AD Compliance

[gsxrpilot]

As @cliffy said, a thorough check of all applicable AD's is critical when buying any airplane. But when buying a Mooney, get someone to do it who knows Mooneys. And so in this case, the correct answer is Laura at SWTA (www.swta.net). She's an A&P, Pilot, Mooney specialist and co-owner of SWTA.

Send her copies of all the logs and prepare to be amazed at the detailed report you'll get back along with her expert opinion on the logs and the overall maintenance of the airplane based on those logs. I think she charges $250 or $300 for a vintage Mooney. It's cheaper for a newer model. (newer Mooneys have less logs to go through).

Do this prior to spending any money on a pre-buy inspection. You can thank me later.

[Chocks]

21 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

As @cliffy said, a thorough check of all applicable AD's is critical when buying any airplane. But when buying a Mooney, get someone to do it who knows Mooneys. And so in this case, the correct answer is Laura at SWTA (www.swta.net). She's an A&P, Pilot, Mooney specialist and co-owner of SWTA.

Send her copies of all the logs and prepare to be amazed at the detailed report you'll get back along with her expert opinion on the logs and the overall maintenance of the airplane based on those logs. I think she charges $250 or $300 for a vintage Mooney. It's cheaper for a newer model. (newer Mooneys have less logs to go through).

Do this prior to spending any money on a pre-buy inspection. You can thank me later.

I can 100% attest to the amazingness of this service by SWTA! I don’t want to spoil all the truly impressive things I got out of receiving that log report, with details. But just know, it was so good, I think we should be suggesting it as a pre-buy necessity for everyone. 
 

And for your records, it’s later so thanks @gsxrpilot for the referral.

[carusoam]

Some MS recommendations are truly spectacular...

When you see Laura’s bio, and Mrs.Max’s bio... they are outstanding...

Best regards,

-a-

[N201MKTurbo]

1 hour ago, FlyingDude said:

I love it!

I was thinking of "aircraft mechanic unit"as in 1 hr but I thought that'd be too inexpensive.

Thanks for the explanation

If you hang around, we’ll show you the secret hand shake...

[carusoam]

Need to get to a post pandemic Mooney Fly-in for the official sharing of the Mooney handshake...  

-a-

[Guest]

10 hours ago, cferr59 said:

I would love to be wrong about this because it would make the AD much easier for me, but there is an item C that says:

"(c) At the next lubrication as required in (a) and thereafter at the same interval as specified in (a), perform a landing gear retraction test and check the landing gear rigging...."

https://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAD.nsf/AOCADSearch/022EF974FDE32DBA86256A3B006FA1EA?OpenDocument

But, I will happily not do the gear swing if I am misinterpreting.   For me, it is wasteful because I fly about 120 hours a year.

I stand corrected.  The way Transport Canada presented the AD it left out paragraph “C”

Clarence

[Hank]

6 hours ago, carusoam said:

Need to get to a post pandemic Mooney Fly-in for the official sharing of the Mooney handshake...  

-a-

It' all set for Tampa in October. See you there!

[cliffy]

9 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

As @cliffy said, a thorough check of all applicable AD's is critical when buying any airplane. But when buying a Mooney, get someone to do it who knows Mooneys. And so in this case, the correct answer is Laura at SWTA (www.swta.net). She's an A&P, Pilot, Mooney specialist and co-owner of SWTA.

Send her copies of all the logs and prepare to be amazed at the detailed report you'll get back along with her expert opinion on the logs and the overall maintenance of the airplane based on those logs. I think she charges $250 or $300 for a vintage Mooney. It's cheaper for a newer model. (newer Mooneys have less logs to go through).

Do this prior to spending any money on a pre-buy inspection. You can thank me later.

Learn something new every day!

WOW what a great post and helpful idea! I didn't know their service was available.

I have a "thing" about researching logs for my own use that goes to maybe the "forensic" level but I don't do it professionally. I don't have a life either as I dig deeply into arcane and esoteric writings all the time.  

Their qualifications go beyond acceptable and anyone buying a Mooney would be remiss if they didn't spend that money for their log book check. The cheapest $300 one would ever expend in the purchase of a Mooney. 

Now I have another new recommendation to give out when asked. 

Thanks  gsxrpilot !   :-)

[Chris Bopp]

15 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

As @cliffy said, a thorough check of all applicable AD's is critical when buying any airplane. But when buying a Mooney, get someone to do it who knows Mooneys. And so in this case, the correct answer is Laura at SWTA (www.swta.net). She's an A&P, Pilot, Mooney specialist and co-owner of SWTA.

Send her copies of all the logs and prepare to be amazed at the detailed report you'll get back along with her expert opinion on the logs and the overall maintenance of the airplane based on those logs. I think she charges $250 or $300 for a vintage Mooney. It's cheaper for a newer model. (newer Mooneys have less logs to go through).

Do this prior to spending any money on a pre-buy inspection. You can thank me later.

Great! Thanks for the info. Is there a good resource to see what an airplane is worth? As we look on Trade A Plane and Controller, prices are all over the place. Of course, engine wear is probably one of the major factors in price followed by avionics and equipment. Does Total Airframe Time have a huge impact? We see an airplane that has 4000TT with 1500SMOH with a 530W and autopilot for the same cost as a plane with 7800TT 300SMOH 430W and autopilot. Trying to determine how to negotiate pricing.

[Yetti]

It is also worth it to order the CD from the FAA for your N number.   I found it enlightening when the IA assigned me the homework of going through the ADs with the logbooks.  Engines are a crapshoot and prices are what a man/woman will give you on any given day.

[A64Pilot]

Problem with TAP and Barnstormers etc is those are asking prices, not getting prices.

‘For boats a Broker can go to “Sold boats” data which is supposedly the price the boats sold for, not asking. I don’t know if there is “sold airplanes” data or not.

‘What astonished me when looking was people don’t seem to take into account the engine time anymore, there seemed to be little difference in asking for a fresh overhaul and one runout, which I still don’t understand. Last time I was looking to buy  was 20 years ago and then engine time was a major driver for price, now I guess the panel is.

‘An engine overhaul for an IO-360 is going to cost you about 40K in round numbers, it’s good for 2,000 hours, so engine  time is worth $20 an hour, or should be, so an airplane with a 1,000 hour engine ought to be worth $20,000 more than one with a 2000 hour engine and I wasn’t seeing that.

Edited March 29, 2021 by A64Pilot

[carusoam]

8 hours ago, Chris Bopp said:

Great! Thanks for the info. Is there a good resource to see what an airplane is worth? As we look on Trade A Plane and Controller, prices are all over the place. Of course, engine wear is probably one of the major factors in price followed by avionics and equipment. Does Total Airframe Time have a huge impact? We see an airplane that has 4000TT with 1500SMOH with a 530W and autopilot for the same cost as a plane with 7800TT 300SMOH 430W and autopilot. Trying to determine how to negotiate pricing.

For a rough estimate of machine sales prices...

Find the MooneyFlyer...

They have a calculator that can get you in the ball park of what is important to other people...

Best regards,

-a-