Mellow_Mooney

Hey Everyone, Wondering what minimum equipment I need to upgrade my panel to be able to fly gps approaches. I am not worried about easy vs hard, just want the ability to do so at the cheapest entry cost. One avionics installer is saying I need to install an HSI and one is saying I don’t. I’m curious what you all think and if you have any insight on my panel. If possible, I would install the gps 175 and use it with a switch for my CDI or install a second instrument, but would prefer to keep it something low cost. My avionics guy is suggesting a g5 or gi275 but I’d rather not shell out the money for that if I don’t have to. Or - can I just use my existing equipment with the gps 175? any ideas to keep my entry costs low and still able to fly RNAV and all other approaches? still training ground for instrument rating but want to get this upgraded for training. Please bare with me if my terminology is incorrect… My home airport only has gps approaches that bring you below 1000’ so that is the biggest reason I want the gps approach systems. Thanks for your help in advance. -Mellow

hahaha... pretty good video. The thing is planes have 3 wheels - all in different areas so this wouldn't happen... i'm thinking the plane would run up the ramp all at the same time

Previous owner left a gas tug in the hangar for me - so I would probably only do it with the tug was the thought. Perhaps get one a bit wider so I don't miss the ramps... That being said - you guys are right, probably not a good idea - just wondering if anyone has tried it haha

Hate to bring up such an old threat... but this was super helpful. Thanks all for the info. I have one question - I'm planning on getting a small (30'x40') T Hangar soon and was wondering if anybody has ever stored their plane on wheel ramps? for extra clearance? Not worth the risk? Seems easy enough and would allow easier work under the plane and some extra clearance on sides of the hangar. Something like this:

Well guys and gals… as promised here she is! Flew her out to Apple Valley and Big Bear this week. She runs great. And FAST Put over 12 hours on her already and she hasn’t even gone through a quart of oil. Pretty stoked on performance so far. As everyone stated only time will tell if I made a good purchase, but at the moment I’m unbelievably happy. Fly safe, -Mellow

Thanks! Good to know. I’ll take a look at it.

So… this is my plane! Just bought it haha. it’s being ferried to me Saturday. I’ll take a close up shot of the visors and will ask the seller if he knows where he got em. cheers to good taste in photos

I took everyone’s advice on here and am thankful for all of it. So even if you think I made the wrong decision - thanks for letting me know what to look out for. I looked at the risk, decided it was right for me, and pulled the trigger. For reference - Borescope and compressions were immaculate. I called all the previous mechanics that worked on it, did my due diligence and found out about the entire history of the plane. Checked the tubular structure, the wing spars, literally everything that was listed and recommended on this post and with a 3rd party mechanic the seller agreed to fly the plane to. Everything came back in great condition. Mechanic even told me he would buy the plane if I didn’t… Only thing I didn’t check was a cylinder which my mechanic and I agreed is probably a large undertaking for a seller. I negotiated the price, and am comfortable with the reality that this might be a dud engine in a year or two. To me - I am getting a plane that I can invest in and mold into my perfect aircraft. Which is what I want to do. I might even be getting the deal of a lifetime - but I’m not betting on it. I’ll follow up with you guys down the road of course, but I think I’m buying a decent plane at a reasonable cost. Will still follow up with photos as well!

Sounds good I will! Have friends up there so will definitely be visiting sometime this year. thank you!

Pics coming soon! Will be having it ferried to my home airport next weekend. Transition training already set up with a local CFI that is a Mooney owner as well. Insurance all set (pretty expensive because I don’t have much experience in make/type). Registration all set as well - bank handled it for me. Will be following up with an updated title search down the line to make sure everything finalized correctly. thank you! Incredibly stoked

Hey everyone, thought I’d give you an update. I’m officially an aircraft owner! Had the mechanics spend two days looking over everything mentioned and all turned out great. Just a couple of squawks to bleed the brakes, the flaps and added an ADSB on the tail (owner paid for it). Also a small amount of mouse poop in the insulation… but all tubular structure was checked and good to go. Insulation removed. Huge thank you to all of you and also a big thank you to Tom @47U Tom went above and beyond, helped me find a good mechanic, helped identify additional areas to check and offered his own help personally to ferry if I needed. Excited to join the Mooney club and hope one day that I can pay it forward. Fly safe everyone! And if you see a guy in a Mooney with a gigantic smile waving at you in the LA area… I apologize in advance.

Thanks for your responses guys. I had also thought it should only be 2-3 for an annual inspection so that's why I was so surprised. From the conversation I had with the mechanic I think he meant that was the cost to inspect... didn't realize he might have meant it to be the cost of inspection and repair. I reached out to him again but closed for the day... will try him in the morning before I head out. Will update after the day tomorrow but probably won't be getting back till late. Thanks all!

The mechanics both said they’d love for me to be there when doing the work. Problem is the plane is 3 hours flying away, so I’m renting a Piper to visit it tomorrow and I won’t be able to take a couple of days off work during the week next week. Plus would cost another couple grand just to be there to watch the pre buy.

