Flyler

Honestly, I've just worked a lot in my life, and had the privilege of parents paying half my college tuition. Worked full time through college as well. Got really lucky to meet some great mentors along the way. Always been debt-adverse so I just... well I don't have any other than the mortgage. Both our cars are paid off and in good shape. We way underbought on a house that needed a ton of work, and I did 95% of it myself. Yes we are DINK but tbh the wife's job doesn't chip in much and I have her put all her take-home in her IRA. I've been sort of stupidly paying an extra $750/mo on my mortgage (back to that debt-adverse mentality) even though it has a really low rate. Another huge stroke of luck was buying our house in December of 2019, before the market went insane. Figured I might as well just have some fun instead. Wife is *thrilled* with the idea of being able to hike all the mountains that we have a hard time reaching in the car for a weekend trip!

Thank you everyone for the review on this sample Mooney. I feel like my expectations are now set, at least somewhat reasonably. I think something in this price range would be a good entry for me. It would leave me with plenty of cash for the "catch up maintenance" without hurting my pride too much. Payments would be very comfortable and leave me with lots of adventuring money. Things like reupholstering or panel clean up do not scare me at all, and they seem like nice areas where I could make an older plane a lot fresher, and "make it my own" without diving into the A&P territory too much. To be honest, if it was structurally sound with a good motor and no corrosion, I could handle a lot of ugly paint and interior!

So, I made some calls. I was hoping somewhere along the way, I would be shocked by the cost and it would ruin my Mooney dreams, dooming me to the 100Kt Piper rentals. To be honest, I still thoroughly enjoy the 100Kt piper rentals, but, you know. Mooney bug. So far after talking to my credit union, I could easily put 35% down, have comfortable payments, and afford something around $80k. Of course it would need to live outside on a tie-down, which does hurt my soul a little bit, but a hangar is drastically more expensive. I wouldn't mind spending my own money on the interior, but would love to have a machine that someone else has already spent some of their own money into the avionics and maybe some speed mods. Currently my experience is all in old steam guaged Pipers so I figure as long as I never put myself into a full glass cockpit, any GPS would be LOVELY The range of prices is so broad that I was hoping someone could set me in the right direction here. I am guessing I will end up with the short body Mooney due to the cost, but occasionally an M20F shows up that really piques my interest. Do you guys think something like this is "too cheap" where it would need a ton of work? Is this a good price range? https://www.trade-a-plane.com/search?category_level1=Single+Engine+Piston&make=MOONEY&model=M20F&listing_id=2427914&s-type=aircraft# In case anyone doesn't want to follow the link, here's the quick info: 1966 Mooney M20F, asking $79.5k Total Time:8727 (that does seem like a lot) Engine 1 Time:873 SMOH Avionics: PS ENGINEERING MA450B AUDIO PANEL GARMIN GTS 430W GPS/NAV (1GS) GARMIN GTX 345 XPONDER W/ADSB OUT GARMIN GTR 200B RADIO Auto-Pilot: BRITTAN ACCUTRAK Other Equip: ELECTRONICS INTERNATIONAL CGR-30P, CGR-30C COMBO TACH, MP. ENGINE MONITOR, FUEL

Thank you, this sounds like sage advice. I'm sure every single student pilot gets the wild dreams of buying their own airplane when they can feel the license is coming soon In reality, I would like to just continue straight onto IR, high performance, complex, and ideally commercial one day. The rates at the school are good and there is a very attractive looking club at my local airport. Of course, they don't have any Mooneys! I'll probably keep stashing my cash for the initial purchase for another year or so before I pull the trigger. Until then I will have to be content with the 100kt Piper rentals.

Hi guys, I just wanted to stop in and say hello. I'm still working on my PPl, very close at 42hr and with the weather improving her in CT, hopefully it comes fast! I did some research to see what a good adventure plane would be for myself, wife, and dog... Of course the answer is Mooney, Mooney, Mooney! I'm hoping to pick up an OK condition m20C or m20E model and fix it up and modernize over time. Currently still a bit of a dream but really looking towards the future! Cheers! Tyler