BigAirHarper

Might be a topic for a new thread but do most of you guys have the plane in an LLC?

Just curious, say a certain pilot were a dentist, and his business in the town was flying to some continue education courses, which are business write offs. I could deduct a portion of expenses from the plane as that would be a business visit correct? Aka: help a dentist come up with some good business write offs to use his future plane

Thanks for all the recommendations! I'll be contacting them to see what rates they offer. Anything around 4% would be amazing.

So 2016 is the year of the Mooney for me:) I'm just curious what finance companies any of you have used in the past or currently and have had good luck with. I've been looking at working with AOPA but any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Beautiful and well kept bird!

Hahahaha Miami is quite a ways from Destin. Might be tough making a 9 hr drive.

Hey Florida Mooney fliers. I'm researching the purchase of a M20J but I've never been in any type of Mooney. I would love just to check one out, a flight would be incredible and I could definitely cover gas. Just curious if anyone on here is up near KDTS. Let me know, otherwise I am hoping one of the fly-ins will be up in the panhandle soon!

I've been on the Mooney hunt for a while and I have settled on the fact that I would love to buy a J model. While fortunately I could afford to buy one solo in a few months, it would be awesome to find a fellow pilot who would be interested in going into a partnership just to help with expenses and such. Let me know if anyone is interested!

Wow guys thanks for the great responses! It's helping in clearing up some of the confusion. I had some experience with an STEC, don't remember the exact model but it was coupled to a 530. Mainly tho my experience with AP is in the G1000/GFC700 setup in the 172 I rent. (And in a Cirrus I flew for the first time today, boy was that nice) So looks like an STEC carries more weight than some of these older AP models. It would def be nice to have something reliable and not prone to breaking. Another question: if the autopilot is coupled to a G430/530 does that automatically mean it has GPSS? The whole GPSS bit confuses me and maybe it's just because I don't understand the term.

Hey all, so I'm in search of an M20J but I feel like there are a million different autopilots out there that people list from Century, King, Garmin, etc...my question is could someone help explain to me the functions of the common ones and ones to avoid? I'm wanting something that can at a minimum be slaved to a GPS and fly heading mode too with altitude hold. One that could do vertical components would be nice but not absolutely necessary. I've just been trying to do research on all the different types and it's confusing! Figured I would try with some of you experts!

Amazing trip man and one I will definitely emulate when I finally get my Mooney. I have a question about your go pro mounts. Could you give us more detail about all your various mounting locations and methods? I'm curious about the tail tie down and where you positioned your sticky mounts. The new session cameras look perfect for this purpose. Thanks!

Hope the Summit was great! Unfortunately, due to the poor weather Friday, I had to drive down to Gainesville and didn't have the time to stop by the Summit friday. I'll see some of you mooniacs eventually tho!

Yea I'm going to try and see if I can make it to the summit. I'm supposed to be flying to Gainesville Friday afternoon. I'll see if I can persuade the crew to make a quick pit stop at ECP to check out some mooneys. I've been looking for a J with a 430 and less than 1000 SMOH. I just hope I love them as much as I think I will once I sit inside one.

Well I'm finally settled on my house and the hunt for the perfect J model has resumed. I still haven't had a chance to sit in a Mooney yet, will anyone be at KDTS this weekend and be willing to let me check out their bird?

Let me know what ends up happening...

Mike I'm definitely aiming to go to this, I have a wedding in Oct just can't remember the date right now. But def want to stop by the open house and learn about mooneys from you guys. My flying partner who I'm interested in buying the mooney wth works in PC and should be able to come too!

That would be great! My wife and I would love to meet you guys. Just PM me with times convenient for you. Thanks!

John, I would love to meet up when you are down. I'm currently under contract on a house so my focus has been 100% on that. Plane shopping will resume once this deal is over. Mortgages are a nightmare these days....

Great info Jim. Thanks!

Other than the fuel selector and throttle body change, anything else that made a difference between the '78 and '77 model years?

Thanks for all the tips so far! I'm taking notes! I sort of like the airline style throttles but that is not even on the list of things when I'm comparing planes as it really doesn't matter, fuel selector being between the seats makes much more sense though. Bob I have noticed the useful load is all over the map! I've never seen so much variation. Question on the back seat. I know that the ones I'm looking at 1977-1980ish have all had the bench seat. Will it fold down as one piece of just not move period? I definitely see the advantage of those split folding seats...

That would be great!!! Feel free to PM me when you figure out the details. My wife lives in Atlanta for her residency (hence the plane) so I'm in that area a lot too.

Did you have the boards resting on top of the bench seat between them?

Thomas that would be great! Safe travels back stateside. When's ur ETA back? Feel free to just PM me.

Hey everyone, I've decided upon the M20J to be my first airplane purchase. I have thought over a year about my needs and this fits me perfectly. Sadly I have never even sat in a mooney:( hopefully that will change soon tho. My question is besides the major mooney pitfall of leaky fuel tanks, what other things should I be looking for when looking at a M20J specifically....thanks in advance for any words of wisdom, I'm a newbie to owning but love to do thorough homework and research before diving in with both feet!