How did you find your plane?

How did you find your plane?

  • Through classified listings

    Votes: 32 43.8%

  • Knew someone selling theirs

    Votes: 11 15.1%

  • Used a broker

    Votes: 9 12.3%

  • Plane fell from sky and landed in your tie-down spot

    Votes: 6 8.2%

  • Other?

    Votes: 15 20.5%
  • Total voters
    73
rpadula

rpadula

En-Route
Joined
Mar 8, 2005
Messages
4,731
Location
Suwanee, GA
Display Name
Display name:
PancakeBunny
Ah, the flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, and fanciful wishes of buying a plane are popping into my head. Must be allergy season!

For you owners:

How did you find your plane?

It seems any plane in a classified ad will come with known bugs (uncovered by a pre-buy?), unknown gremlins (what's been deferred that will break right after the check is cashed?) and a general feeling of "roll the dice."

On the other hand, I've heard mythical stories of the responsible guy at the local airport who takes good care of his plane and never even places an ad when it's time to sell because there's enough people "in the know" to scoop it up. Is this the better way to go?


-Rich
 
rpadula said:
Ah, the flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, and fanciful wishes of buying a plane are popping into my head.
Click to expand...

Hey Rich, go for it! What kind of airplane are you going to be shopping for?


rpadula said:
For you owners:

How did you find your plane?
Click to expand...

We decided on a Citabria and shopped for a while and called a friend who owned N4216Y to ask him a technical question about Citabria shopping. He said "Why don't you just buy mine?" Wow! We didn't know he wanted to sell it and nobody else around here knew that either. The local pilots around here were mad at us for snatching it up before they could get a chance to buy it. :)
 
rpadula said:
Ah, the flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, and fanciful wishes of buying a plane are popping into my head. Must be allergy season!

For you owners:

How did you find your plane?

It seems any plane in a classified ad will come with known bugs (uncovered by a pre-buy?), unknown gremlins (what's been deferred that will break right after the check is cashed?) and a general feeling of "roll the dice."

On the other hand, I've heard mythical stories of the responsible guy at the local airport who takes good care of his plane and never even places an ad when it's time to sell because there's enough people "in the know" to scoop it up. Is this the better way to go?


-Rich
Click to expand...

My Travel Air was a classified ad, My Ag Cat I was flying on a job for someone else, I got a contract and bought it from the guy I was flying it for. My Midget Mustang, I had told a guy I know who builds planes that if he ever built a MM to let me know, and one day a few years later he called me and said "You still want a Midget Mustang cause I just finished one" and I said "Yep I'm sending you a check and I'll be there in a couple weeks to pick it up."
 
A more proactive approach I've heard of is to get the addresses of all owners of a particular model you want (wouldn't work with a 150 or other very common plane probably) and send them all a carefully worded postcard asking if they are interested in selling. You could even limit mailings to only those within xxx miles at first.

I spend many months online and calling, traveled across the state looking and finally the right one showed up at the 'dealer' and I was first in line.
 
I found my Warrior online. Saw an ad from Indy Aero. Looked pretty good. Called
Roger Stiver to go over and look at it for me quick. He did and went thru all the logs
meticulously. I ordered the AOPA package on the plane. I bought it and it's been
a great plane so far.

It hasn't been my experience that there's any better chance of finding
a good plane because it's local. When I bought my Tiger it was from a guy
at our field. Had an annual done at the time of sale. Looked it over in great
detail. Low time. It was a fun plane .. but it nickel and dimed me to death.
On the other hand when I bought my Sundowner it was from a dealer far
away. Was in great shape and trouble free.
 
First airplane, Mooney 201: Trade-a-Plane. It was a basket case 700 miles away, but I knew that going in and it was priced right.

Second airplane, Piper Lance: Had been inquiring for a few months among advertisers in TAP, ASO.com and other online sources. Never found the right plane. Then a Chicago dealer with whom I'd inquired earlier got a line on one in Texas and faxed me specs. The ferry pilot was soon on his way to Florida.

Third airplane, Citabria: Was looking at used ones and didn't quite find the right deal. Went to Sun n Fun and saw 4AC at the American Champion display. Went home and talked to wife. Came back the next day and bought it.
 
