CaliDreaminMr

Thanks jaylw314 and Rwsavory. I'll monitor for now and re-evaluate prop overhaul or IRAN at next annual (11/24).

Thanks. Looking forward to many adventures with Family/friends and other Mooney owners.

Thanks Fritz1. The Pre-buy was completed at a Mooney Service Center this past week. The owner flew his plane over the to MSC and has agreed to pay for a number of squawks for the MSC to fix and coordinated with his long standing A&P for fixing the remaining items. I was able to negotiate a price reduction on the purchase to help facilitate a prop overhaul in the next couple months as the last prop IRAN was back in 2019. The plane has the avionics I want for IFR (G5s, GI-275 MFD, GNS430W, autopilot, Flight steam 210 and 1300 TSOH on engine...so it's a plane that meets my needs. As much as I liked the plane, if the pre-buy revealed some surprises and the owner didn't fix the squawks, I was prepared to walk. But thankfully the owner has come thru and I am looking forward to owning an M20J at the beginning of the year once the squawks are fixed.

Utah20Gflyer, thanks for the feedback. I'll be flying with the owner to drop off the plane at the MSC this Wednesday and will make use of the flight to test our the plane and systems.

ZuluZulu, thanks for the LASAR checklist. Jetdriven (Byron), thanks for the feedback. I decided to go to Foothill Aircraft Services at Cable Airport where they have an MSC. I'll ping the Manager tomorrow to share what the pre-buy involves to make sure it is as comprehensive as it can be while focusing on my major areas of concern. LANCECASPER: I just drafted up a purchase agreement with the owner (with help from AOPA) and it does cover for an agreed-upon purchase price that airworthy items will be repaired at the Seller's expense and I would get my deposit back if Seller doesn't agree to fix them. I would lose my deposit however, if after pre-buy, I decide to walk away without giving the Seller a chance to fix the items. Thanks for sharing the example of missed corrosion on a pre-buy example. Corrosion is an area I certainly want to focus on during the pre-buy.

Appreciate the input ZuluZulu. Definitely don’t want to scour every inch of the plane. I plan to meet with the mechanic tomorrow to discuss my areas of concern to help scope the pre-buy accordingly, mainly focusing on engine health, corrosion, fuel leaks and anything else historically which are known issues of M20Js.

Thanks for the feedback. I met with owner and did an inspection of the logs and plane yesterday. All Logs are complete and appear in good order with all ADs in compliance. Airplane is flown regularly and hangared. I used a pre-buy checklist I found from Lasar to get a feel for what a pre-buy entails to help me with my questions and brief eval of the plane. I will also take look at the pre-buys you mentioned that are on this site. I have received a quote and will likely use the Mooney Service Center in Upland for the pre-buy and planning to walk through the pre-buy checklist with the mechanic who will perform the pre-buy before finalizing on the pre-buy.

Ron McBride, copy that. And fly Boomer understood. I am certainly willing to pay more for a pre-buy to get the best prebuy I can and acknowledge that even then, surprises could happen. I guess cost to me is second to a good mechanic with a thorough understanding of Mooneys to reduce those risks of surprises.

Thank you for the quick response. I reached out to Foothill Cable (an MSC) last week and they did confirm availability to perform a pre-buy but not knowing what the going rates are for Pre-buys, I wanted to compare with others in the area. Will definitely reach out to Bill’s Air and California Aero Marketing.

Hello, new group member here. Looking for a good local mechanic in the area to perform a pre-buy on an M20J, located in Corona, CA. Any suggestions or inputs would be greatly appreciated! regards, CaliDreaminMr