Mooneyland

No matter who you decide to purchase your Mooney from, the issue has come up as to whether the Mooney or airplanes in general are easy to learn and understand. Perhaps many of you more experienced Mooney owners with some mechanical ability that all do not posess have come to understand the Mooney you own and credit should be issued here because it is always my goal to get Mooney owners to understand as much about their airplane as they possibly can; in fact I have writen much on the subject and have provided Mooney Inspections lessons as a good start guideline where virtually every system of the airplane is discussed. Reading that report would convince you that these are not "uncomlicated" machines. http://www.mooneyland.com/prepurchase_inspection.htm. Are Mooney's really mechanically simple aircraft? Yes and no. Yes in comparrison to the modern electronic automobile; there are far less parts and systems involved. Should new owners be comforted by the fact that statements are made that they are simple to understand and a non mechanical type owner, or one with little time to learn think that it is okay to buy an airplane because it is mentioned as mechanically simple? No, and mostly "no" due to the age of the fleet; for example: A really nice 231 came into my shop for interior work having just had a thorough Dugosh annual inspection where the tubes were pronounced in great shape and there were no "corrosion issues. Not very many times are the ceiling panels removed from a Mooney. We removed that exceedingly difficult 231 ceiling panel for the interior upgrade and I discovered corrosion developing on the center roll cage post tube. Out of sight, out of mind? That center post carry's most of the weight of the engine and should that thin tube ever fail due to corrosion, he could certainly lose the engine right off the front of the bird! Here are pictures of the tubes that had started to corrode in an otherwise non corroded airplane: http://www.mooneyland.com/check_your_tubes.htm. What caused that rust to form? Condensation. My point is that while some think that the Mooney machine is mechanically simple, there is nothing simple about ensuring that the 35-40 year old airplane you're going to put your family in is in actual "airworthy" condition as signed off and indicated by some mechanic. In all of my flying days I have come to the conclusion that the weakest link in ownership can be the mechanic. Having more than my share of emergencies in nearly 6,000 hours of flying Mooney's were mostly due to mechanical errors being caused by the mechanics. Possibly the most risky time to fly an airplane is after some work has been performed on it and much of my flying is just after mechanical work or inspections. Some of those include gear collapse on taxi due to incorrectly adjusted gear downloading and failing to discover that the inside of the gear tubes were severely corroded. That airplane was just signed off as airworthy by a Mooney service center just prior to the collapse. There are pictures of that collapsed Mooney on my website. In another instance after getting signed off by a service center annual inspection; upon delivery of the 201 to Florida, I was not able to level off the airplane at altitude due to the mechanic leaving off the trim cover chain guard between the seats and a nylon upholstery nail got caught in the chain and sprocket rendering it immovable. The ensuing nose up decent was NOT FUN! Another time I had lost an engine in an E model 2 weeks after 9-11, requested and granted a landing at Randolph AFB after which I was promptly arrested even though they said "clear to land", but that's another story. That E model had just come in from Kansas City for me to market and sell. I had sent another pilot as I had just had minor surgery and didn't want to make the long trip. Upon my moving the airplane from SAT to my airport the next day the engine had quit cold from the well known Cutter Aviation inspecting the fuel system per my request, cleaned and installed a new O ring in the injection system. The problem was that they used an automotive O ring that didn't fit well instead of the Bendix blue O ring it calls for, so he used some goop to make it fit. The goop clogged the injector nossel outlet, bent the injector needle and killed the engine. Further, I had two engine failures on rotation in two different Mooney Rockets the same day! That was due to the service center improperly setting up fuel flow in the more complicated Rocket engine, and I could go on.... Are Mooneys simple to understand machines to where maintenance issues are always caught by the mechanic or the owner who thinks he fully understands his machine? Not always. Nothing can functionally obsolete at best or cause a dangerous airframe at worst than corrosion can cause. But the tubes have been inspected and signed off as airworthy year after year! I have seen some aircraft that someone took the time to recoat the tubes with a strong epoxy and they looked good at first glance. However I have seen some coated in epoxy that were first bondo'd in areas where rust had taken its toll. Not good. Others