If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Good Stories about Plane Purchases
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) |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
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) |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
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" |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
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" |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 12:28:05 GMT, 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. Hi Jon, I can say I had a good experience. Frustrating at times, but a good experience. I happen to be at my airport looking on the bulletin board, when someone came to me and asked if I was interested in a Sundowner. He was based at my airport. I said sure, we went to the plane, and everything looked great to me. My main concern was the high time engine. He offered 44K for it. I said, let me get back to him as I wanted to do some research on it. Did an AOPA Vref, found that he was about 2K high. Knowing the engine was on borrowed time (1940 hours). The recommended TBO is 2000 hours. I said at this time, with the high time engine, that I am not interested. The seller then came back to me 3 weeks later, dropped the price to 38K. I then said, good so far, but I want a prepurchase inspection. He wanted me to use his mechanic that was located in a different airport. I said, no, I want the local mechanic. The local mechanic did the prepurchase inspection, found some squawks, but nothing of any major consequence. Compressions on the engine was 76 to 78 (more on this later). My mechanic said it looked to be a nice plane for the price I was looking to pay. Logs were excellent he said. Good deal I said. I then went back to the AOPA website, requested a title search, the title was clear. The next day, contacted the prior owner and asked him if my CFI and I could take it around the patch so he could see any problems. No problems noted with the plane handling except for the Autopilot. Autopilot was the only thing not working. We didn't realize it at the time, but the reason the autopilot wasn't working was that the turn coordinator wasn't working. After flying it, looking at it, I went ahead with the deal. Very little paperwork. A Bill of Sales, and a form to the FAA to get the registration in my name. Registration arrived about 1 month later. About compressions. A lot of emphasis is put on compressions. This is fine and dandy on the top of the engine, but it doesn't tell you the bottom half of the engine. I had an exhaust valve break on me in flight from metal fatique. So, if you are looking at a high time engine, keep this in mind. Since owning the plane, I did have all sorts of quirky things happen (sadly the plane was only flown 10 hours in the prior two years of me getting it!). After the exhaust valve went belly up, I got the cylinder replaced, and 10 hours later, a second cylinder started acting up on runup (couldn't clear the mag). I taxied back, called the mechanic and asked him to get me an overhaul. Overhaul was 13K on my 180 HP AK4 Lycoming. I had a vacuum pump failure, turn coordinator replaced, New battery, Nav1 and Nav2 instruments recalibrated when I started my instrument training, and my first annual last year was 3K for replacing things that go bump in the night from the UNDERUSAGE of this airplane (wheel bearings replaced for starters). I have now flown 253 hours on this plane in the last 18 months. The last 12 months since overhaul, all I have done is change the oil and any other maintenance my mechanic has recommended. I will be the first to tell you, ownership has it's price, but the price you pay is well worth the walk out on the ramp to fly YOUR OWN airplane without thinking twice. I figured that 253 hours X 100 rental fees would be 25,300. So, yes on the surface, I paid more for the plane and overhaul, but saving money now as I am flying 2 times a week. Fuel runs about $2.80 or so per gallon at 10 gallons an hour. I get the 15W50 oil, very expensive, but I am a believer you get what you pay for. I change the oil every 50 hours which is working out to be about every other month. Tie down is $40 a month, and insurance is $1,200 a year. I suspect the insurance will drop big time once I get my instrument ticket (checkride date is 09/04. Down the road, I will update the avionics. Original radios that came with plane, and it does have a Garmin 250XL VFR GPS in it. Interior is original, and needs to be refreshed down the road as well. Mucho bucks for both, but both work, so I will not fix what works. I have the plane now where I know it will be a very reliable source of transportation (after all that was done above, it better be!). Engine fires within three turns of the prop, hot or cold. Hope this helps. Allen |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
American nazi pond scum, version two | bushite kills bushite | Naval Aviation | 0 | December 21st 04 10:46 PM |
rec.aviation.aerobatics FAQ | Dr. Guenther Eichhorn | Aerobatics | 0 | December 1st 03 06:27 AM |
rec.aviation.aerobatics FAQ | Dr. Guenther Eichhorn | Aerobatics | 0 | November 1st 03 06:27 AM |
rec.aviation.aerobatics FAQ | Dr. Guenther Eichhorn | Aerobatics | 0 | October 1st 03 07:27 AM |
rec.aviation.aerobatics FAQ | Dr. Guenther Eichhorn | Aerobatics | 0 | September 1st 03 07:27 AM |