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Nels- With an engine situation such as yours, it's important to note the status of the items normally accomplished at overhaul. Belts, hoses, engine mounts, fuel injection system, magnetos, starter and generator. If all of those were done as well, then it's bit easier to ake your case. If not, then it's a harder sell. In addition, were the cylinders overhauled or replaced with new? Makes a difference, especially with the angle valve engine as the cylinders are so expensive.

Supercop- You opened a can of worms with this one. There are several very interesting thread here and elsewhere concerning Mooney Mart.

Larry makes some very good points. I just finished a 5 month search for a Mooney and never did find one to my liking. Most of the likely candidates were based in obscure parts of the country without airline service, making a "look see" visit expensive and time consumming. You WILL need a plane to find a plane, or lots of spare time and cash for all the travel you will be doing. As a recent Mooney "hunter" I can tell you that your plane is worth what folks here are telling you. It's probably worth WAY more to you than anyone else. Just fly the wheels off it and enjoy.

Thanks to all for the kind words. Yes, the view is amazing! Especially with the canopy open! Great ventilation on the ground and in the air with it open.

Couple more pics.

Here you go guys. 4000 hrs total time, 400 hrs on the engine rebuild done by Zephyr in 2012. 400 hrs on the prop too. Stec 30 autopilot with altitude hold, older Garmin IFR legal GPS/Comm. Not so great but workg comm 2 and narco navs. Good complete logbooks and good airframe and glass. Paint fair to good and a newish interior. Seller agreed to an annual at the "Service Center" for the prebuy. 135 knots on 10.5 gph at altitude. Not as cool as a Mooney but I think it will work for me.

Mooneyspace Friends: Good news and bad news! Good news is, I am now an airplane owner! Bad news is that it's not a Mooney, it's a Grumman Tiger. The Mooney hunt was wearing me down, so many variables, so many wants and too few planes scattered about in out of the way areas of the country. A Grumman Tiger popped up in my back yard with most of everything I want, at the price I was willing to pay, so I jumped on it. Almost as fast as a "C" model Mooney, but 1/2 the insurance coat and about 40% less for maintenance. Certainly not as sexy as a Mooney but it will fulfill the mission. Many thanks to everyone who tolerated my moodiness during my airplane hunt, and special thanks to everyone that helped in the process. I'll miss everyone here on Mooneyspace.

If it has the 180 HP mod and the upgraded stab it should be a nice flying plane, probably faster than the later Cardinals. I say "go for it"! Can't beat the price! I would take the deal even without the mods.

Sam- Is there a particular reason you are focused on flying clubs instead of flying schools? It seems to me that what you need is a business that specializes in training, in other words, a flying school.

My gosh Sam! $25,000 to $30,000 for a private pilots license? That is insane! You would be better off taking a week or two off from work and going to a real flight school in some other part of the country and going at it 8 hrs a day. You could be finished in 2 weeks and do it for 1/2 as much. I've seen the PPL license advertised for less than $7,000. $25,000 should be enough for a PPL and an instrument rating.

I think Sam is not concerned about the high cost, is very impressed by the Cirrus and all it's "whiz bang" gear, and likes that particular airport because it is close to where he lives. He seems unconcerned that he will end up paying several times more for his PPL under these conditions and doesn't care that it will take MUCH longer. If he was concerned with these things he would have switched long ago. He is in a different frame of mind than most of us. The flight school seems very successful at lightening the wallets of the well heeled Silicone Valley folks in the are that have an interest in aviation. Perhaps a football style pool. How many hobbs hours to get his PPL and how much did it cost?

Hey Sam: Have you ever even flown a traditional trainer type plane, C172, C152, PA28? If so, I think most of us would like to know how that went. If not, do you think you will explore that soon? You might find that the old beater trainer is good for your ego and your confidence. Not to mention your wallet.

SH Don't worry about it, have fun and learn as much as you can. You are climbing a pretty steep hill. You are learning in a less than ideal area too far from the practice area, in a less than ideal aircraft, and with frequent less than ideal weather conditions. It's likely to be a much longer and more expensive proposition for you due to these factors. Absolutely no reflection on your abilities or those of your instructor. Keep up the good work and you'll get there.

I vote yes to solo. PPL probably, but not as certain. Troll, I don't think so.

Just because I don't have waas doesn't mean I don't have vertical guidance. I have a GPS derived distance from the MAP. On non-precision approaches I compute the target rate of descent between the FAF and MAP, and double check my altitude against my distance from the MAP to determine if I am high or low. A 3 degree glideslope is 300 ft per mile. In other words at 2 miles from the MAP I should be 600 ft above the MDA. Easy, peasy. For ILS approaches I still have a glideslope.

I probably will have waas but it will be part of my transponder (Stratus ESG), or built into an inexpensive ADS-B out box. Don't need it for navigation. But it might make the FAA happy. I'm betting the FAA will delay it anyway.

Gary- Yes it is a Legacy Garmin GPS. One of the problems is the FAA has revised the requirements over the years, making it difficult to know what regs were in effect when the box was installed. And how the new regs affect older installations. It's a can of worms.

If it's lower than 800 ft I'm going to the airport with the ILS!

I fly for a living, and don't intend to do hard IFR down to less than non-precision minimums. If it's less than 800-2 I don't need to go. Don't need waas. It's my understanding it gets you a little lower minimums and that's it. I'll buy an "all in one" transponder for ADS-B if I have to. The Stratus ESG just went down to under $3000. The FAA is not shutting down as many VORs as people think, nor as fast. I think VOR navigation will be viable for a long time to come. The plane has dual VORs one with glideslope, good enough. In any event, looks like I have an approach legal GPS now.

I have examined the Flight Manual Supplement for the GPS in my plane. It does say that it is an FAA approved flight manual supplement and it does list my aircraft make, model and serial number. And it also lists the GPS by make and model. It does say that it meets the requirements for IFR enroute, terminal and approaches. Each page is signed and dated by the installer representing the Repair Station. There is nothing anywhere signed by the FAA. My gut feeling is I'm legal. What do you guys think?

From time to time we are all humbled by landings. The secret to good landings is a good "set up". If you are not properly set up 2 miles out, it becomes increasingly difficult to land smoothly. With experience you will be able to recover from being "out of shape" within the 2 mile window. But you should make every effort to have everything set up, trim, flaps, pitch attitude, power, airspeed, rate of descent, everything by the time you are 2 miles out. If you are set up 2 miles out your odds of a good landing increase exponentially. If set up properly, there is little to do but a little flare and a little crosswind correction. Easy peasy!

N601RX- Thanks for your reply, it somewhat echoed what the FAA avionics inspector told me. If the flight manual supplement is FAA approved for my make, model and serial number then it may be legal for IFR. However he also said that a 337 was also required unless installed under an STC for that specific GPS in my make and model aircraft. I will take another look at the flight manual supplement later this week. Additionally, the shop that installed the GPS is not too far away. I may try to get them to re-visit the paperwork issue in order to assure the GPS and installation is acceptable to the FSDO.

It does have an AFM supplement but I don't know about the blue light previously mentioned. Maybe the blue light is part of the annunciator panel.

Buying a plane IS a full time job. IF ONLY it was a week long period. FINDING a plane is in itself nearly a full time job that lasts for months. Then once you THINK you find one, the REAL FUN begins when you start the PPI. 5 months now and counting. Have cash but still no plane.