Pilot boy

Hi all, I am looking for a mechanic familiar with Mooneys in the Omaha, NE metro area or nearby to do a prebuy. I am not complex certified yet to move the plane easily so I need somewhere somewhat close. I have an accepted offer on a 1964 M20E. Thank you, -Ben

I'm in my 30s and my wife and I both work. Baby has been in daycare 1.5 yrs now. Don't worry I'm not 18 yrs old here and unsure how to manage money. I know more than most ppl about financial management due to my business background and the wife is a CPA.

Had this one been flown much before you bought it?

Costanza what did you pay for it and what year and model was it? How many hours did it have at purchase time? How long had it sat?

This I am not worried about. Mostly it's going to be the new baby and the future baby with no adults or teens in back.

i've pretty much decided not to pursue Tigers. They are way too hard to find, they cost way too much for what you get, and I'd rather have the ability to fly true coast to coast. My goal is to time build for the regionals so that adds another plus to the complex side.

What's the best shop for a PPI near me (Omaha). I've heard of Wilmar, MN are there any other good ones closer?

Actually I was on BeechTalk asking about maintenance on Mooney versus Beech and the Beech owner said he witnessed a guy at his airport spending 7hrs fixing his Mooney per every flying hour he did. I am not sure what that really meant as he didn't give me much specificity. Ill try to get some greater clarity on that thread.

A Beech owner is telling me a guy near his Beech hangar spends about 7 hrs per every 1 hr of flying he does on maintenance. Any thoughts on this? I thought the M20s were fairly low on the maintenance pecking order in GA.

Is it sitting the last 9 years or before you owned it? The recency of the sitting is the problem. I don't like how all these folks have some sort of emotional connection to their plane and they let them sit and rot. Machines needs to be run. If you're past flying - let it go! Sell your plane to us younger pilots so we can keep em running.

Yeah he wants $60K, basically full price for it. At least I assume a 1964 E with 430 WAAS, engine monitors, STEC30, and fuel bladders is worth about that. I don't see them around for too much more. I think he needs to come down to around $50k to make it worth the risk but I appreciate any pricing insights.

How do you check cam for corrosion? Can this be borescoped or do you have to pull the cylinders?

I have sold many vehicles and often offer warranties to buyers for peace of mind to make a deal go through. If this engine lasts me "years" after I take possession I will be happy. If it lasts 1 or 2 years I will be surprised.... So if you expect me as buyer to buy a motorcycle engine with obvious issues and the seller still expect full retail, that's unreasonable. I don't think a seller can have it both ways, if the maintenance on the engine is not where it should be and the engine hasn't been run in quite some time, the price of the plane should be lowered to compensate for that or he can offer me some sort of warranty for the first couple hundred hours to cover some of the risk of his poor care. Everything is negotiable. Those buyers on the new Mooneys have a case for lawsuits if the factory won't back it up.

Correct the owner leaves the hangar closed but the doors open on the plane to not cause long term compression damage to the seals.

Okay, so I have some new info on the 1964 E model with the fuel bladders. I was able to look at it again yesterday and go through the logbooks a bit. This guy hasn't flown it much. It had 169 hours between 2012 and present. It's only flown about 15 hrs per year for 2017, 2018, and 2019. It was flown around 40 hrs per year from 2008 to 2012. It is at SMOH 1386. I think he said he used Camguard in the oil changes and he has been pretty meticulous about maintenance. (he leaves the doors open in the hangar so the rubber seals don't get damaged over time). How bad is all this? I didn't realize he had let it sit so much. He's also not budging much on price from $60k. Do you build in some sort of engine warranty in a deal like this? Like if it doesn't last to TBO (im hoping it lasts even to 1800 hrs) you cover 1/3 of the overhaul or something?

