Thoughts about buying my first plane

birdus

birdus

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Jay Williams
Hi, all.

I'm very seriously considering buying this plane. I want a Luscombe. This one looks good and has everything I want in a Luscombe (other than 50 more horsepower and 50 pounds lighter). The price seems fair to me after looking at a lot of advertised Luscombes over the months.


My only concern is this:

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...ing-wrong-with-this-artificial-horizon.121283

I have some cash. Mainly now just waiting on approval of a personal loan to make up the difference. Thoughts?
 
I wouldn't worry about it. You're going to have to spend money on any plane you buy. You can bring it up to the owner in the pre-buy inspection if you're that concerned.

Otherwise, buy it and post pics :).
 
Any plane you buy you’ll have to put some money into something.
 
Expect to spend ~10% of the purchase price on repairs and deferred MX, etc.
 
I'm in the early stages of contemplating my first airplane and I've come terms with spending at least five grand on any misc MX, repairs or just plain making it mine.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Expect to spend ~10% of the purchase price on repairs and deferred MX, etc.
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Depending upon your purchase price, that 10% recommendation could easily be increased to 50%. I didn't watch the video, so I don't know anything about the plane in question. When you posted that you were waiting on a personal loan to "make up the difference," it set off some warning bells. If you're taking out the loan because you'd rather not use money that's currently invested, that's one thing. If you NEED the loan and you won't have a very healthy amount of disposable income available, then no, I would not by this plane.... or any other.
 
Just knock the price to OH the AI off the price, get a good prebuy, it should be the most in-depth inspection you ever put the plane through, but first fly it and compare against book numbers, feel if she flys true, do slow flight and a stall, this helps show rigging issues.

Get the FAA CD on its history, also run it by N number and serial number through google and the NTSB, match all the work found or damage with the logs and take special care to look at those areas during the prebuy.

Unless the plane was advertised as not airworthy or having XYZ issue, anything found on the prebuy is fixed by the buyer or gets the price knocked down, or you walk away.

This spending 10-50% of the planes price after buying is crazy unless you knowingly are buying a project.

And what the others said, careful paying interest on toys.
 
If the AI is the only thing wrong, decide who's paying for it ($1000±) and go for it. If you can't scrape up an extra $1000, then you shouldn't be buying a plane.
 
The engine on any plane can go bad any year you fly or don't fly it. Assume it'll go bad 5 weeks after purchase. Have enough money in the bank to fix or otherwise don't buy.
 
wheaties said:
The engine on any plane can go bad any year you fly or don't fly it. Assume it'll go bad 5 weeks after purchase. Have enough money in the bank to fix or otherwise don't buy.
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That's a LOT of wheaties to have stashed in the bank as dead money. ;)

I'm on my sixth owned airplane in just about 25 years. The ONLY thing I have ever had to do on any of the engines is replace one cylinder with a rebuilt unit after an exhaust valve failed. Anything can happen at any time, but assuming a "bad" engine always means a complete overhaul is a bit overkill.
 
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FormerHangie said:
Why does a Luscombe need an artificial horizon?
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Might be nice if flying at night and you lose reference to lights on the ground. And, of course, no one intends to fly into IMC, but it might be nice in that instance. Also, might help me negotiate the price down a hair.
 
Replacing a bad AI is among the cheapest repairs you will ever make on an airplane. An overhaul or exchange unit is not going to be that expensive. If the aircraft is well taken care of, has a mid time engine, and has no deal-breaker findings on the pre-buy that will cause you to go broke, then buy it and fly it. Do (typically) expect to incur extra expenses the first 2-3 years as you deal with deferred maintenance of the seller to bring the plane up to your standards. Sellers often sell because they can't keep up with the expenses of ownership.
 
chemgeek said:
Replacing a bad AI is among the cheapest repairs you will ever make on an airplane. An overhaul or exchange unit is not going to be that expensive. If the aircraft is well taken care of, has a mid time engine, and has no deal-breaker findings on the pre-buy that will cause you to go broke, then buy it and fly it. Do (typically) expect to incur extra expenses the first 2-3 years as you deal with deferred maintenance of the seller to bring the plane up to your standards. Sellers often sell because they can't keep up with the expenses of ownership.
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Would you not ask for any off the sale price due to the AI? The engine is at about 450 hours and was rebuilt (C-85 to O-200 conversion) by Don's Dream Machines in 2013. The owner is selling because he got a job outside the country. He put ADS-B in/out and a new transponder in it several months ago. He wouldn't have done that he said if he knew he'd be moving.
 
birdus said:
Would you not ask for any off the sale price due to the AI? The engine is at about 450 hours and was rebuilt (C-85 to O-200 conversion) by Don's Dream Machines in 2013. The owner is selling because he got a job outside the country. He put ADS-B in/out and a new transponder in it several months ago. He wouldn't have done that he said if he knew he'd be moving.
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None of that matters, his job, etc, unless where he works changes the gross or cruise speed somehow.

Did he advertise or declare in the advert that it had no, or a bad AI?

Unless it’s priced below market I’d knock him down or ask him to fix it as a stipulation to the sale.

Also I hope you got the FAA CD, checked it for mx stuff as well as registration issues, and read though all of this and drafted an agreement

https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/aircraf...ircraft/forms-for-buying-and-selling-aircraft
 
James331 said:
None of that matters, his job, etc, unless where he works changes the gross or cruise speed somehow.

Did he advertise or declare in the advert that it had no, or a bad AI?

Unless it’s priced below market I’d knock him down or ask him to fix it as a stipulation to the sale.

Also I hope you got the FAA CD, checked it for mx stuff as well as registration issues, and read though all of this and drafted an agreement

https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/aircraf...ircraft/forms-for-buying-and-selling-aircraft
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No. He didn't say the AI was bad. I'll try to get the price down a bit.

Is this what you mean by FAA CD? I'll order it.

http://aircraft.faa.gov/e.gov/ND/

Also, I'll go through that AOPA stuff. Thanks much for the info and guidance.
 
birdus said:
No. He didn't say the AI was bad. I'll try to get the price down a bit.

Is this what you mean by FAA CD? I'll order it.

http://aircraft.faa.gov/e.gov/ND/

Also, I'll go through that AOPA stuff. Thanks much for the info and guidance.
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Yup, that’s it.

Also make sure the guy you’re having do your prebuy is TRUSTED and has ZERO vested interest in the sale of the plane, ideally he will also be able to go through all the above and the logs for a good audit, again this is THE MOST important inspection you’ll likely ever put this plane through, this should be a annual on steroids
 
James331 said:
Also make sure the guy you’re having do your prebuy is TRUSTED and has ZERO vested interest in the sale of the plane, ideally he will also be able to go through all the above and the logs for a good audit, again this is THE MOST important inspection you’ll likely ever put this plane through, this should be a annual on steroids
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The A&P was recommended to me on the Facebook Luscombe forum by another guy who said he's had that A&P do his annual (on his Luscombe) the last 7 years, so I don't see how I could do any better. Thanks again for the advice.
 
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