looked good to the mechanic and yet we found serious corrosion because we know where to look and how to check it. More often than not Mooney tubes rust along a thin line of the tube where you cannot easily find it because it sits right up against the aluminum skin of the airplane where two different metals come together and touch. Most Mooneys have undergone the 208 SB's and had them signed off as such never having completely read or understood all that the part A and part B of that service instruction entails. In fact, probably over 80% of those Mooney's that have the 208's signed off, the job was done incorrectly or not thoroughly and the comfort zone of the SB entry in the log can be a false sense of security. Just because a Mooney may have the new style water resistant insulation in it does not constitute the full 208 SB's being done. Another area often overlooked is the lateral movement of the horizontal stabilizer especially in the medium stretch bodies such as in G's, F's, J's, and K models. If there is any lateral movement, then some internal hardware requires replacement, yet how many times during preflight have you seen pilots not even knowing what to look for let alone check it; yet if a Mooney is going to have an in-flight airframe failure, it is usually the tail that goes first, but as usual; out of sight, out of mind like the ceiling's center tube. Would you buy an early 201 with the larger six cylinder mod called the Missile? What difference would the year of the 201 make? The center engine tube of the early 201 was of a lighter gage than that of the 231 which was designed for the longer and heavier 231 engine. It was not until early 80's that Mooney beefed up that center tube which carries the weight of the engine and as Charlie Dugosh once pointed out to me, that as those early 201 Missile equipped airframes begins to corrode or crack, there can be hell to pay when it fails. But what do I do if you have an early 201 with the Missile conversion? Are you SOL? No, but you should be aware of it, immediately have it inspected and eventually have a doubler tube installed. Does everyone know things like that? I doubt it, but we would go to that extent helping the new prospective buyer to know about and check that issue and many others. Simple is what you do know. Complicated is what you do not know. Are you prepared to learn all there is to know on your own? Go by some nice and helpful Mooney owner's direction on what to inspect? Lycomings love to corrode at the cylinder bolts if they're not properly maintained. It is not uncommon to have a cylinder blow off the side of an IO-360 engine while the O-360 doesn't seem to share the possibility. Many injected Lycoming Mooneys are still flying around with the dangerous old style fuel injection servo. We just had one overhauled that had never been overhauled or updated in its life and that was a 1968 airplane! Three of my six complete engine failures have been due to the old style injector and/or poor maintenance in its past. I'm to the point where I'm affraid of the old style injector. You will know you have the old or new style (since mid 80's) by looking under the engine on the pilot's side and on the side of the servo there should be a large brass HEX-head bolt with nothing drilled in the center. The old style had a smaller black colored hex bolt that has an Allen set screw in the center. I recently located a really nice (otherwise) '68 F model with a Garmin 530 for a retired Military instructor pilot buying his first Mooney. During the pre-buy inspection; one of the things on my list I wanted the mechanic to check was for old or new style injector. It had the old style! Because it had been considered as "airworthy" by each annual mechanic and was reported as working correctly which it seemed to be, the seller refused to pay for an overhaul. I paid for it myself out of my commission because in good conscience I did not want my customer flying that airplane with the old style injector. Navajo Accessories in San Antonio did the overhaul recently and Alvin reported back that it was in very sad shape inside and had never had a single SB or AD update done to it and it was NOT airworthy. The 201 engine uses a somewhat controvercial single "dual mag" that shares some important in common items such as the gear drive. Should that ever fail, you've lost your engine. However in fairness, that mag when properly maintained has been remarkably reliable except for one area that stands out; the mounting bolt. There is a single mounting bolt that is tightened against an aluminum block that sits between the mounting bolt and the engine case. That block is made in kind of a step shape and with time the aluminum wears against the metal that it attaches to with the bolt which is now loose and that can and has caused the mag to fall off the engine that will not only cause the mag to fail, it will ruin the engine should you get it down in one piece due to oil starvation. Mooney landing gear systems are rarely checked for proper rigging and downloading adjustments and contain play in the shock disks with load taken off just because the