Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Airplanes Only How to arrange a pre-buy inspection for an out-of-state aircraft?

Greetings all!

I live in NE Oregon, have been a member for a while (lurking in the forums occasionally), and would like to find a 150 to buy, preferably model H-K. It took about 7 months to get my 3rd class medical reinstated (30 years away from aviation) and am taking flight training in the local flying club's C172 (I'm really rusty!) to complete a flight review and get signed off to fly. I've looked regularly in Trade-a-Plane, so have some idea of what the national market for 150s is like (although an aviator friend advised that the best deals aren't advertised). I miss some of the resources that used to be available in the Hangar section of the club's site, mainly the database of accidents, incidents, and damage history by N number that provided at least a rough idea of a particular airplane's condition.

But, since I've never purchased an airplane before, my main question for this post is: how does one go about arranging a pre-buy inspection for an airplane in another state? Would other members be able to recommend an A&P in a particular location? How would I find out whether or not a particular A&P is employed by the current owner of an airplane (or maybe the owner's in-law) and thus not a completely disinterested party? I suppose I could also ask whether other members are familiar with a particular airplane and be willing to provide a general assessment of its condition. (The airplane that currently has my eye is a 150K, N5985G, based in Watsonville, CA.)

In short, any advice any of you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!

Hi Terry. Welcome to the Club!

I am in Arkansas so can't offer much help.

Basically, use fellow club members as your resource. Most likely, there will be some members located close enough to where the plane is, and are willing to go take a look, take some pictures for you. If they happen to be very close, they might even know the shop or the mechanic that maintains the plane. Some even volunteer to ferry the plane home for you if you don't have the time or ability to do it yourself.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N5985G

Says its a 172

Flightaware must be mistaken. I use AviationDB.com [aviationdb.com] to search on aircraft. It pulls from various FAA databases and puts it all together in one neat page.

Anyway, N5985G shows up as a 1969 150K. No accidents/incidents listed (at least, as far as the FAA knows).

I’ve only purchased two aircraft, and the first was from the flight school where I learned so it doesn’t really count.

For the second plane, I did a lot of searching on the usual places - Barnstormers, Trade-A-Plane, etc.

When I found something worth a second look, I asked if there were any Club members close by. In one case, the plane I was interested in was only two tie-downs over from a Club member. He took a bunch of pictures for me, even video of the engine running. In several other cases, the plane was close enough that I drove a couple of hours to look in person.

At the time planes were selling slowly, so I had time to get the FAA CD on some planes. Pouring through the records was enlightening. I rejected one plane because it had been underwater. Another was missing vital STC paperwork for an engine upgrade.

The plane I ended up buying was about 1,000 miles away. But even there a local Club member (Jim Curns) gave me a place to stay and acted as my “buying buddy”. He accompanied me on the inspection and acted as a second pair of eyes as well as a dispassionate observer and ‘voice of reason’ to help keep my emotions in check.

In general, a pre-buy inspection by someone other than the usual mechanic can be helpful. There’s no standard definition of a ‘pre-buy’. One measure is to do the same inspection as an annual, but without any log entries. Some owners are reluctant to let just any mechanic open up their plane, so that may be a point of negotiation.

But, let’s say you find a plane with the right options, right price, a local Club member has laid eyes on it, and you want to buy it. At that point one method is to make an offer, saying “if the plane is as you represent it, I’ll offer $xx,xxx.” Then you can have it inspected, either by a mechanic or yourself, and then renegotiate the price based upon any discrepancies found in the inspection.

Assuming everyone is reasonable and cordial, money changes hands, insurance is activated, and you fly home in your new (to you) plane!

Go directly to the source FAA Aircraft Registry [registry.faa.gov] . It's pretty neat with all the different ways you can search on. Want to know how many aircraft are registered in your county? Wondering if there are any aircraft owned by people with your last name? etc.

What’s nice about AviationDB.com is that it simultaneously pulls from NTSB Incident/Accident databases, and owner history, all from a single query, and presents it all on one page.

Terry, welcome back! I too returned after 8 years...

As far as finding an airplane to purchase.. my "luck" for all three (75 Cessna 150M, then 81 Beech Sundowner, and now a '70 Cessna 150K) has been at my local home base airport. Let me add, if you are flying out of a club, you have the ability to also fly to all relatively close airports, say within 50-100 miles. That is the key, for me, in buying an airplane. Living in California, I saw many "I want that one" aircraft...on Barnstormers or Trade-a-Plane...but they were all scattered around the USA.

The point is, IF you find one that interests you.. and it's 2000 miles away... you need to fly out, pay for tickets, and have hotels and meals...etc. And if you got the logs scanned and sent to you with "QUALITY" photos... all to suggest the aircraft is "as represented" (Believe me, there are quite a few out there that look great, but you discover it's not as the seller claims it to be)... you should bring your trusted A/P with you. Now that's two tickets and hotels and meals. Then you get there and discover something very wrong..or not disclosed... or a title issue... or it's a divorce sticky situation...or there is unreported damage.. or the 337's are incomplete... anything. Now you have to fly back home, out of pocket, with nothing.

However, IF it's the dream plane and all checks out... it costs you time and money to bring it back home.. Weather delays, fuel, long legs... or hire a ferry pilot. Either way, it typically will cost about $2000 if you get a deal.. factoring it's a 150, it's slow, and may require a couple overnights, plus meals. And the time per hour for the pilot.

Be patient. There is always something popping up locally. Since I got my plane, I found two others locally that I "may" have selected if that one was being sold the same time mine was.

All in all, be sure to check the NTSB accident database, look at the plane's FAA reg., google for photos, and ask, ask, ask questions. DO NOT buy if the seller isn't willing to scan and send you logs in .pdf. Actually most experienced sellers have already prepared for this.

Good Luck!

Thanks, all, for your replies.

Having a club member take a look to verify that there aren't huge problems with an aircraft (e.g., extensive corrosion) makes perfect sense. This could narrow down the prospects that I'd be willing to travel a long distance to inspect, as Kevin describes.

I was unaware of aviationdb.com, Kirk; thanks for the suggestion. The site looks like an excellent resource.

And, Hung, I am aware of the FAA Aircraft Registry. I've used it to search for 150Ks, and intend to write letters to the owners I've found (nearest first) inquiring about their planes. Of two relatively nearby 150Ks for which I was able to find the owners' phone numbers, one has a Lycoming 180 hp installed (as well as the consequently necessary auxiliary fuel tank) and the other has been converted to a taildragger (I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there).

I'll try not to be shy about requesting advice on other prospective purchases.

So if any member is familiar with N5985G (blue and white Cessna 150K) based in Watsonville, CA, please give a shout. The pictures on Trade-a-Plane look good and it's just what I'm looking for (except for the dunce cap spinner.) It's such a nice-looking plane that I wouldn't be surprised if it's already been sold after only a few days of being up on the TAP site.

Thanks again!