How did you find your plane?

How did you find your plane?

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AdamZ

AdamZ

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Adam Zucker
So for those that own how did you find your plane?

Yes Michael and Josh I know I didn't include a choice for won it :)
 
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Previous owner of the Aztec bought a Cheyenne, my instructor was selling the Aztec.

"Hey Ted, Jason's Aztec is for sale." "How much?" "$" "Ok, sold."
 
Mine found me lol, I was in Indonesia not even thinking about an airplane when I got a phone call... :lol:
 
I found mine by researching on the internet all the makes, models and company backgrounds. Many of the aviation review sites were also helpful.

I bought new.
 
Barnstormers. Put an ad in looking for my plane. The owner saw it and called me. :D
 
My answer isn't there...

...it was sitting on the ramp at my local field and a close friend was the former owner.

So, I guess I'll pick "FBO bulletin board" since that's the closest.

Okay, "word of mouth/knew the owner" is actually closest. Except that my friend was the FORMER owner.
 
I contacted every one listed for sale in:

1. The Navioneer (the type club newsletter)
2. Trade-A-Plane.

That was about 18 airplanes at the time. I looked at three. Bought one.
 
I wasn't really sure how to vote here. I bought a nice 152 after I soloed, in order to get my SEL. After that, my wife wanted something that would hold more luggage, for taking trips, so I listed the 152 on a few websites indicating that the only reason I was selling was because my wife wanted a 4 seater. A guy at my local airport saw my ad for the 152 online and he contacted me, telling me that he was selling his Beech Sierra, located at the same field where I had the 152, and to come and take a look. I brought my wife to sit in it and we both liked it and made the deal.
 
Mine was in one of the airplane classified, but I can't remember which one. It was either, TAP, Barnstormers, or Controller, but I'm just not sure which, so I can't vote.
 
Airplane found me too. Friend and co-worker decide he wanted a twin and was going to put his Mooney up for sale. I knew he maintained the aircraft exceptionally well and so decided why look elsewhere. Bought it never having flown a Mooney. LOVE IT!!!


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I bought my 425 from a broker, but my mechanic told me about it or I wouldn't have looked at it. :D Our 182 was local, just the other side of Atlanta in Covington, a friend told me about it and I bought it from two guys, one was the original owner.:D
In the past I have bought mostly from Controller online, never had much luck with trade a plane for some reason. :dunno:
 
To assist in my search for a quality, already-built RV, I hired an expert. After conducting a nationwide search, with his help, we bought our pristine and wonderful RV-8A from a fellow in Vermont.

I had previously purchased three certificated planes, over the last 15 years, so I was no newbie to aircraft ownership -- but buying an experimental/homebuilt is a completely different world, and I am extremely happy that I hired the guy I did.
 
Got mine from the factory,traded a twin in the process.
 
1. broker
2. knew the owner
3. found it myself, just walking around some open hangars and saw it had not been flown recently, contacted the owner, and bought it
4. researched and boufht a kit using the Internet
5. joined a group determined to restore something and we did, a crashed Pietenpol

Despite a lot of hard looking, I've yet to find a plane on Barnstormers that panned out. But I was able to sell one on Barnstormers.
 
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Contact made through a Comanche club.
 
I voted "Buyer's Broker" even though the ad was in TAP. But the broker did SO much more than just respond to the ad that I give him full credit for the "find." Between the broker and mechanics who did the pre-buy, they saved me more than $40,000 considering the haggling over the sale price and then a major engine anomaly found during pre-buy.

I can't say enough good things about working with a broker in my case. I know there are cases where it doesn't make sense, but at a certain point I think it's a great idea.
 
