Who We Are
We feel that it is important for you to know to whom exactly you may be entrusting your favorite Mooney while you are doing business with our organization.
Therefore, rather than just being a voice on the phone, and who (as a broker/dealer) may be operating out of a spare bedroom or cubbyhole office someplace, you should know a little about our personal history and qualifications.
To the man, we truly operate this endeavor because we love Mooneys and have made it our business to learn as much about the fabulous Mooney product line as humanly possible. We also make every effort to appreciate the effort and expense you go to just to bring your Mooney to us, and we strive to make every attempt to treat you just as we would like to be treated.
We emphatically ask that if you ever have any comments or suggestions, please never hesitate to make your feelings known to us. Like they say, if you are happy tell others, if not please tell us! For if you aren't satisfied, our staff has failed and if you don't make us aware, you too share in the responsibility!
My office, e-mail, phone/fax, and hangar is always open to new and better ideas on how to best help you enjoy your Mooney experience. Our goal is to make your flying and owning one of Al, Art, and Ralph's magnificent, efficient and fast, magic carpet creations one of your lives most productive, safest, and enjoyable experiences.
Coy
Coy G. Jacob, President and Founder Jacob Aviation Inc., dba Mooney Mart.
While heralding from a long line of mechanics and mechanical tinkers, Coy's formal education includes two degrees (Marketing Management and Psychology) and his Mooney experience dates back to his college days in Missouri. It was there that he not only managed the college flying club and served as an charter pilot/CFI, but also taught a college course in flying and meteorology. Interestingly, while in college his love of fast cars, motorcycles, boats, and aircraft led to his doing some amateur racing.
He has since amassed flying experiences (or stick time) in everything from hang gliding (via jumping off cliffs), ulta-lights, various tail draggers, to MU2's, and Citations. The vast majority of his 4,000+ hours is (of course) in his favorite -- Mooneys. He holds IFR CFI/BGI license's and also has significant stick time in gliders with a sprinkling of experience in helicopters as well. He served as test pilot for countless Mooney mod STC flight tests, has given numerous seminars on Mooney maintenance and Mod procedures, while being a graduate of the Mooney Factory Service School. Coy has flown in numerous exhibition and organized races and currently holds several official NAI/FAI World Speed Records in Mooneys which still stand.
His business background includes ownership and founding of various unique business which still exist today (mostly now owned by others) such as a boat manufacturing company, a manufactured housing/RV dealership, a coin operated telephone company, several commercial real estate ventures, and (of course) the former Mod Squad and Mod Works. Interestingly, his actual Mooney experiences date back to college CFI days in Missouri when his love of the Mooney brothers' (Al and Art) handiwork caused him to fall in love a certain (then brand new) super fast 1967 M20E.
Note: Not un-romantically, years later when finances allowed, he tracked down this very Mooney and purchased it. It was to a large extent, this very Mooney (N3260F) that served as a test bed (prototype) for the entire Mooney Mod industry as we now know it!
In the past he has served as a Contributing Editor to various highly respected independent consumer orientated magazines such as AVIATION CONSUMER and PRIVATE PILOT, and currently he serves as a prime contributor for MOA's THE MOONEY PILOT Magazine. He specializes as an investigative reporter for such topics as aircraft corrosion and high performance engines, and he does research on various new and innovative products being introduced to the GA marketplace such as: ANR headset technology, oil and fuel additives, new (non-corrosive) paint strippers, the hi-tech pulse technology battery maintenance, emergency/survival equipment, audio gear alert systems, and many other new state of the art Mooney friendly products. Many of the fruits of his flying experiences and subjects of his current MOA and past AVIATION CONSUMER articles and investigative reports can now be found over at MagnaLabs.com, our online store.
Take advantage of his vast Mooney related aviation experiences, and visit his amazing Mooney facility in person.
He also has the only book currently in publication about Mooneys called: The Backwards Tales. It is this illustrated reference book which serves as the backbone of Our well received Mooney Buyers Kit. Besides the care and feeding of Mooneys, his hobbies include target shooting, fast boats and motorcycles (which he has raced), and collecting/restoring vintage GM muscle cars and classic Triumph scooters (as he calls them)! He also has grown to understand (love/hate) computers.
Reflectively, Coy reports one of his favorite things in life is getting in a Mooney which finds itself on a frozen ramp someplace, and getting out just in time to see the perfect tropical sunset after making the textbook squat and squeeker on the numbers of a beach side runway someplace fun!
Cal F. Hensley, Sales And Service Consultant, Pilot And Mooniac.
Cal hails from from central Ohio where he founded, owned, and operated MoJac Inc a successful propane gas trucking company for some 35 years. After selling his trucking business, Cal tired of the depressing and dreary Midwest winters, so he elected to move to our tropical corner of Mooney paradise here in Gulf Front Venice.
Cal certainly qualifies as an experienced aircraft owner as he has owned 5 Mooney aircraft amassing some 2,500+ hours as a Instrument Pilot. Not unlike many Mooniacs and while based in the Midwest, Cal primarily used his aircraft for both business and traveling to warmer winter roosts such as Florida. Cal has owned several of Al and Art's handiwork Mooneys with the current personal Mooney of choice being a highly modified turbo M20K/262. Cal remarks that one of life's greatest pleasures is just knowing that he has his own personal Magic Carpet in his hangar awaiting his every command to whisk him off to wherever his heart's desire directs.
