Tire-kicking session

[beaky]

At the risk of sounding like a woman......I like the colour  ;)

Yup.......you right

Sean, how long does the process of buying an aircraft normally take then.  A car for example, cash for keys, a house is a bit longer. I am thinking that an aircraft is in the direction of house.

Matt

It can be, I suppose, but it varies. I'm a first-timer, and I've never bought property, so I can't say. The tricky bit with this compared to a car is that some time and money is required to just see if it's really the one you want, which is why I'm not feeling so bad about the idea of settling on this one if I get 3rd-party confirmation that it's sound and the title's clean (title search is a must; the present owner may not even be aware of some old lien on the plane or something).
At $22K (or maybe less), it's not the kind of purchase you want to spend thousands researching... which one could: when buying a house, one usually chooses a location first- with planes, they can be thousands of miles apart; I'm hoping to avoid big trips just to go look at planes.

And in the end, you know how it is with any used item: no matter how much shopping around you do, the day after you pay up you always see one that's a better deal... it's inevitable.
Anyway, I have to try to stop thinking about all this until I get a loan... without that, it all becomes moot.

[DaveSims]

It can be, I suppose, but it varies. I'm a first-timer, and I've never bought property, so I can't say. The tricky bit with this compared to a car is that some time and money is required to just see if it's really the one you want, which is why I'm not feeling so bad about the idea of settling on this one if I get 3rd-party confirmation that it's sound and the title's clean (title search is a must; the present owner may not even be aware of some old lien on the plane or something).
At $22K (or maybe less), it's not the kind of purchase you want to spend thousands researching... which one could: when buying a house, one usually chooses a location first- with planes, they can be thousands of miles apart; I'm hoping to avoid big trips just to go look at planes.

And in the end, you know how it is with any used item: no matter how much shopping around you do, the day after you pay up you always see one that's a better deal... it's inevitable.
Anyway, I have to try to stop thinking about all this until I get a loan... without that, it all becomes moot.

You better buy it before I do.  ;D  One thing to keep in mind is maintenance and upkeep on an aircraft.  Some locals here are learning first hand that the purchase price was only part of the deal.

Buying an airplane is like buying a house, it takes some time and money to get the deal done.  A pre-buy is a must, to save your money on fixing stuff and to save your butt if there is something dangerous wrong (as you have learned rotty).  From the pictures it looks like a winner though.

[beaky]

You better buy it before I do.  ;D  One thing to keep in mind is maintenance and upkeep on an aircraft.  Some locals here are learning first hand that the purchase price was only part of the deal.

Buying an airplane is like buying a house, it takes some time and money to get the deal done.  A pre-buy is a must, to save your money on fixing stuff and to save your butt if there is something dangerous wrong (as you have learned rotty).  From the pictures it looks like a winner though.

I should probably keep my mouth shut if you are really thinking of buying it  ;)  , but there's more to it than the pics... in fact, the appearance of the plane, even though it's OK, is nothing impressive at all. What's got me interested is the low-time O-235 (not a 320; that was a brain fart) and the most recent annuals: first one involved $15K worth of all the stuff that'd be most likely to make trouble right about now; second one cost him about a grand, I believe (I forget what was fixed), and the last one, in January, was clean... no squawks.

My pre-buy is really just a formality, although yes, the fabric needs closer scrutiny, and some consideration as to how to protect it if I am to store it outdoors for a while as planned. they're building new t-hangars soon at 47N, but it may be a while before I can swing that. Prob'ly need to pay off the bulk of the loan first.

I've already figured the fixed costs, including loan payments... very do-able for me. Engine overhaul is way down the line (over 1500 hrs estimated). If the wings need recovering before that, I should be ready to do it, money-wise, in a few years. I'd still like to upgrade it for IFR, but that's a long-term goal, dependent on getting some bargains on equipment and installation. I may leave it as is, including the funky interior... just want my own plane to fly whenever I want, for fun and travel, and with that engine and under-4000-hr airframe it has pretty good resale value as is.

[Brett_Henderson]

Food for thought... if this doesn't turn out ot be THE one.. and you end up finding one that will require a long ferry home.. and need some ballast that can also navigate and hold a heading

[whitewolf]

Good luck! I hope it all works out for you.     8-)

[beaky]

Food for thought... if this doesn't turn out ot be THE one.. and you end up finding one that will require a long ferry home.. and need some ballast that can also navigate and hold a heading  8-)

My schedule is flexible... (pending inverted yokes..lol)

You're on. All one would need to solve the yoke problem, if necessary, is a small Allen key, as far as I can tell...  

[Hagar]

Cute little plane. I'm surprised you're even contemplating a ragwing after your recent experience.

[beaky]

;) Cute little plane. I'm surprised you're even contemplating a ragwing after your recent experience.

So am I, to be honest. But they do seem to fly reasonably well without the full square footage covered, so why worry?

Then there's the "what are the odds it'll happen to me twice?" factor.... Like the scene in the World According to Garp when a light single crashes into the house they've just bought and Garp hugs his wife and says "we'll be safe here..."
Very funny scene, BTW... if you haven't seen the film: the pilot is unharmed and clambers out of the plane, which is now stuck in the upstairs bedroom, and asks if he can use their phone...

At any rate, there's a very solid look to every part of this particular plane, including the patched wing... it seems a bargain at the price, based on similar ones I've seen. Plenty of life in the old girl yet, I think.
Careful preflight and postflight inspection and whatever protection from UV can be managed should keep the wings in decent shape.