Hello Hello!
I can't believe I'm actually looking to buy an airplane, I never thought I would see the day. I'm like most people who believe you have to be extremely wealthy to afford your own aircraft. After doing some research, reading, question asking - I'm confident that its something that is affordable with my brother in law as a partner in crime. We would be spiting yearly costs and keeping track of our own hours. We are currently investing in our private licences and are not opposed to renting for a while but at the end of the day we want to own and use it when we want!
I say I'm looking at the Cherokee 140, I know the pa160 or the pa180 are a more powerful airplane, with higher pay loads and such, I see that the PA140 has a max payload of 949 LBS (wikipedia), so realistically 875lbs? (am I close?!) Which means if my bro in law (190lbs), myself (190Lbs), my wife (130lbs) and his wife (120lbs) (total 630lbs) want to go on a day trip we can realistically load up 37G of fuel? (am I even close on my calculations?) Its not every day that we would all be going out, maybe a few times a year if that we would do something like that. Being our first airplane we thought getting something small, easy to fly, cheap to run, cheap to insure would be the best thing to do. Opinions?
I've always loved the look of the Cherokee, I always choose to fly it on Flight Sim over the Cessna! I've been in a lot of Cessna's 150 Through to 182's they are nice airplanes to jump out of, but they don't really peak my interest in owning
I have a friend who does structures on the big guys a cousin who is an AME on heli's and a friend who owns a drop zone with 6 airplanes but doesn't own a piper. I have no issue bugging them once I own the plane but figured I'd ask the pro's with Pipers what to ask and look for when buying. Unfortunately buying an airplane isn't like buying a car, I can't just go down the road and look at them and take it for a spin. So how do you guys and girls buy a used airplane online? I figure you can't fly out to every one you view so you narrow it down to a couple and get them inspected by a local mechanic in the area? Is it abnormal to ask for all service records before buying?
What are the things that go wrong with older Piper airplanes that people miss? do seals tend to go? wings fall off? weak parts of the airplane? The ones I'm interested in have at least 1000-1200 hours left until the MOH. How often do the props get redone? One plane has 6000+ Hours on the frame, in my research that's not the biggest deal, true?
Is there any year or model Piper to stay away from? Our price range is up to $25000 which leaves some room for us to upgrade/repair the aircraft
If you can recommend a list of questions to ask that would be fantastic!
If you have links to any great threads on this site I'd love to see them, I've been doing some searching but I'm sure I've missed a lot!
Again, sorry for the rookiness! I have a lot to learn and I wish I knew more pilots that owned there own air crafts to pick their brains but not many people own them!
Thanks for all the help.
I can't believe I'm actually looking to buy an airplane, I never thought I would see the day. I'm like most people who believe you have to be extremely wealthy to afford your own aircraft. After doing some research, reading, question asking - I'm confident that its something that is affordable with my brother in law as a partner in crime. We would be spiting yearly costs and keeping track of our own hours. We are currently investing in our private licences and are not opposed to renting for a while but at the end of the day we want to own and use it when we want!
I say I'm looking at the Cherokee 140, I know the pa160 or the pa180 are a more powerful airplane, with higher pay loads and such, I see that the PA140 has a max payload of 949 LBS (wikipedia), so realistically 875lbs? (am I close?!) Which means if my bro in law (190lbs), myself (190Lbs), my wife (130lbs) and his wife (120lbs) (total 630lbs) want to go on a day trip we can realistically load up 37G of fuel? (am I even close on my calculations?) Its not every day that we would all be going out, maybe a few times a year if that we would do something like that. Being our first airplane we thought getting something small, easy to fly, cheap to run, cheap to insure would be the best thing to do. Opinions?
I've always loved the look of the Cherokee, I always choose to fly it on Flight Sim over the Cessna! I've been in a lot of Cessna's 150 Through to 182's they are nice airplanes to jump out of, but they don't really peak my interest in owning
I have a friend who does structures on the big guys a cousin who is an AME on heli's and a friend who owns a drop zone with 6 airplanes but doesn't own a piper. I have no issue bugging them once I own the plane but figured I'd ask the pro's with Pipers what to ask and look for when buying. Unfortunately buying an airplane isn't like buying a car, I can't just go down the road and look at them and take it for a spin. So how do you guys and girls buy a used airplane online? I figure you can't fly out to every one you view so you narrow it down to a couple and get them inspected by a local mechanic in the area? Is it abnormal to ask for all service records before buying?
What are the things that go wrong with older Piper airplanes that people miss? do seals tend to go? wings fall off? weak parts of the airplane? The ones I'm interested in have at least 1000-1200 hours left until the MOH. How often do the props get redone? One plane has 6000+ Hours on the frame, in my research that's not the biggest deal, true?
Is there any year or model Piper to stay away from? Our price range is up to $25000 which leaves some room for us to upgrade/repair the aircraft
If you can recommend a list of questions to ask that would be fantastic!
If you have links to any great threads on this site I'd love to see them, I've been doing some searching but I'm sure I've missed a lot!
Again, sorry for the rookiness! I have a lot to learn and I wish I knew more pilots that owned there own air crafts to pick their brains but not many people own them!
Thanks for all the help.
