Suggestions on buying a used Cessna 172, please!

twistair

Living in the Skies
Joined
Nov 24, 2003
Messages
1,161
Location
Kronshtadt, Russia
Aircraft
none own :( currently flying Calidus mostly
Total Flight Time
Don't know exactly, ca. 3000 hours
I have a guy here who wants to buy a used but nice Cessna 172 so he asked me to surf on this.
He mostly wants good airplane manufactured in 2005 or near, with at least 800-1000 hrs TBO on engine, good exterior and interior.
Sure I know about different websites which market such airplanes but the question is: does it worth to try to find such airplane directly from owner for lower price or anyway buying from resellers has some advantage(s)?
If direct purchase is possible and reasonable what are usual ways to look for such airplane(s)?
Any suggestions/ideas/experiences are highly appreciated.

TIA,
 
Suggestions:

1. Have your own AP&I inspect the plane before you commit to the purchase.
2. Make sure to do a title check to make sure there are no liens and the purchase is clean.
3. Know what you are buying. Planes that were used for flight instruction or planes with missing or incomplete logs are not for the "faint of heart." A "rule of thumb" is that complete and accurate maintenance logs are worth 25% of the aircraft's value.
4. This should be obvious, but maybe it isn't. Make sure all Airworthiness Directives (AD's) have properly been repaired or otherwise handled. That should be a function of #1 above.
 
Suggestions:

1. Have your own AP&I inspect the plane before you commit to the purchase.
2. Make sure to do a title check to make sure there are no liens and the purchase is clean.
3. Know what you are buying. Planes that were used for flight instruction or planes with missing or incomplete logs are not for the "faint of heart." A "rule of thumb" is that complete and accurate maintenance logs are worth 25% of the aircraft's value.
4. This should be obvious, but maybe it isn't. Make sure all Airworthiness Directives (AD's) have properly been repaired or otherwise handled. That should be a function of #1 above.

very good advise, also be sure to extend an offer, the market is soft and alot of planes are out there, don't take the sale price as rock bottom.
 
Alex,

Barnstormers is free, which is good, but the best source for used certified aircraft in the USA is Trade-a-plane. http://www.trade-a-plane.com. The website gives good options for searching.

If somebody is going to spend ~$100-150k on a late model Skyhawk he should not balk at paying for internet access to TAP. It will pay off for him.

Another free advertising source is www.controller.com.

One thing to be aware of with the late model 172/skyhawk is that there are, IIRC, 11 fuel sumps that must be drained and checked before flight. 13 if you get long range tanks. Why? In the USA we have too many hungry lawyers, that's why.

The biggest choices since 2005 are:

1. Glass panel (Garmin G1000) or steam gages - largely a matter of personal preference, but the current production is G1000 only.
2. 160 or 180 horsepower (172R is 160 Hp, the 180-horse plane is called 172S or Skyhawk SP). The 160 HP plane is more common before 2005 and the 180 since.
3. Degree of avionics. All come with good IFR panels and Garmin navigation, probably the key option is autopilot. I do think think that they all have ADF and DME, but I'm not sure -- check the specific aircraft, if you need those navaids for IFR certification in your country (in most of Europe you do).

You might be better served to buy an aircraft in Europe than in the USA. For a 172, crating and shipping is probably lower cost than ferrying, but it would be a lot easier to fly a plane from England or Germany to Russia than from the USA. They did that a lot during the war, so it can be done, but they left hundreds of wrecks in the mountains of Alaska and Siberia.

Anyway, good luck, and happy flying.

cheers

-=K=-
 
Thank you, guys, for every advise! Special thanks to Kevin - this made clear some things I thought about.
Will work further. As for ferry - this is just an idea how to get an interesting adventure, buyer wishes to take part in it. Let's see.
 
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