Buying a 170B?

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 2:11 pm

I think I found the perfect 170B for my family. I have lots of questions. This forum has been so helpful. I spend hours reading and studying all the posts. How do I proceed once I find that perfect aircraft. It is over a thousand miles from my home. How do I find a A&I to look it over in a prebuy inspection? (It looks cherry). How do I get a title search? How do I get insurance right away for a ferry flight if the deal goes through? I am heading to Oshkosh from here in VA and then on to Denver. I can stop and look at the airplane on the way (land travel uck), but I feel the aircraft will be sold by then as it looks so good. Any help is appreciated, GARY

eichenberger · Post by **eichenberger** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 3:34 pm

Gary -
Read George Horn's previous comments about pre-buys. There is really no such thing. Get an annual done, it has a defined scope and detail.
As for insurance, get ahold of a broker right now. Get your quotes, and tell the broker that you are looking at this airplane, and may need to buy it, and bind your coverage on very short notice. When you decide to buy it, tell the broker to bind the coverage before you even start the engine to fly it home.
Any more questions, let us know.
Good luck!!!

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 5:25 pm

Thanks for the information. I called the owner about the aircraft and it is sold. The owner was taking names and phone numbers in case the deal falls through. Have to be faster next time. It was a cherry 170... tail number N170CP. I will go to the airshow and look at a bunch of 170s and fly one with my best man from 25 years ago. Will get an education in 170s from him and continued visits to this web site. The site has been so helpful, with so much information. Thanks again. GARY "Still looking"

funseventy · Post by **funseventy** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 10:48 pm

My advice on the perfect airplane purchase. If its Summer and a nice airplane at a fair price, you have to put $500 in the guy's hand to hold it til you get there to look at it. You may even end up losing the 500, but it is the only way to get a chance.

Prebuys are for saying no and annuals are for saying yes. I would have a guy do a glorified walk-around for a pre-buy to see if its worth pursuing. If it is, then get an annual done as part of the purchase.

King Aircraft Title in Oklahoma City can almost always get a title search done same day if you call them at 8am.

Take a 170 driver with you to bring it home.

Sorry you missed it, grab the next. Kelly

N4316B · Post by **N4316B** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 12:34 am

I can 'third' the recommendation for getting a full annual done. And find someone who's picky. My mechanic missed stuff on the prebuy that cost me over $10k.

I have a beautiful plane now, but it took lots of mula to get it there!

Have fun,

Dennis

P.S. If you don't take the annual advice, at the very least, when you do the prebuy, be sure to get an oil change. And I'd even like to sent a sample off for analysis.

theduckhunter · Post by **theduckhunter** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 4:13 am

Gary wrote:Thanks for the information. I called the owner about the aircraft and it is sold. The owner was taking names and phone numbers in case the deal falls through. Have to be faster next time. It was a cherry 170... tail number N170CP. I will go to the airshow and look at a bunch of 170s and fly one with my best man from 25 years ago. Will get an education in 170s from him and continued visits to this web site. The site has been so helpful, with so much information. Thanks again. GARY "Still looking"

Gary, don't feel so bad. N170CP might very well be a good one but I called about it too and found out that it had extremely high time airframe, lots of calendar hours on the current engine with a top overhaul only several years after the major and most important, did not have all the airframe logs.

doug8082a · Post by **doug8082a** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 4:48 pm

funseventy wrote:My advice on the perfect airplane purchase. If its Summer and a nice airplane at a fair price, you have to put $500 in the guy's hand to hold it til you get there to look at it. You may even end up losing the 500, but it is the only way to get a chance.

Prebuys are for saying no and annuals are for saying yes. I would have a guy do a glorified walk-around for a pre-buy to see if its worth pursuing. If it is, then get an annual done as part of the purchase.

Take a 170 driver with you to bring it home.

Ditto on Kelly's post. The truly good ones don't last long. I know a guy locally who put money down on one just hours after it was posted on Trade-a-Plane's web site and subsequently bought it. Good thing he did as the seller had several calls on it in short order.

Finding one with EVERYTHING you want is tough. I ended up buying one that needed some cosmetic work because it had many of the "must have" items i was looking for: low time SMOH, oil filter adaptor, circuit breakers, original style panel, etc. She's been a real solid bird and now just needs paint.

If you locate something far from home, maybe you could enlist the help from someone on the group local to that area to recommend an A&P and/or take a look at it and give you a report on it.

Good luck.

dacker · Post by **dacker** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 2:41 am

Ditto on an annual as opposed to a "prebuy". As you may have seen from my posts "Grounded", a mistake can be expensive. One other thing that I don't quite agree with though. That is putting money down until you are absolutely sure you are ready to buy the airplane. I don't claim to have a lot of experience buying airplanes, but it seems to me that airplanes, even 170s, are generally in a buyer's market, so why turn it into a seller's market? Unless you are getting the airplane for parts take your time and wait for the annual. If not, all you may have are parts. I am sure you can find a winner if you are patient and careful. This forum is a great place to find a wealth of info. Good Luck!
David Acker
9584A

Post by **GAHorn** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 6:51 pm

Aircraft title companies (my personal favorite is Insured Aircraft Title Service in OKC) offer "escrow" service that can hold your earnest money deposit until you close the deal. Meanwhile the seller has an obligation to give you a "good faith" opportunity to inspect the airplane. These details should be clearly described in a "letter of offer". That letter will describe both seller and buyer's actions and obligations.
(I.E., seller will allow buyer's inspector access to the airplane for 5 days, and buyer will then either reject or complete the sale. Seller will receive the escrow money only after the aircraft inspection is complete and the aircraft is found to be "as described", description attached. etc etc.)
The escrow company will not release the funds to the seller until the buyer/depositor allows it. Both parties have legal protections under the terms of the letter of offer.

N1478D · Post by **N1478D** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:15 pm

It would be useful if an example of an offer letter that has proven to be effective could be posted. A friend is in the process of buying hopefully a 170, maybe a 140, and we could use a good example of an offer letter.

Post by **GAHorn** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:50 pm

N1478D wrote:It would be useful if an example of an offer letter that has proven to be effective could be posted. A friend is in the process of buying hopefully a 170, maybe a 140, and we could use a good example of an offer letter.

You have a "friend"?

N1478D · Post by **N1478D** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 8:05 pm

That depends, are you going to post an example of the #@@#ing offer letter?

The International Cessna 170 Association

Buying a 170B?

Buying a 170B?

Do the annual