urbanti

FWIW, if you are looking at trainers or vfr budget cruisers, you can more plausibly make the argument that you don't need modern avionics to make the airplane competitive in the market. Buyers in that market segment may not be IFR rated and may just want to bomb around VFR on the weekends. They also may be so cash-constrained that buying a less-well-equipped plane gets them into the market. However, if you look at the people who are shopping for $125k + airplanes, they have bigger budgets are generally sophisticated pilots who fly want to fly IFR LPV approaches and they are looking for updated avionics. Owners of higher performance retracts who put off updating the avionics to save money may have to deal with low-ball offers when they go to sell. Best Tim

Postscript: Above sentiments apply mostly to pre-1970, sub-$50,000 airplanes. When I bought my Bonanza I was looking at @ $100k airplanes and once you get to that market segment you are looking at newer, better equipped, and frequently hangared/ better maintained airframes. Tim

Having looked at lots of vintage mooneys, several times with the assistance of highly paid MSCs, my opinion is that there are far fewer true NDH vintage mooneys out there than owners may think/represent. That being said, if you're buying a plane to fly rather than as some sort of poorly thought out investment, many well-repaired planes fly identical to new so you pays your money and takes your chances. Tim

OP - I too have been struggling with desire to own a twin. However, it can be a bit of a trap. To be safe in a twin you need to stay very current. But with the increased fuel costs of running two engines, many twin owners find themselves flying less, not more. If I had a business that allowed me to write off my airplane and flying expenses I would think about it more seriously, but spending after tax money feeding two IO-520s is pretty intimidating. best Tim

Jim - if it was my plane, even if it was inconvenient, I would get a ferry permit and have the plane moved rather than continue with a process with a shop where you clearly don't feel good about the relationship. My local MSC, Freeway Aviation in Bowie, MD is really outstanding. My job won't allow me to be there to assist on annuals, but the staff at Freeway are very communicative and we have a thorough understanding between us on timing and cost before the plane is delivered for the annual. But most importantly, I feel good about the shop and the people and that makes everything go more smoothly. I hope that you can connect with a shop who can provide this feeling of synergy. best Tim

IMO, since your' prebuy was not done by Mooney experts, you should definitely go to a shop with a well-known reputation for specializing in Mooneys. I have been involved with several Mooney prebuys where the owner swore that his A&P was "just as good as a MSC" or "used to be an A&P in the Air Force" yaddah yaddah and the quality of the inspections were all over the place. If you use a shop with a nationally known reputation for Mooney work, I think you maximize the chances that those eccentric Mooney "gotchas" get looked at. best Tim

Congratulations on your decision to pursue your pilot's certificate. There are a lot of good arguments for waiting to purchase an airplane until after you get your license, or at least until after you solo. I bought a C-172 after I got my certificate and it kept me safe (from myself) and taught me a lot about flying. The Bonanza I fly now is fast and capable, but would be a terrible investment for you. It only has one set of brake pedals, on the left seat, and your CFI would not have brakes in the right seat. It might be hard to get pre-solo instruction in a high performance retract with no brakes for the CFI. The early Mooneys that you are contemplating are also awesome aircraft, but not IMO well suited for a student either. A couple of bounces that would be no big deal in a Cessna could result in a prop strike and engine rebuild. Again, welcome to the community and good luck with your training! Tim

After 2 months of flying a '65 E with manual gear, here is a breakdown of what I learned that wasn't completely clear to me in the other primers that are out there: 1. If you are new to manual gear, don't rush! Trying to accomplish too many unfamiliar actions while climbing out can result in the Johnson bar handle flopping around in the cockpit, and/or the a/c bobbing around on climbout as you wrestle with the bar. 2. To raise the gear: Take your time to establish an trimmed out climb before touching the bar. When you're ready to release the bar from the socket, depress the button with your thumb and twist the JBar sleeve counterclockwise while pulling the sleeve down out of the socket. Once free of the socket let the JBar rotate aft/downward a bit but don't try to rush it towards the floor. Pitch the a/c nose down toward level flight and the bar will fall towards the floor with only minor urging. Here's an important part, especially for short-armed pilots: take your time to trap the bar against the floor with the JBar sleeve at least partially forward (towards the firewall) using your splayed open hand (ie don't hold the bar with your fingers closed around the bar and thus trapped against the floor)...then methodically slide/rotate the JBar sleeve aft until it engages the receptacle in the floor. This last action is a "feel thing" and if you rush there's a chance you won't fully engage the sleeve in the receptacle and as you release pressure on the bar it will pop back up. 3. To lower the gear: Decrease airspeed to below max gear deployment speed, enter a very shallow banked descent, and twist the JBar sleeve while sliding it forward (towards the firewall) until the JBar pops loose from the floor. Let it rotate itself up on its own momentum until the sleeve is only inches away from the receptacle on the bottom of the panel. As the JBar runs out of momentum rotating upward, grasp the JBar sleeve firmly and push it into the receptacle until the button pops out to the left. Check the green light is lit and then physically test the sleeve's retention in the receptacle and tug on the bar to ensure that it's not going to somehow pop back out. Using the above method, I never have to use brute muscular exertion to either raise or lower the gear. After dozens of repetitions you get faster and faster while still making very positive engagement into the receptacles. very best regards, Tim

