Hi Doug. Great question. I'm a new owner and went through a similar
experience. We bought an Arrow that had literally come out of annual a
couple of days before we showed up to take a look (and hopefully close
the deal and fly home...which we wound up doing). I poked around for
info. on the shop that had been doing the maintenance and received
positive reports (thanks again Blanche). We also asked tons of
questions to the owner and to the A&P that had been maintaining the
plane. We went through AOPA for the title search and copies of past
paperwork. Everything looked fine so we put down a deposit and headed
to Denver. I spend a couple hours with the A&P reviewing the logs and
asking more questions. I also had a chance to fly the plane as well.
Reviewing the logs, we just kept finding more information that the plane
had been well maintained. The A&P let me do whatever I wanted in terms
of poking around the plane.

The next day, one partner along with an instructor showed up. They had
a look at the plane and we closed the deal then flew home. So, our
pre-buy inspection was very limited. We could have (and many would say
"should have") had a different shop do some form of pre-buy inspection.
Given how the entire deal was progressing and our overall timeframe,
we opted not to take the plane to another shop. A definite risk but one
that we were comfortable with given all of the information we had.

Specifically on your situation, check into whether or not Piper service
bulletin 1006 has been performed. This is the one where they pull the
tanks and check for corrosion on the wing spar caps. Many Piper owners
advised me this is a "must have". If it has not been performed, I feel
it is worth spending the money to do as part of a pre-buy inspection.

Good luck with the purchase process. Be prepared to walk away if
something doesn't feel right. We had to walk away from two deals before
we found our Arrow. Not fun, time consuming, etc...but worth it in the end.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-IA Student
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

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