M20F

I check everything through a variety of online stuff, file, and then call the briefer in the car on the way to the airport for anything non-local. I want to make sure that I have a briefing on file. For just a local fun flight I will call and just say I want to check for TFR's in the vicinity and not do much planning other than looking out the window.

I use TKS and a garden sprayer as well. Let it sit after you apply it and then it comes pretty easy. I have on occasion put the sprayer in a turkey fryer filled with water to heat it up and spray it which works very well.

There isn't really any learning curve, more so just the trade off that comes with getting a really tight and awesome airplane. I hate working on mine, isn't that it is hard to do it just is not very ergonomic to work on. In regards to three bladed prop you will get all sorts of differing input on that. From my perspective no real advantage and one huge disadvantage which is another prop blade which equals $$$ at some point.

I am happy to sit in the front seat of a C/E on long trips as well, the back seat not so much :-)

Who was the MSC doing the work, how old are the bladders, how old are the shock discs, who did the engine overhaul? Those would be the big questions I would have along with just going through the log books, 337's, etc. in general. There are engine overhauls and then there are engine overhauls, make sure you check the actual sign off. Lycoming has very specific requirements for it to be classified as a major overhaul and you would be surprised sometimes that somebody for example changes everything but for whatever reason reuses some exhaust valves in which case it isn't a major even if signed off (incorrectly) as one.

I would really reccomend the F versus a C if the intent is ever to have more than two people in the plane on a semi-regular basis. The price difference isn't really that much and if it came down to suffering another year with the 150 to stretch to buying an F you will be happier for it. I reccomend a 67 as it is in my opinion the last best year on the M20F with the flush rivets, manual gear, hydraulic flaps, and generally highest useful loads. 68's have a lot of cheap short cuts as the company was hurting, not to say they aren't safe but imho the 67's are the best. While 4 cylinders are in theory cheaper than 6, the price on the wide deck cylinders is $2K+. A friend topped his 320 for less than it cost me to do the 4 by a fair amount. Otherwise I find it an economical plane in terms of upkeep. After buying mine I rebuilt the injection, mags, new starter, new alternator, new sock discs, and a bunch of other minor stuff for about $10K. Where you have to really watch is the prop/hub and engine as either of those two is going to sting, odds are at $40K you will be buying one or the other or both within first five years of ownership. You should plan probably $5k in immediate fixes unless you buy a cherry one and at $40k odds are it is going to need some work. Being shorter you may need rudder peddle extensions, Mooney's are geat for tall people but shorter people sometimes have challenges reaching the peddles. That is more a try it out thing than anything else but if you have problems with the peddles the extensions aren't at expensive or hard to come by. You will hate working on Mooneys and anyone who says you won't is a massochist or lying. The engine compartment sucks, the inspection panels suck, and pretty much everything else sucks to work on compared to say a Bonanza. All that being said still the best bang for your $$$ and I wouldn't trade mine for the world.

You just need to move much slower and methodical. Press the button with the left hand, pull straight down, and swing. It is a different feeling but if you do it a couple of times slowly, you will get same rhythm as you do from right seat. There is no magic with negative G's or pitch it is just a differing rhythm which similar to the first couple of times in the left seat if you really slow it down, it works perfect.

All things being equal, I would go with something like Glenn did. Looks great.

https://www.wingsfinancial.com/boatrvtoyloans

Wings Financial if you qualify does airplane loans no issue and last I looked were at 4%, haven't seen a better deal anywhere and the absolutely know and do GA.

Same

With a lot of replaced cylinders and accessories over those 5000hrs. What constitutes an overhaul is very misleading and you can actually end up with a crank/cam worse then you took out and still have TBO reset. Mike Busch and others are essentially talking about IRAN when it comes to engine management which is smart. TBO is sort of pointless on just about every level in terms of of what to do and when to do.

