FlySince9
En-Route
I kinda already announced this in another thread but @eman1200 said it deserved its own thread, so here we go...
I've read a lot of threads and also did a lot of research, but it wasn't until I got a$$ deep in the process before I realized how nerve racking buying an airplane can be. Especially if it's your first.
I found this plane online and immediately noticed it was out of annual since May 2018 (about 4 months) Red Flag, Right? But I contacted the owner anyway and he seemed like an honest guy that was over his head and just lost interest. He gave me the name and number of the mechanic who did the last annual. The mechanic told me that it was the cleanest vintage Mooney he'd ever seen. But being this mechanic was based at Madisonville, TN, I wondered how many he'd actually seen, much less worked on. He later actually refused to do an annual if it was going for a pre-purchase anyway. His reasons were unreasonable and I'm boring you enough already.
So anyway, I decided to go look at the plane and was amazed at its condition. The paint was impeccable and the interior was in great shape (both done in 2011). The Seller agreed, reluctantly, to fly the airplane down to Joey Cole, a Mooney Service Center at KDNN, since he, after all, had bought the airplane, unseen, just 2 years ago.
After 2 weeks of bad weather and dealing with the FSDO for a ferry permit, the plane made the 50 mile trip to KDNN. Two days later, Joey called to tell me that the airplane was, basically a mess. It appeared the last 7-8 annuals were, well lets just say less than adequate. The mags hadn't been inspected in over 1000 hours, the nose truss was bent, airbox was cracked, my God, even the tires were dry rotted. To make a long story short the estimate came to over $11K. Over $7K was needed just to cover stuff considered airworthy items. I told the seller he would have to cover at least all those airworthy items. He initially refused, but he did have an airplane on jacks, un-airworthy, and stuck 50 miles from home (I warned him that could happen before he flew it down there). He was gonna have to deal with that one way or another. So 2 days later he, ultimately, relented.
So Today at 12:30PM I became the 4th owner of Mooney N960GS...a 1965 Mooney M20-C (Mark 21). The extensive work will take about 3 weeks... UGH!
I've read a lot of threads and also did a lot of research, but it wasn't until I got a$$ deep in the process before I realized how nerve racking buying an airplane can be. Especially if it's your first.
I found this plane online and immediately noticed it was out of annual since May 2018 (about 4 months) Red Flag, Right? But I contacted the owner anyway and he seemed like an honest guy that was over his head and just lost interest. He gave me the name and number of the mechanic who did the last annual. The mechanic told me that it was the cleanest vintage Mooney he'd ever seen. But being this mechanic was based at Madisonville, TN, I wondered how many he'd actually seen, much less worked on. He later actually refused to do an annual if it was going for a pre-purchase anyway. His reasons were unreasonable and I'm boring you enough already.
So anyway, I decided to go look at the plane and was amazed at its condition. The paint was impeccable and the interior was in great shape (both done in 2011). The Seller agreed, reluctantly, to fly the airplane down to Joey Cole, a Mooney Service Center at KDNN, since he, after all, had bought the airplane, unseen, just 2 years ago.
After 2 weeks of bad weather and dealing with the FSDO for a ferry permit, the plane made the 50 mile trip to KDNN. Two days later, Joey called to tell me that the airplane was, basically a mess. It appeared the last 7-8 annuals were, well lets just say less than adequate. The mags hadn't been inspected in over 1000 hours, the nose truss was bent, airbox was cracked, my God, even the tires were dry rotted. To make a long story short the estimate came to over $11K. Over $7K was needed just to cover stuff considered airworthy items. I told the seller he would have to cover at least all those airworthy items. He initially refused, but he did have an airplane on jacks, un-airworthy, and stuck 50 miles from home (I warned him that could happen before he flew it down there). He was gonna have to deal with that one way or another. So 2 days later he, ultimately, relented.
So Today at 12:30PM I became the 4th owner of Mooney N960GS...a 1965 Mooney M20-C (Mark 21). The extensive work will take about 3 weeks... UGH!
