IvanP

Sorry to hear that you are experiencing this, albeit it is not unique experience for a new owner. I recall that my first annual after buying my first plane also had a five-figure price tag, but mostly because add-on stuff I wanted to have done and few issues that the seller disclosed prior to the sale (price adjusted accordingly). On my second plane, I brought my mechanic to the seller's place who graciously provided hangar space, tools and support personnel for us to do a pre-buy. found couple of minor issues, agreed on price adjustment, shook hands and flew the plane home. As for your options in pursuing the seller and/or his mechanic, that would largely depend on the terms and conditions of the contract. If the seller made any form of representations about the state of the aircraft's airworthiness and/or maintenance and these representations were, in fact, false, then you could have a case and creative lawyer could use several theories to seek damages or rescission of the contract. Conversely, if the contract terms were "as-is/where-is" with no express or implied warranties, you are probably out of luck. I would be very concerned about the mechanic, though. His labor costs appear to be quite inflated and he may see you as an inexperienced pilot/owner representing a bag of easy money walking through the door. Seeking a second opinion from a mechanic with Mooney experience would seem to be a prudent course of action here.

I prefer G5 to GI-275. The latter is too crowded in my opinion. While the unit has good functionality, the display seems to be too small for the amount of data it is showing. Maybe it can be decluttered in config. I flew couple of planes with dual GI275 but did not like it much. My old plane had dual G5s and S-Tec autopilot and I miss them dearly. My current bird has King HSI/AI/AP combo and I am stuck with it for foreseeable future as I cannot justify the cost of new autopilot, etc., just for kicks and giggles. Unfortunately, G-5 will not drive KFC 150 AP. Overhauling vacuum instruments can be expensive proposition. Do not know what AI do you have, but MidContiinent quoted me $4,500 for overhaul of KI 256 gyro. Aerolab did it for about $1,600 or so.

This one of the scenarios for which we have manual gear extension mechanism. If you break the switch on take-off and the gear is still down, you go back, land, curse yourself with a set of favorite expletives (or blame global warming or corrosion) and get a new switch installed. If you break it when putting the gear down and it does not work, pull the gear actuator CB, lower the gear manually and land, curse, etc. Lot easier and safer than looking for and fiddling with tools while flying the plane.

Glad to hear that they covered the cost for you and that they were able to promptly find replacement. Seems like the decision maker at the shop arrived at a reasonable conclusion, notwithstaning the initial attempt to blame "corrosion". Fly safe.

This switch may be hard to come by. LASAR may be able to source a new one but it will not be cheap. BAS may be an option for salvage. They have couple of switches that may fit your need. https://baspartsales.com/8906k2875-cutler-hammer-landing-gear-toggle-switch/

I found that the easiest way to minimize heat exposure is scheduling flights for departure early morning before it gets hot. Once you climb over 10k it will be reasonably cool during teh flight even in the summer. Had Super 21 for few years and my usual cruise was between 12 and 15k. Once you get back down to the hot ground, quickly secure the aircraft, unpack and head for the pool to relax. This strategy may not be alwys feasible, but it works. Flying at night is also an option if you are up to it. In the abence of A/C, most other solutions are not really offering much of relief. IN fact, even the built-in A/C units are not that great. O course, window shields are a must if you park the plane outside, even for couple of hours. Tehre are few companies offering cusiom made heat shields and it is worth it. Plane covers provide better protection, but tend to be cumbersome to put on and off.

Of course, it is.. Landing gear switches are continuously exposed to highly corrosive environment in the cabin and all metal parts corrode to the point of structural failure when the slight force necessary to flip a switch is applied. Another plausibe theory is that it was caused by climate change. Anyting but someone's error. I do not know your mechanic, but corrosion appears to be highly unlikely cause of this incident. IOW, I call bulls&^%. But I have been wrong many times before so I would be open to see some evidence of the "corrosion".

Yes, the handle "just snapped off" all by itself . Your shop should own up to the fact that thay were doing a gear swing and had a hamfisted kid who was probably not familiar with Mooney manipulating the gear switch. S&^% happens. Nobody is perfect, but they should apologize and replace the switch at no cost to you. You gave them a plane with working switch , they broke it - simple as that.

Nice! "M-class" beats most airlines. Cathay Pacific used to serve similar dish (on porcelain plates with sake of proper temperature) on their LA-Hong Kong route before HK was ceded to China. Maybe they still do. Did not fly with them recently.

It is amazing what passes as 1st class on US domestic routes these days. In the Pan Am days, you got in economy what we are getting is 1st today, both in terms of space and service. On my recent trip to DC in April, there was only vegetarian option available - took one bite of what tasted like a soggy cardboard and asked the F/A to remove the tray. At least they had half decent wine and some other snacks on board. Definitely did not feel like 1st class, but that is all we get nowadays.

They would very much like to be This is all money grab - get your proprietary single-source fuel mandated by the govt and you have a license to print money in form of a govt sanctioned monopoly.

I found that mounting the tablet (iPad or otherwise) on the co-pilot yoke on articulating mount provided better solution. No obstruction of panel in front of me and still close enough to read. I had a RAM mount for tablet in my E-model that was clamped to the yoke shaft on co-pilot side and teh tablet was angled to give me a good view (sorry no pics as I sold the plane couple of years ago and use a panel mount in my current plane). Mounting the tablet on pilot yoke was just too cramped for me.

Neither option would be my choice. Dark paint on top will probably result in a very hot interior (depending on where you are). Replacing the grey in the first design by some livelier hue may produce a more appealing plane. At the end of the day, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The outcome may depend largely on the insured value. Chances are, she may never fly again. That would be really sad.

Probably nothing meaningful. This is a ususal tactic to tie the matter up in various appeals and motions as long as possible even if the ultimate outcome will probably not be in their favor. County officials have virtually unlimited resources at their disposal (taxpayers money).