Worst Plane Buying Story

[calberto]

What is your worst plane buying story? I've heard a lot about people getting mislead, spending thousands of dollars on travel, and getting screwed over.

What is your story?

 

[BGF_Yankee]

So far this year I've seen an Aeronca Chief and an Aeronca Champ bought (both turned out to have cracked spars), a Mooney M20C get crashed two weeks after purchase, and am carefully watching the fallout of a guy buying a Grumman-American AA-5 that just emptied its tanks onto my ramp (and has other issues)...and it's not even May yet.

 

[Ken Ibold]

I bought a factory new American Champion 7GCAA during Sun n Fun in 2001. It was the display airplane, so I made arrangements for it to be delivered to me in Orlando after the show. After I took delivery, I discovered I had not noticed that a piece of red trim tape was missing on the inside of the blue "4" on the N number on one side.

The horrors! Fortunately, the manufacturing defect was covered under warranty.

 

[Kelvin]

I hope the repair was logged...sounds like damage history to me...

I bought a factory new American Champion 7GCAA during Sun n Fun in 2001. It was the display airplane, so I made arrangements for it to be delivered to me in Orlando after the show. After I took delivery, I discovered I had not noticed that a piece of red trim tape was missing on the inside of the blue "4" on the N number on one side.

The horrors! Fortunately, the manufacturing defect was covered under warranty.

 

[John221us]

My last two attempts didn't pass the pre-buy inspections and one of those included a trip to Seattle. Both of them had inspection and escrow costs, not to mention my time. Buying airplanes is absolutely harder than selling them.

 

[N747JB]

Buying airplanes is absolutely harder than selling them.

I disagree, but I see your point.
I have 3 stories:
1. About 1993 my dad and I flew from Atlanta to somewhere in Texas, around Dallas I think, in our 310R to buy a 414AW. The famous liquid cooled 414A! We talked to the broker for a week prior to our trip, spent 3+ hours flying to see this POS! We wanted to do a demo flight, of course we would pay for fuel etc. The battery was dead, not a good first impression, the props didn't have nicks, they had gouges!! I wouldn't have flown in it if the battery was good!
2. In March 2007 I flew to New York to buy a 414A, pictures looked good, specs were pretty good, price was decent. The seller agreed to have Air Impressions do the pre-buy/annual, he wouldn't let anyone else fly the plane, so I rode with him to Waco at 12,000 feet, since the cabin wouldn't pressurize and the AC wasn't working it was a long flight! We stopped in Arlington so he could catch the last flight back to Rochester and after 2 days I got him to agree to let one of Van Bortel's pilots fly it to Waco. The pilot added 5 quarts of oil per side! Bottom line I paid for the inspection and airline ticket and fuel and backed out of the deal, it needed a top overhaul on both sides, half a dozen major components weren't operating.
3. I found a pretty good price on a 421B in 2010 and flew to Arkansas to look at it with my mechanic. I asked them not to run it before we got there, it was running when we landed! Aside from the left turbo being seized and the logbooks being "reconstructed" it needed about $75K spent on it. Again I passed. Funny, when I spoke to the owner, he had no idea about the logbooks or really anything to do with the airplane. His pilot was taking care of all of it for him, I think the pilot sold him the airplane as well.

 

[iflyvfr]

When my partner and I were looking to buy a little 150, we went to visit the guy who was selling on behalf of his deceased father. We wanted to test fly it and he said he would need a deposit. We thought that a bit excessive, but asked how much. His reply $18,000 - 100% of the asking price.

After we paid the 18,000 . . . just kidding. We ran, not walked from that "deal".

 

[N801BH]

Long story short.... 1981.....

My first plane, bought with 1.5 hours in my log book. Saw a 75 Warrior with a for sale banner on the prop... Called the guy, agreed on a price. Turned out the only one flying it was his banker. Same bank in Apopka I banked at.. Called the banker on Monday, he said he would broker it for 200 dollars in house since that bank held the note.. I agreed.. Don ( the banker) said he would change the paperwork and send me a payment booklet ( remember those) ...

One month went by and no booklet so I called Don.. He said it was in the works so don't worry. Another month and still no booklet.. Called the bank and the receptionist told me she would pass on the message to Mr Dean... Third month and still NO paperwork or booklet... Back then small town banks actually had owners, managers on site so I went in on my Saturday off and was chatting with the head teller when the head banker /owner /president walked up..

We went into his office, I showed him all my sales documents, receipts, etc etc... The guy turned bright red and called in the head teller, who was the accountant for that bank too.. Told her to bring him all of Don's transaction records for the last 4 months.. He then told me that Mr Dean no longer worked at there. Those two spoke back and forth for a few minutes and concluded that Don had purposely held back on my paperwork /payment booklet to make it look like I defaulted on the loan so he could buy it for the balance due...

The bank pres credited me back my 3 grand deposit that Don was supposed to give the seller, let me pay the 3 months back due payments and left the interest rate for the duration of loan...... Keep in mind, at this time in history, interest rates were out of control and heading to 20+ % for loans...

The banker called the police and filled out a felony fraud report and I hope like heck they caught that crooked banker... Owned the plane for 8 years.. bought it for 12 grand,, flew it for 600 hours, sold it for twice that... I loved that plane,, I HATED that crooked banker... Hope he is rotting in hell..

 

[Zeldman]

Long story short.... 1981.....

My first plane, bought with 1.5 hours in my log book. Saw a 75 Warrior with a for sale banner on the prop... Called the guy, agreed on a price. Turned out the only one flying it was his banker. Same bank in Apopka I banked at.. Called the banker on Monday, he said he would broker it for 200 dollars in house since that bank held the note.. I agreed.. Don ( the banker) said he would change the paperwork and send me a payment booklet ( remember those) ...

