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I am presuming to submit a bit of advice for owners who have recently purchased or are planning to purchase a ?new to them? airplane. Even though you may have had a pre-purchase inspection to make sure that the tail wasn?t about to fall off A Post ? Purchase inspection will tell you what you really got when you bought you ?new? airplane.

Set aside 10% to 20% of the purchase price to fix stuff that needs to be fixed. While the log books show that the plane has had reasonable maintenance and has been signed off as airworthy it is inevitable that a new owner and his A&P will find things that need to be fixed now and things that should be fixed in the future. That is not to say that the AI that signed off the last annual is incompetent or dishonest. There is a good bit of subjectivity in the definition of what is and isn?t airworthy. What is important is that YOU feel confident and secure in flying the plane.

I feel that after I fly the plane for 15 to 25 hours I have a fair idea of things that I would LIKE to get fixed. I make a list and put the plane in the hands of the A&P ? AI for a VERY through annual to determine what MUST be fixed for ME to feel really good about the plane. There will almost certainly be items that will be uncovered during the inspection that will need to be addressed. It has to be done anyway so why wait.

Yes I do practice what I preach, well sort of. The WartHog goes under the knife next week. A bit late but still in time for summer flying.

Wayne, great advice and I agree. I had only considered the things that I "knew" I would replace. 3413V was a well kept machine and all logs and maintenance records looked great.
I had planned on the windshield and some minor things, but after owning her for a year now and a new starter, vacuum pump, battery, and flap motor, I know that I should have set aside or at least expected more.