new one delivered to my residence. They paid my mechanic to install the new alternator. I also had everything fire wall foward done. The new engine runs very smooth - my old one always ran a little rough.

We have thoroughly enjoyed 29N and have found it to be a very reliable aircraft. It performs as stated in the P.O.H. We show our Mooney on the first Sunday of every month at athe Santa Paula Airport. All aircraft shown are 35 years old or older. We are always receiving compliments on the airplane. After all, I don't think there is a better looking airplane on the ramp than a Mooney, of course, I may be a little prejudiced.

Don and Evelyn Bourne
April 2005