mkerian10

Wow you're killing me here. Such a gorgeous aircraft. Saying this would be my dream plane is an understatement. I envy the guy who buys this

I mean what happens if during normal usage a mechanical failure happens. Maybe this is during startup or maybe I'm able to get back to my airfield. In some cases I'm sure this becomes insurance's problem but if I start my plane and parameters are off too much to safely fly it seems like I either have to fix it myself or... nothing? I'm curious what would happen in this scenario and how it'd be handled given I'm likely an hour+ flight from my nearest mechanic and a multi-hour drive

What if my plane isn't flight-capable? How often does that happen? I think that's the crux of my question

First of all thanks everyone for your comments. It's awesome to have a community that's both incredibly passionate about this subject and is comfortable disagreeing and seeing out all sides of arguments. I've given it some thought and my current opinion is to finish my PPL, and more than likely get my IR before buying a plane. I wouldn't be opposed to buying a plane for my IR but I'm not super stressed about it. Ultimately once I buy my plane I really won't get much more instruction after that. Spending a bit more time earlier in my aviation life to get more training seems like a very worthwhile investment. While I think it'd be fully possible for me to safely complete my training with my own Mooney I think this is a much safer option in addition to not having many people competent in Mooney's in my area. I think it'd be smart to get Mooney specific training when I do buy one. Other things like buying the best plane I can, avionics etc. are duly noted. I doubt I'll be buying my forever plane any time soon (my forever plane will be a G800 with Camilla Cabello as my flight attendant/wife). Overall I feel like a short body plane better encompasses my mission and I'm sure I'll have plenty of lifestyle changes in the next 5-10-20 years. All of this is fantastic advice but wanted to highlight this as it's one of my particular worries. I'll be sure to get a strong idea of all mechanics available to me. One question I have is how do you deal with mechanics when they aren't in your city? If you have an unexpected issue when your nearest mechanic is a few hours away how does this work? I think this is a fantastic point that I "knew" but didn't really appreciate. Ultimately the purchase price is daunting but just the beginning. Which truthfully just makes me want to buy a better plane. Buy overall I feel the point to take away from this is buying a solid, forward seeing, safe plane is more important than getting the best deal on the block. I'm supposed to have a first girlfriend? I'm again finding a bit more stuff about maintenance and mechanics. I have friends that are aircraft mechanics and I'm sure they'd be delighted to help where they can. But they're armed forces mechanics working on jet engines so I'm not sure exactly how much help they'd be. If I wanted to stay here I'd buy an anchor. Wanted to highlight 3, something I came in believing and am glad to see everyone emphasize this. I've flown the Mooney in MSFS a fair amount of times. Unfortunately have no comparison! This is simultaneously the best and worst time to get an experimental. I have no one telling me this is a bad idea, but I have (hopefully) a long life ahead of me. The RV series is particularly interesting but it's not something I'm willing to invest in at this point in my life.

Hey team. I've posted a thread before. A great amount of discussion was generated off that and I've entered a new phase in my life so I wanted to post again. I've recently received solid news in my career and I may be able to comfortably afford a plane sooner than I thought. This is something I'm very uncomfortable with so I was hoping I could get the community's input on a lot of things and generally gather the wisdom that is apparent here. Overall I don't see any value in a J+ for me. I'm a single pilot who will either be taking on >2 for small rides to show off my plane or <=2 for xc trips. I want a short-body C/E preferably E for the extra speed relative to price. I've considered experimentals and while I'm not opposed to them I think where I'm at in life it's just not for me. I'm a bit too green for that. I currently don't have a PPL. This is understandably a problem. Originally I was just lolly-gagging my way through PPL since I didn't have any immediacy. I was planning on going PPL -> ??? maybe buy a Mooney??? -> IR -> plane. Complex and HP and maybe a twin somewhere in there for the shit of it. I don't want to get a plane before a PPL but now I'm considering buying a plane before my IR and using said plane for my IR. Of course it depends on the plane. Now my plan is much more PPL -> Plane -> IR with less room for error. Now that you have context please let me state my questions Buying a plane is scary. How do I know if I'm getting a decent price? This was essentially my old post but now it's significantly more serious. I've been tracking essentially every Mooney listed since I made that post but it's still a tough position to be in. This is the most broad question, what should I do now that I'm seriously looking to buy a plane with absolutely zero experience in buying a plane? I live in Sioux City, IA. I'm pretty sure there's a Mooney place in Lincoln, NE (which is perfect since I went to school there) but I'm worried about maintenance. Not because of distance but just in general, I'm very new to not only plane ownership but also planes. Are there any worries in living in a place like this? Anything specifically to worry about? I'm not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination. I enjoyed playing with little electronic kits my parents got me when I was young but that's about it. I'm fully willing to work on my plane and do whatever but I see what other people do and it makes me worried. I'm a big learner and am willing to learn how to work on my plane but given it's my life at stake I'd rather have a professional do what a professional does. I'm sure over time I'll get more comfortable but this ties into my previous point. How often am I going to have to make semi-critical fixes to my plane? Just anything else. I'm very new to not only plane ownership but aviation as a whole. I really got into it because a year and a half ago I started playing Microsoft Flight Simulator and enjoyed it. Any and all advice or warnings you could give would be great. Thank you. I've really enjoyed this community the last few months and I'm grateful to be a (silent) part of it. EDIT: Additionally I'm interested if anyone is willing to take me up in a Mooney ( would pref C/E but am open to all). I'm willing to take a small vacation so works for me. I'm not looking to take controls but just get in one and talk to an actual Mooney owner.