Thx very much for the replies. This isn't a "must have", so if too difficult will probably just give it a pass. No shortage of other stuff to work on with an older airplane Tim

1965 M20E is fitted with a standard, push-pull throttle cable. I've gotten used to the vernier throttle cable setup in my Bonanza, would prefer to have a vernier throttle cable fitted to the Mooney as well. Can this be done legally? How hard would it be to find a correct length cable? Thx in advance for any advice, Tim

Update from the OP: After 30 hours of experimentation, it seems that the fuel pumps are fine. If I lean the mixture all the way out after landing and taxi, and then choke the engine out while performing the idle cut-off, no post-cut-off drip occurs. Or, if one occurs, its only a coupla drops. So perhaps I was not sufficiently leaning the engine for ground operations and loading the intake manifold with fuel. regards, Tim

Carusoam - Somehow autocorrect dropped the word "motorcycle" from your list of priorities, you may want to fix that

For serious IMC, the Aspens are really great. They shrink the size of your scan. I'm on replacements of both PFD and MFD, Tim

Also, if you're looking at a J, keep an eye open for smoking rivets. Not sure why, but many of the the J's I looked at had lots of smoking rivets. If you see lots of them, would get an estimate from a good shop on how much work to re-strike or replace or whatever. Tim

I have purchased an airplane from a pilot who was not very involved in the maintenance decisions and would not necessarily run away from a plane based on that alone. Some (well-off) guys sign up with a premium factory-authorized shop and just tell the shop foreman to do whatever needs to be done. If you talk to the owner's shop doing the maintenance and they sound top-notch, and if the logs looks credible and up to date on ADs and such, it might not be a deal-breaker if the owner is hands-off. best Tim

It is possible that you will encounter problems with avionics either not working or having balky switches. If you do, before panicking, have an avionics guy apply aerosol electronic contact cleaner on connections and try re-racking the radios - sometimes everything will just start working again. Good luck Tim

Before entering into a leaseback where it seems virtually guaranteed that you will lose, you might want to explore different kind of partnership options available. When I was looking at Mooneys, I would have jumped at a no-equity partnership where I could pay for use of the plane based on some predetermined formula. Candidates would have to be OK with your insurance company or take some transition, etc. In any case its a cheap option for them to determine whether they really want to buy a Mooney or not. At least this way you can pick and choose the people who are flying your plane. best Tim

M20Flyer: It seems to me that the only really big economy that you would obtain from the contemplated switch would be the eventual overhaul costs of an IO-360 vs. an IO-520, which are admittedly significant. You didn't mention your engine time on the V35, I was guessing that maybe you're thinking that now is the time to sell before you put too much time on it and have to sell it as a runout? I regularly fly a BE33 and a M20E and don't find the difference in fuel burn enough to justify all of the transactional costs and possible risk of buying an unknown plane, regards Tim

You might read the aviation consumers guide review of the J, as well perhaps as the LASAR Mooney buyers guide, and the MAPA evaluation of the J. good luck Tim

I asked my avionics guy to look into converting the 1965 M20E panel to a modern flat panel with no bend angle between the top row of instruments and the lower row of instruments. Among other benefits, a flat panel would facilitate add an Aspen panel. He expressed concern that there might be a complication with regard to the mounting angle of the instruments, i.e., is there a need to maintain the mounted angle of the instruments that is provided by the current panel? Has anyone else run into this question or do people undertaking panel refurbishments just mount a flat panel and it works fine? If so is there a specific angle at which to mount the panel? thx Tim

Am running through the M20 Service Bulletins for a M20E with manual gear. Are "actuators" only found on electric gear aircraft? Thx in advance Tim

FWIW my avionics guy replaced the bad hobbs meter and determined that it is simply wired off the main bus. best Tim

Extremely cool. Sorta like the iron butt awards for motorcyclists Great work and thanks for sharing. Tim

A 1/4" drive speeder wrench with a #2 phillips bit attached to it for removing all the #8 Phillips head screws retaining the access panels underneath the wings. A small allen head wrench to tighten the yoke as necessary. Spare rubber bands to secure the PC button on the yoke. Also, containers of Tri-Flo and LPS-2 lubricants; Corrosion-X; Rejex polish; and a bucket with Pledge furniture spray and microfiber towels for cleaning the windshield. Good luck! Tim

Was depressed when I sold all my motorcycle roadracing stuff (two FZR 400s, spare everything, leathers). Was depressed when I sold N23GV, my first plane (172). However, now I am enlightened and realize that a car is merely an appliance that gets you to your hangar Tim