Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes New Member. Help me buy my first airplane.

Tim -

Just take your time. Don't fall in love with a plane before you buy it. There are any number of folks on the forum here that can do a look-see for you anywhere in North America and abroad.

That said, I own a 1977 M model. only 22 were built after mine (SN #15079383). I picked up Mary Lou for $18,000 in 2004 and have put the avionics in her that I want. I'm also in the process of doing a slow refurbishment of her interior and exterior, while adding a few niceites gradually along the way.

Prersonally, I am partial to the "M" model. It's just got all the "refinements" of the 150 over the years. (Except I will say the nose-bowl-mounted landing/taxi light was a step backwards.)

Don't let low time on the airframe be the only consideration. Think about what you'll be using the bird for. She may have two seats, but she isn't a two-place bird if either person in the cabin is over 180 lbs or so. She will carry one fair sized person, full fuel, and a fair amount of luggage about, although not exceptionally fast or with a fast climb rate.

$35,000 really seems high to me. Seriously, you can get a great bird for at least $10,000 less. Take your time on this one. Then use the extra $10,000 and deck it out YOUR way!

$35K for the perfect 150 (this month's AOM?) is not out of the question. This 150, while nice, is no where near perfect. It has no audio panel or marker lights, it has no glide slope. The intercom takes up an instrument slot so it would have to be moved to make room in the future. The GPS/Com is VFR only. The other radios/transponder are not the most modern. Overall, I'd give the panel a 5 out of 10.

The Whelen strobes and pulselites are a plus as are the leather seats. The low time is a mixed blessing (ends up being a wash). The damage history, well, its damage history.

I agree with Jeff, maybe worth a bit more than $25K but not much more.

PS. I wouldn't doubt this month's AOM cost considerably more than $35K but there's just so much a 150 is worth to any buyer.

Thank you for all of your feedback. I'm getting the impression that this might not be the right plane for me (at the current price anyway). I'm concerned that the low-time and leather seats are the 2 big things that keep catching my eye. If the base price of a 1977 150 M really is $21,400 like Vref says, it does seem pretty silly to pay $14,000 for upgrades in a plane that doesn't have a perfect panel.

I have around $35,000 to spend on my first aircraft. I would prefer a "perfect" 150 or 152 to a "less than perfect" 172. I would rather buy a plane that is already close to perfect (I think) than buy a plane that is average and spend a ton of time and money upgrading it myself.

Where can I find the perfect plane for me?

One thing to always remember when buying a plane (or just about anything that is used); usually when the owner goes to sell (not always, but a lot of the time) they tend to let things slide a little and you will be fixing the little things that they didn't want to fix.

Hey now! When I sold my Golf, I hooked the kid I sold it to up! new tires, washed and waxed, fixed the muffler, changed the oil, repaired the rear hatch.

But there is the problem that the spark plug in cyl 1 gets fouled every thousand miles. Oh well.

Just the opposite with me... of course I wasn't planning on selling mine until about a week ago. I've been fixing it up to be a nice plane for my wife and me to fly around in. I think (I hope) the next owner will be pleasantly surprised.

Just a thought. But here is how Mr. Ed found us. I put an ad on Barnstormers describing the airplane that I wanted. It went something like:

Looking for a STOL aircraft with a useful load of approximately 700 pounds. Must be a minimum of a two place with a large baggage area for under $25,000.

It took a couple of months when the following showed up in my email:

How about a 150m with a bush stol/150hp, 2 digital radios, garmin 327
xponder, all new instruments xcept airspeed that was ok, new leather
interior (05), and 4400 tt with less that 125 smoh. climbs like a scalded
ape. (has o-320) for 23,500.

And Mr. Ed came to be part of the family.............

When I placed that ad I really never expected to find anything. A 700 pound useful load STOL airplane for under $25,000? Just a pipe dream........

But the answer is always no until you ask!

By advertising like this I think it now puts the buyer at an advantage. It automatically puts the seller in the position of trying to prove to you, the buyer, that this is the airplane that you want.

I don't think I would limit yourself just to a 150 or 152 either. Just describe what you desire in an aircraft and then see what shows up in your mailbox. Just maybe you may luck out the same as we did?

You never know! I know someone who stole a 180hp Mooney for about what this guy is asking for the 150! Do you think I'd buy a low time 150 over a good looking Mooney in good shape at the same price?

What, I'm stupid?

Oh Carl, it's ok. I'd take it. Flip it. Take that money and buy a nice 150/150D or E TD... so I can show Gary how it's really done!

From Barnstormers, I like the looks of this plane. . . . has many things that I look for in a plane: 1976 CESSNA 150M ? $20,500 ? FOR SALE ? 1976 Cessna 150M, 7150TT, 580SMOH, May 2006 Annual, Perfect Trainer or Sunday Flier. Will Deliver! With the high price of AVGAS, you will love the ability to fly along at 100 knots and average less than 6 GPH. Better yet, the MOGAS STC allows you to fill up with cheaper auto fuel. This is a basically unmodified 150M with no old Lorans or ADF equip to infringe on the useful load. ? Contact Grady Third - located Alexandria, MN USA ? Telephone: 320-491-2387 ? Posted September 7, 2006 ?

http://www.barnstormers.com/listing_images.php?id=113900

1. low hours on the overhaul although you will want to see how long ago it was done and check engine condition

2. nice shiny aluminum inside the wings. . . .also probably means the paint is in nice condition and that this was a bird that's been hangared for most of its life. he repainted the cowling, though which makes sense. . . the heat and abrasion make the paint wear here more. that's how my bird is. paint is nice and solid, but less nice on cowling area. Try to get more pics of paint . . tops of wings, top of empennage, tops of horizontal stabilizers, wing struts, gear struts, wheel pants, belly, tops of flaps in down position, doors, close ups in high resolution are telling. . . you can zoom in on them even more for more detail. . . looks like it has abrasion boots on the horizontal stab's. too !

3. take a look at the engine pictures. looks maintained well and that money has been spent here.

4. glass appears to be nice

5. panel is basically equipped but nice. I like the original radios. try to get some close ups of the lower panel for condition and of the posts, headliner, rear plastics, door plastics.

6. no pics on seats and carpeting

7. comes w/ wheel pants so you save $750 bucks finding old ones that you have to fix up and paint along with finding all the brackets and hardware.

8. overall appears to be well cared for. check logbooks from all the years he's owned (plus maybe of the previous owner) to see how meticulously they've maintained it and kept fixing things etc. . . the more things that have been recently fixed, the better.

9. airframe a little on the high side from what I like to see but she looks like she's in good shape plus as I get older, it seems older airframe time, especially on Cessnas seems to bother me less and less and less (that's a good thing, right ? )

10. There are lots more questions to ask (damage history, title/liens, complete logbooks etc. . ), pictures to get, logbooks to check, title and background to check into, however. . . but I'd definitely check into this baby. Appears that she's all original too . . .I like that.

11. Get them to knock some $$ off the price to pay for your plane ticket and inspection costs. $35K for any 152 or 150 that is anything less than PERFECT in most everyway with low hours on airframe and engine and nice avionics is simply too much to pay.