A big issue is what's the utility of owning an airplane? It's very useful if you have a lot of 3-8 hour drives without direct airline flights but the amount of people who are in GA due to its utility is tiny. I'm not saying that there isn't a lot of utility, but that utility comes at a substantial price. Even if you're someone who has a couple million in the bank and has a realistic reason to own a plane you'd have to devote a lot of time to training and ownership. I don't like the way the GA market is trending. If it's not a trainer or a luxury aircraft then it's useless since the market for a relatively affordable, fast XC type plane is Wealthy (can essentially cut out bottom 70% of pop. immediately) Loves aviation Has demand for XC trips There's not a ton of people who fulfill all of these Realistically the biggest success I could see out of Mooney is if they deliver a 300+ TAS plane that's pressurized and can carry a family for < $2M. Basically if they can make a TBM and charge half the price. That seems impossible though

Why buy a plane you're immediately going to upgrade? He didn't really indicate any pressing need to purchase a plane and I don't see any particular reason that the plane market would explode in the next year or so.

People make fun of Cirrus’ parachute but A. Regular (non-pilot) people put high stock in that. A question I commonly get asked is if the plane I’m going in has a parachute. For some reason people would rather float down than glide down! B. It genuinely does improve safety, it has costs of course but used correctly the parachute will undoubtedly save lives. C. It gets more people into GA.

Oh I'm not thinking about a K I was just trying to get some more understanding about how aircrafts are priced. I neglected to consider hull time

Saving for a J would delay my purchase but likely only for a year or two. My question is why is it so worth it? I live in the midwest and will likely be travelling solo or rarely with another person. I'm in my mid-20s so it's fairly likely my lifestyle will change significantly but I doubt I'll be flying with any children for 5+ years. Right now I'd probably consider a C/E equally. But the J seems like it's going to be 30K+ vs. a C and 20k+ vs. an E. Numbers are a bit fuzzy and while I'd love to go fast I feel like a C/E would have less maintenance and cost less while being ~10% slower. I'm not against a J but to me it feels like I'd rather get a nice short body than a low-end J.

Thank you everyone for the information. I really appreciate it. Something else interesting, I saw this M20K for sale That engine is on life support right now but outside of that it seems like a very well kept plane. Avionics are decent enough etc. Why is this being sold for only $95K? An overhaul costs 25-30 from my research. It's definitely a hassle to buy a plane knowing you'll very quickly need to overhaul the engine but it seems like a good enough deal to justify it. For ~$130k you're getting a solid M20K. Just curious if I'm missing anything Especially compared to this M20K which is listed at 120 despite a horrid interior and being an ugly plane. Effectively the same price gets you two wildly different planes

I'll @TravelVeteran. Since it's your plane you may be able to provide me additional context

Hello Mooney people. I'm still a few months (at least) from buying a plane and have a ton of learning to do. I've been trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can but one thing that's sort of secretive is how planes actually sell? Specifically what the market bears and if it's like some housing markets where you list a plane then just let people bid it up. I'm just sorta curious what the 'real' price of buying a plane is currently. Specifically I was thinking about this plane. '65 C ~1600 SMOH which isn't great but again I'm not super knowledgeable. Mid 70's on compressions which could mean anything from 73-74 to 77-76. Cockpit isn't glass but outside of these things it seems the owner has taken great care of the plane and is a fully capable and safe owner. It seems like a great plane to buy but the price sorta confuses me. Overall it doesn't matter how well you keep it if your engine is nearing overhaul and you have no fancy avionics. I'd just like some context since when I do get in the market for a plane it'll likely be a C (as much as I'd like to get something fancier). So at least getting a baseline and some more knowledge about how aircraft are priced and sold would be very helpful. I've looked into the Mooney pricing guide but he didn't get back to my email, plus I'd imagine the guide is out of date given the turbulent market conditions the last few years. Thank you, Matthew.

That’s a dream panel right there

Plane looks great but I had to comment for that first cockpit picture. The quality on it is insane. Always great to see sellers post good pictures.

I disagree. If you have children/grandchildren then leave everything you can to help them out (while allowing yourself some toys of course).