rubber on the disk looks good. A simple but important shock disk compression test should be performed when the airplane is jacked up. I have found countless times that items of importance are often overlooked by some mechanics and to Mooney's credit, you can get away with some of those sins for a time anyway, but one day the airplane can turn around and bite you in the ass. I have flown Mooney's before that had the controls hanging up on wire harness bundles beneath the instrument panel and the owner thought that that was how the Mooney should feel as he had never had one to compare with before, and yet that bundle of wire could have caused loss of control at one point or another. Another time I found that the after market wing tip mod installed was rubbing up against the aileron. All is fine until you fly in a severe temperature variation at altitude where parts can expand and contract. How'd you like to fly an airplane with no aileron control because space tolerances between the aileron and wing tip were not observed? So, are airplanes (Mooney in particular) to be considered uncomplicated and easy for anyone to do some internet learning in order to help ensure his mechanic knows what he is doing? Will that mechanic be in the plane with you when something goes wrong? Doubtful. So when people like George suggest that the Mooney is so mechanically simple for anyone to know if they are getting a good airframe or not; I respectfully beg to differ with that opinion. Simply the age of the aircraft alone is enough to complicate issues that can arise in decades of use and even neglect and that is another reason to use the help of a professional that has been through hundreds of inspections on the Mooney animal. We know where to look and believe me; we look these days especially now that the airplanes are getting so up in age and we find things often over-looked by inspection suggestions to the inspection mechanics. A good mechanic will admit that he learned something about the Mooney he didn't know and we think it is part of our job in location services to help ensure he knows his stuff and looks into areas he had previously not known about. There can be no worse situation than a know-it-all who does not know it all is given the responsibility to see if a used airplane is truly airworthy. Do not make the mistake in believing that flying one of these "uncomplicated" airplanes at 10,000' going 200 mph are so mechanically simple that they can't one day bite back, so if you're in the market for a Mooney; have a full time job, wife, kids and house and you have little mechanical ability yourself; the purchase process is best done with the help of those who are heavily experienced rather than trying to spend some extra time that few have on getting a proper mechanical education about the airplane they intend to fly to simply save some money at purchase. That is one of the biggest and often made mistakes a new Mooney owner can make. First off when you do have an airplane inspected, it is usually the responsibility of the seller to pay for airworthy items found, but If you trust any mechanic 100%; you're looking for trouble, so ask yourself if you are really qualified to set out a search for a 40 year old airplane and have some flying buddy advise you if the plane is safe or not a money pit or whatever. So whether you decide to go it on your own as suggested by another in this forum, or you use someone with serious and accurate knowledge to help you out, the fact remains that the best pilots are those who know their machine's mechanically and at Mooneyland.com we have writen many articles free of cost for you to peruse, study, and learn by, and to date; most at no cost to you. Where is all the wonderful and free information by other Mooney dealers? To me it boils down to who love Mooney's and who love money. I have met and/or spoken to countless mechanics across the nation and I have determined that many are not really Mooney qualified, even some service centers have that problem but don't get me started on that subject. Two superb and knowledgeable Mooney mechanics I know enough to recommend are both in Texas. Dugosh in Kerrville and Boyd Maddox in Houston. Like Mooneyland, they are in it for the love of the Mooney animal more than the almighty buck. Just don't make the mistake that because an airplane has a sign-off it is a safe airplane, or on the surface it looks good. It is YOUR responsibility as an airplane operator to ensure that the airplane is actually airworthy and only deep study and time can aid in that endeavor, and those who successfully operate and fly his first, second, or even third Mooney will rarely if ever have the qualification to know what is going on accross the full Mooney spectrum unless he has been involved in the inspection of hundreds of them as some of us have, and are in constant contact with those mechanics who really know the beast. When you get involved in that many inspections, you begin to see a pattern of wear and often times in areas that unless you or your mechanic knows for certain where to look and is completely updated on it all, you may end up very