Ben Favrholdt's first Mite
Ben still has fond memories of his first Mooney Mite....
N4092 was an LA model, serial #127, which Ben flew for eleven years. It was fully IFR equipped, including an HSI and alternator. He used to fly it IFR in the LA area, where the controllers always gave him special treatment because they had never worked an IFR equipped Mite before. [A Mite is virtually invisible to radar].
N4092 was lost in a fire at Porterville, California in June, 1980 when a backfire from the engine of another airplane, operated by a careless pilot, caused the dry grass in the tie down area to ignite.
|
 |
The engine was not damaged in the fire and is now in Tony Terrigno's Mite, N120C. It was built in 1948 and still going strong. Ben says he prefers the LA model over the M-18C that he now has, mainly because the Lycoming O-145-B engine is much smoother running than the Continental, although the A65 is more powerful.
1999-12-08