Pre buy in new york

[rturbett]

Any recommendations for a mooney pre buy inspection  in the northeast? somewhere near long island wold work best.

Thanks,

Rob Turbett

[mooney-cfi]

I suggest Taylor Aviation at KMGJ. He is one of thew most knowledable guys around and will without a doubt perform a bullet proof zealous pre buy that WILL save you money in the long run. 845-457-4577

[carusoam]

Rob,

What did you find?

Consider using Air-Mods & Repair at N87 - Robbinsville, NJ

Contact Dave Mathiesen

MSC with many Mooneys in for maintenance, all the time....

Best place to see the inside of mooneys in NJ.

Best regards,

-a-

[rturbett]

Thanks,

looking at a high time - and I mean high time...C  that has a low time engine and the radios I want. Waiting for the copies of the last two annuals along with the AD compliance history.

[jetdriven]

One pilot here has a 10,000 hour M20J and it flies like a new one.

[rturbett]

9600+ hours 1976 C

Was told it spent most of its life as an embery riddle ifr trainer.  I dont have a problem with an aircraft that has been inspected every 100 hours. Hasn't flown too much the past 6 or seven years.

Any special concerns for an aircraft that has cycled that much?  After looking at older C's  for thier manual gear, my first concern  would be to track what gear work has been done.

Downside is that there is no autopilot/ wing leveler.

I thought I had settled on an F, but willing to have the occaisional passengers suffer for the money saved!

[rturbett]

Thanks, That was valuable.  I am sure I will have more questions when I have access to the annuals and AD history.

Rob

[Parker_Woodruff]

ERAU seems to have done fine maintenance on my former airplane, a 1990 Mooney M20J-AT.  They flew it over 6400 hours prior to the 2nd owner.  I was the 3rd owner.

[carusoam]

Rob,

 

Have you decided where / when you are going for the PPI?

 

Best regards,

 

-a-

[John Pleisse]

Airmods near Trenton and Henry Weber in Lancaster, PA.

[rturbett]

Haven't decided yet. Will make a decision when the maintenance history makes it to me.

Thanks  for the feed back.

Rob

[rturbett]

Holding off on this one for now.  An A&P that I respect advised me that the value of any light aircraft with that many hours on it is questionable.  As he put it, you can always put an engine, prop or radio in a plane, but you can't take hours off an airframe.

 

At least I am going to spend some time thinking about it-

 

[140pilot]

I am not an AP but I did own another ERAU high time M 20C  3612H which was a 77 or 78 model depending on who you talked to. When we bought it back in 91 it already had more than 7500 TT on it. It also had meticulous maint. done on it and excellent logs and maint records. We had looked at several C models at the time and all others had well under 3k hours and of course the prices were much higher and none was in the condition we found 12H. Sadly I had to back out of the partner ship for financial reasons a few years later but we had already added another 600 hours to the airframe and never had any unusual annual expenses. The aircraft is still in the areas today and still serving her owner well.

I honestly would feel more comfortable in a high airframe time Mooney that had excellent maint. than some of the low time hangar queens out there who were maintained by mechs that are not familar with Mooneys.

Honestly if the price was right for the airframe time I would not blow off the aircraft just on airframe hours.

[carusoam]

When the 45 year old plane has 5,500 hours on it, and it has not fallen out of the sky yet.  I feel pretty safe that it will go another day and another hour with less concern then a brand new airframe or zero hour engine.....

I think many of us would prefer a new house and a new car too.  Unfortunately it is financially difficult for many of us to have all perfectly new stuff....the old stuff seems to work quite well as a substitute.

My thoughts on airframe time.....

Best regards,

-a-

[orangemtl]

Have there been documented airframe failures on high time GA aircraft in flight?  Anything eventually wears out; the vast majority of GA accidents seem to be the typical fuel, gearup or pattern stall events, however. Just curious.

[rturbett]

My decision had nothing to do with the condition of the aircraft- it appears to be very well maintained. It was more due to the expected value of it.

I don't know if a high time aircraft has more maintenence issues if it has been well maintained. I would naturally think so, but cant say for sure.

If it was a plane that I would expect to keep forever, than I wouldn't be concerned. I can easily see wanting an F in the future, so for now this aircraft isn't the one for me.  I am guessing it will make someone very happy.

 

 

[Parker_Woodruff]

So you get into a nicer airplane at a discount because it has a higher time airframe.  Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me.

You might have a slightly diminished pool of potential buyers, but if the plane has been well-maintained, this is nothing to run from.

Experience: ERAU 1990 Mooney M20J-AT I purchased from the 2nd owner at 6904 hours, sold at 7200 hours, and FYI I accepted an offer on the plane less than 5 days after listing it.