disappointed. On the upside; Mr. Al Mooney saw the importance of trying to design an "idiot proof" airplane, but I have flown them enough to know that Murphy's Law can even follow those fabulously designed and built Mooney's around. Keep in mind that any "simple" machine can develope complicated issues and can require complicated fixes if caught, but often enough only by those who really know their stuff, and only to those who can recognize a problem before it fully developes, so even if you are a non-Mooneyland customer, we invite you to our site for one of the best free Mooney educations you can get anywhere. Take the time to learn, it will be worth the time investment, and I will try to find the time to update this list from time to time in order to help keep you properly informed. Fly safe, Richard Zephro

Generally doing business with someone includes the transfer of funds to one party or the other. If you read my post well enough you would have determined that NO MONEY changed hands in either complaint; in fact I had speculative work or preliminary work for both parties both of which went unpaid. With that done and contract in hand, at least one of the parties perhaps both decided to continue the work on their own and breached our contracts causing so much work and for nothing. There were two surprises: 1. That the other parties to the contract failed to perform on their end and yet reported my company to the BBB. 2. That the two complaining party's were even able to make a complaint when not a nickel of money was charged. If you read your own link about my company issue at BBB, you would have noted that in each event we attempted to contact each complaintant through the BBB as the suggested attempt to find out exactly what the problem was, but it goes on to say that neither party was accepting to any remedy which is why I feel that the issues were planted in the first place in order for the party's to think they had a reason to get out of their contractural obligation which is to not put us to work unless they honestly planned on going through with the purchase of an airplane through my company. Basically they found airplanes on their own (probably reading such lists as this) effectively shoving our contracts aside for their own gain once we shared the process of how we work in location and then they each took over the hunt on their own thinking that they would save money. What should I have done; paid them money not to complain when there was no monitary outlay on their parts? Where is the bureau that business can complain about prospective customers not honoring a contract they had signed? I had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars; my retirement in effect in order to get custody of my two children that needed that to happen so the last thing I would do is hire more lawyers to go after contract breechers. There was no wrong doing or failure to perform on those two issues. Many people simply think that it is okay in this day and age to not keep their word or contractural obligations, and then if that is not enough, they think that there could be legal action taken and thus cover themselves in advance preemptively with a complaint to the BBB. I have little regard for the BBB especially now that I see the unfairness involved and have never used it personally for any reason. I simply take the time to ask for company references and follow up with that rather than use some burned out bureaucracy that doesn't take the time necessary to seek the real truth of the matter. Meanwhile when someone like yourself decides to make such an issue public and even provide a link for it on a list that could affect current and future business by making inaccurate statements as you had about my exhorbitant fees which do not exsist in the way you put it, you should always expect the accusee to respond which is what I did and am doing in the interest of truth and accuracy for all. Perhaps in the future you will check your facts prior to publically accusing someone with inaccurate information and also helping to cause the loss of time that was spent with the first time buyer; Jose, you were advising with your innaccurate statement. I know what Jose's situation was and he would have far more benefited as most do from the service and tech support we provide after the sale; not to mention that we try hard to make each pilot a better pilot better equipped to transition to high performance. The reason that I have stayed away from such forums for years now is that there are people who consider themselves "experts" in this field of aviation and are not, and I have personally read of many pieces of advice to an aspiring Mooney owner of things that I considered a dangerous practice, especially for the novice first time buyer. Some years back a man and his young son were killed in his first Mooney shortly after purchasing it. Because of the Mooney speed, he ran over another airplane in the pattern failing to see it. That man was actively involved in one of the forums and rather than being encouraged to seek a professional to help him transition to the more high performance airplane, he was encouraged by at least one list to just go out and practice pattern work on his own. A good and caring professional broker such as us at Mooneyland would have made at least some instruction available to him free of charge after the sale. That is in part what we are known for and once a customer leaves here; he is not only flown with and instructed in his new bird where possible, but he is educated as to the ins and outs of ownership, maintenance, preventative maintenance and everything to do with the owning and operating of his new Mooney airplane. I'm not sure if that man and his son would be alive today or not had they not been encouraged to do the searching for an airplane on his own, but I had spent quite some time on the telephone with that person prior to him buying his older Mooney elsewhere. We impress on all of our customers the importance of proper pattern operation, and who knows? That could have been just enough to have kept this man and his young son alive. One of the sins of flying that I find often is that many instructors teach to fly a tight pattern. Not smart in an airplane with the speeds of a Mooney. It's easy in a fast airplane to run over those pokey Cessna's and such, plus it creates the danger to over-bank base to final which is also a major pilot killer. My people are taught to take their time in the pattern squaring turns, how to look for traffic, etc. and not fly a too tight pattern simply because the instructor said that should the engine quit in the pattern; he could make the runway. That argument won't hold water as you're more likely to run over a Cezz 150 you can't see from behind than losing an engine in the pattern. We provide a wonderful and intense service to our customers AFTER THE SALE and I have not had one customer yet who said he didn't learn something from the experience of that free service, and those that contact me before giving some mechanic the go-ahead or carte blanche on an expensive repair or upgrade almost always save big money with my suggestions. A professional is just that. Professional, or he should be; and virtually all of our customers benefit from having the involvement of our company in their purchase and ownership and usually end up not having to pay any extra for their airplane of choice because we negotiate a commission from the seller based on his original asking price; plus we won't allow any customer to get financially buried in any airplane. They are smart enough to know if a deal or price is a good one or not and my customers think that they got a fair deal on a good airplane not to mention the services after the sale that Mooneyland provides. Again, there is no other company out there that goes way beyond the norm to see to it that the new Mooney owner is supported and taught how to operate that airplane in the safest most efficient manor, so if the word "Broker" is an ugly word to you; I have tons of Mooneyland customers who would disagree. Thank you. Richard

I have never said that an individual could not locate himself an airplane George. We are here to help those who feel intimidated by dealing with the public and plenty of people get screwed by the public with neither them nor their choice of mechanics at times even know what to look for. Our service utilizes professional and methodical means and experience to help insure that both the seller and buyer are happy with the result and most are; infactically, and we do everything to help insure that the airplane is not a money pit or dangerous. Most sellers will give in a bit more to an experienced dealer simply by the work and aggrivation that is saved. I am certain that should you ask my actual customers, you will get a different result than the BBB has shown. FYI, neither of those complaints were from people who were actually my customers and bought something. I tried to explain to the BBB that neither complaint had either customer spend a single dime with my company, so those are bogus. Even if not bogus, these are used airplanes we're dealing with and our pleased customer rate is huge, but I personally believe that the complaintants were plants by a competitor anyway. Again, neither complaintant made a purchase! Besides; only 2 complaints in 20 years of dealing in used aircraft? Get real. We still have a B rating which is above average for businesses. Not everyone has your confidence when purchasing and the intelligent people who know their limitations so they hire a professional with more Mooney experience than they will ever have themselves. On their own, they know that my tech support, cost of purchases, advice, etc. will not be available to them. As for you not being impressed with our phone call, well; you weren't that impressive either picking my brain then off on your own; so what? We have hundreds of customers who are loyal repeat customers because they know that they are dealt with honestly and that there was a huge advantage in using our services. Check with our "Others Say" page here: http://www.mooneyland.com/CustomerFeedback.htm. These are examples of real customers comments. The first one on there is from a Military Officer who while in Iraq; we communicated for over a year until he came home and actually bought an airplane through our Location Service, which I actually thought that he was just needing a diversion and was a wanna be owner. No matter, we fed him so much information to share with his buddy's just to help keep his mind diverted from the war. When he came back and bought, we threw a dinner party for him as you can see in the photos which included Tom Leonard, a multi time Mooneyland customer and now owner of a new Acclaim. I still get calls from him and the many others about how much they are enjoying the airplanes and the support they get with my company. Mooneyland is the only source of FREE Mooney information that goes as deep and complete as Mooneyland does. We have supported even non customers and steered them in the right direction, so why do you want to be so destructive by slandering a company with false information that you have never done business with, and one that is dedicated to being helpful to Mooney owners and pilot's world wide in general? You must be a far left wing supporter because you make absolutely no common sense and your issues of truth in making public statements are lacking to the point of pure gossip. One last example is Steve Rutherford of Florida. He wanted us to locate him a 231. The best one we found was in Colorado and it was the best by far. The problem was that the seller knew his selling price was already a good one cut to the bone and had no room in it for a commission. I called Steve and told him that I could refer another plane were I would make money for the time I had spent, but gave him the information to complete the deal himself because it was by far the best of the best 231 out there and his best choice. Steve decided to pay me something out of his pocket which was unexpected but appreciated. Meanwhile was he happy? Richard, I’m writing to again say what a pleasure it was to work with you on the location and purchase of 1152G. Without you, a Mooney never would have been in the picture for Lisa and me. Your total conviction to the Mooney line first got us interested and we are now true believers. You’re pre-buy check out coordination with the Mooney Service Center in Denver brought to us (in Florida) an absolute gem of a plane. We also followed your suggestion and corrosion treated the plane to help offset our Florida humidity. This year, we breezed through our first Annual with absolutely no surprises what so ever. What a relief! Richard, I would be more than happy to tell any of your potential clients that the cost of your service was a true bargain! Also, your focus on your client is too be highly commended in this day of high powered, fast talking, no service after the sale environment that is prevalent out there. Not knowing the nuances of the Mooney, it was very reassuring to have an extremely competent expert watching out for our interests. You, for the weeks prior to locating 1152G, put up with my barrage of questions and concerns, and were always very accommodating in every way. Here we are, almost a year and 170 hours later, flying an airplane that is perfect in every way. We both absolutely love the 231 platform and cannot imagine a more perfect fit for us and our flying needs. It flies better, and more fuel efficiently, than anything we have ever flown and it has the speed, handling, altitude capability, dependability, and rock solid feel that I am extremely secure with. It is absolutely light years ahead of our former 182 in EVERY way! Yes, we are Floridian flatlanders, but the 231’s altitude capability sure does come in handy on those hot, towering cumulus days. It really is nice to quickly get above all of the lower altitude air traffic, circumnavigate the towering stuff, and pick up those wind speeds at altitude. The monthly trips to Asheville are now fast and smooth…a Lisa requirement! If we ever decide to move up in the Mooney line, you definitely will be my only phone call. Best Regards, Steven and Lisa Rutherford Merritt Island, Florida If you need a contact for Steve, let me know and I will send it to you privately with his permission, but it is all true and that is how the majority of customers feel about our service. You should think twice before slandering any honest and hard working company, but some people just think they are better than others which is the case and point here. One more question: Since locating a Mooney on your own, when was the last time you were able to buy anything for that bird at an aviation dealer's cost, or that hard to find part is easily located by us? We have saved some customers in the tens of thousands of dollars when upgrading panels, interiors, paint, engines, etc. and unfortunately you are not one of those who saved $ using our services. Many do however and that is why we're beginning our 21st year specializing in Mooney aircraft and supporting our customer base. Richard Zephro