Do you mean 7k after it’s all been fixed or 7k just for the inspection work? thanks for your reply

Spoke to the seller's mechanic and he is charging 1200 for prebuy and 2000-2400 for an annual... much better in cost but doesn't sound as "official" as the other company. I think he's a mobile mechanic. He did sound like he knew Mooney's and that he knows his stuff but he is literally going to be working on the owner's plane when I get there tomorrow... so know they have a relationship. Any thoughts?

This was a mechanic I found without the seller. I just reached out to the seller for a recommendation... will see what his comes in at. Calling him in a bit here. thanks

Awesome, thank you! LMK when you can. Looking around elsewhere as well.

Hello again all! First - thank you all for your comments. I have read through every single one of them, taken notes and printed them out. An update for you all... The seller sent me a photo of where the airplane was stored before he bought it. The hangar was spotless. It had an oldschool ford, another aircraft (looked like a bush plane of some sort), the mooney in it. Stucco walls, clean workstation, electric garage opener... you name it... this thing looked like my dream hangar that I probably will never be able to afford. The plane was also stored and had tin foil laid out around the wheels... assuming to keep rodents away... which leads me to think that the owner took care when keeping it stored in the hangar and had planned at least to store this thing for a while. Now for the fun part... I am planning on flying out to see the plane tomorrow. To meet with the seller (who said he now has two other offers on the plane) and to fly the plane, inspect what I can and make a decision. The seller has been reasonable on some items I'd like added to the plane and what I want to do with the pre-buy... leading me to believe that he has good intentions at the very least. NOW i have a question for you all. How much is a prebuy? I was quoted 7k for an annual by a nearby mechanic and 3k for a prebuy (16 hours or so, an intense prebuy I believe to check all AW, Oil analyis, borescope, tubular structure/all corrosion possibilities, etc.). The annual he said was above and beyond a normal annual... and would take 56 hours to check everything on the aircraft. He said it is what he would do if it were his own. Prebuy would take a couple of days. Annual would take a couple of weeks. I am not sure what the seller will accept or how long he will wait... so it is undecided on which I'll do. I would obviously prefer to do the annual... What do you guys think of what I am being quoted here? Is this a normal price these days? Reading online... I've seen consistent posts saying 1500 for prebuy and 3k for annual... so not sure if this is just thorough or if I'm being ripped off. All your help is much appreciated. And I will definitely give everyone an update after the weekend!

Hey guys, So I think I already know the answer to what I need to do next... but wanted to give you an update and see your thoughts. I reached out to seller to negotiate a Savvy Prebuy, where if anything was wrong with it relating to corrosion - we would split for half and then move forward/negotiate price again depending on what they came up with. If nothing was wrong, I offered to pay for the prebuy in full. The seller responded saying that he doesn't like Savvy Prebuys. They will charge 2500 and bring up a huge squak list after taking 2-3 weeks to get the the prebuy done, that they expect the planes to be new and that removal of a cylinder is an advanced surgery that he does not want to do on his plane... he said he had another seller interested and asked if he could pursue it to see if they are real... which I am about to respond as acceptable. I'm taking this as a red flag and about to release the plane... but wanted to get your thoughts on this first? Any truth to what he is saying? Thanks in advance for the help/responses - you guys rock. Would be pretty clueless and probably be making a mistake without you. Best,

Thanks, good to know 40-50 is the threshold for confidence... wonder if I can work something out with the owner... I'm planning to ask for a cost reduction but we'll see what he says. Really hard to get into the ownership market right now!

Thanks. Yeah from what I’ve been reading it seems like it’s going to be a risk no matter what. Im ok with some risk, just wondering if it’s high amount or low amount if everything were to go well with the pre buy and the plane looks good. Everything outside of it sitting looks like it was very well maintained. Paint is a 9/10 and original, interior looks good.

Thanks, just submitted a ticket to them.

Hey Guys, New here but hope to be a Mooney owner soon. I’m looking at a Mooney that was sitting for 8 years before the current broker bought it. He bought it, fixed it up in Colorado, ran annuals and said checked oil proficiently right after they got it running again. Then he flew it over the Rockies to California. It has about 10-20 hours on it now since it’s been fixed up. He said he took a borescope to the engine and saw no signs of corrosion and it had its annual done in October. I read up on some of the other posts on here and a recommendation was to take one of the cylinders out to check the cam shaft… so think I’m going to have an A&P close by do that and probably run another annual inspection just to be safe. Unless someone suggests otherwise. I understand this is a risk, my question is if there is anything else I can do to reduce the risk on purchasing this airplane? And do you guys think the engine / aircraft should be priced as an overhaul? Or is it realistic or just optimistic to think it might last a while? It’s got 956 hours on it and was overhauled about 20 years ago. Flown regularly until 2014 (50-80 hrs a year). I guess the old owner got dementia and his sons took over the plane for him and sold it when he died. He kept it in his own hangar (apparently pretty large with a helicopter, ford and some other stuff in it) until he died. Thanks for any help / suggestions in advance. Really nice plane and hope I can buy it but don’t want to put myself in a bad situation. First time buyer. -Ryan