pre-buy

[sbrooks]

Can anyone help me find a Long-Ez builder who does pre-buy inspections in the Riverside California area?

[Anonymous]

Can't help you specifically, but I can tell you what I did.

I needed a prepurchase done recently, and I emailed Terry Schubert at CSA to get a recommendation. Using the CSA roster, I'd found a LongEZ builder/A&P not far from the project in question, and Terry told me he'd be a good choice.

Based on the inspection, I elected not to proceed. Prepurchase inspections are money WELL SPENT, IMHO.

I'd recommend joining CSA if you haven't already and making use of the membership roster. Look for a member who has built a plane, and preferably one who also is an A&P. Compensate them appropriately for their time and expertise.

[Dan Patch]

As many (most?) in the canard community know (but fewer buyers perhaps?), David Orr (aka Beagle) <canardfinder@att.net> located in the LA area (not that far from Riverside) has been involved in buying/selling canards for many years.  He's a long-time EZ pilot and serves on behalf of buyers.  You evidently have a specific plane in mind, but David may well already know about it.  You may decide to avail yourself of David's expertise or not, your choice.  If you do decide to contact David, it's appropriate to expect to pay his fee.  Note that other than knowing Beagle well and flying with him, I have no financial connection with David, whatsoever.  Buried in one of his recent (excellent, as usual) Squadron III newsletters was this discription of his services, in his own words.  Even if you have no interest in contacting Beagle, I think his comments are of general interest to others the wider canard community.  

Dan Patch


Quote from David Orr, from the May 5, 2005 Squadron III newsletter:

"And as most of you know, I also run Canardfinder – a service that finds good airplanes, good projects or even just plans for people looking.  I’m amazed at how many people are looking and yet how few actually buy.  I use a contingent fee for lack of anything better to spread the cost of helping these buyers out.  I discourage some buyers because they obviously don’t have their flying heads screwed on right.  Figuring I give extensive help to about 100 people a year and that results in only about 5 sales per year, my fee doesn’t even start to cover all the hours I put into the finding process.  

I’m occasionally hurt when one of our members offers his plane up for sale in some other forum and doesn’t bother to let me know.  I have buyers waiting at any one time for the right airplane.   I watch some planes offered at outrageous prices and can only smile as I watch the prices fall, month to month in the ads.  I refer buyers to some very good inspectors who have volunteered to help people inspect airplanes.   Some of the planes on my lists include a strong warning not to buy them – as we have all seen, a few planes are garbage.  I list them so  that the buyer doesn’t suddenly rush out on an ad and buy the wrong  plane."