First Time Buyer - High Time Turbo Arrow

A turbo Arrow has THREE things that will be problematic. The engine,
the turbo and the gear.

Frankly, I would suggest you look at a fixed gear airplane with a
Lycoming 320, 360 or 540 engine, normally aspirated. Turbo's
overstress and overheat these air cooled small aircraft engines.
Turbos also break frequently. Want more power? Just get a bigger
normally aspirated engine. Retract gear is an enethema. I have seen so
many gear ups, about 1/2 and 1/2 on reason (forget and broke).

First plane? Cherokee if you want low wing, Cessna if you want high
wing. Fixed gear and Lycoming engine.

Just a few words of advice from a 5 year airplane owner.

As for far away inspections. Call a mechanic (NOT the owners
mechanic). Tell him you want him to spend TWO hours looking at the
plane. Have him do a compression test and look at the logs. Then have
him phone you with a report. The other stuff can be inspected by
anyone (usually). Ask the owner if everything works, condition of
upholstry paint etc. Do an appraisal on TAP's appraiser. This is the
asking price. Get the N number and have AOPA do a title search. Now if
all that checks out, you can go visit.

(Michael) wrote in message . com...
I assure you that I can accomplish all the above in an hour, and I'm
not a Champ expert (though I have wrenched on them a bit). What's
more, my experience is that 90% of the Champs for sale won't pass
those tests. Most of the planes out there for sale are dogs - and
that goes double if you're trying to get a 'deal.' If you pay for a
full-blown prepurhase for each one, you will soon run out of money.

That's what caused me to give up the idea of buy a Champ as a second
airplane. I personally think most of them were airworthy but few
passed the FAA AD on the spar. A lot of A&Ps argue that the nails on
the spar were only there to hold it until the glue dries. In anycase,
the problem is finding an A&P to sign of your plane every year with a
non-AD compliant airplane. I did see some nice Champs, most of those
where in the $30K range.

-Robert