I was taking my Cherokee in for maintenance. My mechanic was on another field. I told him that he had a nice looking Tiger sitting in his hangar. He indicated that one of the mechs working there owned it, but may want to sell it as he was moving. One thing led to another, and I called the guy. We agreed on price, so I put my Cherokee up for sale. The Cherokee sold in a month (hard to believe this was only a couple of months after 9/11) and I bought the Tiger before it went onto the market. It pays to ask questions.
 
How did you find your plane? As a renter, I usually just wander around on the flight line until I bump my head on the flaps and check the tail number, since I'm now condemed to the high wing only rentals as the Mooney's :blueplane: owner got selfish and wanted to fly his plane all the time - sheesh, some people! :D Just kidding - it was sure fun while it lasted. After paying off our daughter's wedding (yikes, only 2 weeks away) and getting son #1 settled in college next year, maybe, just maybe a plane purchase could be in the works. Oops, forgot, son #2 college fund... I heard someone say they told their kids they would pay for 2 years of college - the last 2 years. A motivational proposal - I like that!
 
Rich,

I found my plane on ASO.com but I don't recomend that listing site as the aircraft are mostly being sold by brokers and dealers. I feel the prices are somewhat inflated over the asking prices for similar aircraft listed on Trade a Plane. You can get the least expensive Trade a Plane subscription, which is around $17 per year and have access to the online version of Trade a Plane (TaP).

Two things I would consider are....talking to local mechanics, they always seem to know the aircraft for sale. Also, look on the bulliten boards at airports in your vicinity.

Len
 
After a particularly bad experience with the first aircraft that I primarily rented, I started renting '731. I quickly became the primary renter and flyer of her, as most people wanted the new fancy C172s at the FBO. (I wanted cheap and dependable)

I had arranged to rent 731 for 10 days over a spring break, and when I went to pick her up, the owner casually mentioned that this would be the last rental as he was selling 731, and had a likely purchaser coming to look it over after our trip! EEK!

We departed for our trip, and a nagging voice told me to buy 731! So after sanding off the serial numbers, er, make that, arranging to buy it, we never returned it and became the proud owners of a new plane!

It was really nice, since I had 80+ hours in 731 before the purchase, I knew all the items that needed to be fixed. It was also fortunate that the local DE was her previous owner, so it was a very clean aircraft. A quick pre-buy and a check was all it took!

I've never regretted it, and was offered around 50% more for her this year! No sale! (yet...)

Scott.
 
Len Lanetti said:
Rich,

I found my plane on ASO.com but I don't recomend that listing site as the aircraft are mostly being sold by brokers and dealers. I feel the prices are somewhat inflated over the asking prices for similar aircraft listed on Trade a Plane. You can get the least expensive Trade a Plane subscription, which is around $17 per year and have access to the online version of Trade a Plane (TaP).

Two things I would consider are....talking to local mechanics, they always seem to know the aircraft for sale. Also, look on the bulliten boards at airports in your vicinity.

Len
Click to expand...
TAP for the Seneca. It was advertised for X,0K then (X-1),0K then (X-2)0,K in three successive issues. It was nonflyable and needed about 20K of work to make it legal. Then I had a legal runout.

Word of mouth for the Cessna 140.
Broker for the Turbo bullet Mooney. Got burned a bit.
TAP for the Rajay TurboF Mooney
Word of mouth for the Cessna 205
Word of mouth for the Skyhawk ('56).
 
Last edited:
I started training in Grandpa's c-182 and it was too complex at the time so we saw a sign up for a 140 in Ozark, MO. Me and Grandpa flew down there, with ten hours under my belt that runway looked like a sidewalk, hah it was so narrow. We saw it and then Grandpa went and picked it up within the next week or so.
I am anxious to fly there again and see if it is even all that narrow.
 
I was looking for an older Skylane (~58-60), and a friend who knew I was looking told me to check out this nice Cherokee 180 instead. It turned out to be really nice, and has served us well for years. Now I'm back looking for a Skylane again, though.

Dan
 
Rich,

As with so many things in life, you can get lucky -- or you can get an education. Being in a hurry is a great way to get an education. Taking as much time as you need to get 'lucky' helps a lot.

I found a C340A on my own...for a great price...and put a contract on it sight unseen. It was a disaster waiting to happen. It was in England and due back in about a month. Then it was late. After two months I found out I couldn't get insured in it anyway (needed at least 200 hours more twin time.) In retrospect it would have been cheaper to rent a twin for 200 hours, but that's hindsight.

