anthony.locurto

I recently had Air-Mods do a prebuy inspection for me last spring and I can give a first hand account of a recent experience. Let me preface that I am not an AP, this is the first plane that I bought and the first prebuy process that I went through, and Air-Mods worked me into their schedule despite being busy. Also, Dave had to head out of town for a short time to help get a client’s plane back after being stranded. Overall I was very disappointed with the experience at Air-Mods. They lacked attention to detail to the point that it was almost dangerous and I would have been better off without doing a prebuy in the first place. The prebuy inspection itself did not show any red flags so I agreed to purchase the aircraft and address some of the deferred maintenance; one of these items were replacing the rubber donuts on the landing gear (which in reality didn’t need to be replaced). Since I didn’t have any complex time I showed up with a CFI to start transition training to be able to fly it home. When we went to start the plane up the battery was dead because Air-Mods cycled the gear off the battery and left a couple of switches on. The tech working that day did not know how to charge the battery, but no big deal we just grabbed Dave to put the battery on their charger. We finally get in the air after a couple hours delay, and on the second landing of the day our electric gear fails to extend. Luckily my CFI was a Mooney expert and helped me through the manual extension. We gave Air-Mods the squawks to fix but we’re delayed another week. When I returned, Dave handed me a bill to address the squawks, which I thought was odd, but I was naive with the process. They told me the handshake connection on the brake wiring became undone. I believe what happened was that they didn’t connect it back correctly after the prebuy. And luckily it happened to fail when I had an experienced copilot in VFR conditions. Additionally, the plane had been running very high at idle which was odd since it ran fine during my demo flight. They couldn’t figure it out so I just said I’d deal with it later. But the issue was that they put the wrong sized bolt to attach the intake tube, set the idle to 900rpm, and they tore off part of the o ring for the #3 intake pipe. All very obvious if you actually checked for the issue. And once fixed the engine ran smooth. In the end I spent almost $10k to have them deliver the plane in worst condition than where it started. Obviously, there are some things I could have done better and they were busy with other clients. But what actually made me upset was they agreed to the prebuy but couldn’t dedicate sufficient time to it; I wish they were just upfront and told me they couldn’t do it in the first place. I hope this is just a one off event, but either way I will not be returning.

Just a quick update on this saga: Dave at Air-Mod reached out to me first this this morning. Sounds like I might be able to get squeezed in with his shop. Thank you all for your inputs and advice! Hopefully this lead works out.

Oh this is great! Thanks so much for relaying this information along!

I’ve tried calling a couple of times but there’s no answering machine. I sent them an email so hopefully I’ll hear back. Thanks for the feedback thus far!

I am in desperate need of a competent mechanic for pre-buy inspection near Manassas, VA (KHEF). Byron at KGAI can't do it because I am buying it from a client of his (I trust his work but I want an independent evaluation), and Henry Weber at KLNS is too busy. I've tried calling Freedom in Lynchburg, VA multiple times since they are a MSC but they won't return my calls or respond to my emails. The Plane Doctor at Shannon isn't available either. I've tried Air-Mods too, but can't get a hold of anyone there. The guys at Fly Wyld have availability but they really only check the stuff on an annual which isn't what I am looking for; I want to make sure there is no corrosion and that the expensive items are mechanically sound. Below is a running list of the places I've reached out to: RPM Aircraft (Byron) - Not available Henry Weber - Not available The Plane Doctor - Not available Freedom Aviation (MSC) - will not return phone calls, or respond to emails Air-Mods - can't get ahold of anyone White Hawk - waiting to hear back, left a message on 3/19 Classic Aviaiton - won't do pre-buys Integer Aviation (KOKV) - phone number out of service I'm getting really frustrated with this process, but I won't buy a plane without the pre-buy. I have searched the MS forums for recommendations but they are either out of date or have one of the shops listed above. If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know!

So I made an offer on a 1977 J and it was accepted, but I didn’t realize it had a firewall forward horsepower plus engine stc. Doing some digging it seems like these engines aren’t well liked. Does anyone have any experience with them? More concerned with reliability and the threat the plane becoming a money pit (more than what a plane usually is).

So I was closing in on one of Jimmy's planes but the owner didn't want to fly the plane from NH to KGAI so I decided to walk away. I have found another plane that I am interested in: 1989 MOONEY M20J 201 Single Engine Piston for sale - 2423511 (trade-a-plane.com). The plane is located at Lockport, NY so I was thinking of reaching out to Chautauqua Aircraft Sales to see if they could help with the pre-buy inspection. Has anyone used them before? Also, I welcome any feedback regarding the plane.

That’s what I am planning to do, but for this what do you usually pay? Do you pay for the instructors 1 way airfare and then the instruction time back? Do you pay the hourly rate for for the travel to and from? Etc. I’m sure you’d work it out with the instructor but just wondering how it’s typically structured.

Thank you all so much for your for your replies and encouragement, I really appreciate it! I have been going through a few logbooks and some of them have been more revealing than I anticipated. I am looking forward to meeting the local community and visiting fellow Mooniacs across the US! I'll be sure to post my updates!

Hi all, I am looking to buy my first plane after successfully convincing my wife. My budget is $150k-$175 and my mission profile is very similar to @ewilliams93 : I intend to do a lot of vacation trips with my wife within (300nm) and to the Midwest to visit family (700nm). I've already spoken with insurance and emailed Bryon at RPM about typical annual costs. I am looking at an M20J and I found a contender with GMax here. The hail damage doesn't bother me too much, and would actually make me feel better since I will need to keep it outside for a while. So I have a few questions: At what point do you go from browsing to scheduling the prebuy. What other legwork should I do before I try to schedule the prebuy? I am all for a thorough prebuy inspection, but I don't want to spend the money on a plane that has red flags which don't require an mechanic to detect. I am relatively new to the DC area and I don't have any Mooney or complex time. Does anyone know of good Mooney instructors at KGAI or KHEF (I live next to DCA, so anything close to this area)? How did most of you take possession of your plane? Did you ferry it, fly it back with an instructor/friend, etc.? Are the logistics a nightmare? How quickly do things happen once you close? Do you typically have enough time to schedule the pickup so an instructor can head up and grab the plane with you? Since it will need to be a tie-down for now, do you have any tips for keeping that horrid DC swamp weather out (is flying 100 hrs/yr enough)? Does desiccant work at all? Happy New Year in the mean time!