Shopping for a newer Mooney

[Nino]

I'm shopping for a newer Mooney, sold my plane last month. There is a Mooney M20S Eagle with the screamin eagle upgrade, it would be perfect for me, a lot of power, shorter take offs, good climbing and good range, plus I can eventually upgrade with TKS, if I decide to use it more in the winter. It's advertised on Controller.com for $ 185k, it's in Calgary, Alberta, I'm in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Canadian registration is C-FFFV, it was imported in 2009, before it was N-797TA, based in Arizona or Texas. The problem is that it had a gear up in 2004, and it wasn't used until 2009, when it was repaired, and from the log book it's evident that there was major damage to the right wing, nose, front gear and back of fuselage. According to the broker, It was all repaired properly and it's better than before. Maybe some of you have heard of this plane before and can give me some information about the accident and damage, before I commit myself and start to organize for the pre-buy inspection. Thank you. 

[carusoam]

was N-797TA... Now belongs to a beech jet. Still looking... -a-

[carusoam]

Picture of a Lake sea plane with the Canadian tail number....

[carusoam]

I like them both, but neither looks like an eagle.

Where did I go wrong???

-a-

[FAST FLIGHT OPTIONS LLC]

Quote: Nina

...According to the broker, It was all repaired properly and it's better than before.

[FBCK]

Nino, who is the broker and where would you getting the pre purchase buy inspection, dont even think of the local or former MSC around here, I had mine done there, told them what to look for and 1.5 years later had to repair those 3 items costing 20k or so, with an airplane with damage that may require a closer look, if there where issues, they certainly would find them.

[Nino]

Quote: FBCK

Nino, who is the broker and where would you getting the pre purchase buy inspection, dont even think of the local or former MSC around here, I had mine done there, told them what to look for and 1.5 years later had to repair those 3 items costing 20k or so, with an airplane with damage that may require a closer look, if there where issues, they certainly would find them.

[jetdriven]

Do not do that. After you discover your engine is making metal and the spar needs replaced, you find out the broker's daughter is married to the owner of the shop.  See Chandler MSC for an example of how they can catch the rear seatbelt TSO tags yet miss the cylinder and tail AD.  They are not all the same.

[Becca]

Quote: Nino

 The broker is Prairie Aircraft Sales, and they suggested to do the prebuy at the local Mooney maintainance shop,Cavalier Aviation. I haven't agreed on anything yet or contacted Cavalier. Thanks.

[johnggreen]

There are gear ups and there are gear ups.  Meaning; some cause almost no damage and others a great deal.  Sound like this gear up resulted in the airplane running into something to cause all the described damage.  None of that would bother me if I could indeed determine that the airplane was completely and properly repaired.  That will required more than just a three hour pre-buy.  It will also require an fairly extensive in-flight review of the performance and trim of the airplane.

Now, that's the good news.  First, with some exceptions brokers suck.  They are the whores of the aviation industry.  Remember, I said with some very notable exceptions.  Most are some fat tart sitting at a phone who has never seen the airplane and knows squat about it.  Of everything you have said about this airplane, the one thing that bother me the most is that the broker/whore said that it had been repaired "better than before"?  Before what?  Better than Mooney manufactured it?  That would mean modifications that would require an STC or field approval.  I would venture that this broker's first name starts with "--".  There aren't many brokers dumb enough to say that.

I think you would either expect a 40% discount over VREF for "better than before" or walk.

Jgreen

[jwilkins]

I've bought three Mooneys which had gear up history, and all had been 'properly repaired by reputable shops' (one by a MSC). The major repair items on all three were excellent. All had little diddly things which had not been exactly right such as gear doors slightly out of rig, flaps not exactly symetrical, belly panels a little bit wrinkled which were not bad enough to replace but not exactly factory. The partial paint done after a repair sometimes seems to be subject to lower quality standards than many full repaint jobs done at a paint shop. 

I don't believe the 'repaired better than new' sales pitch, but a proper repair which has the major items done correctly and has only some diddly things to clean up is fine with me. It does not scare me off to have damage history which is properly documented, the repairs are done properly, it passes a GOOD inspection, would not scare me off. I do like to check the NTSB reports against the log books to see if the documented repairs are consistent. 

Last comment about 'brokers'; I absolutely agree that you need to be careful when you don't know the broker, or when you are dealing with an owner selling his own aircraft. I don't know many of the dealers or brokers but I do trust Jimmy Garrison and Dave McGee at All American. It was a little funny when I was talking to Jimmy about 1MS before I went to look at it; Jimmy kept telling me it was "OK" but I probably would not be thrilled with the cosmetics. When I finally went to see it I was amazed that it was as good as it is. So his description was very conservative. He said he didn't want me to make a trip to Texas on false expectations.  I also know from very personal experience that he stands behind his deals; much more than any reasonable person would expect.