Need pre-buy inspection of a straight tail 172, KSEE, San Diego Area

German guy

German guy

Cleared for Takeoff
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
1,219
Location
Novi, MI
Display Name
Display name:
Oliver
Hello,

My wife and I are seriously interested in a straight tail 172, which lives on the Gillespie Field Airport KSEE, close to San Diego. The plane is VFR equipped, appears to be in a very good condition and has a low time engine.

The owner agreed to a pre-buy inspection by a mechanic, sent by me. Alternatively, he would be willing to fly it to a maintenance shop from which he rented in the past, which however never worked on his aircraft. Even though this would generally be fine with us, I would prefer to work with an independent mechanic, who had no prior contact with him.

Any recommendations for a good mechanic? What price would be reasonable for such an inspection and how long would it approximately take? The mechanic should also thoroughly inspect the paperwork.

Regards,

Oliver
 
Prebuys (from the one I've done) take 6-10 hours, depending on the plane. Multiply that by the mechanic's hourly rate. Mine was $70/hr.
 
Henry Sickels at Gibbs MYF. I have worked with Henry for years and trust him. Only thing I would mention is that Henry prefers to do an annual inspection vice an abbreviated 'pre-buy', but then, so do I.
 
There is a do it yourself maintenance hangar available at Gillespie if you need it.
I wish I didn't have another job waiting after my Meridian pre-buy at Gillespie on April 3 at High Performance. It would fun to look through an older 172 again.
 
Last edited:
Bob Kreutzer taught me my A&P/IA when I was in kneepants working for the airlines. Pickiest SOB I've ever known in my life and one hell of a mechanic. Won't let you slide on a single thing. Email me, jim at rstengineering period com and I'll give you his home phone number.

He is also quite reasonable for cost. Tell him I sent you and you are good to go.

Jim
 
UngaWunga said:
Prebuys (from the one I've done) take 6-10 hours, depending on the plane. Multiply that by the mechanic's hourly rate. Mine was $70/hr.
Click to expand...



6-10 hours should get you an annual on a 172.
 
Thank you very much again for your helpful replies.

I appears though, as whether we will not be able to reach an agreement regarding the terms of the deal with the seller. Unless he changes his mind, I won't need a pre-buy anymore... :no:
 
German guy said:
Thank you very much again for your helpful replies.

I appears though, as whether we will not be able to reach an agreement regarding the terms of the deal with the seller. Unless he changes his mind, I won't need a pre-buy anymore... :no:
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that. Hopefully something will work out for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top