One month went by and no booklet so I called Don.. He said it was in the works so don't worry. Another month and still no booklet.. Called the bank and the receptionist told me she would pass on the message to Mr Dean... Third month and still NO paperwork or booklet... Back then small town banks actually had owners, managers on site so I went in on my Saturday off and was chatting with the head teller when the head banker /owner /president walked up..

We went into his office, I showed him all my sales documents, receipts, etc etc... The guy turned bright red and called in the head teller, who was the accountant for that bank too.. Told her to bring him all of Don's transaction records for the last 4 months.. He then told me that Mr Dean no longer worked at there. Those two spoke back and forth for a few minutes and concluded that Don had purposely held back on my paperwork /payment booklet to make it look like I defaulted on the loan so he could buy it for the balance due...

The bank pres credited me back my 3 grand deposit that Don was supposed to give the seller, let me pay the 3 months back due payments and left the interest rate for the duration of loan...... Keep in mind, at this time in history, interest rates were out of control and heading to 20+ % for loans...

The banker called the police and filled out a felony fraud report and I hope like heck they caught that crooked banker... Owned the plane for 8 years.. bought it for 12 grand,, flew it for 600 hours, sold it for twice that... I loved that plane,, I HATED that crooked banker... Hope he is rotting in hell..

Or Don found out he was getting canned and took everything he was working on and threw it away to make the bank look bad and lose money.

 

[N801BH]

Or Don found out he was getting canned and took everything he was working on and threw it away to make the bank look bad and lose money.

After this all happened a indepth investigation was undertaken,,, I can assure you... I was not the only victim at that bank.. It went back for a couple of years......

That one episode did make me a very leary buyer from then on...

 

[Tom-D]

I was told by a broker that there was a project that I needed to buy when I was looking for a round engine project. It was supposed to be in a hangar, and the owner would know I would be stopping by to look at it. The price was right.
I showed up at the Door and asked If I was at the correct place, Yes we have an old aircraft, is it for sale? yes, we are asking $125,000. (I was told 10k) Can I take a look at it? Sure we can walk over to the hangar.
As we got to the hangar I noted the grass and weeds were not mowed near the door, I ask, how long has the Stinson been in here? they say it has sat for nearly 25 years, It was G/Pa's trophy. he told us what it was worth.
Finally got the hangar door open, It was like walking into a time capsule the tools were lying right where G/pa laid them last. the wings were off and hanging from the rafters, the fuselage was off to the side of the hangar floor covered in cob webs dirt and dust until it was nearly unrecognizable. But sure enough it was an old SR-10 Reliant.
There was no logs, N number, registration, AWC, or any other paper work of any kind.
I simply told them that the project was just too much for me. 6 months later I understand the hangar was demoed, with the Stinson it.

 

[N801BH]

I was told by a broker that there was a project that I needed to buy when I was looking for a round engine project. It was supposed to be in a hangar, and the owner would know I would be stopping by to look at it. The price was right.
I showed up at the Door and asked If I was at the correct place, Yes we have an old aircraft, is it for sale? yes, we are asking $125,000. (I was told 10k) Can I take a look at it? Sure we can walk over to the hangar.
As we got to the hangar I noted the grass and weeds were not mowed near the door, I ask, how long has the Stinson been in here? they say it has sat for nearly 25 years, It was G/Pa's trophy. he told us what it was worth.
Finally got the hangar door open, It was like walking into a time capsule the tools were lying right where G/pa laid them last. the wings were off and hanging from the rafters, the fuselage was off to the side of the hangar floor covered in cob webs dirt and dust until it was nearly unrecognizable. But sure enough it was an old SR-10 Reliant.
There was no logs, N number, registration, AWC, or any other paper work of any kind.
I simply told them that the project was just too much for me. 6 months later I understand the hangar was demoed, with the Stinson it.

That is just criminal...........

 

[Kiddo's Driver]

... and am carefully watching the fallout of a guy buying a Grumman-American AA-5 that just emptied its tanks onto my ramp (and has other issues)...and it's not even May yet.

Jeeze...the cost of the avgas would have paid for the brand new drain sample/valves!

 

[Jay Honeck]

Worst story I've ever heard was when a personal friend bought a Cherokee 140, sight unseen, with his Visa card. It was an amazingly low price, so he couldn't let it pass.

He flew the plane home, took it in for its first annual -- and it had intergranular corrosion in the wings. Both wings needed to be replaced.

But it gets worse. He found "serviceable" wings and had them shipped to his mechanic's shop. Somewhere in transit, the wings were crushed and arrived completely unusable and not repairable.

The shipper blamed the sender. The sender blamed the shipper. No one reimbursed my friend. He ended up finding ANOTHER set of wings, and had those installed. Then, of course, the plane had to be repainted.

That plane was down for over a year. That "screaming good deal" of an airplane ended up costing my friend a fortune.

Moral of the story: Always get a prebuy inspection!

 

[Tom-D]

I know where there is a Grumman Widgon in a hangar with 6 new Ranger 200 horse engine that goes with it.
It's flyable now, but it won't be when G/pa Crooks.

Problem is you couldn't buy it with a promise of heaven in the after life.

 

[Blueangel]

Definitely get a solid prebuy inspection and never ever let a seller try to pressure you to rush through the process. I had one guy try to get me to fly and buy a plane the same day since he is going on vacation and I flat out told him that I'd need more time to arrange the prebuy. So I told him to get back to me next month after the vacation.

 

[sourdough44]

Years ago I knew a guy who bought a Mooney from FL, not that location matters all that much. He got back and it wouldn't pass his 1st annual. The wing spars were to corroded.

The last I heard they were fighting it out through lawyers.