Cessna P210N Advice

Some of that reply does not make sense (to me)

because I visit the aircraft with the calendar limit (EASA) and and not in time as in US (FAA).

Meaningless.

The FAA inspector has validated the new interior during the last annual in June 2013

What FAA inspector?

If he means the A&P/IA who signs off the Annual, this guy has no idea of maintenance principles. Is he a pilot?

Now a Beechcraft A36 is a different thing, Beech build quality is heavy duty

In June I paid 11000€ for the annual, because I visit the aircraft with the calendar limit (EASA) and and not in time as in US (FAA).

The FAA inspector has validated the new interior during the last annual in June 2013

My 'Franco-English translator' says that means the current owner overhauls the aircraft's components based on calendar time. He misunderstands that the FAA maintenance requirements for his aircraft are not generally related to time in service, they are based on condition.

There's an indication to me that the owner relies on FAA A&P-IA to review his logs annually and recommend overhauls and maintenance. That could be good or bad depending on the IA - logbook and physical inspection are really the only way to find out. It could also be that he thinks his sales pitch is stronger when it points to officialdom. Regardless, don't assume that previous money spent will automatically reduce future expenses.

Re the interior - its a minefield if your IA wants it to be. There is not to my knowledge such a thing as an FAA approved upholstery shop. In general you need a good A&P mechanic logbook entry that references CAR-3, which is the predecessor to the FAA current certification standards. That standard requires flash resistant seat coverings. At the next annual inspection, the A&P IA either signs off the annual or he doesn't - while his implicit approval is good, he does not specifically "validate" the work.

Best bet would be to have the owner Xerox the logbooks, and pay somebody knowledgeable on the type to look them over closely.

Obviously it doesn't say anything about the quality of the maintenance that the aircraft has received in the past, but you still may want to challenge the owner with a few more questions like:

-supply copy of the latest VOR checks

-supply copy of logbook entry for latest pitot/static and transponder checks

-supply copy of radio station license.

;-)

But again, even if it turns out the owner knows nothing about FAR Part 91 maintenance, it doesn't follow that the aircraft must have been poorly maintained.

But still, someone who doesn't know the type of autopilot on his own airplane...???...

The asking price is too low. Chances are it's a scam.

Start with an annual at your shop of choice. You pay for the annual and he pays for all discrepancies. If they aren't resolved, he also pays for the annual. If he doesn't agree, walk away.

I can put you in touch with a good freelance FAA A&P in Paris, C210 expert, American guy.

But still, someone who doesn't know the type of autopilot on his own airplane...???...

happens all the time. If you look at planecheck's adds, quite a few don't match the pictures. Some adds done by private sellers are outright funny, spelling, everything wrong. Doesn't mean those adds are scams, those people simply don't know better.

I have a colleague who owns a lovely IFR tourer but he is totally oblivious to what equipment he has. I asked him about what AP he uses, he simply doesn't know, knows how to use it (hopefully) but what brand? Same for GPS, same for the rest. Ok, he doesn't want to sell, but still... I know every single radio in mine.

Prices... there is nothing you do not see these days. People try to sell their planes for years with the "real world" asking prices and nobody bites. Today, prices often enough are in a free fall. I have seen a couple of sales recently which made me really think.... It does show how deeply the market is in depression, particularly the N-Reg market, because a LOT of pilots will loose their capability to fly in Europe with the EASA FCL rules, therefore selling their planes at dumping prices, knowing that the moment all those medical refugees will have to give up fying, hundreds of N-Reg planes will flood the market. But also in the European registered market, a lot of people run out of patience and money at the same time and sell at whatever prices they can fetch. I've seen some airframes going from "realistic" prices as calculated by the going books to less than half that over 2-3 years if nobody bites. Nowadays, it is not even realistic to assume you will get the price of the engine overhaul back even if it is brand new... I know of a case where a seller thought he could make his plane more attractive by putting a zeroed engine and prop, only to loose half of the money he paid for the overhaul in the sale. The aircraft went finally for 30k Euros (M20F).

I have a colleague who owns a lovely IFR tourer but he is totally oblivious to what equipment he has. I asked him about what AP he uses, he simply doesn't know, knows how to use it (hopefully) but what brand? Same for GPS, same for the rest.

I can believe that, but it is still astonishing. People like that can get killed so easily. You could get killed in CAVOK conditions. I sometimes wonder, when one reads of a crash of a very well equipped IFR plane in CAVOK conditions, what was going on in the cockpit... was it a runaway autopilot and the pilot didn't know which CBs to pull, etc? 20 secs later, Vne+50/100%, it comes apart...

the market is in depression, particularly the N-Reg market, because a LOT of pilots will loose their capability to fly in Europe with the EASA FCL rules, therefore selling their planes at dumping prices, knowing that the moment all those medical refugees will have to give up fying, hundreds of N-Reg planes will flood the market.

I don't agree.

EASA FCL mandates the possession of EASA pilot papers, April 2014 onwards, regardless of the aircraft reg - if the "operator" is EU based (etc).

(The fact that those EASA papers are not even valid to fly the said plane in most of Europe, is not relevant...)

If you fly an N-reg you still need the State of Registry (FAA) pilot papers, to comply with ICAO and FAR Part 61 etc.

So EASA FCL brings the same net burden whether you are N-reg or EASA-reg.

If you do what a lot of people will probably do, out of uninformed fear because they don't read EuroGA and which is really dumb, and transfer N-reg to EASA-reg, you will just screw yourself into a pointless maintenance regime. And before that you will get bent over a barrel by the national CAA inspector when transferring the reg...

Until EASA forces through controls on long term parking of foreign reg planes (of which there is NO indication whatever) I don't see why their values should drop. In fact I would pay more for an N-reg TB20 than for an EASA-reg one - provided that it already had all the mods I wanted for which there is no STC, or it was still in the USA where I could get the mods easily done as field approvals.

For an informed aircraft owner who actively manages the various aspects of his ownership, there is no downside to being on the N-reg.

What we might see is EASA FCL forcing a lot of people to give up flying altogether, and this will happen disproportionately to N-reg owners because they form the bulk of the IFR capable community. Most of these are men in their 50s or 60s and they will not be too interested in going through the training/testing/FTO/tumble/dryer one more time. I know of several who have sold up totally. It depends how far up the "food chain" you got. If you bought a PA46 then you will probably sell it, because it's not much good for low level VFR.

OTOH the CBM IR, if we get it, should increase the demand for private IFR, a bit, so that would create a new market. Currently, the market for IFR pistons is stagnant. Good quality specimens in restricted supply fetch good prices (e.g. a well equipped 2002 TB20GT would go for ~ €150k) and everything else doesn't sell.