gsxrpilot talked me into a K252... is this it?

[SteveC]

You guys tore a new one on that “J”. Any thoughts on this bad boy? @gsxrpilot sent me a pic of his... we’ll be twinning!  Haha!

https://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-sale/193559845/1986-mooney-m20k-252tse

Thanks in advance!  You guys are awesome!

SteveC aka Ferv, only 179 days to change my name!

 

[louisut]

That's a good looking plane. Looks like a former MS'er too:

 

[Niko182]

looks nice. priced well too.

[MIm20c]

That would be my choice in 231/252 aircraft right now...they dropped the price 10k about a week ago. 

[MoonFlyer68]

That is one sweet plane. I only wish I had that kind of budget.  For now my 1968 F will have to be enough.

[Paul_Havelka]

If you want, I could slide on over there and poke around it for you. It’s located about an hour from me and I have to head to Fayetteville within the next week anyway. Also know if a local pilot that would possibly be able to ferry it for you if you wanted to get it to a MSC for a pre buy

[ZuluZulu]

You seem to be shopping for the last plane you heard about, but have you considered taking a step back, defining the most frequent mission your plane needs to handle, and then looking for airplanes that fit that particular mission?

[Brian E.]

Wow...nice plane. Avionics alone are substantial.  Good luck figuring out what you want or need :)

 

[SteveC]

7 hours ago, Paul_Havelka said:

If you want, I could slide on over there and poke around it for you. It’s located about an hour from me and I have to head to Fayetteville within the next week anyway. Also know if a local pilot that would possibly be able to ferry it for you if you wanted to get it to a MSC for a pre buy

That would be awesome!  Got a PM form someone that said the guy selling it is a sack of... you know.  But the plane might be good so it’s worth a look over.  Thanks for the offer, you guys are an amazing group!

[SteveC]

7 hours ago, ZuluZulu said:

You seem to be shopping for the last plane you heard about, but have you considered taking a step back, defining the most frequent mission your plane needs to handle, and then looking for airplanes that fit that particular mission?

IKR, was afraid it would look like that.  I have been going through manufacturers and such for many months and just last month I narrowed down to Mooney.  I had heard Mooney had issues and the company was snobby so I never looked at them but through my research I kept coming back to Mooney.  I can lose my mind on all the different things I want here an there.  I’m an efficiency ninja but at some point you just have to make a decision.  The J was what I was able to figure out on my own.  @gsxrpilot gave me a call and we talked 94 minutes... loved ever minute of it because it was so awesome to get the skinny directly from someone that knows this platform like the back of his hand and the people to work with Mooneys.  My confidence level for purchasing a plane went through the roof!  This is some scary sh@t but who can go wrong with guys like y’all backing them up?

[eman1200]

8 hours ago, ZuluZulu said:

You seem to be shopping for the last plane you heard about, but have you considered taking a step back, defining the most frequent mission your plane needs to handle, and then looking for airplanes that fit that particular mission?

quoting this again to see if we can get the OP to answer the important question at hand.....

[gsxrpilot]

2 minutes ago, eman1200 said:

quoting this again to see if we can get the OP to answer the important question at hand.....

From the long conversation @SteveC and I had, the mission seems to be similar to most of us. Trips of up to 800 nm, 1 or 2 people, with sometimes a 3rd who is a young toddler. With the important issues being efficiency, range, speed, and weather avoidance. As usual, just about every Mooney in the fleet meets these requirements with the J probably in the sweet spot. But with lots of friends in Colorado and plans to move to the mountains one day, the K starts to look pretty good as well.

Believe it or not, as a K owner, I still think the J is the sweet spot for most people. The K adds that extra complexity and expense, and you have to really want that or need that, for it to make sense. I wouldn't trade my 252 for anything... except maybe a sweet, upgraded, and modern E. 

[ArtVandelay]

Unless you’re willing to fly in the upper teens or higher on a regular basis, the J is the better choice. That means being on O2, some have said even with Oxygen it’s tiring to fly in the flight levels. We probably only have a handful of members that do that, gsxrpilot being one.
I can’t imagine doing that with a small child.

[AH-1 Cobra Pilot]

13 hours ago, SteveC said:

You guys tore a new one on that “J”. Any thoughts on this bad boy? @gsxrpilot sent me a pic of his... we’ll be twinning!  Haha!

https://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-sale/193559845/1986-mooney-m20k-252tse

Thanks in advance!  You guys are awesome!

SteveC aka Ferv, only 179 days to change my name!

 

Why does the listing show a 3-bladed prop, while the pictures show a 2-bladed prop?

[Rookie]

4 minutes ago, Ah-1 Cobra Pilot said:

Why does the listing show a 3-bladed prop, while the pictures show a 2-bladed prop?

