Good Stories about Plane Purchases

[Jon Kraus]

I am looking into purchasing my own plane... I think that I am pretty
aware of the costs (as much as a non-owner can be). I would like to
hear from those of you who have had a good experience with a plane
purchase. I have the bad experience posts also. My guess is that the
good will outweigh the bad by a long shot (or at least I am hoping so)
Thanks !!

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
(possible Mooney buyer)

[Aaron Coolidge]

In rec.aviation.owning Jon Kraus > wrote:
: I am looking into purchasing my own plane... I think that I am pretty
: aware of the costs (as much as a non-owner can be). I would like to
: hear from those of you who have had a good experience with a plane
: purchase. I have the bad experience posts also. My guess is that the
: good will outweigh the bad by a long shot (or at least I am hoping so)
: Thanks !!

Jon, I had an extremely good experience buying my airplane. It was located
completely across the country. I flew out, looked at it, had a quick prebuy
done (2 hours of labor from a mechanic*), and agreed to buy it. It was exactly
as advertised by the seller. I have flown the airplane > 600 hours in the last
4 years, and I have had no significant surprises or unexpected repairs. I
try to be pro-active in maintenance instead of presenting a huge list of
broken items at an annual, I have those items repaired as needed. I make
every attempt to keep the plane in top condition, which often doesn't need
large sums of money - I keep the engine bay & belly clean which makes small
oil drips easy to find before they become big problems, etc.

* I believe that it's possible to do the entire visual inspection part of
an annual inspection on a Cherokee in less than 2 hours if the inspection
plates are off, and I took those off for this inspection. I had the mechanic
concentrate on areas of corrosion (none), condition of flight controls (good)
cables (good) and bearings (good), and engine condition (compression good,
no metals found in oil filter or screen).

--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)

[Dylan Smith]

In article >, Jon Kraus wrote:
> I am looking into purchasing my own plane... I think that I am pretty
> aware of the costs (as much as a non-owner can be). I would like to
> hear from those of you who have had a good experience with a plane
> purchase.

We found Lusty Betty (our C140) for sale at our airport before it was
even advertised (often the best buys go by word-of-mouth and sell before
they reach print). The plane was in very good condition and needed very
little work doing to it. I flew that plane coast to coast in the US.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

[Dylan Smith]

In article >, JJS wrote:
> Dylan is this the airplane that was tied down with chains and suffered
> wind damage? If so was it repaired? What happened to it?

It was repaired (another long story about terrible maintenance
organisations that lie) and then properly repaired when it got back to
Salt Lake City. I left the US, my partners bought my share and then
fitted a climb prop - it didn't climb great in the Houston flatlands
with 85hp and a cruise prop, and it was even worse at 4800 feet in SLC!
(The climb prop apparently made a useful difference without degrading
cruise speed much. She only did 85 knots in any case).

My partners, realising that 85hp really wasn't the best in all the high
country they wanted to fly to sold it to a gentleman in Georgia, and
bought a share in a Cessna 180.

Unfortunately I bought a wreck of an old house and spent all of my net
worth restoring it, so all I own aviation wise at the moment is a 1/4
share in a 1960s Ka-8 glider!

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"