I gave up on that airplane for many reasons (the seller would not allow it to be taken to TAS, Air Impressions or Tom's) for the pre-buy, it was over a month late, and I had contaminated the market -- couldn't get insured on a bet.

I contacted Jerry Temple, and he made everything easy. As a real estate investor, I understand what a Seller's broker does, and I understand what a Buyer's broker does. It is no different in airplanes. Where I made my mistake was I hired Jerry Temple as a Seller's broker (i.e. "Show me what you have for sale"), rather than as a Buyer's broker (i.e. "Find me an extremely well maintained, low time, mint condition airplane.")

Jerry was honest, complied with all moral and legal obligations to disclose, let me take it to Air Impressions, etc. So, this is not in any way a slam against Jerry. I will use him again if I buy another Cessna.

However, I'll be smart. I'll post on Internet boards, and get opinions about the hot-spots for the type I'm buying. I'll study and learn everything I can about it. Then I'll ask Jerry (or whoever brokers G4's (yeah, right)) ;)...to find me the perfect example.

I think it is worth the money (I have zero time), to have a Buyer's broker find a perfect example. I know Jerry could have found me one had I been willing to wait. Sigh...

Well, it's perfect now. Wanna buy it? I'll add up all the invoices and...(yeah, right)...I have about as much chance of getting my money out of my 310 as I do buying a G4...I guess I'll fly it about 1,000 hours to fly that money off...then sell it through a seller's broker ;)
 
I had seen my plane sitting on the ramp without an interior for a while, and never thought about it. The head mechanic at the FBO, (KPCM, Plant City, Fl) asked me one day if I knew anyond who was interested in getting into a 1/3 partnership with an A&P/IA and a CFII for $6,666 on a '71 Skyhawk. I think he knew I would say I was, and I did. Turns out he was a (secret) partner in the plane on the ramp along with the principal owner, a state patrol pilot who was based there in his state skyhawk. I jumped in, and we started refurbishing the interior panels . Around a month later, we flew it for the first time. Two months after that, they both wanted to sell it out. I talked it over with my wife and we came up with $13,333 more and were owners of a $20,000 plane. 8 years later it's been a good plane without too many problems. I always wait untill I have cash for any improvements so my flying won't impact the household finances. Hopefully I'll get a call this week that the annual is done. April 1st signoff. (Crosses fingers)

I drive old cars so I can fly an old airplane..........:D
 
I was a 50 hour student sitting in the FBO hangar flying as Crusty was closing the place up. They had an Archer for sale on a sign. I thought that tie downs and hangar space could not be had.

I joked, "If I bought that Archer would I get a tie down spot?"

He said, "You should be looking at that Cherokee 235." WHAT Cherokee 235?

I even liked the color (the original is in my Avatar) and the N-number.

I was a student with no intentions whatsoever of buying a plane. I thought about it. I talked about it with my CFIs and Crusty, who was brokering it. I thought about it.

The plane had been found and moved there for the previous owner, who was also a student, 5 years before. They had maintained it. They said it was in good shape. The logs were missing when he got it.

I eventually "wasted" some of my money I had in company stock. The plane is still worth the money. The stock isn't.

Flying a high performance when you haven't soloed yet is another story.

The logs showed up on my doorstep at Christmas of 2003.
 
Last edited:
Ken Ibold said:
Hmmm. Not sure I agree.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I won't debate it online. We were satisfied as was the friend who made the recommendation. That's the only information I have.
 
Found ours in Trade-a-plane. Ive been solicited about 6 times by folks sending our cards from the FAA data base looking for 182s in my year. May have a buyer though from that and one on the filed who really likes it if I have to sell it this spring due to pay cuts at work :(

Tim
 
The first one, I was the babe-in-the-woods; just wanted to learn/fly/and own. A fellow who had lost his medical had the same A&P babying his plane for 17 years. Pre-buy? I was told by several neutral parties, "If Cedric says it's good, rest assured it's good. Take his word for it, save yourself some pre-purchase money, and buy it. No regrets, except for the final time I landed and .............. whatever.

The second one was in a national listing. Wait a minute; there isn't a 2nd one, yet. It's been viewed and photo'd by a neutral party; I have FAA records from Day #1; a pre-buy inspection is nigh; and the ferry pilot is doing flight planning. Gee; I hope the pre-buy goes well. All-in-all, it's been another, "Pilots are the greatest people" experience, to date.
 
I found mine in TAP. I got very, very lucky. I bought an on-line subscription and as soon as the transaction cleared, used the search function, which allows very narrow searches. I searched for a straight-tail C182 (that's what I was looking for) near my home in a certain price range. I got one hit and it sounded pretty good. Called the guy, arranged to see it and took my mechanic along. Based on that look my mechanic said it was worth looking into further, so we did the pre-buy (I actually paid for the annual, since it was almost due and it was worth it to me to have that thorough a pre-buy inspection), and I bought it. Six weeks start to finish, and that was only because the owner was an airline pilot and couldn't get down to give me the test flight for a couple of weeks after I called.

He was great to work with. I wanted my mechanic to make the pre-buy inspection, and he was cool with that. He had to get himself home after the test flight, so we arranged to have him leave the keys in the airplane and my mechanic and I flew up in my mechanic's airplane and I flew 22D home. I think the owner was in Alaska or something. From that point on, through the pre-buy inspection and negotiations for the purchase, the airplane never left my possession, even though the sale wasn't final for another month.

Judy
 
I wasn't really looking for a plane. My plan was to pay off the house in 2 years. But I was looking at the AOPA classifieds just for fun. Looking at Warbirds, Twins, Homebuilts, Singles. Just scrolling through and then saw an ad for the Cherokee. I contacted the seller for pictures, liked what I saw, used the remainder of my frequent on NWA to head to Charlotte and got a prebuy inspection. Everything checked out at the prebuy, the logs and history were complete and meticulous. Put a deposit on it, and came home.

Then came the first annual...a disaster...
$574.00
:D
 
I found my partnership by placing ads up just about wherever I could. Aircraft-partnership.com, myplane.com, the terminal building. After about 3 months of no responses, I was emailed by my future partner. He basically didn't fly the plane enough to justify keeping it. Plus he was getting married and would have the instant family.

Now if I could just find someone with a super cub on floats out in CA to let me buy in. :)
 
The First plane was in the tie down spot and the owner was ready to sell. My current plane was one of those. "I looked and I looked and I looked" and finally the plane bought me. I have enjoyed it ever since. I saw the plane and it just fit. I spent 18 months looking and it was love at first sight a 1966 Beech Debonair. I could not believe but after 18 months of looking,"I was ready to buy" and as we know the rest is history.

John

N9429S
 
Last edited:
RobertGerace said:
I think it is worth the money (I have zero time), to have a Buyer's broker find a perfect example. I know Jerry could have found me one had I been willing to wait. Sigh...
Click to expand...

I used a broker to find my current plane and I think it was well worth the commission. He is very knowledgeable WRT Beechcraft and knows how to find well maintained aircraft at the right price. The fact that he was already a friend just made buying through him all the more comfortable for me. He also found a buyer for my previous airplane with little effort on my part.

My first two ventures into ownership were a share in a flying club that owned several airplanes, and a partnership in a biplane formed by a few members of that club and some of my soaring buddies. The biplane was located by another partner via trade a plane.

The next airplane was a Bonanza that I bought from the owner of the hangar that the biplane lived in. I had approached him about a partnership but he wasn't interested ("nobody flys my plane but me"). Then he decided to move up to a twin and he asked me if I was interested in buying and I did. I got lucky on that one, I didn't go with any kind of pre-buy inspection (out of ignorance), but the only disappointment was that the POS autopilot didn't work at all.
 
Oh, that's easy. I logged onto the AOPA chat room (about 5 years ago), met a nice guy, then moved in with him, and then POOF! What's mine is mine, and what's his is mine, and now I have two planes. hehehehe :p
 
Last edited:
My first plane was sitting on the ramp with a For Sale sign hung on the prop. My mechanic had just done a pre buy inspection, but the buyer couldn't come up with the money. He said it was fine, so I bought it. Put it on leaseback, upgraded it and paid it off in a few years. Ended up with a real nice 172. The local flight school kept approaching me to put it on leaseback with them and I kept refusing.

