Thedude

I bought my plane from jimmy back in September. He recommended Keith Kehoe for the pre buy and annual. I figured there was a risk of conflict there, but Gmax's reputation was good enough. I had Keith fill the plane to check for fuel leaks and he missed a slow leak on the left tank. I don't fault him for that, there was old staining that seemed to addressed and before the paint job I didn't notice any new leaking. My plane also seems to be a bit out of rig, requiring left rudder in cruise, but I don't how you'd catch that without flying it. Keith did find that the gear actuator support brace was broken, which he said was pretty common and makes the seat move when the actuator is running. He also spent a couple hours just talking through everything when I finally got out there, and then lent me his bose a30's when we found out my old a10's didn't work in the plane for some reason (still haven't figured that out). I flew back to California with Bob Cabe and he took back the headset. Bob also gave me one of his old headsets until I get a new one. All good people from what I could tell. I haven't gone through another annual yet, so we'll see what's found, but overall, I'm really happy with the experience and I love flying my plane.

I've emailed the shop, they're a 10 minute flight away, so conviently close, but I don't want my plane down for longer Either way thanks for the insight

It didn't look like this when I picked it up though, it looked perfect. Would that still be an issue of the paint not adhearing because of a fuel coating? Should the shop have noticed and done something about it?

I just got my plane back from the paint shop last week and it's beautiful. This did expose a slow leak and when I went back to look at the plane today it appears as though the paint bubbled and was eaten away. My understanding is that this was not normal for 100LL, can someone confirm that.

I'll usually go up the valley and cut right around KTRK. Highway 80 is pretty straight (compared to 50) 4 lane road that goes through a lower section in the mountains, and it goes TRK to pretty much the Carson valley.

> Someday you will need a little tiny part called a no-back spring. Oh I've read about that and am properly scared of that thing breaking. > As others have said above, don't hand your logs to anyone. I wouldn't even give them to someone to scan. Fortunately my logs were fully scanned before I purchased it, so it sounds like I should just keep the scans up to date and share that with the shop. > Call now since it is your first and you're a new customer. They'll probably tell you to call back, which is fine. But get on their radar now. And are they the shop you are currently using for oil changes and any other minor things that come up? You want to build a reputation with the shop you're going to be using, and it works both ways. Called on Friday and left a message, I'll try again tomorrow. I'm doing my oil change atm and I've been looking for a local shop -- I'm at KSBP if there are any recommendations, it seems the field has been making it harder and harder for shops to exist, so I'm having trouble finding someone to work with. > But I'm guessing @Thedude would love a list a KNOWN good Mooney shops in the area since it looks like he may be a neighbor of your if he was thinking about Top Gun 100% > If that’s the shop you want (and it’s good, but will be $$ as @MikeOH says), then you should already be on their schedule. Good shops are busy because they’re good. I’d seriously call tomorrow to get on their schedule if you’re sure. Good to know. > Using the Seller's recommended mechanic when you purchase can be expensive the next year. There's a reason the Seller recommends them. Have you thought about getting your annual done at the same shop that did it last year to ease the pain a little? It can take a few years to catch up on deferred maintenance and you can spread the cost out I was hesitant to use the brokers mechanic for this reason, but at this point I was also worn out in searching and willing to trust the reputation GMAX has, so rolling the dice a bit here. To be clear though, this was not the previous owner's mechanic, it was the brokers, so they don't have much more history on the plane than anyone else I would guess -- but I think 3 annuals ago (before the one before the prebuy/annual) was at Maxwell, so they went to a couple of different shops over the years but that one was pretty thorough at least (and the logs show it). > A little farther out from Stockton, but Hangtown Aviation in Placerville has done my friend’s G model the last couple years. They did a fuselage tube repair on a J model that involved de-skinning on the pilot’s side. It was perfect. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them. I know placerville, drive through there every year going to Tahoe, I'll look them up, thank you for the recommendation. > FYI, @jetdriven says it takes about 34 hours to do the Mooney Annual/100hr inspection list, start to finish. I would expect that on a first annual at a new shop and as a new owner. Good to know. > Wouldn't hurt to find a place that lets you help with the annual. You get to learn a lot about your plane and save a bit of money on trivial tasks, e.g. removing and reinstalling the cowling, wheels, inspection panels, and seats, oil and filter change, gascolator and finger screen service, brake fluid top off, etc. Easily 3-4 hours of work. I'd be happy with that, I'm good mechanically. I just want to find somewhere I can trust, and TopGun had a good reputation, but I don't need to go there. Edit: hm, seems my way of quoting people doesn't work that well...

Welp this sounds like it's going to be exciting. I've certainly been expecting the first annual to be more expensive, I'm not sure what general range, but I've been expecting it. I got the plane through Gmax and used their recommended mechanic, which I was overall happy with, but that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't a rats nest of expenses... I'm hesitant to put the logs in anyone else's trust, is it normal to give them all to the shop for on annual? If I provide them a copy, does that mean photo copying every page? Is there anything I can do before hand to potentially reduce cost? Eg compile ADs? I chose top gun because I wanted quality work and I'm in central ca, if anyone has other recommendations please let me know.

I bought my first plane back in September and had an annual done at that point. I'm several months away from needing to do another, but I want to make sure I'm properly prepared. I want to take it to Top Gun in Ca, I'm an hour south of them flying wise. When should I start trying to book an annual? What should I bring? I have my logs digitized from the sale, I assume that should be sufficient? What else am I missing?

Any update on this?

I would just want to get my plane back up in the air, so it's not ideal, but way better than sitting on the ground.

How hard is it to throw an old tach in the plane not really mounted anywhere if this problem doesn't get figured out soon? I have no idea what's involved in the process here.

Maybe I'm blind, but I don't see your part list further up this thread, do you mind reposting what you're using?

@Shawn26 any update? Are you still stuck?

I have this coming up and am planning to use them. Robert said to package the mags very carefully, any tips on what you did? Also is this something an owner can do or do I need an A&P to do it? There's another thread around here with issues connecting it back to Garmin EIS for rpm monitoring. I have a g500TXI as my engine interface, that not working is what I'm most afraid of atm.

I need to get my mechanic the IPC and AMM for my 79 m20j. I believe the AMM listed here should work but I don't know where to find the IPC, does anyone have any recommendations?