SD Flyer

I’m looking at an airplane which has a very unclear history about the tail number change. Basically somebody just changed tail number on the fuselage and updated neither update airworthiness certificate nor registration. Few years later registration got updated, but airworthiness certificate still has an old tail number. Serial number stayed the same and matches on airframe, airworthiness certificate and registration. I don’t see anything which would stop me from moving forward with this airplane but it feels something is fishy about this situation so I would like to ask for an opinion from Mooney community. Do you see any major issues with tail number being changed in such a weird way?

I need to do a prebuy for Mooney based in Chicago suburb. Could you please recommend a reputable mechanic who specializes on Mooneys and located within the reasonable distance from Chicago

Would it even show something if I do the oil analysis 3 hours after oil change? I naively suspect those numbers build up linearly so if the iron level after 3 hours let's say 10, using approximation - in 25 hours it should be ~80 considering the "fresh" oil iron level is zero. How far is this statement from truth?

The previous owner did the oil change every annual since he flew less than 50 hours a year. Back then logs show the oil analysis was done every year and didn’t show any “red flags” Current owner changes oil 2 times a year and he flew about 180 hours since 2016. He didn’t do any oil analysis though so all I have is 2 records from annual in LASR saying “oil filter disassembled and inspected...” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did a prebuy with a Mooney Authorized service shop which also was recommended by local Mooney owners. I hope they did the inspection well :-) After I went with mechanic through his notes - he mentioned few time that the airframe is clean. However here is my concern: the engine and prop may easily cost me ~50% of the airplane price. For 150k (110k asked + engine overhaul) I can get a low time engine J with GPS and decent AP already installed.

We didn't make any agreement yet and didn't talk about the price. What I really want is an airplane for a reasonable money. The problem I have hard time to solve is "what would be reasonable" knowing all information above.

I’m on the market for m20j and I found one which is pretty close to my requirements. Pros: - 1994 airframe with about 1200 hours on it, prebuy showed - the airframe is clean - ads-b compliant - pre-buy didn’t show any major issues with airframe or engine (except engine age and minor oil leak) - last couple years was maintained with LASR - few “bells and whistles” like speedbrakes and G5 attitude indicator Cons: - the engine is also around 1200 hours but 13 years past TBO. Engine had a prop strike in 1995 when it had about 50 hours on it and this incident is not documented well. Likely the engine was inspected and considered airworthy. It made more than 1000 hours since then - no gps - comm1/nav1 is inop - prop is past TBO - minor oil leak from the top of crank case Originally the owner asked 110k which seemed like a reasonable price to me, however after looking through maintenance records and pre-buy results I don’t feel like this would be a fair price. Also I don't want to invest 40k on a new engine and 4k on a prop overhaul in next year What does Mooney community think? Ask for a discount or keep seeking for a better option? If ask for discount - what would be a fair discount for those issues?

I'm trying to find a famous "Jimmy Garrison Mooney Valuation Spreadsheet" but all links show "404 Page not found" Does it still exist? If not - what is the best alternative besides Vref?

Hey folks, I think about buying a M20J located on Kokomo, IN. Could you please recommend a mechanic in this area to do a pre-buy? I currently live in SoCal and have never been in Indiana before not even talking about know anyone there :-)

Thank you for responses. I'm looking on logbooks right now and will pay extra attention to mags and bladders. I would really appreciate if somebody can recommend a mechanic to do a pre-buy in Los Angeles area. All I have found so far is https://www.baymarkaviation.com/aircraft-pre-buy-services but I don't know how good are they...

I'm about to sign a purchase agreement for an m20J, which is going to be the first airplane I own. Is there anything mooney-specific I should pay extra attention to before I ask/pay for pre-buy inspection? On Bonanzas - there is an AD about wing spar inspection/repair/replacement, on retractable gear cessnas - extra attention to hydraulic system since that one is really expensive to fix problems with, but I know nothin about Mooney... Are there any well-known problematic systems/ADs I should check?

This one has rust on every not painted iron part including all screws, bolts and nuts. If it came from SoCal, like Skywagon states - it was stored underwater.

Is there a way to see logs?