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Greg, welcome to the Club! Ask LOTS of questions before buying a plane. You are already way ahead of the curve by joining first. And, the making decision to buy a few hours into your training is a good one.

Here's the condensed version of my advice for the first time buyer;

Do: Have a mechanic who has never seen the plane before perform a pre-purchase inspection. It is probably better if he doesn't know the mechanic who has been maintaining it. It would be a huge bonus would be if you could have a current 150/152 owner there to share their experience.

Do: Have the oil pressure quantified (with a calibrated gauge) with the engine at operating temperature. You would think that they do this at the annual, but they don't.

Do: Check the seat pan for cracks. It is a newer service bulletin that may become an AD. It is not cheap to replace.

Do: Take the day off and watch or participate in the inspection if you can. It is VERY educational. If a deal breaker is found with the first plane, you'll be much better prepared to continue looking at planes.

Do Not: Be lured in by a nice paint job and/or interior. Paint jobs are very expensive, so if appearance is important that's fine. But remember that you still need a good inspection.

Do Not: Save a few bucks by buying a plane that needs radios and other misc items without actually finding out how much the cost will be. Upgrades can be very expensive.

Remember: Owners and their mechanics tend to see their planes through rose-colored glasses. While they may not intentionally deceive you, it takes an uninterested party to get an accurate picture. Complete airframe logs and engine logs that go back at least as far as the last overhaul are very important. The value of the plane is MUCH lower if logs are missing.

And lastly a lesson I recently learned that applies to O-200s. If it has the STC'd oil filter adapter, the mechanic will be cutting open the filter to look for debris. Make sure the oil screen is checked too. Typically they are removed when the adapter is installed, but not always. It only takes a few minutes.

That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure others will chime in with more.

Good luck! Happy flying!

Greg,

Advice you have received so far is good. There are also a number of club members (myself included) who have planes for sale. You still need to go through ALL of the steps, but it is nice to deal with friendly folk.

If you are willing to consider a 1966 (annual completed this week!) let me know.

Kenn Ortmann
N7848F, KDAW, Rochester, NH

Welcome, Greg. Glad to have you as a member. I'm going to step in and state that it would be highly unlikely to find a C-150 for $15,000 that would not kill your budget in the next several years with needed work.

Remember, the price for planes is set by people who have owned one or more planes before, and their experience tells them that a $15,000 C-150 will need many thousands spent to bring it up to what you can buy for $20m to $22m. Otherwise, the seller would be asking $20m to $22m which is what a good C-150 should go for.

I would strongly suggest waiting until the Fall when you have more financial capacity, and more experience in several aircraft to see if a C-150 would be your choice. We love them for our missions, but it just might not be the bird for you.

As others have suggested, do have an experienced member of the Club help you look at any plane you are getting serious about, and have at least a pre-buy inspection (I actually recommend an Annual inspection. Those have written standards. A pre-buy doesn't, and can be anything the A&P decides it to be. I know of a plane that received a pre-buy from a shop that then grounded the plane two weeks after the purchase during an Annual).

Don't rush into buying. Enjoy paying for rental rates knowing that whatever breaks is on someone else's dime. Planes aren't going up in price (in fact they are going down). Relax and enjoy getting your license and experience. This Fall will come soon enough.

Take care. Mike.

Kenn
Please PM me the info on your plane. A friend of mine is thinking about a 150 I will foward the info to her
John KLWM

yes yes all good to know info hey greg word to the wies 6 months is ok nothing really wrong just up date the annual but if its been a few years or more stay a way im not jokeing big money pit mostly on overhauling the carb my dads 68 150 h sat for 9 years and before you think to go and start it you have to go throght the hole fuel sys get all the water out in my dads we sumed 7 gal of water and mostly just cleaning up all the corrosion or what we call frosting look at my fist post i have pics of it the guys and gals can tell you and more the likely the brakes will need to be replaced as well and the tires to but we live in houston and we have that gulf air not good for long sitting planes but up ther around you you could come out better i dont know

but welcome greg ask away and there is no such thing as a dumm question

hey guys, thanks for all the info. I'll just keep training, dreaming, and saving for now. I really appreciate all the help, this club is awesome, I'm glad I found it.

Greg

Greg

Welcome aboard!

This forum is a fountain of knowledge. (Some of us wish it was a fountain of youth, or hair, but I digress) You can learn a lot here - especially about ownership.

I had a 1966 150F and now own a Cherokee - they still let me in the door here. ;-)

Seriously - get a pilot/friend to accompany you on anything you actually go look at, NEVER fall in love with an airplane, and GET A PRE BUY inspection!! Be sure the pre buy is from an A&P that has not seen that airplane before so they have no bias.

Cheaper to do it right in the first place, as all of us can tell you.

Again -- welcome to the forum and the club!

Good advice so far...I'd only add picking up Owning, Buying or Flying the Cessna 150/152, By Mike Arman (available at the club store)

Oh ya...one more thing...get a '59 to '63 because they're better looking.

Hey guys, I ordered the book last week and got it this monday, and read it allready lots of great info, but now I'm trying to find the book "She Who Dares Succeeds" sounds like a good read, spent about 3hrs last nite serching but no luck yet, anybody else found the book?

Greg

There wouldn't be anybody out there looking for a harley, maybe trade towards plane I'm pretty open to any model '66 or newer, looking for one that's good machanically but p@I dosn't I can fly a few years then redo it, hopeing that would keep the price down alittle closer to bike's value. I have it up for sale now but till it go's I'm stuck and here in MN not to many people looking for summer toys.


Greg