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Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and settled on Mooney ownership, trying to decide between a J or K (252). I have read many other old forum posts on this topic, but I want to hear from you all who have flown both the J and K out in the mountainous areas west of Denver. I'm leaning in the direction of the turbo, but justifying the purchase and maintenance costs is making the decision a bit challenging. Just to be clear, I can definitely afford the K, but a wider dollar cushion is always nice to have. For clarity, I'm only considering the 252 variant of the K because I don't want to worry about the financial or mental workload of those premature high-altitude systems in the 231. Background: ATP and lifelong involvement in GA to at least some extent. Living in Flagstaff, AZ and based in Salt Lake City for work. The mission for the airplane would involved recreational cross country flights of 300NM or greater between four times per year and once per month. Using the airplane for commuting to work would be a desirable option, but not essential by any means. On the weekend trips most of the time we would be hauling just two people plus light bags. Occasionally a friend or family may join us. The vast majority of flying we would be doing would also be the most important stuff, flying down to lower elevation fields within the state of Arizona. No matter which type, night flying and approaches with ceilings below 1000 feet are no-go territory. Long story short; the main mission would be bumming around the "local" area for fun with about 30-40% serious, mountain-topping cross-country flying being a highly desirable option. My concerns with the J are performance above 15,000 feet and dispatch reliability given weather conditions. I like the systems simplicity and the associated lower burden of cost while enjoying the relative simplicity on fun-flying days. My concerns with the K are reliability, maintenance cost, the effect complex systems have on "fun factor" when hanging flying around the local area, and whether you all feel those are justified by any increased dispatch reliability. Thank you all for your responses, and stay safe up there! -Rich

Hello everyone. My name is Darby and I have a problem. Oh wait that isn't how intros work in this group? I'm a long time lurker of the mooneyspace.com forum and have recently been going through some major life changes that makes me want to give a little back to the community and push down the path of my own General Aviation adventure. My user name is "40-0 Flight" because that best sums it all up. I just turned 40 this month, have zero flight time, zero money, zero youth left, and only months from zero kids in the house... (Okay not really completely out of youth but man as I crest this hill the back side is looking steep! ) So now the real fun begins! While my current aspirations, and intentions are grand, my first little project is simple. I have built a mildly complex spread sheet with one purpose in mind. To give a real, true, and honest answer to the age old question. How much $$$ will this lovely addiction cost? The technical side of it is completely in my grasp..... The math I can even manage pretty good. What I'm missing is experience. I have casually researched and written things down for years, but want some real world experience to help flush out this little project with a strong dose of reality. Below I have included a live link and a screen shot of the spread sheet. I have 3 questions. 1. What are some other types of expenses you can think of that would fall into one of the 5 defined categories? ( 1 Time Cost, Maintenance Reserve, Annual Costs, Monthly costs, Hrly Costs) 2. What number does YOUR experience suggest you put to any of these items? (To protect the innocent or married, this question is OPTIONAL) 3. Did filling out the sheet with Your numbers give results You expected? I understand many of these numbers vary and there is no perfect answer to most these costs... BUT my goal for this tool is to make it easier for current or potential owner to play with those numbers based on THEIR belief, and see what that calculates out to in the end. I appreciate anyone and everyone's feedback, and look forward to sharing my future plans as well as making this tool open to the public. P.S. I picked MooneySpace.com for this, because this has always seemed to be my favorite location for info.. and my plane of choice would be a M20K 252. Link to Google Docs Spreadsheet

I have owned my 68 M20C for 2 years now. I fly it about 400 hours per year, mostly for business up and down the east coast. My first annual cost $10,000. Some of that was deferred maintenance repairs from the prior owner. The second annual was also about $10,000. There were mainly a lot of small squawks but they quickly added up. There were also repairs between the annual. This works out to about $25 per flight hour for annual-related maintenance and repair. Is this a realistic expectation for a Mooney that is this old and that gets flown this many hours?