TBO is a misnomer at best as is what an overhaul is. You can fly an engine for thousands of hours past TBO but you are probably going to replace cylinders and accessories during that time period. Really the only thing that is going to cause the case to be split is the cam wearing down, true a crank can go but odds are the cam will go first. Compression check and inspection of the crank/cam is going to give you an idea of how long you can go. Generally you can see pitting/wear and other issues associated with the plane sitting. Personally I would never pull a whole engine off and redo it. You can monitor all the parts easy enough (exhaust valves and compressions on the cylinder) and replace as needed. When you pull a cylinder to can check the internals easily enough. When it comes time to do the cam I would keep the existing cylinders if they are good. On a Lycoming as example to overhaul you need to replace exhaust valves among other things. If you have 4 cylinders with 100hr each as example and the cam goes are you really going to pay the expense to replace the exhaust valves just so you can zero the TBO? The only place TBO has any meaning is for resale which if you don't intend on doing then it has little impact.

Depending on how bad the paint is just a very aggressive wash, clay bar, and then some wax may bring it back as well. Some pictures in my gallery of the after on mine and I ended up not needing to use a cleaner wax, claying an airplane I have to say really sucks. Dawn works great to strip off old wax and mineral spirits for everything else.

If you get a Reiff pre-heater for a couple extra bucks they give you a pad to heat the oil cooler as well. I have never had any issues in keeping oil temp up once pre-heated. Anyone looking to fly when it is cold should really invest in a Reiff or Tannis system as it isn't just the oil that needs to warm but all the differing metals in the engine as well. Quick, easy, and well worth basically 1 AMU to purchase and install.

Just going to add to this and Piloto's comments which is for most a turbo is a waste because their mission simply does not require it. The specific reason I chose a M20F-TN as opposed to a 252 which I could have afforded is that I just don't fly far or high enough often enough to warrant the capital cost and additional wear/tear expenses. For the couple long trips I do take if it is advantageous I can get up over weather or get those FL tail winds along with 160-170KTAS. When we go on a breakfast run I am about two minutes behind my friends turbo 310 and I burn 8 to his 25, when we go to Florida in beat him because he generally needs to stop for gas and I dont. If we both go non-stop I am about 40mins behind only. Mission is everything in making the decision to me, not so much cost. If you need it, you need it but most don't and just add a lot of cost and complexity for something they would never use. I am putting in a G500 which I will use and appreciate a lot more than I would the cost/benefits of a 252 as example.

I have a TN M20F and after about FL210 the controls get real sloppy. I can get 65% to 17000-Fl180 depending upon the day so could probably push into FL270-280 if I wanted. Highest I have been is FL230 and to be honest anything really above FL190-20 is diminishing returns, just don't get enough TAS for the manifold you give up.

Mooneys offer many great things, a heater though in my experience is not one of them.

Is there a site where you can look up 337's on file with the FAA? I know about ordering them via CD but wanted to see if there was a way to search/view online.

If your reason for wanting new caps is because they are leaking water replacing the two o-rings generally fixes that.

Would echo the comments that an Ovation would be a much better choice imho if you are very rarely or never going to be flying higher then 9000ft.

I put a Hartzell Scimitar on when I got my M20F and it also required a new spinner as well due to having SWTA cowling. That got discovered after the prop was hung so a bit of a last minute surprise/expense so make sure when you switch there isn't additional hardware needed.

The top M20F is in almost a 2000fpm descent, I noticed the same thing :-)

The key is finding the right one which if you have no experience in what to look for, it can end poorly. For every story of getting the perfect plane there is one where somebody doesn't. The other reality is a good chunk of people (and not meant to discourage OP) who start their PPL never finish or once they do they stop flying all together shortly thereafter for a variety of reasons. You can make the argument a lot of differing ways but for most just working with a part 61 school is going to serve them a lot better than going the owner route, especially if they have no real aviation experience or local real life support to guide you.

I would add learning how to own an airplane is almost as much work as learning how to be a pilot. How to handle insurance, maintainence, etc. takes some know how (buying is complicated as well). Better to get yourself through at least PPL and then start looking, having to focus on all the challenges that come with ownership (there are benefits as well!) on top of training is just going to be a distraction for you. From a cost stand point you really need to fly 100+ hours a year to get any kind of cost savings versus renting as well. Owning really is more about conveience and bragging rights than it is about saving money.