Cal's experience awaits your tapping into his Mooney knowledge as a long time Mooney owner who truly understands how a small to medium business owner can utilize a Mooney to increase business market penetration as well as provide an immense source of satisfaction and joy.
Mike Haucke, A&P, Chief Powerplant & Factory Trained Mooney Mechanic.
Mike has probably completed more Mooney engine change STC's and mods (well over 200+) than anyone in the U.S., bar none. He is also well versed on the M20 airframe as having special expertise in landing gear set-ups and repairs as well as speed mods. Coy says of Mike, He has been working in aviation since 1976 and I hired Mike some 20 years ago where he has served as my lead and (now) Chief Powerplant STC Tech and Mechanic. Mike previously served with me when I was at both Mod Squad and when I founded/owned Mod Works. When something is not quite right on my personal Mooney's engine, I talk to Mike. Mike is an avid fisherman and has worked as a high performance engine mechanic in the automotive racing industry.
Mike's formal education includes an AA Degree from Alabama Tech, with a major in General Aviation Technology. He graduated With Honors (nearly straight A's), and is also a graduate from countless factory schools such as The Piper Factory School, Allison Turbine Factory School, Enstrom Helicopter Factory Schools, as well as both the Mooney Factory School and the Mooney PFM Porsche Factory School. Mike is perhaps one of the few Mooney mechanics in the U.S. who (as an accomplished engine diagnostician) can cite factory set-up specs and procedures on nearly every M20 engine installation from memory and he has crafted several special use tools just to suit your Mooney. Frankly, the term best suiting Mike is A Mooney Maintenance Mooniac.
Shop Personnel Qualifications Summary
It is hard to find a more qualified Mooney Maintenance and Mod Shop anywhere! Rather unabashedly we might point out several of our folks probably have Mooney specific knowledge that few (if any) other A&P have accumulated anywhere else. Frankly, when it comes to aviation, and Mooneys in specific, there is no substitute for experience. Don't let others learn on your Mooney!
Experience Knows No Substitute
Many times this unforgiving fact is borne out on a daily basis in our own shop when inspecting aircraft brought in after others have had their way with them.
Almost every day we hear or experience how important hands on experience is to a Mooney owner. Within the last few months alone I give the following examples of this fact:1) How about the 252 in from Connecticut who's owner had spent over $3,000 troubleshooting a low manifold pressure problem with several local Mooney experts when within 30 minutes we located a $125 cracked intake pipe. Had the owner been here first, he would have saved over $3,000 in repairs and parts he didn't need, and 4 trips to his local shop.
2) How about the well meaning M20E owner who had been trusting his annual to his (otherwise competent) nice guy local A&P to annual for nearly 10+ years. When it arrived here and since our guys inspect more Mooney in any week than most shops do in years, and we know exactly where to look for potential problems. Upon our inspection it was evident the lower spar cap (sometimes called the jesus cap*) had been badly corroding for years and had now gone way beyond the safe point and needed to be replaced. The wing had to come off and the down-time exceeded 3 months with the total bill over $14,000. Chances are, had we been inspecting it a few years ago and/or fogging it with Corrosion-X, most likely it never would have gotten to the catastrophic stage.
Note: It is said, that if this spar cap gives way, you (hopefully) tend to meet Jesus. We now have this part nailed on our shop part counter wall for all to see.
3) The M20E buyer who brought his aircraft to us soon after he bought it from the (reported) Head of Maintenance of a major U.S airline. He thought it was sure to be in good condition when after our inspection when installing some mods, we located automotive body filler or bondo in place of where several of the structural 4130 fuselage tubes should have been! They had rusted nearly away! Cost: over $3,000 and lots of bitterness and anger on the buyer's part.
4) The Insurance repair for a simple Gear Up which showed that the original problem was a (well meaning) local A&P had adjusted the gear so the manual gear handle would work easier. The gear collapsed upon a subsequent landing: Cost: $19,480. The downtime: nearly 2 months.
5) How about the guy who boasted a two owner/always hangared, well maintained M20K/231 who's alternator quit charging. After installing two new alternators and one regulator, his local (well equipped attractive) FAA Repair Station took 4 days labor to find the alt. drive coupling had failed and any alternator connected to it wasn't going tospin under a load. Now if that wasn't enough, when we finely got the 231 in our shop we found severe 4130 rusty fuselage tubular corrosion! This corrosion had been going on for years and had been missed by their annual inspections. Had it been found years prior, it wouldn't have resulted in replacement of any of the tubes ... Boy, was he upset!
These lists can go on for nearly as long as there are N numbers of Mooneys flying. Many times we find (otherwise well meaning) shops regularly charge far more for work than our invoices tally. It seems that again, even when it comes to economics alone, there is no substitute for experience as our guys are nearly always so far down on the learning curve that we can do many jobs in nearly half the time!
Consequently, our shop performs many maintenance functions on Mooneys at a pre-determined flat rate which many times is far less than you would pay others by the hour. that means that you are rarely surprised by your invoice when you pick up your Mooney from our shop.
Far more often than not, even considering travel expenses to and from our well staffed semi-tropical facility, it is far less expensive in the long run to let our mechanics do what they do best, rather than allow others to learn on your mooney.