I just recently earned my IR ticket in February, right after 2 months of almost no flying due to bad Nebraska winter (icing almost every day), and right before the corona hit in force. My long term goal is to time build, I'm just starting my first few commercial lessons but want to buy the plane before I get too far into rental bills...then time building for ATP for the airline minimums. I travel for work so I plan to do a combination of work travel in my own plane and possibly CFI work on the days I'm back in town (I work 4 days out of town, 3 days off in town each week which is nice). Wife wants the 250 nm trips to grandpa (for the baby) to go by fast. Most time it will be me alone, other times wife and the toddler. Maybe 4th down the road but I think I may have added this already on this forum. I have a few posts going here...

The good news is the E model definitely has an engine monitor. The owner told me that cost a bit to install and is extremely helpful. I think it measure exact fuel flow and usage as well which is pretty cool.

Oh my gosh those numbers sound awesome. I just finished my instrument in a 172 and one of the last long x country flights with the instructor it took us like 30 minutes less than driving from Omaha to Kansas City (a 2.5 to 3 hr car ride). I think the flight was 2 hrs not sure really why it took so long, a combo of winds and KC approach did have to vector us around a bit...but still it was lame. I told my wife it took me 2 hrs to FLY to KC. She was like that's terrible, ever since it's like I can't buy a 172 or she will be upset, and to be honest I don't want to. It's flat out here there's not much to see anyway! Oh and then I picked up my grandmother for xmas - 107 nm away. Winds out of west at 30 knots plus. The trip there (3 hr drive) took 55 minutes with the tailwind, the trip back took nearly 2 hours. The cars on the ground were going barely slower and maybe even faster!....IAS 110 knots, ground speed like 65 knots.

I think I'm on the same page as gsxrpilot. The E appears to have been incredibly maintained and does have the STEC. I can get it for $60k or slightly less. I am concerned about slow speed down the road and it's why I've hesitated on the Grumman. I used to run a boat rental fleet with many models of engines and the one thing you don't do when buying a boat is buying too little speed/horsepower cuz you'll always regret it. (For those wondering, buy at least a 4.3 Mercruiser or greater.) With my possibility of cross country trips for work and the fact that we would like to visit more locations as a family I think the Mooney does seem the better option over the Grumman. Plus the wife wants that speed, which I'm honestly kinda surprised how much she wants to get places fast, I guess that's what a crying baby does to you.

This line is exactly what I think every time I see a Grumman "To me, the tiger looks like a home build. It just looks cobbled together." I don't know what it is about them. I really like the cool canopy and they're comfortable...but something about them just screams cheap to me even though they go for huge $$$. I don't really get it. The Mooney M20 E I saw looked significantly nicer than the Grumman Traveler I looked at. It was almost like the paint was mismatched or something (I think it's due to different materials for the wings and frame) and this guy took really good care of his Grumman too, it still looked crappy.

The E has the worse panel, but it's not bad but the avoinics guy at my local shop recommended it cuz the guy took meticulous care of it and this is what caught my attention as well. When the mechanics start telling you it's good....you should listen. The Mooney looked very nice up close that's for sure. I had trouble seeing hardly any flaws, but of course I'm a new buyer and excited.

Yeah I am a bit less sure how much x country I will do or not, but it could be substantial if my traveling job gets going again soon. Either way the wife really wants something faster, she's all about time savings for trips with the baby.

Yeah I don't think I could do the shotgun panel, I just got my IR rating and I want to get this fixed. The owner think it's no biggie, but he flies almost totally VFR he told me.

Oh, I thought this would be extremely difficult. That is good to know. I may also just go the G5 route so I can get more info off the one gauge......i'm hoping it can work with a Garmin 430WAAS ? any insight on this or do I have to upgrade something else to get a G5 like upgrade to a GTN650?

Yeah I'm aware of the "time building" aspect. I don't know that I really need a Mooney but the wife really wants to get places fast with one small kiddo and another one on the way soon. Also occasionally I may have to do multi state hops from Nebraska to NY...so I'm playing it safe in case I need it for that. With the fuel burn being comparable to a Grumman Tiger, and even nearly a Cessna 172 I figure why not see more of the country...or I'll just pull the power waaaaaaaay back and go slower.