jkhirsch

As a younger person, I've weighed in before on this issue and I'll weigh in similarly again. If you have been in the market looking around and decided this is the plane for you it's worth putting some effort into it. If it's local it makes the entire process somewhat easier. Here's how I would handle it: Talk to the seller and see if he is willing to agree to an entire annual done by a different mechanic. You can negotiate the terms of payment of that cost, or discount the asking price by the price of the annual. After the inspection is complete and the "laundry list" of items that need attention is compiled then you and the owner can negotiate some more. Theoretically, if he doesn't sell you the plane, that annual is now on record and should the airplane come back "unairworthy" he's either going to have to discount the price and sell as-is to someone else, or fix the plane himself and try to price and sell accordingly again. If you are fiscally set up to buy the plane a few extra dollars to initiate, or in the worst case end up paying for only the creation of the "laundry list" items is not that big of a deal. In my opinion without seeing logbooks or anything else, 43k seems like a heavily "good engine" weighted price and may well be too high. For me, without a list of "potential problems" it's very difficult to determine the actual value of the plane.

Looks like he's 85% of the way there now. Been in the air for 3 days and 23 hours at this point.

Thought I'd share this here in case someone hasn't seen it: http://www.solarimpulse.com/widget-flight_profile They're trying to accomplish the record flight over the next couple of days.

For some reason I have never joined MAPA, how many people would typically be at one of these meetings?

Wasn't Brian Williams reporting live from the scene of the crash?

Upon further inspection there are five mooney's registered with Lexington addresses, including a mysterious Mustang that I have tried to contact the registered owner about before.

I believe it's just me here in the bluegrass, but that's before I am now going to check the FAA registry.

Incorrect post edited.

I'll requote myself here on climb out. Without the proper tools to know what's really going on, I only minimally lean on climb, mostly paying attention to the cylinder temps. I realize that the analog EGT is there and is "accurate" and generally my #2 is hottest, but I don't spend any time looking for peak. I have found the peak temp before and it's not vastly different from time to time when I "tracked it", I just stay away from it. One day I hope to operate my plane with more data/knowledge, but I'm fairly convinced of running full throttle and 2500rpm and "max climb" I have actually operated lean of peak with full throttle and 2500rpm, I've even gone way lean and no real trouble observed. I just refuse to do things that way regularly without the proper data. I'm sure that I burn up a lot of extra fuel, but I try not to think about it.

Not knowing the size of the pain definitely creates anxiety.

I can't find any reason to spend money to install anything but a 930, which is going to cost a pretty penny which I don't have today. The 930 will also lead to a change in layout of at least part of the panel, which will cost even more money.

I made this comment on another thread, I only run my plane one way: http://www.mooneypilots.com/mapalog/M20F%20Evaluation/M20F_Evaluation_Report.html I do whatever I can to mitigate cylinder temps since I have no "real" engine management device.

Not to start trolling here, but it sounds like what you want is all of that information spoon fed to you. Seriously, I promise I'm not railing against you personally, it just seems like this has become a pandemic lately. I own an F myself, I love it, glad you are here, glad you are part of the community. There are a lot of questions and answers to be had here, I've spent hours on end reading through 70+ pages of information just contained within the Vintage forum. I like to think that I have made an attempt to not just come in and say, "hey just tell me all this information so I don't have to do anything for myself" then leave the forum and never participate again. I realize that THIS is not what you have said or done, again just a reaction to what seems to be a recent trend here on MS.

Just my immediate, unfiltered reaction here: Does it seem like recently we are getting a rash of people asking questions that have been tirelessly answered in the past? Or has MS always had that condition and I'm just now paying enough attention to notice? I don't really mean to be so rude, but there is a ton of information here, and it seems like lately no one bothers to read anything and make a well formed detail specific question before they post.

For reference I am posting my cruise settings and the results on the Garmin E6B:

I run my plane one way: http://www.mooneypilots.com/mapalog/M20F%20Evaluation/M20F_Evaluation_Report.html

I appreciate all the support, having an outlet to bitch where people aren't like, 'STFU you are whining about a plane that you own' is also helpful. I did not make it to the hangar yesterday, but I will eventually. I will also photograph and trace out the dreaded "Step Fairing" for everyone. I hope to get around this spring and summer and start meeting some of you all in person.

The final update in super short: I have the plane back. Everything is ok. It is also in a hangar now. Maybe I'll cruise by the hangar today and take a couple of pictures. An elevator was replaced, dings were removed in accordance with 43.13, and paint thinner was applied to the data plate. An odd spot where the wing had previously been repaired incorrectly that wasn't reported by the FAA was fixed correctly. An annual was done. Finding the right person do to the work is what owning an airplane really comes down to, it was really a non-issue once that occured.

If you do buy it fly into KLEX and I'll fly you up to Morehead. I could probably be convinced to scoop you up and KSDF or KCVG if you pull my arm.

I was on the way back from Florida one time and had to deviate to Jasper, SC for stuff hung up in the mountains sometime well after midnight. My friend and I were sitting in their large rocking chairs possibly eating a pizza and the police rolled up and said, "someone's looking for you." I was on flight following and had notified ATC of my deviation, but I had forgotten to call FS and let them know.

Edit: Yes that was dumb.

The only thing I'll say is a repeat of John's point: Other than the occasional problem we have, MS does become reiterative. It more and more appears to me that the "old guard" just reposts information stated a different way to each newcomer. And that is a terrific outlet for knowledge, but there is more to it than that. The thread in question provided a venue for people who have developed a camaraderie and desire to interact in absences of "mooney discussion." If this forum software has the capability, I make a motion for a private topic that is only visible to those members who actually opt in. Otherwise I suppose I can make some kind of thread in my sharepoint site...and invite everyone to a completely private venue not touched by the likes of web crawlers...but really...who wants to have to register for "one more stinkin account" (although I can technically make private pages and share a guest link with everyone) I think the detail that's getting lost here is that there is an established community of people here and there is only so much mooney you can talk about. Common interests bring people together, human nature keeps people together. Do people consider this a community? It is by definition to me. Does it make sense to relocate part of our community because some of us enjoy the practice of bullshitting? I have not personally contributed to the budget, but when the time comes I will. On the other hand I know many of you have donated, and with that comes a sense of ownership, furthering the belief in the community. I'm all for discretion and not "giving people the wrong impression" which is why I move for a private area for those discussions. All those in favor...

Bill overhauled one of my cylinders, KOWB - Moonlight BBQ would be definitely be a decent lunch spot.