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Buying Mooney Sight Unseen COVID 19


V1VRV2

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I’m looking at a very clean Ovation 1 first owner had it 21 years. Second owner 8mo. Always hangared. 1200TT. Logbook looks good. Compression numbers are good. Th plane is scheduled for a PPI with Don Maxwell. The plane is in one of the 3 hotspot states where COVID is running rampant. I don’t believe it’s safe to get on a commercial flight, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants drive a rental car etc. This isn’t a discussion about my perceptions of COVID risk and if they are legitimate or not. My thoughts on that are my thoughts. Thinking about buying the plane sight unseen after the PPI as long as there aren’t any deal breakers found. Thinking of having a ferry pilot fly it to me. Adjusting to the COVID 19 world! :unsure:

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Having an owner for 8 months is a flag for me.  Having visited and rejected planes I thought were going to be perfect, I myself would not buy on sight unseen.  If you don't want to fly in commercial and do hotels, why not rent a plane and fly yourself to go see it?

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I think your plan could work ,Maxwell could probably discover most of the deal breakers and a ferry pilot found to fly it back to NY state.Than what is your plan after that?Are you going to require a Mooney specific checkout for Insurence?

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About 8 years ago my former partner and I purchased our Mooney sight unseen with a PPI by Maxwell as a condition of closing the sale.  Don found a few airworthiness items that needed correction.  We worked out things with the seller and completed the purchase.  All by email and phone.  It worked out fine.

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Having an owner for 8 months is a flag for me.  Having visited and rejected planes I thought were going to be perfect, I myself would not buy on sight unseen.  If you don't want to fly in commercial and do hotels, why not rent a plane and fly yourself to go see it?

The 8 month ownership could be a lack of financial planning. People forget that buying a plane is the least expensive part of aviation.
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12 minutes ago, thinwing said:

I think your plan could work ,Maxwell could probably discover most of the deal breakers and a ferry pilot found to fly it back to NY state.Than what is your plan after that?Are you going to require a Mooney specific checkout for Insurence?

I’m going to find an instructor with some ovation time hopefully here in upstate NY/VT to teach me the Mooney tricks. I haven’t flown a light aircraft in 4 years and before that 16yrs. Last 20 yrs I’ve had 1.2 hrs in single engine aircraft. So yeah... need some Mooney familiarity! :)

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5 minutes ago, ArtVandelay said:


The 8 month ownership could be a lack of financial planning. People forget that buying a plane is the least expensive part of aviation.

Sometimes there's a more positive reason, but I bet yours is the most common. My plane was owned by someone less than that before I bought it. It was purchased for his business to move his guys around and when the partnering consultants saw the benefits asked if he'd take their guys too so he needed more seats.

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30 minutes ago, hypertech said:

Having an owner for 8 months is a flag for me.  Having visited and rejected planes I thought were going to be perfect, I myself would not buy on sight unseen.  If you don't want to fly in commercial and do hotels, why not rent a plane and fly yourself to go see it?

The current 8mo owner is an A&P so doubtful he bought the plane with issues. He stated the last plane he owned was a light twin and the Mooney just doesn’t fit him and his needs. He had hoped it would. There was an annual done 9mo ago and it wasn’t by him. So no red flag there. The trip in a 172 would require a checkout for the rental. A 3 day trip in a 172 wouldn’t give me any less exposure to covid19.

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1 hour ago, MooneyMitch said:

Ovation 1 is a great airplane!  

My experience, it’s an easy keeper!

A green light from Maxwell, lots of photos from his shop, and all should be terrific!  

My opinion is also based on that you are comfortable with what you see in the logbooks/history of the aircraft.

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Depends on if you need the airplane or want the airplane. If you need it to get around right now while avoiding covid, makes sense. If it’s a hobby/leisure plane, then you might be missing out on the buying process and there’s no place to go right now cause of Covid. Except maybe doing touch and goes at Newark or Kennedy :D

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16 minutes ago, 201er said:

Depends on if you need the airplane or want the airplane. If you need it to get around right now while avoiding covid, makes sense. If it’s a hobby/leisure plane, then you might be missing out on the buying process and there’s no place to go right now cause of Covid. Except maybe doing touch and goes at Newark or Kennedy :D

I’ve had better luck getting nice vrbo stays ( lake shore,ocean view etc) last minute Because of COVID .I think if you need Disney World as your summer destination you are out of luck....if you happy cooking your own meals while fishing at a lake front cabin..a fast light aircraft is just the ticket right now

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45 minutes ago, V1VRV2 said:

Airline

I thought so...so even with 20,000 hrs ATC turbine experience I bet you would be looking at least 10 hrs dual with Mooney instructor and with current Insurence market probably more.Are you concerned about spending that much time with an unknown flight instructor and his possible exposure?