George; I have just subscribed and I read your post and I have to take exception to the ineference that Mooneyland's location fees are exhorbitant, or so you "heard". I'm not sure what your gripe is with my company, but in the interest of accuracy in postings; especially when it concerns our wonderful reputation from most who have used our services; there is no "fee" charged to the buyer; ever! We exhaust our search for our location customers and use every conceivable asset to help assure that the airplane of choice or suggestion to take the next step with and by that time, I am pretty sure what we will find once we decide to spend money on the inspection of which we help find a local Mooney experienced mechanic by calling my customers in that sector for a recommendation. It doesn't even go to the mechanic until I have had a chance to speak with the seller as well as his mechanic in order to satisfy me that they know what they're doing and are honest. Once that mechanic is decided upon by the buyer, we give him a list of items to check first depending on make and model; that way we have not spent a lot of money only to find out that there is something such as corrosion that is a deal killer and stop the inspection in its tracks. Once the buyer decides that this is the plane for him or her; we run title searches and I often find lien's on airplanes dating back to the as far as the sixties! It is Mooneyland that does the needed sleuth work to get that lean removed and never at a charge to the seller nor the buyer. After the purchase with an assured clean title, serious work begins because the new Mooney owner has used Mooneyland and has the expectations that his eventual and many questions will be replied to as often as he can ask them, and that is for the life of his ownership. Not only that, but I know where to find stuff for the bird and at a fraction of the cost at times that he may have paid otherwise. My customers have enjoyed the option of a source I know to overhaul the IO-360 to new tolerances for around $10K with warranty. I have gotten my customers a 530 Garmin installed for around 8K. When they have a real problem with the bird, I send them to my honest Mooney guy who charges me $40.00 an hour and they always get my cost. I personally fly with them to ensure they get the most our of their Mooney and how to safely operate it. I have spent up to six days with some customers that did not take well to the Mooney transition or they were lacking in flying abilities, and I NEVER charge for that time that I spend with them. We go to the inth degree for our customers and while we may not please everyone; our pleased percentage is well into the 90% range and I think that is an accomplishment in a volitile business such as used aircraft sales. Mooneyland does all that and more, and the high "fee" you infur comes from the seller, not the buyer and it is rarely "high". The seller recognizes who we are and that we are providing him a buyer and a phone number other than his after the sale and more; and that makes him more willing to discount his airplane to include a commission for us which keeps our doors open. On average, not a lot of money is made for location services; it is more of a service to establish a new Mooneyland customer who nearly always comes back to upgrade or sell. We have hundreds of very happy customers and that is what has kept us in business for 20 years without having to advertise the company. We spend countless hours designing and writing Mooney related articles at Mooneyland and we have never charged for that. Although I don't want to encourage it, we answer questions daily from Mooney types that need or want advice and are not customers. We have done more to keep the Mooney community infomed for free than anyone. (by the way, for those who have thought it was difficult to navigate through my site; click on the "Master Navigation" page to get around. http://www.mooneyland.com/master_navigation_page.htm. There is lots to learn for many.) So I've just gotta ask: can a prospective first time Mooney buyer afford not to use our Location Service? Please don't compare us to Coy Jacobs or any other Mooney specialty company because none of them are anything like Mooneyland. I'm sure we'll hear what your gripe is, but all I ask is that you are more accurate than you were with your statement about Mooneyland. Thank you. Richard Zephro www.mooneyland.com

After swearing off involvement in some Mooney forums years ago due mostly to gossipy sewing circle type posts, I find this forum interesting and informative; so I joined up. In the interest of accuracy; I have been flying since 1971 and flying Mooney's since 1974. My business Coast to Coast Aircraft aka "Mooneyland" is now 20 years old. Within that 20 years, I have never "crashed" an airplane unlike what is reported in this string. I did hit a tree in flight due to a go-around caused by a large deer, but the Mooney 231 did not crash thankfully; although it was touch and go for some minutes after the encursion. The only other time that I bent a Mooney was due to a service center incorrectly adjusting the gear downloading on an old corroded airplane they asked me to test fly and the gear collapsed on taxi. I was not involved with the sale nor acquisition of that airplane; just doing a favor to Ken Shoup at the time. As