A&P for Pre Purchase inspection near Knoxville?

[chriscalandro]

Ok person I don’t think I’ve ever interacted with. I can assure you, like Celine Dion, my heart will go on. 

[gsxrpilot]

2 hours ago, Andy95W said:

On the other hand, an extra $5,000 is a lot for someone who is scraping to buy his first airplane.  There are people out there who can afford a $25,000 old M20C now, and in the future will have an additional $35,000 to spend to repair/upgrade.  They will have invested $60,000 in an airplane that is worth $50,000.  To some, that is a waste of 10 grand.  To others, it means they have the airplane that they always wanted now, rather than later.

And if someone is willing and able to do the difficult work themselves (with supervision- like Alex- @Raptor05121) then "budget" (i.e., "cheap") ownership is the best course of action.

One size don't fit all, but I sure do feel bad for new owners who have to scrap their budget Mooneys because they were beyond economic repair.

I'm in complete agreement with you on all of this. 

I'm all in favor of spending over time, to upgrade a Mooney way beyond what it's worth. The enjoyment of flying a wonderful airplane is value enough. What I DON"T like to see is someone who buys a $25K Mooney now and then has to put $35K into it BEFORE it's airworthy and can fly it. In that case, wouldn't we all agree that it would have been better to spend $50K on a plane that was turn key? - Those examples are what make up my "list".

Alex is one of the heroes on this forum, if you ask me. But even he has said on more than one occasion that if he had it to do over, he would have spent more up front and not spent more than a year trying to get his plane in the air. I give him all the credit in the world for doing the hard work and bringing one back from the brink. But even Alex will tell you it wasn't such a good idea. And didn't save any money in the long run.

We've had several examples on this board of members who spent their hard earned savings to finally get into the airplane of their dreams, and were excited to find such a great "deal". Only to then either scrap the plane or sell it at pennies on the dollar because of corrosion, or even one that just needed an overhaul immediately and there weren't any funds available to do one. So the plane is sold at a huge loss and the dream of airplane ownership is out the window. - That's what we're all trying to prevent.