I checked out a Mooney at Strategic Air and met Tim Lundquist. That plane wasn't a fit but he definitely was. He became my buyer's broker and found my perfect fit plane within a few weeks. He supervised the inspection and annual and hooked me up with Bruce Yeager for transition training. A year and 120 hrs later I can't say enough good things about both of those guys. I'd work with them both again in a heartbeat.
 
controller.com

Initially I was looking for a Cessna 180 or 185. They have:
  • Good carrying capacity
  • Decent speed performance
  • HUGE cool factor with the tailwheel and go-anywhere type of aura

I even got to the point of getting initial agreement on the price of a 1976 A185F and doing a pre-buy. Got approved for insurance with a pretty good price and pre-approved for financing. Unfortunately, the mechanic found quite a few problems with the plane once he started looking at it closely (internal corrosion, broken ribs, missing rivets, etc.). Beautiful paint job, though:redface:

Looked at a few others long distance, but, in each case, it was going to take quite a bit more money than my budget to get a plane which met my requirements regarding condition, engine time, avionics fit, etc.

So, on a whim, I searched controller.com for Bellancas. My dad had one when I was a tiny little tyke (My 1st ride in a plane was at 2 months old in his Bellanca model 260) , and he always raved about how well it flew. Lo an behold a beautiful 1989 model showed up on controller with a good price, good avionics fit, good time on the engine, etc. Called the owner up and spent some time discussing. I also spoke with the mechanic who maintained the plane. All that looked good, so I paid for another Viking expert mechanic on the west coast to meet me in TX to look at the plane and do a pre-buy. All went well, and I've been the proud owner of N89EL since May 2012.

For my mission, it's a great plane. Good IFR platform, fast, and carries me, my wife, and my teenage son with all his hockey equipment (love the ski tube for hockey sticks). Must faster to get to Socal when compared to the airlines, and competitive with the airlines to Vancouver and Phoenix. Goes from CA to TN in about 12 hours and about 15 the other way. That was a fun trip.

I've put 347 hours on the plane since May 2012. It's a lot of fun. I've even used it to run errands: We live 5 minutes from the San Jose airport where the plane is based. There's a hockey store in Oakland near the Oakland airport. Our son needed a replacement for a broken hockey stick on a weekday night. My choices: Either fight rush hour traffic to and from Oakland (Probably about 1+ hours each way), or 5 minutes to SJC, 20 minutes to KOAK by air then a crew car to the store. Guess which choice I made! Total trip including to the store was 1hr 20 min door to door.

Still occasionally dream about a 180 or 185 though... Maybe when I retire I'll get one...
 
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2 were hand me downs from grandpa, the third I had a friend call and ask if I was interested
 
AdamZ said:
So for those that own how did you find your plane?

Yes Michael and Josh I know I didn't include a choice for won it :)
Click to expand...
You also didn't include a choice for "all of the above" or similar.
One was word of mouth, another was Barnstormers, another was Ebay, another was a sticker on the bulliten board at the FBO, And the latest was simply contacting the registered owner, because it had been sitting on the ramp for quite some time.
 
bluerooster said:
You also didn't include a choice for "all of the above" or similar.
One was word of mouth, another was Barnstormers, another was Ebay, another was a sticker on the bulliten board at the FBO, And the latest was simply contacting the registered owner, because it had been sitting on the ramp for quite some time.
Click to expand...

I think you can vote for more than one choice.
 
I didn't vote. 4 different methods for 4 different planes.

Found my first plane, a 1980 Archer II, on the bulletin board at the local airport.

Found my second plane, a 1998 Mooney, on ASO.

Found my third plane, a 2008 Mooney, on Controller.

Found my fourth plane, a 2010 RV-8, via an ad posted on Vans Air Force.
 
Jay Honeck said:
To assist in my search for a quality, already-built RV, I hired an expert. After conducting a nationwide search, with his help, we bought our pristine and wonderful RV-8A from a fellow in Vermont.

I had previously purchased three certificated planes, over the last 15 years, so I was no newbie to aircraft ownership -- but buying an experimental/homebuilt is a completely different world, and I am extremely happy that I hired the guy I did.
Click to expand...