for using a broker or not in the location or sale of an airplane; I have seen all too many owner/pilots run out of aviation because they knew little about the process and less about some unscrupulous mechanics who are in it for the buck, and many simply cannot afford ownership due to these facts. I cannot understate the importance of hiring the right mechanic. I have met some really nice mechanics that know next to nothing about our Mooney airplanes; what to look for; idiosyncrasies of the animal; while others attempt to make a new airplane out of a used one unneccisarily. I think that having the right mechanic is tantamount to having the right doctor. Both can seriously affect your health as well as financial issues. The purchase process of an airplane can be and is often an intimidating process and for those who are not very experienced and can open up a financial can of worms especially since our fleet of airplanes is not getting any younger and there are plenty of money pits out there for sale to unsuspecting buyers who take the word of a mechanic as gospell when he may know little about the Mooney. They have to trust because they don't know any different. Mooneyland is a different type of company than are most other brokers/locators; and the reason is very simple. We are in it purely for the love of the "animal"; Mooney aircraft; because they are so much better, stronger, and safer than anything in their class. Flying is fun alright, but it is a very serious business and I have created this company to aid in the buying and selling process with safety being the most important thing in my mind and to date, I have not lost a single Mooneyland customer to a crash of an airplane that I have sold them. Lucky in part no doubt, but I also credit the fact that I am the only dealer I know who is an actual partner in that ownership for the life of the ownership remaining in constant contact with my "Mooneylanders" in saving them tons of money over the years by offering my cost as a dealer for anything they may want or need now and in the future, providing tech support and my sources and resources so that they don't get screwed by their mechanic of choice, and offering alternatives to suggested repairs or mods, and advice as to how to keep their flying a safe endeavor. My proof of that love are in the many articles I have written for EVERYONE on my website; customers and non customers alike. I challenge anyone to write as many words as I have on the subject of flying and Mooney's in general; and for no personal gain. To date I have not charged anyone for that information even though the dollar costs to me are huge over time. At Mooneyland we strive to see to it that no one is financially buried in an aircraft; that the amount they pay for the bird is no different than if buying from a private party direct, and our commissions get our selling customers net dollar is about the same should they have sold the plane on their own. We also have a policy that if you decide to sell your airplane within a year or two of purchase as many do; that we will get your purchase price back for you or we will fully market the airplane at no cost. That is the closest thing to a guarantee that one can get in a used airplane purchase. To me the best decisions in life are made when one can make that decision intelligently taking everything into account whereby inexperienced private buyers may not even know the questions let alone the answers; especially when compared to those like us who live, eat, and breath Mooney airplane's on a daily basis. How much is that kind of asset worth to the unsuspecting and uneducated buyer? Ton$! I also attempt to fly with every one of my customers where possible in order to help insure a safe and proper transformation to the Mooney flying machine. I have spend up to six full days with customers who need that training and I never charge a nickel for that time, but I can sleep at night knowing that he is less likely to kill himself and others armed with that free of charge experience. Remember the old computer saying? Garbage in, garbage out? A given pilot can only build upon the way in which he was taught to fly by his instructors, and I am sad to report that the majority of pilots that I fly with (some with lots of flying time) make serious and continuous mistakes that they are not even aware of such as over banking an airplane base to final for one instance. Another is the lack of proper rudder operation especially in the landing phase. When you can see these mistakes happening over and over, it is gratifying to know that they have finally been taught correctly and are better and safer pilots for it, never being taught right to begin with. I love flying so much that I refuse to die while flying; and the best way to avoid that pitfall is to fly with the right people and learn all there is to know or at least make that the goal. As I said, I don't usually sign up for forums, but you all seem like a bunch of honest guys who love their Mooneys and I wanted to set the record straight that not all aircraft brokers are alike. Anyhow, that's my two cents. Fly safe, richard