Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes New guy has questions

There comes a time to fish or cut bait.

The price is agreeable; with continued hard looking you might find one that is perhaps 18.5K, but that could be three months or six months away -- or never.

Sounds like the result of a "five foot landing". If an inspection shows all the rivets and bolts tight in the gearbox and the brackets not warped, I'd say "good to go".

Priced fairly from your description. I wouldn't expect the old history to have much affect on it at that price, but you can always make a lower offer and then offer more if he balks at it. Have the pre-buy done without mentioning the creases to the third party mechanic. If he identifies them as a potential problem without prompting, then you know. If the mechanic doesn't mention it first, then point it out to him and ask for an opinion. If it's that hard to see, or he sees it and ignores it, then I'm sure it's not an issue.

Thanks again (and again) guys,

I just spoke with the seller, as well as the mechanic that is doing the annual. The seller is a straight up guy (as previously mentioned) and has cordially invited me to not only test fly the airplane, but even take it away (for up to 5 days if needed) and have my mechanic look at it. Apparently he feels comfortable with me, as well.
The sellers' mechanic feels the 'crease' has been there a long time and doesn't think it's a concern at all. So, I am going to drive to the airport tomorrow, meet with the mechanic, inspect it carefully, pull the seats and the inspection covers and look inside with a scanning electron microscope (!) and make a decision. If I decide the fuselage crease is acceptable, then I will go the next step and arrange a pre-buy inspection.

Thanks to all that have given input. It has really helped.

Charlie Rowlett

If you need floor carpet for your plane, get a set from TN Wings [tnwings.com] . Great quality stuff at a good price. The owner (Shelby Isham) is a club member, A&P, CFI, and does fabulous work.

Hey Charlie,

what airport is this airplane at?

and can you go over and shoot a couple of pictures?

Hi,

The airplane is at Chino, CA. I have plans to go there friday, meet with the mechanic who did the recent annual (and the one a year ago) and look it over, discuss the 'crease' and go from there.
BTW I ordered the FAA CD on this aircraft last friday and received it today. Pretty quick service I'd say.
When the damage was repaired in 1977, the fuselage skins were replaced and I wonder if the creases didn't happen during that extensive repair. I'll know more tomorrow and will report back with a more exact description and location.
Meanwhile I'll check out TN wings and price a floor carpet. (Thanks Hung).

Charlie Rowlett

Hi Guys,

I'm baaaaack...

Funny thing about the human brain. The 'crease' looked substantially differnt than I recalled. And it was only on one side. And I'm OK with it! It looks to me like something banged into the right side (above and FORWARD) of the gearleg) and it was pushed out from the inside.
Anyhoo, I spent five hours poring over the logbooks and inspecting everything with a fine tooth comb. You know how used machinery often looks alot worse the second time you evaluate it? Well, this was the opposite. I kept finding new parts and recent overahauls on lots of things. For example, they took the entire cowl off for me and I discovered the firewall was painted at the same time the aircraft was painted, and it looked nearly new (shiny white). The logs say 'aircraft disassembled and painted" in 1997. Motor mount was nice shiny black, also. New alternator, brand new spark plugs, new vacuum pump and a recently serviced strut and steering linkage too. Mags have just over 200 hrs until their next 500 hr inspection.
That B&C starter really spins that engine - I like that. Also, inside there are 4 point harnesses (STC's). Sooooo........

I'M GOING FOR IT!

When's that next Cessna 150 fly in........................?

You guys are great!

Charlie Rowlett

PS I have pics, but havent taken the time to figure out how to post them.

Charlie,

Here's how to attach photos or files:

"1. When posting, look below the text entry window, and you'll see an area called "Post Options". Click the "File Manager" link, this will open up an additional small file manager window.

2. The File manager window has four parts: a text entry field and three buttons. Unless you know the specific directory address of the file you want to attach, you won't make a direct entry in the text field, the faster way is to simply click the "Browse" button, and then navigate to the file on your hard drive you want to attach. Once you have selected the file, it will appear in the text entry field, but it is not yet ready for upload! You have to click the "Add file" button. Note something really cool about this, you can attach multiple files to a single post by repeating the steps above. This is great for attaching multiple pictures
to a single post topic.

3. Once you are done attaching files (one or more) then click the "Done Adding files" button. This will close the file manager window, and you'll note that in the Post Options area it shows how many files you have attached.

4. Post as normal. Your attachments will show up as links in the post. "

Some people have problems attaching the photos even though they said they followed the instructions exactly. If you still have problems, check and see if your photos are too big.

I will try to post some pics of N60855 per Hung's directions:

The first pic is of the 'wrinkled' spot, what i was calling a crease. Here we go....