Celebrate your freedom to fly: Mine, all mine

Buying an airplane can be exhilarating. You’re purchasing a dream machine that will take you places and show you things no other vehicle can.

Buying an airplane can be exhilarating. You’re purchasing a dream machine that will take you places and show you things no other vehicle can.

At the same time, you’re about to acquire a pile of moving parts that must be carefully maintained so that it can continue to take you places and show you things no other vehicle can—safely and efficiently. That’s the sobering aspect of aircraft purchase and ownership. But let’s set that second part aside for now, and focus on the process of becoming an aircraft owner.

What should be about as complicated as buying a car can tangle you up in a ball unless you do some homework and have a strategy. Fortunately, many souls have traveled down this path. Their experiences and the resources we’ll share in this article can help you find your perfect airplane—and acquire it with relative ease. Plus, the experienced pilots who staff the AOPA Pilot Information Center can help you at any point in the process. They’re available to take your call at 800-USA-AOPA weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, or you can send an email.

What’s your budget?

Determine how much you’re willing to spend. The purchase price is just a starting point. An airplane has operating costs, as well as annual maintenance, insurance, a hangar or tiedown, and a reserve fund for upgrades or engine replacement. AOPA offers an online cost calculator (see “Resources,” p. 37) to help you figure out the dollars and cents.

What type of airplane?

Nail down the type of airplane you want. This is harder than it seems, unless you’ve longed for a Piper Cub or a Mooney forever and nothing else will do. (And if you do have a make and model in mind, will it fit into your budget?)

Which airplane is right for you? The answer requires some additional thought. Start by asking yourself, How do I intend to use the airplane?

Katie Pribyl, AOPA senior vice president of communications, had an idea of what she wanted. “I grew up in Montana, and I love flying in the backcountry, camping with airplanes, and landing at challenging places and in unique environments,” she said. “So when I started looking for my first airplane to own, I searched for airplanes that would first and foremost fit that lifestyle.” Pribyl eventually chose a Cessna 180 Skywagon for its utility and payload.

Then again, some pilots know what they want, just because. “I knew I wanted a retractable—it’s an emotional thing—and I knew that as a 101-hour private pilot with just seven hours’ complex time, getting insurance would be a problem,” said David Kenny, AOPA Air Safety Institute manager of safety analysis. Kenny bought a 1967 Piper Arrow.

“The backup gear extender…made it palatable to the underwriters, and after reviewing the specs I decided the 180-horsepower model offered the best compromise between payload, speed, and efficiency,” he said.

Note that Kenny was thinking about insurance very early in the process (he did his homework!). As you start to formulate ideas about the type of airplane you want, contact an insurer or plug some numbers into a risk calculator to see what your insurance bill might look like.

Will your airplane be a traveling machine or a poke-holes-in-the-sky kind of airplane? That represents two ends of the spectrum in terms of price and performance. And, while you can find aircraft that do both wonderfully well, you must determine where you might need to compromise to stay within your budget.

Another consideration: Are you using this airplane for training? Obviously, some airplanes are much better suited to a student pilot than others. Along the same lines, if you plan to get an instrument rating in the airplane, consider the type of instrument platform it will make.

Once you’ve defined your mission, refine it. You may want a true four-seat airplane, but be realistic. How often do you anticipate you’ll fill those four seats? If a two-seat or a smaller four-seat aircraft will suit your needs for 90 percent of your flying, consider the smaller airplane. You can always trade up.

Don’t discount airplanes you haven’t personally flown. “A student of mine owned a Beech Sundowner and without ever having flown it, I had always heard how slow it was compared to a 172,” said AOPA Corporate Pilot Luz Beattie. “When I started flying with him I realized what a great family airplane this was. The comfort and the view sold me, and I ended up purchasing it from him.” The perfect airplane could be the one you never thought about, she said.

As you research and start to form some ideas on the make and model you want, turn to pilot reports for general information on availability, performance, and maintenance costs and issues. Delve deeper with manufacturers and type clubs for operating tips and resources for parts and maintenance.

