I?m actively looking to buy a C150. I couldn?t find much in the way of a checklist of things to look for when inspecting an aircraft. I strongly believe that a thorough mechanical inspection should be done by an AME with the instructions that this is a pre purchase inspection and that if no major snags are found it will proceed to a full annual.
However, this does not address the other inspection. The personal inspection that you will perform and the flight test before you take the aircraft to you AME. So I thought I would start a bit of a checklist and ask anyone else to add to it and comment on it.
First, this is a list meant to help you and save your money. Now I?m assuming that if your buying a C150 your flight time is limited, you may be new pilot, casual flier or perhaps a student yourself. Are you really going to be able to discern the subtle differences in flight characteristics between a normal C150 and one that has unbalanced flight controls?
It might sound counter intuitive but I would suggest to most that you hire a flight instructor to do this check out for you. The cost of a flight instructor?s time for a couple hours is nothing considering the amount of experience he or she will have with a Cessna 150. C150s are common trainers and finding a flight instructor with around 1000hrs on these planes isn?t a hard thing to accomplish. Further, I would suggest trying to find one that has bought an aircraft or two themselves, their purchase experience will assist you. If you find the right instructor you will get a lot of bang for your buck!
From a flight test perspective you should be looking to evaluate the following areas.
- Missing items:
o Wheel pants and assembly parts
*** Wheel pants can become unbalanced if they have been damaged and then repaired improperly. I had this problem with a Cherokee 140 where the front wheel pant caused a nasty vibration on the front nose wheel upon landing. Try as we might we couldn?t get the vibration to subside. Eventually we were forced to fly without the front one. If they aren?t installed ask that they be installed for your flight test.
*** Often wheel pants are removed for training purposes. Students tend to bang them up. If you purchase the aircraft without the pants installed be sure to get all the proper installation parts, bolts etc. You would be surprised at what some of those little parts can cost to replace.
Control locks, pito cover, Cowling plugs proper POH for the year make and model etc.
*** These items are cheap to replace but don?t dismiss their absence as minor. In fact their absence is a tell sign of how much pride a previous owner has put into their aircraft. If they were too cheap to replace a control lock or pito cover how cheap were they when it came to annual maintenance? Further, I can?t imagine a proud owner not wanting a POH for the exact year and model of their plane. Sure maybe one for a previous or newer model would do just fine but common we are talking about $10-15 bucks.
- Log books and applicable documentation
o Are they complete and for the full life of the aircraft?
*** If the aircraft doesn?t have Flight and Maintenance logs back to the very first flight you must assume at least one major bang up has occurred and possibly more.
No matter what the excuse for the missing logs there is nothing an owner can say that should convince you that the aircraft is 100% guaranteed to be accident and skeleton free. That said complete logs don?t make that guarantee either but at least you have more forensic evidence to piece together the true history of the aircraft.
o Are they detailed
? Flight crew clearly indicated
? Oil consumption documented
? Minor details of flights
? A reasonable number of snags listed for the amount of time on the airframe.
***Again this goes back to pride of owner ship. It may be legal to only write in your flight time and pilots licence but an owner who has taken the time to record oil consumption and flight details is saying a lot about how anal they are.
Also, a logbook showing a lot of flight time and not a single snag should be a red flag.
Personally I never saw the point in keeping snags and repairs out of a logbook. If I see snags and fixes then I know the aircraft is constantly being maintained. If I don?t see a single snag anywhere I know the aircraft is hiding something.
Anyone who has flown any amount of time knows that aircrafts are constantly in need of TLC, they are temperamental and prone to minor failures of instrumentation, avionics, hanger rash etc. The question is have these issues been identified and fixed promptly or was it ignored and possibly still affecting the aircraft.
o Was the aircraft primarily a trainer?
***You were a student pilot once. . . enough said?
o What was the history of the last 100-200hrs?
***If the aircraft has changed hands a couple of times there maybe a reason why owners are so eager to get rid of it shortly after purchasing it.
Also, if an aircraft was a trainer or flown regularly and then was suddenly parked this is a bit of a red flag as well. This maybe an indication that the owner discovered a problem that, with continued flight, could end up building into a costly repair. Thus, better to park the aircraft and sell it now while it?s still airworthy.
o How much has the aircraft flown in the last 4,8,12, months or past years?
