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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.

I have been on both sides of this issue; both buying and selling airplanes. When you buy a plane you are setting yourself up to someday be a seller. Remember the golden rule.

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>When you land go over your list of squawks. Personally if you can?t find any you probably weren?t looking hard enough.<
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You are exactly right. You are going to be looking at a twenty to forty year old airplane and it will not be NEW.

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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).
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The plane should be priced to reflect it?s general condition. If it isn?t you most likely shouldn?t even be considering it. Remember that an ?average? airplane is just that AVERAGE. It is not perfect any you shouldn?t expect it to be.

All AIRWORTHINESS issues should be resolved before the sale but all other items are what they are. Consider them in your offer and don?t nit pick individual items. In selling an airplane some time back one of the prospective buyers started this nit picking routine with me. After going over a number of small items I politely and gently told him that ?I just don?t feel that this is the airplane for you? and terminated the transaction. After the third telephone call from him I had to just flat out tell him that I have no interest in dealing with him because of his nit picking and pleas don?t call back. The airplane sold a couple of days later, at my price because I had a fair price on what I was selling.
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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.

Were I selling the plane and you made that assertion to me I would simply say that I agree and offer to pull all of the avionics out and sell it to that way, for the same price since the avionics ?don?t count for much?. The old knife cuts both ways you know. Actually I would thank you very much for your interest and just walk away.

I may have come off sounding like a nit pick but I am trying to counter the all more prevalent and nieve attitude of first time buyers that if an airplane is signed off as Airworthy there is nothing wrong with it. As we all know that is definitely not the case.
First time buyers need to understand that little items do add up. By ignoring, or failing to recognize all the squawks how do you know if the plane is ?fairly priced or worth the asking price??

I agree don?t sit there and nit pick but also don?t take a plane that is professed as A1 condition and pay an A1 price only to find out there are a lot of minor repairs that will add up on your next annual.

Avionics, I?m not saying that you should demand a rebate on plane that has avionics in it. I?m saying if two identical c150s are sitting side by side and one is $5000.00 more simply because it has a VOR, ADF and Loran then take the cheaper plane without the avionics (all else being equal.)

And finally as a buyer if a seller weren?t the least concerned about the small easy to fix issues then it speaks volumes about the pride the seller has in his aircraft. I can?t stress that enough.

I agree with you as do onto others. As an owner I?m meticulous with my aircraft, my logs and everything else related to the plane. If I should ever sell I would welcome a close and demanding inspection. I would do my best to resolve all issues, minor or large and yes of course I would expect premium dollar for my well maintained aircraft.

I am a strong believer in you should get what you pay for and pay for what you get. I have no qualms about paying more for a well maintained aircraft. This article wasn't meant as "How to guide" to chisle down a seller. It is meant to previde guidence on what to look for and how to look for it so that a buyer can make an informed decision.

Like Wayne, I've been on the buying and selling side as well.

When selling, my goal was to be totally upfront with where the plane was at. I set the price accordingly. It sold in 4 days.

I still have the website that I put together.
Take a look: N714JN [home.comcast.net]

Buying (especially the first time) is hard-- no matter how much you think you know.

Remember the movie "Toy Story"? Every toy needed a "moving buddy" so they wouldn't get lost when Andy moved.

I highly recommend that you find a "buying buddy" when you decide to buy your first airplane.

Ideally, the buddy should be a past or present 150/152 owner with at least 1 year of owning time.

That person will have a different viewpoint on whatever airplane you think you want to buy. I can guarantee it.

I really like the idea of the "Buying Buddy" as well. Someone with a clear mind who isn't emotionally involved in the sale is a good thing. The extra set of eye, ears and sometimes six sense can't hurt either.

A good friend just sold his Comanche. He's now looking for a 150/152/172 for family training purposes. I am his "Buying Buddy", and he has bounced a lot of "deals" off me. It's mind boggling how much more objective you can be on the outside looking in. I have to keep reminding him of what he's looking for, as he gets too caught up in all the "toys" some planes have. One deal he looked at (a fixer upper) was very attractive, until I talked him into shopping for all the replacement parts he would need. He soon discovered how truly expensive this cheap alternative would have been, even with him having his A&P, and doing all the work himself!

Friends don't let friends buy airplanes alone!

Carl

I realized I missed a big set of items that can be looked at and checked during the flight test.

Gauges:
Note: Readings Oil pressures, tempertures, Fuel flows, generator outputs, etc.
1) Are they working
2) Are they reading accurately
3) Are they indicating normal values for your flight configuration.

C150s seem to be notorious for disfunctional gas gauges.

Yeah, but do you know anyone who really trusts those things??
Ed

Fuel gauges? I thought they were leak indicators! I make sure the (standard) tanks are full every preflight, and never fly over 3 hours. The only thing I trust the gauges to tell me is whether or not I might have a massive leak!

Carl

The only time the fuel gauge has to be acurate is when the tanks are empty.