Well, Mr Black flew the plane down for me to look over. It took him 2 hours to get here! How many owners selling a plane would do that! Yes, a great excuse to fly, but I was still surprised he would do that for me. He seemed like a nice fellow.
Anyway, I reviewed the log books and " as far as I can tell " everything seems in order. The plane was used for the first 5-6 years of its life as a Highway Patrol aircraft and the logs show most of the airframes hours occurred at this time.
The engine logs show normal maintenance without any red flags. The original engine was replaced with the current engine at around 2200 hours. The current engine has around 1100 hours on it and the numbers seem to add up. Total Airframe time is 3300 hours.
The logs showed the plane was " pickled " for about 12 years. I understand " pickled " to mean properly stored. If I'm wrong here please let me know. At that time the wings were removed and the engine prepped for storage.
The plane's last annual was December 06 and the only bit of concern would be the engines compression numbers. In 05 the numbers were 77,72,72,68 were as in 06, the numbers dropped to 68,68,68,62. I'm thinking the plane hasn't been flow and the rings are doing funny stuff.
I asked Mr Black about corrosion and he opened up some of the wing's access panels. Everything looked okay with just a light dusting of white in a few areas. From what I've read on this forum, its normal.
Engine was a little dirty(no pictures). He said he's replace a mag and change the oil every 20 hours since becoming the owner. I believe he's owned the plane for about 5 years. He told me but I forgot what he said.
Everything works on the panel except for a second altimeter with a " built in encoder ". I'm saying this wrong, but the encoder isn't talking to the altimeter anymore and the just replaced the unit with a different standalone encoder.
No current static port check or encoder check.
----------------------------------
My thoughts.
I think the plane has been mechanically maintained, however I think avionics are missing TLC. It doesn't seem that the avionics have been inspected and/or fixed. I got the impression that he didn't think it was worth spending the money, because it wasn't life threatening and he had backup avionics that were working.
With Mr Blacks hours (4000 in type) and his field landing (it was beautiful) I decided to take a ride. The plane showed no signs of wheel shimmy. He ran the engines up to 1700 and did a mag check, we spun 360 and took off. NICE flying day. The flight and landing were uneventful and all the avionics seemed to be working.
I didn't crap (cramp) in the plane this time. Hahaha
---------------------------------------------
I've included some pictures I took today. Maybe someone will see something from these pictures I've overlooked.
I'm not in a hurry here. I'm sure I'll see many planes at Clinton, some even being for sale.
This plane seems nice, but without a A&P inspection, I can't tell. It's in the running and I felt comfortable with it both on the ground and in flight. I've ordered the FAA CD on this plane, but it hasn't arrived yet.
Oh and I fill Mr Black's tanks up with AVgas. It was the least I could do.
Front View [
circuitworx.com]
Wing View [
circuitworx.com]
Right Front View [
circuitworx.com]
Left Tail View [
circuitworx.com]
Right Tail View [
circuitworx.com]
Nose Gear [
circuitworx.com]
Nose Gear 2 [
circuitworx.com]
Landing Gear Left View [
circuitworx.com]
Landing Gear Right View [
circuitworx.com]
Panel [
circuitworx.com]
