Pre-Buy Inspection in Central California

meritflyer

Well-Known Member
I am looking for a decent mechanics shop to do a pre-buy on a Piper Arrow near Stockton, Livermore, or anything close.

The problem is, nobody (A&P) I have talked to thinks that anything less than an annual will give them a good indication of the airplane's shape.

Any thoughts?

Thx.
 
The problem is, nobody (A&P) I have talked to thinks that anything less than an annual will give them a good indication of the airplane's shape.

Why is this a problem? Sounds like that is a solid idea for this type of investment. Pay 'em to do the annual why they are at it.
 
Why is this a problem? Sounds like that is a solid idea for this type of investment. Pay 'em to do the annual why they are at it.

Agreed.
You do a cheap pre-by and you're going to pay for it in the end. My instructor (A&P) had a regular customer bring him a new Stearman. He'd had someone else do the pre-by and the idiot hadn't caught anything. That stearman cost the customer $85,000 and then he immediatly had to pay another $25,000 on maintenance to fix things that the first A&P missed.
 
When I bought my 172, I had a prebuy done by Dusty at Power Aviation in Vacaville. He's a straight shooting standup guy and he was willing to answer any and all of my questions before I paid him a dime. The owner of the a/c I purchased didn't want to take the plane to my mechanic, but it was a good enough deal for me to overlook that fact and have Dusty come to the plane. For $300 he flew to AUN and gave the plane a thorough check. It was undergoing an annual at the time, so it was easier to check everything over than a straight prebuy would be, but money well spent nevertheless.
 
I am looking for a decent mechanics shop to do a pre-buy on a Piper Arrow near Stockton, Livermore, or anything close.

The problem is, nobody (A&P) I have talked to thinks that anything less than an annual will give them a good indication of the airplane's shape.

Any thoughts?

Thx.
I know of the guru, he is at Grass Valley (KGOO) Alpine Aviation Gordon Mills is tho only mechanic for me when I buy my airplane (someday)
http://www.flyalpine.com/Maintenance_index.htm

Not the cheapest, but the best.

From KLVK it's 100 miles from KSCK it's 80...
 
I am looking for a decent mechanics shop to do a pre-buy on a Piper Arrow near Stockton, Livermore, or anything close.

The problem is, nobody (A&P) I have talked to thinks that anything less than an annual will give them a good indication of the airplane's shape.

Any thoughts?

Thx.
Have an annual done. That way you don't have any surprises. Try and go to the piper owners association and see who they recommend.
 
Unless it needs an annual its retarded to have to do an annual when all you need is a pre-buy. That is my 2 cents.

Of course with that said, I had a client do an annual on an aircraft he bought and quite a few things were wrong with it -- that he found out about only after he purchased it and weren't listed on the annual. In fact, the inspection plates had never even been opened (since the last time it was painted.) So that moral becomes don't do the annual with the mechanic the owner recommends or is even near the owner, fly the airplane somewhere to do an annual.
 
Unless it needs an annual its retarded to have to do an annual when all you need is a pre-buy. That is my 2 cents.

Of course with that said, I had a client do an annual on an aircraft he bought and quite a few things were wrong with it -- that he found out about only after he purchased it and weren't listed on the annual. In fact, the inspection plates had never even been opened (since the last time it was painted.) So that moral becomes don't do the annual with the mechanic the owner recommends or is even near the owner, fly the airplane somewhere to do an annual.
I would say that if you know the owner, or where the annual is done do the prebuy, but if it all unknown, do the annual. My Cheetah was always maintained by the local grumman expert here in NorCal, so I brought to another for the prebuy. However, had it been some dude from the FBO doing the annual, I would have had the annual redone to ensure that everything was covered.
 
Correct me if I am wrong (since I have never owned an airplane and had to fork out the cash for inspections) but does an annual inspection actually cost that much? I mean JUST the inspection, not the associated repair items that may be found during the inspection.

Could you have an A&P do an annual-type inspection if the airplane has recently been signed off for an annual (since an IA must actually do an annual) and maybe lower the costs a little that way? I have heard people also offering to do some light work themselves such as removing and replacing inspection covers to reduce the man-hours needed for the inspection. Just a thought.

I would pretty much not know where to start if I were buying a plane!
 
Cheapest annual that actually is an annual and not a logbook whipping would be like $700, I'd figure. If you do the annual per the aircraft maintenance manual (as opposed to the FARs) it could be considerably more.
 
I know of a guy who is/was a United Airlines mechanic and is active in the Livermore area. A friend of mine, who has owned almost 30 different airplanes and knows his s*#t, recommended him to me. A few years ago I bought an Aeronca Chief and this guy did the pre-buy for me. I was happy with the airplane after purchase. The guy's name is Paul Agliotis and could be reached through Red Sky Aviation in Livermore (925) 294-9703. Paul was thorough and very reasonably priced.
 
I know the guys that started Top Gun in Stockton. They were the best mechanics in the bay area, bar none. Of course that was 20 years ago, but some of the original mechanics should still be around. They specialize in Mooney aircraft, but could probably look at an Arrow.


Typhoonpilot
 
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