***You want to see the aircraft flying. Grandpa?s old 150 that has been parked in the barn for the past 10 years has a good chance of being full of corrosion, seals dried out and rubber cracked.
o Anything else that comes to your mind?
- Pre flight inspection.
o A thorough walk around
? I don?t think that I need to go into detail here, you know what to look for. Keep in mind unlike your normal walk around you are not just looking to see whether the aircraft is airworthy for todays flight. You are also looking to see if it will continue to be airworthy well after you have bought it.
o An evaluation of the interior.
? Note cracked and missing plastic panel parts
? Seats, carpet, ceiling fabric: Are they faded, worn, torn, mildew?
? Any missing instruments, navigation aids or covered up instrument holes.
? Anything else that comes to your mind
o Exterior and Paint
? Peeling, lifting, bubbling, cracking or signs of excessive body filler.
? Loose nuts, screws, rivets etc.
? Hail damage or hanger rash.
*** Keep in mind that just because and aircraft has been signed of airworthy doesn?t mean you can over look dents in the airframe, leading edge and control surfaces. The aircraft may fly and be safe but to achieve book performance those blemishes may need to be properly repaired.
- Run up and in flight inspection.
o Cold start
? Let her sit over night before starting her up.
***Starting an aircraft / automobile an hour or so before a buyer shows up is an old salesman?s trick. You want to know how this engine will start when it?s cold so insist that the owner not start the engine before you arrive. If they have, turn around and come back another day. Also go in the early morning before the sun has had a chance to beat down on the engine cowl and warm it up.
o Run her through the paces, take as much time as you need to get used to the feel of the aircraft. I would recommend doing all the manoeuvres you did for your flight test.
o Is she tracking straight
o Are the controls tight and balanced
o Is she climbing, stalling and banking normally.
o Are the avionics working?
? Radios receiving and broadcasting ?clearly:?
? Does the intercom work from both pilot and passenger outlets?
? Navigation aids: Not only do they turn on but do they track accurately.
? Is the mode C broadcasting an accurate altitude call ATC and ask them what your altitude is reading.
o Any noticeable vibrations on take off, in air or landing?
o With ?all? electrical on does the generator keep up?
o Any thing else that comes to mind?
When you land go over your list of squawks. Personally if you can?t find any you probably weren?t looking hard enough.
Be calm in discussing these with the owner, if the owner replies that they are minor fixes and cheap to repair then ask him why he hasn?t fixed them himself and at the very least insist that the cost of their repair comes out of the final purchase price (get it in writting).
Things to avoid paying for.
A dash full of old and useless avionics. Let?s face it, this day in age the average VFR pilot?s main navigational aid is his GPS. I don?t know a single pilot who?s first purchase after his plane (or even before) isn?t going to be a GPS. Therefore, VORs, ADFs LORANS etc in my opinion don?t count for much these days unless of course your express interest is in getting your instrument rating and or doing instrument training with the plane.
Further: In my personal opinion I would rather buy an aircraft with a timed out engine. If the aircraft is priced accordingly then I can get the engine rebuilt properly, break it in properly and treat it with maximum TLC in order to better achieve the manufactures recommended TBO.
Buying a half-time engine does not mean the engine has 900hrs of flight time left in it. I looked at one C150 with a half time engine. The seller reckoned that it made the engine alone worth $9-$10 thousand. He mentioned that the last compression test was good with the lowest score being 68. However, when I had a look at the logs I noted that the five compressions tests over the last 250 hrs showed that cylinder falling from 77 to 68 that?s 9 points in 250hrs. If the trend continues that engine will need a top overhaul in less than 250hrs.
>So that?s the start of my flight test inspection list. It needs work and obviously I am missing stuff. Lets add to this list and once we get enough input maybe we can write it all up in once coherent article and get the club to post it somewhere.
Again, in my opinion, it would be a good investment to get a respected flight instructor with a whack of experience flying and buying c150s to do you pre purchase test flight. And again this should never ever replace a thorough mechanical inspection from an AME.
