I've come to the conclusion that the words "just been annualed" should be taken as a serious red flag when purchasing any aircraft. If you hear those words, you should immediately assume that there are major problems with the airplane. When I purchased my Coupe, it had a "new" annual. After the purchase, I had to repair the right wing tank, replace the brake master cylinder, and a few other minor repairs. $3,000.00 later, I have a great little plane. Both the tank repair and the brake problem should have kept the plane from passing an annual. But, come to find out, the AI was in the employment of the owner of the Coupe. I fully suspect he signed the annual off without anything other than a quick look over. I've gained a new respect for the phrase "Pre Purchase Inspection". If I ever purchase a plane again, I'll get the inspection, and if I purchase it, I'll have them sign it off as an annual. At least I'll be paying for it, telling them to find all the problems.
Larry Bob Ellis wrote: > Hello everyone, > > Just picked up my Coupe from it's "Annual and Major". I purchased this > coupe last week and hadn't flown it due to it having (supposedly) > "Everything" done to it. I was told yesterday that it was completed and I > could come and get it. When I arrived the mechanic told me that he was > completed and had a couple last minute things to enter into the logs nad the > IA would stamp his seal of approval. We did just that and I went out and > performed a run-up. The mags were hot and I didn't get any RPM drop on > either mag (or off!). When I brought it up to the mechanic we decided that > there was probably a grounding problem with the switch (the only place the > the mags come together to a single point). After he told me that I would > have to wait another week before he could get to it, I decided to just take > it home (45 minutes) and I could fix it there. > Anyway, I was hauling butt down the runway and lifted the plane off the > ground. Just as I lifted off, there was an incredible left rolling tendency! > Really caught me off guard. I had to keep the yoke 90 degrees to the right > just to keep the plane level. I found it to be very sluggish and cautiously > and slowly climbed to altitude. I figured that if I was gonna wipe myself > out on any runway, it might as well be my own, so I flew it home. As I was > coming in on final, I was pretty concerned about the nose wheel position on > touchdown (turned severely right). Well I touched down on the mains and bled > off the airspeed and settled the nose just fine. > So today I went back out to take a look at it and I found that one of the > mags was dead and the other was grossly out of time and the switch was wired > incorrectly, thus giving me a false indication that both were hot. > I called the mechanic about the rolling tendency. He said that he was > wondering why the right aileron was set a little differently than the left > (Torque rod adjustment) He said that he just reset them to 55 year old > tolerances! I figure that if someone just flew the damn thing in, I'd fly it > to see if it needs any adjustment rather than just assuming it does and > changing it. At least questioning the person who flew it before adjusting > the flight control surfaces might have been a good idea (It was that way for > a reason). > I can't believe and can't understand why the dead mag, timing error and > switch problem. There are obviously some QA/QC problems there and I am not > sure how I am gonna approach that due to the fact that the seller had it in > the shop for an annual when I first inquired about it and he paid for the > whole thing. > It really is a great plane and I am extremely happy to own it, these are > just some adjustments and I will have them taken care of in no time. The > trouble I am having is that I guess I just can't trust anyone! I am going to > get my A&P soon so that I will rely on no one else to assure me that my > children will be safe based on the quality of work performed on my aircraft. > Please be careful. > > Just tryin to get some altitude! > > Bob > ________________________________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com > > __________________________________________________________________________ ______ > To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ___________________________________________________________ > T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 > Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics -- ----------------------------------------------------- Click here for Free Video!! http://www.gohip.com/free_video/ __________________________________________________________________________ ______ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
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