Buying an aircraft

[blacknight]

Thinking of buying a second hand Cirrus SR20. Any comments appreciated.

[Aerodynamisist]

There is Cirrus owners forum on the net, I think you can get to from the cirrus factory website, all the info you moght need is there including what commonly goes wrong with the aircraft at particular ages, for example they all seem to do there alternators every 500 hours. All the info you might wish for is there.

[Mr Milk]

Hey mate, my boss has a cirrus sr20. It is the best cirrus in the free world and I have posted pics of it all over pprune. Pm me for a non biased appraisal of the aircraft.


And if it is the 215k beast, ask yourself- why so cheap???

[Peter Fanelli]

If you can afford to have it sit on the ground for a year and do nothing then go right ahead.
If you have to think about leasing it to a flying school or making it available for hire to make it pay its way, you can't afford it.

[Jabawocky]

PF

Why on earth would you let it sit on the ground doing nothing.

I would rather someone flew it an hour every two weeks ....and paid nothing to do so....

I have a very good friend and customer who has one, and due to the Cirrus folk here in Brisbane being so slack, and his work commitments etc.... it sat idle for almost a year. He then gets an annual done :eek:......... bulk strip, new cam and a rebuild bill that would make your eyes water......not bad for an a/c with 175 hours on the clock!

Buy it = Fly it :ok:

Its cheaper to have someone fly it for free than let it sit for months on end.

J:ok:

[Peter Fanelli]

My point is that you probably don't want to buy if you do not have the resources to own it without it earning an income.

[Jabawocky]

Fairnuff!:ok:

[Arnold E]

Hey Jabba, I am willing to fly your 10 for nothing to keep it in the air.:}

[powerstall]

Cirrus SR20 (and a bit about the SR22) (http://philip.greenspun.com/flying/cirrus-sr20)

check it out. :E

[nick2007]

I don't want to sound like a killjoy, but I agree with PF.
If you are a first-time buyer, please be very careful - any aircraft will be a substantial hole in your pocket, even when it is sitting idle on the ground.
Without trying to sound patronising, I suggest that you budget carefully (worst case scenario - e.g. regularly replacement of parts)...
If you are a weekend flyer, there is nothing more disappointing than getting to the airfield only to find that the aircraft on which you spend so much money is unserviceable again. That said, bear a couple of things in mind -

1. A technologically sophisticated aircraft like the Cirrus has a greater number of systems etc, all of which will add to the regular maintenance costs. Plus there is probably a greater number of modes of failure of the various gadgets (compared to an 'old-fashioned' aircraft type) that will render the aircraft U/S. This equals more down time and more unscheduled expenses.

2. Conversely, being a newer airframe, it should not have too many problems while it is still young.

When you think about it, it's all fairly common sense I guess, so I hope that didn't sound patronising!

On a brighter note, best of luck! :ok:

[Peter Fanelli]

I wonder how a Cirrus will stand up to 20 or 30 years of sitting in the Australian sunshine like the many Beech/Cessna/Piper etc have done before.

[VH-XXX]

I'm still interested in whether the steam gauges or digital are more reliable. Have seen plenty of issues with both but with steam driven one instrument won't take out the whole glass unit.

With the cirrus the pfd is not critical to the flight taking place safely - lose that and you are back on dials as most important bits are duplicated with mechanical gyro and analogue engine instruments.

[Peter Fanelli]

That's one reason I like the Aspen kit. On many aircraft you could relocate the steam AI and DG and retain a full set of steam instruments as well as having the Aspen glass.

[paulp]

The thing I like about a PFD is that most fails result in big red X marks on a black background. In comparison, a mechanical gyro can easily fail in a gradual, deceptive way.

[paulp]

If you are interested in buying a plane then join the owners' group for that aircraft. It is cheap relative to what you are about to spend. Just remember that people are more likely to post about a problem than to say "I flew my plane today and everything worked." The Cirrus owners' group is at Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association (http://www.cirruspilots.org/) and is one of the best owners groups around. It is very active.

Cirrus aircraft are great buys right now. Personally I would prefer an older SR22 to a newer SR20 at a given price point. The reason is climb capability. The SR20 is efficient on relatively low power i.e. 200 hp. The SR22 at 310 hp has power to spare. This really shows up on hot days, at max gross, or when at high altitude. Cirrus aircraft have undergone a lot of changes over the years. There is a good article on the Cirrus Owners's site (COPA). If you join just look through the PDF's of prior issues of Cirrus Pilot magazine.

I want to back up the others who say make sure that after hangar, annual, fuel, etc. you can afford to fly. I would rather have a cheaper plane I could afford to fly than a pretty plane that just sat.

[blacknight]

Thanks to you all. Everything taken on board. Cheers

[Trojan1981]

Bit of a thread drift. Has anyone here imported a private sale aircraft from the states before? I am specifically interested in importing a Pitts S-2B.

They are much, much cheaper to purchase over there and obviously there is much more choice. What are the drawbacks with importing an aircraft and adding to the Aus VH register?

[Ovation]

No real drawbacks except for 10% GST payable on total purchase price which includes shipping and insurance (I assume you would ship in a container).

Gettting onto the VH register has a cost and you might want to get a quote from a LAME for that part.

Most importantly, a title search and a thorough and independent pre-purchase inspection will protect your investment. It is also important that you physically inspect anything you are considering (i.e a trip to the USA) - to use an agent to do so can work sometimes but not always.

Good luck! :ok: