FloridaMan

It's for a '67 E model, but I believe it covers the C, as well. Not sure if 68 is covered in this. http://www.67m20e.com/m20e_manuals.htm

Any chance you could have hyperlinks have a target outside of the current frame? Most forum sites do this and I keep accidentally closing the thread when I close the linked content.

John, I wouldn't let it get to you. I spent a couple years looking at airplanes. The one I purchased had no price negotiation. The deal was that the owner send it off with a fresh annual and that I pay the prepurchase inspection (for corrosion). I'm happy with my purchase. I'm happy with the service that I received from Willmar Air Service and I'm happy that the plane was priced fairly -- I hate negotiating.

So is 5/16-18 the correct size for an M20F?

What is the thread pitch for the tie down bolts for the M20F? I'd like to grab a couple stainless eye bolts before heading up to pick up my plane that Parker and I had to abandon due to a dead magneto in Tennessee in case I have to park it on the ramp when I get back.

Would it not make sense to leave a sheet of silicon rubber over the gas cap area when you park the plane? You can get 6" squares (in red) for just a few dollars from mcmaster.com. I don't know if it would affect the paint to lay them over the area though.

YES. And you don't have to do the cross country requirement if you go into a part 141 instrument program. Have you started your PPL training yet? I might also add that the IR may have saved my life one night I ended up in inadvertent IMC at night. You do not see clouds ahead of you at night until you're in them. The effect of pushing through broken clouds at 140+ mph when you don't see them coming can be extremely disorienting and you must trust your instruments. The IR gives you the proficiency to watch them.

I flew last week on a Mooney owned by a retired 747 captain who has over 30,000 hours of multi time. Two things stood out from flying with him. The first is how good he was at the controls. I have never flown with anyone who flew the way he did. He flew a tight pattern and entered downwind abeam the end of the runway at 171kts and landed on the numbers. The plane does not have speed brakes. The second was how conservative he was in making decisions. There was weather moving in. He opted no-go until it was long past and he flew slow to give it space on our way to our destination. I was thinking that I may not have waited so long to have gone. His advice was, "If there's every any doubt, don't go."

I think you should fly. Regardless of Bay Air's lease status, your training is transferrable and I recommend Bill over an unknown instructor. Even if Bay Air loses their lease, which I still think is unlikely, the instructors will likely not go far. As far as the King Schools goes, if you can get past the jokes, they're pretty decent, but are better as supplements to time spent flying the airplane.

Quote: davewilson Some here think that a faulty charging system is not cause for an accident. But, after reviewing one of the videos, The plane landed up inverted. A tarp partially covers the belly, Not sure, but I thought I saw the nose wheel extended. If the battery pooped out, and Patrick could not retract the gear on take off, a short runway, this could be a key factor on poor climb performance! Just my thoughts.

Quote: Steve65E-NC From the news photos, the aircraft looks intact though upside down. I guess it just slid down the tall trees and landed that way. Wonder how they got the survivor out. The prose talking about a fire in the center of the aircraft is also a puzzle. If there was a fire wonder why the fuel tanks did not go.

Quote: Parker_Woodruff I wonder if anything from this post had to do anything with the accident, or if it was unrelated. http://www.mooneyspace.com/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=3&threadid=4958&postid=63793&page=1

If you're in St. Pete and are dead set on a Mooney, unless Parker's willing to help you with your PPL, I would recommend Bill A. at Bay Air at Albert Whitted for primary instruction. He's an excellent pilot, instructor, and owned a Mooney M20J for quite a while, so he may be able to offer you some pointers and help you to transition.

My goal is to close on the airplane as quickly as possible and I do not want the sale to fall through. The seller's been most helpful through this whole mess and I don't think I should stand back with my arms crossed and watch him stress over it. Just as I am in business, when a problem arises I care more about resolving it and moving forward than I worry about whose responsibility it is.

Looks like the financing company tracked down who bought the company that bought the company that bought the company. Is there *any* risk to them having a claim on the airplane in them having not taken any actions in the past four decades? Also, it looks like it's an insurance company that owns them now and that they're not at all involved in anything finance related. What sort of letter could I get someone like that to write that should be satisfactory?

I spoke with an attorney earlier today. His issue was not even knowing who to serve and was baffled that the document turned up at all. For clarification: there is no lien on the registration/title.

I'm still hitting dead ends, though I'm learning more as I go along. The company it was assigned to was called AirBanc of America and was out of Missouri. I found the records of dissolution and liquidation from Missouri in 1976. Thinking it was a bank, I called the Missouri Division of Finance and learned that only a bank can be spelled "Bank" and if it's spelled "Banc," then it's not a bank in the same sense. I don't yet know why the AOPA title search didn't turn anything up, but I'm running out of time on my loan prequalification and I made a significant deposit on the airplane based on the title search. And I've been looking for the right airplane for years and this is it. One option a title repair company suggested is that they sell me title insurance and see if the bank would be willing to accept the title insurance to finance the airplane. If the insurance company is willing to insure a title with an unreleased document attached to it, then they must be confident that it's not going to be an issue. I would still want to get it resolved, but I'd like to have the airplane in the mean time. I'm going to investigate a few more leads that I found yesterday after business hours and see if they turn anything up. If not, I may turn to my subscribed AOPA legal services with my findings.

It looks like somebody forgot to send in some paperwork. The AOPA title search came back clear. The previous owner's title search came back clear when he bought the airplane 20 years ago. I'm financing part of the airplane and the bank's title search shows a Chattel Mortgage from 1968 between an aircraft dealer and Mooney Aircraft, and it's been assigned to a bank that was dissolved in the mid 1970s. All of the officers that I could find are deceased. MAPA has been more than helpful in the few minutes I spoke with them. Apparently this used to happen a lot several years ago and that they thought all of these had been resolved. I guess I got one of the lucky airplanes that has made it 45 years without the CM being discovered. As I understand it, it had something to do with how airplanes were initially sold. Being that the CM exists between an aircraft dealer and Mooney Aircraft, I assume that it existed to protect title of the asset during the sales process. In my case, the merchant is in the "By" field and Mooney is in the "To" field, with AirBanc of America in the "Assigned." There is also a certificate of repossession in the file. I'm sure this stuff is well-beyond any statute of limitations, but it's still preventing me from getting financing. Does anyone have suggestions on how to clear this?

I spoke with the lending bank today. It seems as if they're ok doing their portion of the wire transfer first. They can't take in funds and transfer my portion with theirs, but if the contract is good to them, I'd say it should be good for me as well.

I thought the correct term is a fixture. My understanding is that a jig is something that you use to guide a tool where a fixture is something you use to hold a work material in place.

Let's say you're purchasing an airplane a good distance away. You've made a deposit and gone through the prepurchase. You're financing 30% of the airplane and paying the balance in cash. How do you perform the final transaction? Do you simply hand a chunk of cash over the seller and hope they're honest and that the bank actually wires them the money? Is a contract safe enough? Or do you drop the 400 or so dollars on an escrow service and go through them for the closing? Ideally the bank would take my chunk of cash and include it in their wire transfer, but if they don't, then what are my options?

I've also heard, and, please correct me if I'm wrong, that the INSIDE of the tubular frame should be inspected for corrosion. I have no idea how people do this.

That would be great, except I'm 1200 nm from where the airplane is so I'll have to either inconvenience a friend or make a new friend that's closer to the airplane.

He probably knows the airplane as well. Is he alright with me giving him a call or do you think an email would be better?

Quote: Mitch Should any discrepancies appear, you should have the option to approve or not approve, or negotiate, prior to being fully financially committed to the purchase.