Anyone knows a good mechanic that is willing to take a look at two aircraft I am interested to purchase based in Madrid (LECU) and Paris (LFPN) airports? I don’t need a detailed pre-buy inspection that would require some extensive works, just the basic things (more extensive pre-flight), documentation check to compare with actual facts and to inspect for corrosion. If all is good I would try to find a way to come there personally to make a final inspection and seal the deal.
These are the aircraft in question
https://www.planecheck.com?ent=da&id=47299 planecheck_EC_FMH_47299_pdf
Pros: freshly overhauled engine and prop; under CAMO; looks like properly maintained/updated; very extensive documentation
Cons: if it was based near the coast, corrosion might be a major issue and a deal breaker; used as a trainer in a flight school for a long time.
https://www.planecheck.com?ent=da&id=47948 planecheck_N_REG_47948_pdf
Pros: Aircraft in perfect condition, beautifully redone interior and cockpit; very nice avionics and equipment. Requires no extra work whatsoever
Cons: N reg (although it has EU VAT paid); not flown much (on average 35h/year); there is not much time left on the resources.
I decided to buy Arrow as it’s cheap and lot’s of them are readily available, and in the meantime I would be looking for a “real” plane (the A36 Bonanza that I made an offer on last year is still on sale, no takers so far for over a year). Once I buy the longterm aircraft and do all the updates/upgrades I plan, I can very easily and quickly sell the Arrow.
The Spanish one has a flight school in it’s life, the French one doesn’t. Especially for a turbo, that’ll determine it for me.
Missed out there on our Turbo Arrow IV G-IJOE, I’m just about to delete the advert.
You could do a lot worse than our PA-28-236 Dakota. It’s better than both of those.
WilliamF wrote:
issed out there on our Turbo Arrow IV G-IJOE, I’m just about to delete the advert.
G-IJOE is a good option for someone in UK, but I didn’t consider it because of VAT
172driver wrote:
The Spanish one has a flight school in it’s life, the French one doesn’t. Especially for a turbo, that’ll determine it for me.
Hasle of getting FAA license (especially now with all these travel issues) vs. turbo rebuild/repair/replacement, I would say they are on par in terms of time/money
I think if you read through the – numerous – threads on N-reg ownership here you might change your mind.
It’s often been posted here that most planes for sale in Spain are in a poor condition – largely due to the collapse in the certified GA scene in Spain in the last 10+ years. The owners were once rich (off the EU-funded construction boom, most often) but no more, there is generally little or no hangarage and most of them sit in the baking sun the whole time and just get run into the ground. Many are abandoned; I recall flying into various Spanish airports where I saw a pile of abandoned planes – example here. At Granada, almost every plane parked there was clearly abandoned and rotting. With the huge hikes in parking charges in recent years these have probably been cleared out.
You and your mechanic have to travel to each of these.
In these corona virus days all this is really difficult to do. It may be a good time to find bargains though.
It is true that getting FAA papers today is a significant hassle – unless you can travel to the US and just get on with it. Accordingly the N-reg market is not doing great. I spoke to a UK based N-reg SR22 owner a while ago who told me he was unable to sell it at any decent price and eventually put it on G.
@Peter, this one looks like it’s being flown regularly (albeit in a flight school). I believe that Spain will open its borders from July 1st and I wanted to get at least initial inspection done before that, as I will put an offer on it to compensate for any issues it might have probably 10k lower than asking. And in the end, I look at this Arrow as a temporary solution until I get something better so I wouldn’t really care if I lose 10-20-30k on it (my cars lose more value than that each year :) ).
So if anyone has someone to recommend there that would be helpful. Ideally, it would be a mechanic, but even someone with a good general knowledge could do that as I am only looking for signs of major issues (I am not expecting a perfect aircraft for 50k euros). I tried looking at official Piper service centers, the closes one is listed in France and that one has a UK address :)
WilliamF wrote:
You could do a lot worse than our PA-28-236 Dakota. It’s better than both of those.
Could be, but at 150k that is Bonanza range not Cherokee/Dakota.
Hi. If you can’t find a mechanic in Madrid, I may be able to offer a trustworthy mechanic from Mallorca to travel to Madrid and do a one-morning checkout. He is experienced with Arrows and will know what to look for.
The aircraft does not seem to have had much use in the past 10 years. i dont know where it has been sitting but Madrid is a reasonably dry place.
Even though it has few hours since engine OH I would price it as mid-lifed due to the risk resulting from low use since OH. I think on this particular engine you can also further mitigate that risk by removing and inspecting all hydraulic tappets, but that is significant work and investment for a pre-buy.
Obviously, despite the low use, the owners put effort in keeping it airworthy (for example prop OH in 2017)
