Aeroplane buying 'advice'?

[BroomstickPilot]

Hi Guys,

I have just discovered a website at http://www.airplanesecrets.com, which offers two documents supposedly containing advice on how to purchase an aeroplane without getting ripped off. One report costs about £20 and then there's a 'master' version for £35. Needless to say it is an American site.

The two proprietors say they are both private pilots with extensive experience of buying their own aeroplanes and are respectively the CEO of a company with facilities in Canada and California and a local chief of police.

Quite apart from the fact that what is true in America is not always true in the UK, the style and content of this site is such that to British eyes it practically screams, 'rip-off, rip-off, rip-off', with the usual offer of bonuses if you buy within the next few days, claims that it is even possible to make money from your aeroplane(!) and claiming to provide a '100 % Guarantee'.

However it must be born in mind that quite a few perfectly honest and above board American businesses have an advertising style that strikes British eyes similarly, so maybe these guys are genuine.

Has anybody had any dealings with them? I'm curious.

Broomstick.

[LowNSlow]

I don't think you'll get many farmers advertising aircraft for sale in the local press in the UK!!

Smells very fishy to me.........

[EvilKitty]

Oh dear... by posting that link here you just agreed to pay them $100,000 (unless you had express permission to do so of course).

Do people really think that terms like that are enforcable?:ugh:

[IO540]

I think what you get is a little booklet on what to check on a pre-buy.

I bought one of these from some UK pilot shop some years ago. Good if mostly obvious stuff.

[Shunter]

Personally when I bought my plane I did several things:

1) Didn't rush into it. Spent a long time establishing what would be the best aircraft for me, learning as much as I could about said model, including any well known faults and problems, AD's etc..

2) Found a maintenance firm who specialised in the type and knew them inside out. Had them do a thorough pre-purchase inspection of the aeroplane. Sure, you'll never find everything in a day, but a year down the line I've found their advice to be pretty damn good.

3) Didn't get overexcited. Didn't hand over a post-testflight cheque based on my mile-wide grin at that particular moment. Slept and stewed on it.

4) Didn't get too obsessed with mint interiors and flashy paint jobs. In the grand scheme of things they're of little consideration. You could quite easily buy an aircraft that looks mint, but subsequently have the engine implode and find it needs a new wing spar.

I ended up buying a plane which had an average paint job, and interior plastics which were old and cracked. That said the engine was in great shape, it had had a very expensive first-class wing spar replacement, and everything important (expensive) was top notch. Since then I've enjoyed uninterrupted, enjoyable flying and can sort out the cosmetic flaws at my leisure.

[radicalrabit]

I have been overwhelmed by the knowledge of the people on here and the vast amount of help and advice we have had in selecting a plane and how to go about getting it over here. Still waiting for the release of some funds so I can get on with it but thanks to everyone who has helped you have been brilliant.!!!!!:ok:

[sternone]

I think pilot's are the worst possible type of customer you can have in any business, they just know to much about the product!!!! The ones that don't know much about planes go out and buy a Cirrus, it's made for people who don't know alot about planes...

(that doesn't mean that some cirrus pilot's don't know much about planes, it means that the plane target audience isn't them)

[IO540]

The other thing is that ALL buying advice I have ever seen concentrates on how to buy a 30 year old wreck, but preferably one that doesn't disintegrate in the first year.

True, most of the GA scene is 30 year old wrecks, so this is good advice.

However there is a case, budget permitting, for buying something a lot newer. At a stroke, this eliminates a whole lot of hidden problems, and generally eliminates (for the first 10-15 years) the high and constant expenditure on airframe parts which characterises the 20-30 year old spamcan scene.

People who buy a new Cirrus, or a new TB20 as I did a few years ago when they still made them, are not usually stupid. They are people who want something not designed in WW2, something that already comes with all the required equipment, a 2 year warranty, and they end up with a very nice clean and civilised transport.