(Ross Oliver) wrote
You should ALWAYS have the prepurchase inspection performed by
the mechanic/shop who will be doing your ongoing maintenance
and annuals.

That's great if the airplane is local, but often not feasible if the
airplane is far away. Of course one might argue that when buying
something like a C-150 you should always buy local anyway. There are
no great deals on far way airplanes. An airplane that common will
sell locally unless it's overpriced or junk. By the time you hear
about it hundreds of miles away, you can be certain that if it sounds
like a great deal, it's junk.

Expect to pay to have the aircraft ferried to your location, and
ferried back if you decline to purchase, or buy the ferry pilot
an airline ticket home if you accept. Yes, this will cost $$$,
but no one ever said aircraft ownership was cheap. It will be
money well spent.

This guy is buying a C-150. It has a block-to-block (including taxi,
climb, etc) speed of about 100 mph, and a fair operating cost of about
$40/hr, not including the ferry pilot who will expect to make at least
$20/hr plus expenses. For a 1000 mile (each way) trip, you're looking
at spending $1500 - 5-10% of the purchse price - to get the plane
there and back, and you haven't even started paying for the mechanic.
This is not money well spent.

A far more realistic approach is to hire a mechanic (personally
recommended by someone) in the local area to do an inspection. Decide
in advance what the scope should be - the 100 hour inspection
checklist from the service manual is a good choice - and have him
quote you a price. If the mechanic has a flat-rate annual quote that
includes only the inspection, no parts or labor for repairs, ask for
that. Tell him not to repair anything - just put it back together the
way he found it - because the owner will likely insist on that. If
the mechanic isn't comfortable with that, find another mechanic.

If the owner is unwilling to send the aircraft to you, this could
be a tip-off that the aircraft is not up to the trip, or has
"issues" that he doesn't want an independent third party to see.
The aircraft may not be a good buy.

Nonsense. I certainly would not send my aircraft hundreds of miles
from home to be looked over by a mechanic unknown to me without my
supervision. If you want to look at it, come here. Bring your
mechanic.

Michael