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5 minutes ago, thinwing said:

I thought so...so even with 20,000 hrs ATC turbine experience I bet you would be looking at least 10 hrs dual with Mooney instructor and with current Insurence market probably more.Are you concerned about spending that much time with an unknown flight instructor and his possible exposure?

Depends on the instructors possible exposure. If he’s within driving distance from his domicile with little local positive population that’s good. If he’s flying up from Miami and taught 8 different students for 40 hrs in the last week that will be an issue!

As with any airplane the Ovation has its handling quirks I’d rather learn from someone with experience than finding them out the hard way. A Mooney crashed and stalled at the Lake Placid Airport a few years ago while going around. I guess the nose up trim required for landing can be an issue when adding full power and going around. 

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What I have found is that when you have less personal involvement in the buying process, you might/should plan to pay more out of pocket for things that are not found during the pre-purchase phase. Not much wrong with that, but the surprises tend to be annoying. Sometimes expensive.

Brian

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2 hours ago, V1VRV2 said:

I’m looking at a very clean Ovation 1 first owner had it 21 years. Second owner 8mo. Always hangared. 1200TT. Logbook looks good. Compression numbers are good. Th plane is scheduled for a PPI with Don Maxwell. The plane is in one of the 3 hotspot states where COVID is running rampant. I don’t believe it’s safe to get on a commercial flight, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants drive a rental car etc. This isn’t a discussion about my perceptions of COVID risk and if they are legitimate or not. My thoughts on that are my thoughts. Thinking about buying the plane sight unseen after the PPI as long as there aren’t any deal breakers found. Thinking of having a ferry pilot fly it to me. Adjusting to the COVID 19 world! :unsure:

hummm...its not ok for you to fly commercial, hotel, etc but ok for the ferry pilot? Ferry pilot's lives matter! :) Seriously, your purchase risk is minimized as Dons guys will present a list of everything they find, and let you and the owner haggle out the completion of the sale over the airworthy items and squawks. You may as well have it turn into a full annual if you come to agree after the PPI portion.

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My experience again....... I never did T&G in my Ovation...... Full stops only although I don’t see the danger with ones profiency being adequate for such.

Go around.....with full aft trim, full flaps, 2 aboard, tanks 1/2 full......mostly no need for full power, but that’s always subjective given other variables. 

Full power go around with above configuration does require very prompt attention with strong force on the wheel in order to prevent excessive nose up pitch.  It’s quite doable, just be on top of this and adjust quickly.

Normal landing, use a little higher nose up pitch for the long bodies.

I suggest Don Kaye video.  Excellent tips for landing the long body Mooney’s.......donkaye.com

I know of no handling issues with the Ovation....... great airplane!!!

Another shameless photo of my former Ovation..... :rolleyes:

 

FF4EF7A9-2513-4257-82B0-3A0590D67026.jpeg

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With all due respect to Don Maxwell (who is a real asset to the community), he did my pre buy.  He found some things.  He missed some things.  Some of them were very expensive.  So, I would say that he's good, but I would not rely so heavily on one person.

There are also things that have nothing to do with airworthiness that won't show up on a pre buy.  Maybe the paint looks like a 9 in the photos and its priced accordingly but its really a 7.  That's not airworthiness nor is it something that is going to show up on the pre buy report.  A pre buy won't determine for you if the price is fair or needs negotiation.

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My opinion again....... any shop, or anyone can miss items.

Even if this Mooney Ovation unfamiliar buyer saw the Mooney in person, Maxwell will know much more than the buyer regardless.

Your in excellent hands with Maxwell.

All just my opinion only.  I’m not associated with Maxwell or the potential buyer.  No doggie in this fight at all.

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