The listing has 6 cylinder readings and it's a TSIO360?

[Raptor05121]

40 minutes ago, Rookie said:

The listing has 6 cylinder readings and it's a TSIO360?

The Continental TSIO-360 is a 6 cylinder.

[Rookie]

Just now, Raptor05121 said:

The Continental TSIO-360 is a 6 cylinder.

My Bad! I was just looking at cubic inch referring to a IO-360 in my J.

[gsxrpilot]

1 hour ago, ArtVandelay said:

Unless you’re willing to fly in the upper teens or higher on a regular basis, the J is the better choice. That means being on O2, some have said even with Oxygen it’s tiring to fly in the flight levels. We probably only have a handful of members that do that, gsxrpilot being one.
I can’t imagine doing that with a small child.

Yep, I agree that unless you're flying where you're wearing O2, the J is a better choice. You might equate it to all the 4x4 vehicles you see in a Texas WalMart parking lot. None of them will ever see anything more treacherous than rain on pavement. But for some reason people like their 4x4's. 

Anytime I talk with anyone about Mooneys, I say don't get a turbo unless you need it or really want one. The K rarely has any advantage over a J and is often at a disadvantage, especially at annuals, and even at the fuel pump. But if you don't mind strapping on a mask, then it's a nice capability to have... 

Here in Denver the K is the right airplane to own. 15,500 is just about the default cruising altitude around here. 

[Ricky_231]

1 hour ago, gsxrpilot said:

Yep, I agree that unless you're flying where you're wearing O2, the J is a better choice. You might equate it to all the 4x4 vehicles you see in a Texas WalMart parking lot. None of them will ever see anything more treacherous than rain on pavement. But for some reason people like their 4x4's. 

Anytime I talk with anyone about Mooneys, I say don't get a turbo unless you need it or really want one. The K rarely has any advantage over a J and is often at a disadvantage, especially at annuals, and even at the fuel pump. But if you don't mind strapping on a mask, then it's a nice capability to have... 

Here in Denver the K is the right airplane to own. 15,500 is just about the default cruising altitude around here. 

Honestly - I rarely go up to O2 levels - mostly cruise between 8 and 11k ft, which is prime J territory, but still love my K. Hot days, cold days - it's all the same. Climb, climb, climb no worries. Also I love to know that I have the option of going higher if needed.

Wife and I are planning a couple of trips to Utah and Colorado as well - that should be fun.

[SteveC]

5 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

From the long conversation @SteveC and I had, the mission seems to be similar to most of us. Trips of up to 800 nm, 1 or 2 people, with sometimes a 3rd who is a young toddler. With the important issues being efficiency, range, speed, and weather avoidance. As usual, just about every Mooney in the fleet meets these requirements with the J probably in the sweet spot. But with lots of friends in Colorado and plans to move to the mountains one day, the K starts to look pretty good as well.

Believe it or not, as a K owner, I still think the J is the sweet spot for most people. The K adds that extra complexity and expense, and you have to really want that or need that, for it to make sense. I wouldn't trade my 252 for anything... except maybe a sweet, upgraded, and modern E. 

Thanks for filling in... It's been quite busy at the office lately and with the newborn at home there's little rest

[SteveC]

Just closed on the last t-hanger rental available over at hooks so it's time to fill it with a beautiful K252!

[gsxrpilot]

58 minutes ago, SteveC said:

Just closed on the last t-hanger rental available over at hooks so it's time to fill it with a beautiful K252!

Good man. Get the hangar first. They are much harder to find then airplanes. I've always acquired the hangars before the airplanes.

[SteveC]

5 hours ago, Ricky_231 said:

Honestly - I rarely go up to O2 levels - mostly cruise between 8 and 11k ft, which is prime J territory, but still love my K. Hot days, cold days - it's all the same. Climb, climb, climb no worries. Also I love to know that I have the option of going higher if needed.

Wife and I are planning a couple of trips to Utah and Colorado as well - that should be fun.

Exactly!

[231MJ]

Steve, that's a great looking 252 and a lot of money has already been spent on the up-grades all of us would like to have.  I think it's reasonably priced.  Before I acquired my K I had an E and the E was great below 12,000' but it was hard to get performance above that altitude.  The turbo makes a big difference in not only performance but peace of mind, knowing on a hot day you can climb out of Tahoe or Denver or Las Vegas with little difficulty.  The MB is a great engine, I've been happy with mine (except the new mags I had to buy recently but that's not Continental's fault).  Go for it and enjoy. 

[aviatoreb]

4 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

Good man. Get the hangar first. They are much harder to find then airplanes. I've always acquired the hangars before the airplanes.

How many hangars do you have?!!