Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Buying a 150M

Well after much searching, I've found a really nice '76 150M that I'm due to take delivery of next week. Besides the obvious preflight items to check carefully, what are some of the particular items I should inspect? Any airframe peculiarities I should be aware of? AD list? Corrosion susceptible areas?

It's a solid plane with no damage history and 390 SMOH, and pleasant to look at, but I want to compile a checklist of specific trouble areas that I need to have checked prior to transferring the balance of the funds.

Thanks,
Rick

Have you had YOUR (not seller's) mechanic do a pre-buy inspection yet? A typical buyer usually is not knowlegeable and subjective enough to inspect a plane, especially when he's enamored with his potential purchase.

I'm having it done by a local FBO. I'm only 200 miles from the seller, so he's bringing the plane here for the inspection.

I read that your seller is bringing the 150 you are buying to your FBO for the pre-purchase inspection. I am glad. I looked at a 1977 150M this past Sunday at Milwaukee. My FBO is at a small airport only 30 miles away. Still, the two A&P's selling this 150 refused to bring the airplane over to my A&P for the pre-purchase inspection - even when I offered to pay for gas and oil, they still refused because "The pilot will have to sit for 8-10 hours without being compensated!" They wanted him to come to them, but I can only imagine what difficulties they would give my A&P. Needless to say, I walked away from this one. If you want the complete history, look at the posts under the subject (Turned down the 150M, seller got hostile". I think your seller is reasonable and fair to fly the airplane 200 hours to your FBO and I wish I could find such a seller. Good luck on this one, sounds like your on the way to a successful purchase.

Steve

I have a story that shows the importance of inspection autonomy on a pre-purchase or annual before buying. As most know, I now own a 177B Cardinal.

Another local guy just bought a 68 Cardinal off of ebay and received the airplane "fresh out of annual", with no pre-buy or prior inspection. Interestingly, he paid a premium for the 150 HP version of the plane, but it does have nice avionics and recent paint (however paint is suspect).

It was at my AP/IA's shop yesterday when I stopped in so I got to take a close look. First thing I noticed was the main gear nuts and cotter keys had not been removed for sometime, and the cotter keys had been re-used more than once and were severly rusted. A general look at inspection panels and such revealed that it was unlikely that the airplane had recently been inspected to a very high degree due to dirt and crud that showed they had not been removed.

My AP (after going through some issue with my bird) was now quite Cardinal literate. I said...looks like she has shed a nose gear like mine had. He said..."worse than that, while adjusting the rudder cables, I found a whole row of fresh rivets down the centerline that had not been bucked" Basically they had been inserted and apparently bucked only enough to swell them, but not fully bucked.

He also noted that there was no indication in the logs that the spar Carry-through had been inspected, which is where the downfall of my annual was...very serious, very expensive.

I fear that this guy is going to get hammered at his first annual...

For those thinking of being a trusting sort...don't.

The seller seems to have a very high degree of integrity. He even called me to say he had lost the little piece of plastic that goes over the nosegear pant. He didn't wanna spoil the deal based on any material misrepresentation. I almost laughed but told him I totally appreciated the honesty.

We could have done the pre-buy at my local FBO, but they dont have an avionics shop to check the transponder and encoder (which I want certified prior to purchase). So we're meeting at another airport 60 miles away to get both things done. We'll have plenty of time to scan the logs while the shop finishes their work.

Steve, you know the more you tell us about that airplane, the fishier the whole thing sounds. I'd like to see the results of a good thorough FAA ramp check of that airplane and its paperwork. I'm guessing the FAA's attention would be well deserved for a change.

It got a little fishier. The AOPA title search for this airplane came back. They found a break in the ownership in 1980. The title is not clear therfore and if I went for it, the sellers would have to clear this matter up (I can guess what they would say - "that is your problem, buy the plane as is or don't waste our time").

So, better to leave this alone, not dwell on it (as I am guilty of sometimes) and move on.

Sounds like a "junk title"! Salvage yards don't usually offer a bill of sale when you buy a fuselage, and even then it would be an "open" bill of sale, as they have no reason to register the aircraft, or even request one from whom they bought it. I'm not sure how two guys could rebuild a previously certificated aircraft, and be able to register it without a bill of sale! Would a receipt for the salvage price suffice? I'm not saying this bird was salvaged, but it sure looks like a possibility!

Carl

When I bought my plane several years back the A&P who owned it was very agreeable and flew it to the shop I asked him to. He was a CFI and even gave me dual in it during the test ride. He didn't get mad when I nitpicked it, and even flew it over on a day that was not so good for flying just so that it could get checked out.

As a seller he went way above and beyond what I expected, he even held the plane for me with no deposit either. I doubt you find many like that. Anyhow, after the prebuy we met and exchanged money and were off. I bought it during the Winter, that's a good time to buy because not many fly then and so a plane will set longer. During the good weather it's harder to buy one as cheap because everybody wants one.

So at least we have 2 people here who have had good luck and I hope you eventually do on that other 150, yet to read that thread to see how it turned out.