One day he called and told me there was a 182 RG that had just come on the market with a fresh engine and a Garmin 430 that could be mine for the right price. Oh, and he wanted to buy the 172. I told him to name a price, which was very good and after a little negotiating with the 182 owner we had a deal. The 182's hanger was right behind mine and I moved the 172 into a hanger two hangers from the 182.
 
A few days after I sold my first airplane I started to suffer aircraft withdrawal symptoms. So, I started doing an internet search because it was an easy place to get started. In other words I didn't have to go out and get an Aero Trader or similar publication. I found my Cardinal RG in short order and I feel very lucky to have found this airplane.

Jean
 
Diana said:
Hey Rich, go for it! What kind of airplane are you going to be shopping for?
Click to expand...

Thanks Diana, just egg me on! :rolleyes:

I've got a bead on a Commander 112 and I've known the guy who owns it for three years, so I know he's taken care of it. That's why I'm tempted instead of playing Trade-A-Plane roulette.

Rich

P.S. I think Dee wins the contest, but I enjoyed reading everyone's story!
 
Hoping to buy my first plane this week. I had been flying a 182 at my home airfield. Heard about it from my instructor - seemed reasonable since the owner just bought a new Cirrus, it was likely that he was anxious to sell. Flew it about twenty hours and then went for the pre-buy inspection. Things didn't go so well with the compressions low in 4/6 cylinders. Looked on ASO and found a nice plane in Georgia and will be having it inspected by my mechanic on Monday. If all goes well, it will be mine before the end of the week.
 
I needed a ship to fly glider cross countries in. Club ships arent available for that kind of flying period, and only 1 hour flights on the weekends. i was only going to be around weekends. Matt Michael had helped another club member buy and restore N373Y and knew the entire history of the glider. The price was right and i was making money at the time, so i bought it!
 
My A&P knew I was looking and he ended up with 172 that he put a new engine in and the guy couldn't pay the bill. He called me and I bought it for the repair bill plus annual.
 
I bought it off of E-bay. The plane was accurately represented and a good price. I have had it for 2 years with no complaints.
 
rpadula said:
Ah, the flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, and fanciful wishes of buying a plane are popping into my head. Must be allergy season!

For you owners:

How did you find your plane?

It seems any plane in a classified ad will come with known bugs (uncovered by a pre-buy?), unknown gremlins (what's been deferred that will break right after the check is cashed?) and a general feeling of "roll the dice."

On the other hand, I've heard mythical stories of the responsible guy at the local airport who takes good care of his plane and never even places an ad when it's time to sell because there's enough people "in the know" to scoop it up. Is this the better way to go?


-Rich
Click to expand...

Lets see, the Travel Air I bought out of an ad in TAP.

The Midget Mustang I got from a guy who had kind of abandoned it 2/3rds built when he started building another plane. I was storing an IO 360 & prop off an Arrow I had left from a salvage project in his hangar and I jokingly said in passing "Hey, you can hang this on the Mustang and I'll buy it from you when you're done." I had moved from the area and left the engine & prop there for safe keeping. 2 years later he calls me up, "Hey, you still want this Mustang, cause I hung the engine on it and I owe you some money if you don't." "How much?" "$10 grand too much?" "Nope, I'll be down in 2 weeks to pick it up, you want me to wire the money now?" I never had to see the plane to buy it from him. This is an old guy whose work makes a factory Cessna look third world. Everything perfect.

The Ag Cat I got as payment for working it on a 2 month job.
 
Rudy said:
I am anxious to fly there again and see if it is even all that narrow.
Click to expand...
Its going to be a long wait Rudy, they shut 2K2 down. No more Air Park South in Ozark. The City of Springfield bought it and wants to build a new GA airport there. But they don't have enough money to buy the additional land they need. They have somewhere around 30 Million to spend on the project, but the land next to the old airport they want to buy will cost them 45 Million.
 
Haven't yet, still kinda chicken to take the big plunge. I'll probably start looking serious after the 1st of the year. Just have to finish torturing myself over what kind of plane I really want. :(
 
Dean said:
Its going to be a long wait Rudy, they shut 2K2 down. No more Air Park South in Ozark. The City of Springfield bought it and wants to build a new GA airport there. But they don't have enough money to buy the additional land they need. They have somewhere around 30 Million to spend on the project, but the land next to the old airport they want to buy will cost them 45 Million.
Click to expand...
Ahh, thats too bad!

I will always remember that airport!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top