Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Airplanes Only New Member - Need advice on 150 Purchase

Although I'm not in as serious shape as Mark, I had a bit of 'experience' when I bought my 150M last June. When I bought her, she was about 1630 or so SMOH. She had a pesky after-fire that disappeared after the annual that the seller had done with sale, but resurfaced about 6-8 flight hours later. New mag kit (mags, harnesses, plugs) took care of it, to the tune of $3,300 that I wasn't planning to spend three months after purchase, but to me it was worth it. If you want the full details (along with other things that happened/were discovered by my A&P), check out my thread in the Projects/Restorations area.

If you're serious about the local plane, or any of the ones you find, at the minimum make sure you do a title search, and if you zero in on one, make sure you absolutely, positively get a pre-buy inspection done by a good, reputable A&P. The one that did the annual with sale on mine signed off on a few things that were 'questionable,' but this being my first plane, I let the seller convince me that since it was getting an annual before the sale, a pre-buy wasn't really necessary (he saw me coming a mile away - wish I'd found this group before and done exactly what you've done here). One other thing I wish I'd done is waited until I had a reserve of about $5,000 to cover any squawks that might be found after purchase.

Best wishes in your search for a bird. Be patient, don't rush, and shop around as much as possible.