Who did you use? If we decide to buy EAB to hold us through the build phase of an RV-10, it would be good to know a reputable connection.

You can PM me if you like.


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Went to look at a piper 140 that sold a few hours befor I got to the airport. Asked to take a ride in the meet looking airplane in the same hangar.

Not to others: don't go looking at an old 35 with a checkbook in your pocket.....
 
brian];1538276 said:
Went to look at a piper 140 that sold a few hours befor I got to the airport. Asked to take a ride in the meet looking airplane in the same hangar.

Not to others: don't go looking at an old 35 with a checkbook in your pocket.....
Click to expand...

You got the better plane. I can tell you from experience with both.
 
Of the 17 planes I've owned, almost all were because I named a price that was so ridiculously low, I could ignore the need for a prebuy, and it would be worth running to pick up the plane so quickly that my cheeks would balloon into the wind -- and on top of that, the sellers said yes.

Of my current three:

Two (Super Musketeer and Colemill Baron) were per the above cheek-ballooning maneuver. My V-tail came from my good "Orange is the new Black" star Tarron Bhomas, and it was one of my weak moments where I wanted the plane, and the price was reasonable. (luckily the plane wasn't a turd -- unlike a few others I had visited him to look at -- plane passed the smell test prior to purchase)

I make 5 or 6 offers a year -- lately I feel the market is firming up, as I'm getting laughed at/cussed at more often lately. :D

Except for Barons -- those are still being given away. I'm waiting for a Queen Air to get cheap. Those sleds are holding their value just too damn well.
 
Friends with the seller...I was ready to begin at the same time he was ready to quit
 
Plane #1 - ASO.

Plane #2 - Knew the owner, entered partnership.
 
AdamZ said:
So for those that own how did you find your plane?

Yes Michael and Josh I know I didn't include a choice for won it :)
Click to expand...

I put "knew the owner", but they still own it, I just own it with them now!! :yes::D
 
I knew I wanted to buy a particular type of aircraft (Alon Aircoupe or ERCO Ercoupe 415). Not many were on offer, especially nearby, and I doesn't want to travel around the country looking for one.

So I downloaded the FAA database of aircraft and filtered it for the aircraft types I wanted and nearby (Northern California) zip codes of the owners. Using MS Word I wrote a standard letter to each owner (about a hundred as I recall) asking if they were interested in selling. I explained I wasn't a broker and so forth.

Of the replies, I further screened with a phone call, then actually visited about 15 owners and their aircraft, and ended up with a good one, the last one I saw.

Pros:
You get first pick of the lot since many had not advertised their airplane yet.

Cons:
Many owners were optimistic about the value of their airplane and I was the first one to hint it wasn't worth what they thought.

This was all 14 years ago in a good sellers market. Now, it's still a buyers market. You definitely need to personally look at several aircraft and their logbooks to get a feel for what's out there. But you shouldn't have great difficulty in getting a clean aircraft at a good price these days.


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The market is unfortunately flooded with tire kickers and unrealistic sellers.
 
TCABM said:
Who did you use? If we decide to buy EAB to hold us through the build phase of an RV-10, it would be good to know a reputable connection.

You can PM me if you like.


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Click to expand...
Our expert's name is Tom Berge. (Do a POA search for his name -- I wrote about him when we bought the plane.)

Tom is a one-stop shop, being an RV builder, avionics guy, ferry pilot, and CFII transition trainer. He's also an extreme perfectionist and all-around good guy.

He saved us from buying a couple of headaches -- and helped find us a real gem. He was worth every dime we paid him.
 
I bought a Grumman Tiger, I contacted all the experts looking for the right plane. The best ones are sold before the public sees them on the market. Gary Vogt knew of a great one that might be for sale, he was doing the annual, called the owner, I wrote a check and it was mine. No where near the cheapest on the market, but you get what you pay for.
 
I got my plane by poring through the yellow pages of TAP. Look at them long enough, you see tinges of blue all day!
 
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