Wildhorsesracing

Quote: allsmiles It's a legitimate question. Does anyone know if it adds any speed? At $4K, a deduction of 100$ per annual equals 40 annuals!

Quote: fantom That's actually slow in my experience. 10 minutes at most. Some shops knock $100 off the annual if you have one. The best motivation for wanting one is that 'smiles doesn't "see the point". Note that his plane doesn't have one so he should know

I took the bellypans off of my plane and could only get 80%of the screws out successfully. It took me 4 hrs just to get the screws out that didn't need special attention. The shop has a mooney with a one pc belly in for an annual and he had the belly pan off in 15 mins. Added speed or not it is worth it for the lack of aggravation!

Quote: M20F-1968 If there were that many mouse droppings over a long time of hangar storage, I would also start seriously looking for corrosion somewhere. John Breda

I spent 4 hours today vacuuming and cleaning each wing bay of my M20C which had become mouse "condos". I was attracted to this plane because it was housed in a hangar for most of it's life. Apparently mice love the great indoors especially in the wing of a Mooney! I doubt anyone really wants to pay A&P shop rates to clean what amounted to approx 5 lbs of mouse poo and nest materials out of each wing! (although after finishing one wing I was ready to pay ANYONE else to do it!) Some would argue that I should pay someone to do it, but I don't think anyone would do as good a job cleaning it as an owner would.

I am in the process of an owner assisted annual. I am doing it to learn more about my new (to me) airplane. The shop where my plane is at is very busy and I know it would take 2-3 times as long if I didn't help out. I love the fact that I am getting very intimate with all of the working details of my M20C. I want to fully understand all of the subsystems of the plane in case I have any issues in the future.

Quote: GeorgePerry I like the NASA shirt...I used to race Spec 944 and Spec E30. How's Chris C doing lately?

Thanks! I like N67HR!

Howdy, I am the proud new owner of a Mooney and want to paint it. I was looking for ideas of painting the plane with yellow and white but looking thru the galleries I didn't see any that were painted with yellow - anyone have pictures of a yellow/white paint scheme?

The fact that older certificated aircraft values are dropping and experimental aircraft values are rising is a clear sign that owning a "certficated" aircraft is not necessarily a good thing... maybe I need to stop looking at Mooneys and start looking at RV's - at least then I can get what I want in a plane and the value will increase...

Quote: danb35 There are a number of other categories, probably the most common being R&D and Exhibition. If I want, for example, to obtain an STC to run a new propeller on my Mooney, I can reclassify it as Experimental-R&D to allow me to do the testing that would need to be done to get that STC. While in that category, I can install the non-certified propeller and fly the plane legally. However, the operating limitations for R&D are going to be very restrictive, and only permit flying under a pre-approved test plan--you can't just hop in the plane and go flying. So, the longer answer is that yes, you can convert your Mooney to an Experimental airworthiness certificate, but not to a type of Experimental that will let you fly it the way you want to and do whatever work you want to.

Quote: DaV8or Here's all I'm asking for myself and the sake of GA's future here in America- Currently, I can buy an Vans RV-10 that somebody else built and work on it myself, modify myself and continually improve to the latest tech. At the same time, I can buy a Mooney M20F that somebody else built and work on it only if I can find someone licensed and willing to inspect and sign off on my work for a fee, I can modify it myself if I can find and afford a modification that is licensed and registered with the government and I have the licensed person sign off on it and finally, I really can't update it to the latest tech. All I want is equality. I want my Mooney to be all it can be.

Quote: 1964-M20E The point being these aircraft belong to us and we should be able to make changes to them with some oversight and the FAA should get out of the small aircraft certification business. They should have guidelines for small aircraft and parts but not certifications. When you get to commercial passenger service all this goes away.

If someone had a 50 yr old Mooney and added enhancements that are not STC'd (avionics, interior or speed mods) - how much of a hit to the value are they going to get? Probably not enough to worry about! What mods would constitute the airplane to become "experimental"?

I have been studying the market for a few (4) years now trying to find "that perfect plane" for me. I know that isn't long enough to truly know the market but I have noticed a few trends: 1) prices have been dropping every year, especially on twins 2) experimental prices are steady compared to certificated 3) there are definitely aircraft out there that are completely owner maintained and the annuals are "pencil whipped" I think that any aircraft over 30 yrs old is a prime candidate for enhancements like the experimental. I'd like to see how many certificated older aircraft are actually used for commercial purposes.

Thanks for the info - I didn't mean to hijack the original thread. I am in the process of buying a Mooney and wanted to get some time in before to help with insurance costs.

Is there anyplace that will rent one near Charlotte, NC?