Next step is figuring out what you want to buy.

I suspect this starts the moment any of us decide to take our first flight lesson. We begin to fantasize about what airplane would suit us best, always with the assumption that we have a bank account stuffed to the top with money. We go wild in our vision of home ownership of a Gulfstream VI. But in the end, we're realistic, and start defining what we can use and what we'll end up getting. Here's the process I went thorough, and what I learned.

I learned on Pipers, so the first speculation early in my training was "buy a new Piper". Many visits to the Piper web site., decided that I could certainly afford a Piper Warrior. Of course, 115 knot cruise and 500 mile range wasn't all that great. And $220k (after options and taxes) was a lot for something that doesn't go.

OK, maybe a Cessna. Yuuuuk. A multi-engine DiamondAir Twin Desiel? Well yeah, but it's not going to be type certified for a few years.

That leads to the next, more logical way of deciding what airplane you look to buy; What the heck do you need? We're looking at a purchase that is probably going to last 10-20 years, and you'd better be comfortable with the choice. What did I need?

You spend extra to have an IFR certified aircraft. Do you need it? The avionics needed to make an airplane IFR rated also help with VFR flying, but if you don't need them don't pay for them. I need IFR.

I went through my needs matrix, and came up with a few likely models. New airplanes that met those needs and were theoretically in my price range, the choice was limited pretty specifically to the Cirrus SR-20.

and possibly a Tiger (though the range was not what I wanted).

So I asked for a test flight on both. Cirrus responded immediately. Tiger didn't. Tiger, quite frankly, was unresponsive, arrogant, and insulting. Bad idea for a company struggling to stay alive. I discarded them becuase of the company attitude. A few years later: Tiger did go out of business, should have been nice to me....

SR-20: Great flying airplane! (read my pilot report on this test flight) Loved everything about it. Then did my homework further. This would be a get-in cost of about $250,000. I'd have to pay state sales tax on top of that (yes yes, you can work to avoid that, but those options limit your airplane use and I believe are risky) of $10,000 or more. Insurance quote was about $8,000 a year (composite repair is expensive). It's a brand-new airplane, I'd better find a hangar at higher-than asking rate, since the wait for normal-priced hangars here is years.

Heck, owning an SR-20 is looking like it's going to cost me $2,500 or so a mionth.after I actually throw in some flying hours. I could do it, but do I want to?

Answer in my head came back: Nope. Look at your needs matrix, what does buying a new aircraft get you that you are looking for? Newer avionics and longer time to overhaul costs. How heavily weighted are those two factors for me? Well, actually not that high! It doesn't make sense to spend an extra $150,000 to get some of the lower rated items on my list.

Time to look used. Used airplanes are certainly a safer bet than used autos, but you have to be careful. There are many sites that offer advice on used aircraft purchasing, look for them, I'm sticking to decisions.

OK, what used airplanes make sense based on my criteria?

Piper Cherokee 235

Nice little airplane, good range, decent (140-ish) knots of speed, and Pipers are pretty rock-solid. Only problem is these are somewhat older.

Multiple models of Mooney

In fact, 8 Mooney model variants fit my needs. Narrowed down based on range, age, and speed.

OK, I've gotten my airplane type down, now how much do I want to pay? I decided on somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000, depending on equipment, time, etc.

Searching for the airplane comes next. The internet makes this a no-brainer. ASO and other web sites allow you to keep very up-to-date both on equipment availability and on realistic pricing.

So start watching. I watched for months, checking daily to see what new aircraft were coming on the market.

As you do this you will find that you become very adept at pricing airplanes yourself. If you see a 1982 Mooney 201 just listed on ASO and it costs $130,000, you'll say to yourself "Hmmmm, he put a Garmin 430 in it" before you even open the ad. You will become an expert on what time left on the engine is worth, what the market bears for the equipment, and so on. And you'll learn your type-specific issues. I can now look at any year/hour/price of a Mooney and tell you if the airplane has had a gear-up landing.

If you see a real bargin, well, you'll quickly find that there is something wrong before you even think to contact the owner. One of my favorite scams/warning signs is a lack of a tail number. You'll see pictures where the seller has actually used an image editing application and removed the tail number from the picture of the aircraft. Is that a big old red flag to you? Oh yeah[1].

You'll also find that, well, they're all pretty much the same. There are no secret hidden bargans. You are going to pay appropriately for what you're getting, so it's back to the Needs Matrix.

My matrix finally put me squarely in the Mooney camp, and more specifically because of speed and range balanced against cost, looking for a Mooney M20K 231.