Don Maxwell - The Mooney King! Thanks For Sharing Your Knowlege!

[Yetti]

How does an Ovation get that far out of maintenance?   I could see missing things on the PPI, but is that not what annuals are supposed to exist for.

[Danb]

I was talking to Paul M yesterday about that same question he had a nice modern J in the shop abused like the dickens. Buy a nice Mooney then don’t care for it, what a damn shame.

[Pilotja5]

Well first and foremost, welcome to the Mooney Club and congrats.  A friend of mine and I just bought a Mooney a little over a week ago.  The first plane we looked at, Don did the pre-buy and did a terrific job!  I also want to give kudos to Dave at Air Mods, which is where we bought our Mooney from, and also Brian at Orion Flight in Quakertown, PA.  Dave stated that Brian did a very thorough pre-buy, and I conclude.   Don, Dave and Brian are all Mooney experts in my book!

[Marauder]

It does make you wonder if shops understand what a PPI is all about?
Hopefully there is some redress for the new owner.
Clarence

I suspect a number don’t know what a PPI is. Classic horror story was a buyer of a C model on my field. I told him to take the plane to Weber’s or Air Mods for the PPI. He elected to use a local mechanic. The mechanic found a fuel leak and nothing else. The guy went ahead with the purchase after the seller agreed to funding bladders.

Literally, 2 months later the plane is in the same shop for the annual. Now doing a full annual, they found the prop was incorrect (supposedly), the muffler had a crack and a laundry list of other items totally $10k. The owner cried “uncle” and sold the plane to Wentworth. I heard later the plane was put back into flying condition.

When asked about the items not being found during the PPI, the mechanic said, “it was a pre-buy, not an annual”.

As a side note, the owner had paid a DER during the annual to get the “unapproved” prop “approved”. When he got the plane back and went through the logs with Wentworth, they found that a DER report from 1980 showing that the prop was already approved.

Caveat emptor...


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[Danb]

On 11/11/2018 at 8:26 PM, gsxrpilot said:

You can do a lot worse than Texas BBQ. Make sure you get over to the Hard 8.

Hey Paul I’m staying in Shreveport while Don’s fixing my door, do you know of any good Barbecue restaurants near or between DMax and Shreveport.

[Marauder]

Dan, I saw your plane when I returned from Denton today with a rebuilt fuel pump, one of many airworthiness issues. The stop was scheduled for a quick turn for fuel and to introduce the new owner to Don, but once airborne, I knew we were here for more than a quick trip to the old country tavern for a bbq lunch.
im still pisturbed...best stop typing before I get all riled up again...

If you do begin foaming at the mouth, please take a photo and post it here. I want to see a picture of Mike “Mad Dog” Elliott.

[Marauder]

Hey Paul I’m staying in Shreveport while Don’s fixing my door, do you know of any good Barbecue restaurants near or between DMax and Shreveport.

This you Dan?




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[exM20K]

A PPI is whatever the buyer tells the shop it should be. Some are logbook review only, some are full 100 hour inspection, and some go deeper than that.

[Danb]

31 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 

 

This you Dan?




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It is

[Bravoman]

11 hours ago, Yetti said:

How does an Ovation get that far out of maintenance?   I could see missing things on the PPI, but is that not what annuals are supposed to exist for.

I guess the answer is that you take the plane to someone who doesn’t know what they are doing for enough years and that’s how it happens.

[gsxrpilot]

1 hour ago, Danb said:

Hey Paul I’m staying in Shreveport while Don’s fixing my door, do you know of any good Barbecue restaurants near or between DMax and Shreveport.

No, but Don Maxwell will. I know there's good BBQ in Longview.

[Yetti]

It's east Texas just look for the beat up shack with BBQ hand painted on the side on any road.   Hint look for the smoke coming out of the stack, otherwise it has been converted to cooking meth.  It is east texas ya know.

[N6018Q]

1 hour ago, Danb said:

Hey Paul I’m staying in Shreveport while Don’s fixing my door, do you know of any good Barbecue restaurants near or between DMax and Shreveport.

It's not barbecue, but you might want to try Copeland's of New Orleans at 1665 E Bert Kouns Industrial Loop, Shreveport, LA 71105

 

[Yetti]

32 minutes ago, Bravoman said:

I guess the answer is that you take the plane to someone who doesn’t know what they are doing for enough years and that’s how it happens.

Just goes to show there are different versions of airworthy and just because you are paying someone to say it is,  That don't mean it is.

[Shadrach]

8 minutes ago, N6018Q said:

It's not barbecue, but you might want to try Copeland's of New Orleans at 1665 E Bert Kouns Industrial Loop, Shreveport, LA 71105

 

I've always avoided Copeland's because it's a chain. I'll have to rethink that now that it's been recommended by a Louisianan!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, exM20K said:

A PPI is whatever the buyer tells the shop it should be. Some are logbook review only, some are full 100 hour inspection, and some go deeper than that.

That may be true for a knowledgeable buyer.  We have one member here who has had great luck with minimal PPI’s, he sounds like the exception rather than the norm.

I think the shop has a responsibility to discuss clearly what the owner’s expectations are, what the budget for the PPI is, and if those are unrealistic with the shop’s experience to clearly explain to the buyer.

PPI’s going bad is sadly a daily occurrence.

Clarence

[carusoam]

Ken is a professional plane buyer...

When you buy a plane every year, on average, you are no longer a casual buyer...

To minimize your risk of acquisition, follow Ken’s lead... he only buy’s the top quality planes for personal use...

There is much less risk buying a 16year old Ovation with 1400 hours on it, than a 40year old M20C on its third engine...

Before the PPI starts read the logs yourself, take notes, build a timeline,  what got added when, what got removed when...

Then arrange the PPI to first verify what is in the logs is actually in the plane... serial number checking.... model number checking...

Reading logs takes hours... paying somebody to read logs costs shop rates... reading logs yourself is like getting paid to read!

The newer plane’s logs are a breeze... much fewer pages to read.

Best regards,

-a-

[mike_elliott]

On 11/13/2018 at 9:57 AM, Danb said:

Hey Paul I’m staying in Shreveport while Don’s fixing my door, do you know of any good Barbecue restaurants near or between DMax and Shreveport.

Go to Country Tavern in Kilgore. That place is right out of the movies, food is great. They used to have bands playing with a chicken wire protection set up to keep the beer glasses from killin the musicians, but that what they do in E. Texas.