When I was in my hunt for an airplane I had a really great person give me
pointers on what to look for on initial check of the airplane before it went
in to pre purchase inspection. One airplane I looked at the owner said lets
go fly it I told him let me do a really through preflight, During my
inspection "very extended pre flight inspection" I noticed some bolts
missing that held the wing struts, Push rod tubes were leaking, prop was
nicked all over the place, there were many wrinkles on the belly of the
airplane by the landing gear.

I was about to pop the seats out to remove the inspection plates but a bad
feeling about the airplane in my subconscious "the little voice in my head"
said to walk now. I told the guy that I did not feel comfortable flying in
the weather that we were having today and my mechanic dose all test flight's
and I will call him this evening to let him know what my decision is, if I
want to bring it down for a pre purchase inspection. I called him about 3
hours on the way home said I found something else.

Glad I did not fly it my mechanic could not believe that I walked on it the
logs that were faxed looked good, my mechanic went and looked at it 2 days
later it looked like it had a few very hard landings and main gear boxes
were in need of serious attention.


The next day after he went to look at it we scored on this little bird and I
have been very happy with it.

http://www.warflying.net/airport/59s76Utaxi.jpg

I learned a lot from my buying experience but I had an excellent respected
mechanic guide me through the mess of airplanes, it seemed like we scraping
near the bottom of the barrel, looks like that poor guy hit the bottom of
the barrel neglected to bring a few pastries & coffee to a few shops at
lunch time and just sit and talk with A & P's and make business contacts in
the industry $10 in pastries & coffee can save you $10,000 or more later
down the road.

I had a chance to sit at a bar, I was drinking Pepsi and next to me was an
faa inspector from the local FSDO in front of us was well you know (We were
at Wildcats in Beaverton, Or) he started talking about airplanes I started
buying drinks. I learned a lot in that 2 hour conversation.

Bob, could you get us photos of that airplane.









"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


Bob Chilcoat wrote:

The shop
guys don't even want to work on it, and the owner is compaining about
the
cost estimates.

An example of the old mechanic's sign with the caption "No kidding! You
*flew* it
here???"

George Patterson
In Idaho, tossing a rattlesnake into a crowded room is felony
assault.
In Tennessee, it's evangelism.