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Rationalizing the cost of GA flying is an exercise in futility, and deducting flying costs may soon become a fond memory. You have a very smart wife. I suggest you take her advise.

All of your training and proficiency work is deductible as well. Flying near or far to purchase aviation related materials, equipment and training are deductible. If you still have the income to support it w/o any glaring red flags, keep it and modify your game plan slightly. It takes a long time to buy a plane, make it safe and make it yours. It is a process that can be a big reset. I think your wife is right. If however (pardon the candor), you are bored and want a new toy for the toy box, nothing will overcome this.

Makes me and 'smiles look like a love affair ;-) My MSE is an easy 162-4 kts ROP and about 155 LOP. I too really like Bo's particularly TN ones. The V-35 I ride in was a 170-5 kt plane. It now has a 550G and gets close to 190 ROP. It burns so much fuel the owner refuses to install a totalizer.

Used to be a high tech electrical engineer. Now a tree farmer. Why trees? Trees don't talk back, they don't run away, they dont quit growing because they are mad or having a bad day, they don't threaten to sue you, you don't have to learn a new version of software every year to keep them growing, and I can fly over them in my Mooney and see how they are doing. And until people quit using toilet paper and wood products, the market looks pretty secure. There are a lot of things good about the tree business! I am actually featured in the current issue of Progressive Farmer Magazine if you want to know more.

According to one popular aviation columnist, running an oil separator is like "hooking a tube from your butt to your mouth". I think he was referring to the acids in the blowby getting recycled into the crankcase.

Scott, there is 3500 airframe hrs. on my E, I will try and get some pics this afternoon.

What Yeager meant by that comment was that he feels AOA through buffet on the aircraft. IE in a turning fight, he's not looking at gauges, he's feeling the aircraft's response to his pull. What's a mooney feel like to you when you're pulling for a guns track? Why do most pilots fly airspeed on the board? Simple: they don't have an AOA probe and they are comfortable with flying a sloppy approach. They'd rather have a 10k aspen that provides no new info (just a fancy glass display) than an instrument that costs $800 and can show you A) max efficiency for your airfoil and your stall margin at any time. Airspeed is a "comfortable" gauge for those used to driving cars... One problem though: your wing stalls at different speeds, depending on weight and in a way, angle of bank. Even your best calculated approach speed is not going to be the exact number (weight and balance is off, math is off, etc etc). You fly exactly 72 mph every landing? Based on what? Your factory weight and balance plus estimates of your baggage and weight? Even if you could hold that exact approach speed you calculated, your number is probably not percise. AOA is the truth data, because your wing stalls at a given AOA every time, regardless of weight, angle of bank, or anything else. When landing you can fly by airspeed, calculating your gross weight and coming up with an estimate of what you think is your final approach speed, or you can go straight to the truth data on how your airfoil is performing: AOA. AOA approaches and landings are the going in answer in both the F-15 and F-18. No good reason why they shouldn't be in a mooney or any other aircraft either (other than the fact you don't have a stock gauge). Then again, what do I know... I've only landed on a moving carrier deck 355 times...

Can we just stop the excrement flinging please?

It sounds like a great deal....He is giving you top dollar for the trades ....When you consider that he has to stand behind the radios when he sells them , he is not making a lot on the trades , Just using them to make the money on the GTN sale..... I would jump on it...... Good luck....