buy 1st plane...advise?

Peter Ha

Peter Ha

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Nov 18, 2019
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Hey folks,
I'm about to purchase first plane (cessna150).
What tips, advise and experience should I expect?

My plan so far:
-get plane title and 337 report
-buy insurance
-pre-buy by AP
 
Already have a mechanic you trust?

flight in plane before purchase.

is it local, or have to be ferried?
 
- tie down or hangar rental. (Make sure you have a place to park it.)

- CFI lined up for checkout and any insurance mandated hours in type.

- A 150 is easy but just make sure you’re insurable in it before you buy it. They’ll usually want total hours, certificates held, last BFR, last medical and class or BasicMed, and whether you have any FAA violations. They may also want to know if tied down or hangared.
 
Congrats. You've got the right idea and good advice so far. If doing a test flight, check ops for all the avionics. Nonfunctional items will be grounds for lowering price. Plan on a cockpit cover or hangar if you want to keep your avionics functional. Plan on about 2-3 years of "enhanced" repair costs to deal with deferred maintenance. Seems typical for every plane I've owned. People often are ready to sell because they can't keep up with maintenance costs, and some stuff slips to the new owner.
 
Use a well thought out and written purchase agreement. A template and example can be had from AOPA.

for a Cessna 150, the depth and complication will be shallow over what you might need for a bigger airplane. But the idea stands.

Have in writing how things will happen and the signature of the seller agreeing to the terms of the deal.
 
chemgeek said:
Congrats. You've got the right idea and good advice so far. If doing a test flight, check ops for all the avionics. Nonfunctional items will be grounds for lowering price. Plan on a cockpit cover or hangar if you want to keep your avionics functional. Plan on about 2-3 years of "enhanced" repair costs to deal with deferred maintenance. Seems typical for every plane I've owned. People often are ready to sell because they can't keep up with maintenance costs, and some stuff slips to the new owner.
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Yes, there will be maintenance cost, but how much should I expect for C150 that's less then 4000hrs? And when engine is due for overhaul, what does 0-200 cost on avg?
 
Peter Ha said:
Yes, there will be maintenance cost, but how much should I expect for C150 that's less then 4000hrs? And when engine is due for overhaul, what does 0-200 cost on avg?
Click to expand...

12-17k depending if you do a field overhaul or buy one from an engine shop plus the labor to install it and the usual list of small things that might need replacing with it.
 
Peter Ha said:
Yes, there will be maintenance cost, but how much should I expect for C150 that's less then 4000hrs? And when engine is due for overhaul, what does 0-200 cost on avg?
Click to expand...

A very rough rule of thumb is 4x fuel for total hourly operational cost, including annual inspection and maintenance. Maintenance will likely be significantly higher the first few years. Just sayin' based on experience. C150s are pretty simple. Ask around what a typical annual plus maintenance costs for a C150 or similar. First 3 years expect that to be higher, depending on how much maintenance has been deferred over the years. Stuff like old oil hoses, mags and vac pumps near the end of their useful life, and the like, kinda crop up with new owners. A well maintained simple aircraft not needing upgrades or deferred maintenance fixed may skate by an annual plus repairs for $1000 or so, depending on where you are based.

You will want to budget for engine reserve if the engine is high time. Total airframe time matters less unless the plane has life limited parts (like wing spars in Grummans) or has been poorly maintained or abused.
 
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