Wherefore art thou?

Thanks to the Internet, the airplane market is right at your fingertips. Of course, that means you have more work to do narrowing down which airplanes are worth investigating. Barnstormers.com, Controller.com, and Trade-a-Plane.com are popular sites—and airplanes are even starting to pop up on Craigslist. Airplanes are commonly sold on eBay—but we wouldn’t recommend moving forward on an auction of an airplane, sight unseen, for your very first airplane purchase.

Don’t overlook more traditional methods, such as fliers at your local airport or airport restaurant, or even asking your pilot friends. Search the inventory of airplane brokers, as well.

Scanning advertisements, you’ll come across a whole new batch of abbreviations and acronyms: NDH (no damage history); SMOH (since major [engine] overhaul); TTA (total time airframe). We’ve translated these for you, and the list is online (www.aopa.org/Deciphering-Abbreviations).

As you explore, you likely will find varying interiors, paint schemes, avionics, and perhaps aftermarket modifications for safety, power, performance, or appearance. You can purchase an aircraft with shabby paint or 1960s-era radios and upgrade those items on your own dime. But some upgrades are much more expensive than others.

“The best advice I got when I started shopping for an airplane came from Tom Gardiner, who runs the line and maintenance operations at Dulles Aviation, my base at that time,” said Kenny. “He told me, ‘Find one whose panel is already set up the way you want it. Paint, interiors, and even engine overhauls are cheap compared to avionics work!”

You can use Vref—AOPA’s aircraft valuation service—as a starting point to determine an airplane’s general retail value and come up with an offer.

Pry before you fly

You’ve found your airplane. You flew it, and it fits you to a T. You’ve made an offer to the seller—and he said yes. It’s not time for the happy dance just yet. First, you’ll want to get a title search to ensure that there are no outstanding liens that could interfere with your ability to obtain financing or close the deal. Second, you’ll need to arrange for a thorough prepurchase inspection, or prebuy. This is your opportunity to investigate every aspect of your dream airplane, including the mechanical as well as the cosmetic condition of the airplane, as well as its legal status (to ensure that its FAA records are up to date). And are those after-market modifications we mentioned installed with supplemental type certificates? You must verify that those STCs were installed legally and the paperwork exists to prove it.

Many sellers will offer a “fresh annual with purchase” as a selling point, but that is not the same thing as a prepurchase inspection—and should not be accepted in lieu of one.

You can ask the buyer to take the airplane to an airport and mechanic of your choice, but he may or may not like that idea—and until money changes hands he doesn’t have to agree to it. You may have to try to find an independent mechanic who will travel to the seller’s airport.

“The vintage Cessna 180 I bought was located several states away and I didn’t have time to do my own prebuy flight or inspection,” said Pribyl. “It was out of annual and I agreed to use the shop that had done the previous maintenance and inspections, as recommended by the owner. If I did it again, I’d inspect the airplane personally and have an independent mechanic do an annual or the prebuy.”

Issues that pop up during the prebuy inspection can be negotiated into the final sales price. Drawing up a sales agreement with the terms and conditions of the sale, including the items to be fixed during the prebuy, can protect both you and the seller if a disagreement should arise.

Before money changes hands, the seller should be able to show that the airplane has an airworthiness certificate, engine and airframe logbooks, aircraft equipment list, weight and balance data, required placards, and FAA-approved aircraft flight manual or owner’s handbook.

Don’t forget the tax man

Depending on where you purchase the airplane, and where you base it, you may be subject to sales or use tax. You’ll want to investigate carefully your own situation. AOPA’s The Pilot’s Guide to Taxes can help you, but if you have special circumstances or are considering using the airplane for business purposes, consult a tax specialist.

As you fly your airplane home, revel in the moment. This is your dream machine. And, while you may be adopting the “I drive an old car so I can fly an old airplane” lifestyle, it’s a lifestyle you won’t regret.