Annual recommendation (mid-west or ability to get home commercial)

[fmg85]

Hi everyone,

 

-looking for annual recommendations-

 

I moved from Germany to Chicago - together with my Mooney (- an original Encore).

In April my annual is due (and I will want/need to do it in the US).

 

Due to lots of flying I had the chance to try out a few shops all over the country, repairing a few squawks and changing oil (as I didn’t bring any tools).

 

The rate per hour varied from $120 to $190 and didn’t necessarily correlate with my confidence of wanting to leave my airplane there for a Mooney annual.

 

Do you have any recommendation for annuals that provides good service at a reasonable rate? - The local MSC apparently is no more since last year.

 

I am in Chicago, but anywhere flying 4-5 hours (Mooney speed) is okay - as long as I can reasonably get back to Chicago (combination of Uber, Train and Flight) in case it takes longer to resolve (- working remotely but don’t want to strand for weeks)

 

Ability to fit new Garmin is a plus as my vacuum AI is starting to get wonky.

 

Florian

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jakes Simmons]

You are not too too far from Wilmar, MN and Oasis Air. Weep No More is the sister tank shop there. I’ve had a solid annual done plus tanks a couple years ago. If you can make it to Columbus Ohio and Union County airport in Marysville Ohio, Sky Vista did my ‘24 annual and regularly maintains my C now. They are young and really sharp. Caught multiple issues that even Maxwell’s overlooked. Several Mooney’s are regular customers like myself. They definitely stay booked out though and you’d need to call now for April.

[Fritz1]

Second Oasis in Wilmar

[exM20K]

Florian,

I, too, am in Chicagoland part time. I have general maintenance done at JA Aircenter (KARR), and while kind of speedy, they have been able to source hard-to-find parts and diagnose issues with no obvious solutions. Matt Mukenschnabl’s place, Chicago Aviation Services, at DPA quite a bit, too.  Good people.

 

For annuals, I’ve had much better luck with Mooney-specific shops like Don Maxwell Aviation in Longview, TX and Air Mods and Repair in NJ.  Longview has service to ORD via one stop in Dallas.  Trenton Robinsville, NJ is a short, relatively cheap NJ Transit ride to EWR for direct service to ORD.

Welcome to Chicago. You have, in my opinion, the best Mooney made.

-dan

[mikey757]

I've been using JB Aviation at Galt field (10C) just Northwest of Chicago.  Very Happy.

[Fly Boomer]

17 hours ago, fmg85 said:

Ability to fit new Garmin is a plus as my vacuum AI is starting to get wonky.

You may need a shop like Maxwell that can provide one-stop shopping.  Many avionics shops will not be interested in doing an annual and, for that reason, I would not be interested in letting them.  Also, many good Mooney shops can do a good annual inspection, but may not be able or willing to get into a panel re-do.  As of a couple of minutes ago, ForeFlight says 5 hours from KORD to KGGG (Maxwell).  There is commercial service there but, as someone else pointed out, probably not going to find a non-stop flight.

Get every detail in writing before work begins.

[Z W]

Another +1 for Maxwell in Longview, TX. I fly about 2.5 hours to take the plane there and commercial home, with a connecting flight through Dallas. Pretty sure I'd still do it if it were 5 hours too. No experience with any other options nearer to you though.

[AndreiC]

I have heard good things about Jason at Jed-Aire at KBBB (Benson, MN) which is reasonably close to MSP (Minneapolis-St Paul airport, major commercial hub). I do not have first hand experience with them, but a guy here with a M20J MSE was taking his plane to Jason religiously and was happy with the results.

[fmg85]

Thank you everyone - this is a truly awesome list!

I will get my spreadsheet out to compare and call up shops!

I will post about the outcome. Really appreciate the collective knowledge here!

Florian


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk