Parker_Woodruff

Take it to Maxwell at GGG. If the seller won't move it there for his scrutiny, it's probably not worth buying.

You should be able to buy the guy's gas and an airline ticket from Longview, TX back to Kentucky on American. Agree beforehand that you will pay for base labor and the other guy pays for squawks. He walks from the deal then the base labor is on him. You walk, and it's all on you, including the cost of getting the plane returned to KY. Keeps everyone honest and gives the expectation that you prefer to buy an airworthy airplane. A closer option with largely the same theory is to have the plane sent to G-Force Aviation at CAK (Canton-Akron, OH) I did the prebuy for my M20J at G-Force and was content. Plane was based near Cleveland. I did the prebuy for my M20K at Maxwell using the technique mentioned above.

We don't fly some insanely difficult plane to fly. We fly a plane that's just different. And it has a couple extra challenges and less-than-forgiving characteristics that wouldn't pose a challenge in Cessna 172. And it has some systems differences that would be nice to know before an appropriately rated pilot takes to the skies.

You're somewhat correct. But in my case of an M20K, have that back alternator off twice in a year and you just realized you dropped $2,500 on alternator maintenance in one year. So I see how Don's $12,000 in annual maintenance is possible. It happened to me. Once was a coupler clutch and not a few months later the alternator quit. My M20J flew 300 hours in 20 months at a cost of approximately $100/hour. Didn't keep things down the penny on that one, so I couldn't tell you for sure. $50/mo shade hangar in Waco, TX helped, too.

Maybe that at least there are some who will read the POH cover to cover before flying a more complex aircraft. I can't recommend that as an alternative to type-specific training, but that attitude will keep seasoned pilots who have flown lots of different aircraft out of the little things that over-confident pilots will miss. ...such as what happens when the emergency gear latch isn't properly configured before takeoff. Then they wonder why the gear won't retract. ...or those who just guess 80 knots on approach and feel their way to the ground as they bleed off speed while using up valuable runway on landing. ...or other important things such as safe demonstrated fuel quantities for departure, slips, etc. The best choice is a thorough reading of the POH prior to training, the CFI going over the important differences to Mooneys in a ground briefing, then go fly. The regs say I can go jump in a Beech 58 and fly off right this very second. I would probably survive and fly ok. I won't be doing that. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't jump in any twin right now without a CFI. I'm at month 5 since flying a twin.

When you need that last minute transportation to somewhere that only some regional airline connected to some hub can get you too, plus TSA $5.60 each way fee, having that plane is awesome. Or the amount I didn't spend on hotels because I could accomplish all my work in Florida in a single day with my M20K. Or that last minute FL-TX run that would be a $400 one-way flight is accomplished on $240 in gas. And door-to-door was just as fast as AAmerican't

Before depreciation (plane cost + upgrade cost - sale of plane), it cost me about $145/hour to fly my M20K 110 hours per year from June 2011 to July 2013. I have the exact number down to the penny at home. Add a $20/hr engine overhaul reserve to that. The Bravo will burn an extra $30 or so in gas per hour, stuff costs more in CA (my hangar was $150/mo...I'm sure Don's is more). The Bravo engine reserve needs to be about $25/hour. The heavier airframe adds expense to the gear donuts, etc. I bet $300/hour is right on target.

You've hedged your bets by reading the whole POH. It's something I try to get every transition student to do. Sometimes there is a time and place for the know-how of someone who has been in the plane a lot. How fast the electric trim moves. When it's best to manually trim (quickly!) such as a go-around. From an insurance underwriter's perspective, we see the losses. Training and regular flying keep losses down. Infrequent flying leads to loss of good habits and technique.

I had one trailing me on approach into Omaha once. Very cool.

Reasons for going to a MSC include them having the proper rigging tools (travel boards). Any A&P can make a Mooney fly straight, but it could be at the cost of 5 knots. There are a couple gear collapse threads on MS where the A&P knowledge of gear rigging is suspect. Doing gear rigging by the book is imperative and someone that doesn't work on Mooneys regularly will be billing you extra for the time it takes to learn. (So I've been told by my preferred Cessna A&P who tells every Mooney someone asks him to work on to Don Maxwell).

I wasn't aware of this - can you point me to a source?

SWTA or Maxwell

Your best (and most responsible) legal protection is good insurance with appropriate liability limits. As low as rates have fallen to, you all should consider increasing your passenger bodily injury sublimit to $200K or higher. Or make it a "smooth" limit (no passenger bodily injury sublimit).

Congrats!

Don is pretty busy and spent a week at OSH to help out with Mooney. Schedule ahead if you can.

That's not a lot of time to accomplish a prebuy on a Mooney.

Typically it's the other way around when you're talking about the "other" A&Ps signing stuff off as "airworthy" If it's all about getting "your guy" to agree, this whole thing is entirely subjective and there is no definition of airworthy

Don Maxwell. Call ahead to schedule as he can be busy this time of year. he also spent a week at Oshkosh, so he might be playing catch-up.

I wouldn't really be focusing on MP as you're on short final. You're dealing with a situation that requires (sometimes) more abrupt power setting changes due to rapidly changing wind conditions, etc. High and fast leading to long landings isn't really the best solution, either. You still have to bleed off all that airspeed down low. Try to fly precisely and when you need to land on a short strip, it won't be as daunting.

If someone will pay $99,900 for a "Re-Imagined" C152 or $159,900 for an Ascend C172, they should really consider this Mooney. http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2015/July/20/New-Ascend-Skyhawk-is-fully-transformed

You might find this one worth a look. http://www.controller.com/listingsdetail/aircraft-for-sale/CESSNA-172P-SKYHAWK/1982-CESSNA-172P-SKYHAWK/1382433.htm 180 horsepower makes a C172 a really nice plane. Negotiate on the price and add a GTN650 and you're set.

If they would just have a real pay structure that makes sense there wouldn't be the problem mentioned in the previous post. FO = X Salary CA = Y Salary First year or two probation has a steep drop off for training. Keeps people from jumping ship unless there is a really good reason to do so. The unions like the sliding scales that currently exist.

The M20K is a fine airplane. I miss my 252/Encore.

Honestly Mike, that's how it is. They can email the pilots every day for a month talking about how they've got the pitchforks raised at management. Then they'll go silent for two months while they claim to be negotiating. Can't find out anything about anything. They only time they talk is when they email grammatically incorrect messages to pilots that are often the most illogical statements one could ever find.

Might want to check your FARs on that one. 14 CFR 1.1: Flight time means: (1) Pilot time that commences when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to rest after landing; or (2) For a glider without self-launch capability, pilot time that commences when the glider is towed for the purpose of flight and ends when the glider comes to rest after landing.