Getting to know and learn from the previous owner of my airplane proved to be a wonderful experience.
THE NEW OWNER: THE POWER OF NETWORKING The classifieds are not the only place to find your next airplane. Just like in the business world, it could be about who you know.
BY JASON McDOWELL
IF A GUY CAN ENGINEER parts that are, at this very moment, still functioning 14 billion miles away from Earth in interstellar space, I figured he probably knew how to properly care for a 145 hp Continen- tal aircraft engine. This was my rationale behind much of my decision making as I waded through the unfamiliar waters of my first aircraft purchase last spring. The seller spent decades working as an actual rocket engineer, and his work was used on both Voyager space probes. Accordingly, I gave him the benefit of the doubt while evaluating the airplane. I still had a local, independent mechanic perform a thorough pre-purchase inspection, but I felt confident the airplane had been well-maintained. Fortunately, it all worked out in the end. Starting the Search Like most prospective buyers, I began my airplane search bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, intoxicated by visions of a hangar door slowly open- ing to reveal my dream plane. In my mind’s eye, a pristine Cessna 170B would emerge, bathed in glorious shafts of sunlight as unseen angels sang from the heavens above. After more than a year of nonstop searching and shopping, however, I became a shell of my former self. Like Gollum in Lord of the Rings, I spent my days in solitude, crouched over my dimly lit laptop in the darkness. Rocking back and forth and muttering to myself, I constantly refreshed various classified sites in the hopes that previously unseen treasure might be revealed. I was searching for that which did not ex- ist—a reasonably priced Cessna 170. It didn’t help that so many happy aircraft owners were creating such
wonderful photo and video content and slathering it across social me- dia. And it didn’t help that my friend Jim—just on the other side of town—happened to own a beautiful 180 hp 170 of his own, fully outfit- ted with all the coolest upgrades. Sure, I was happy for them and glad to see them out enjoying their own dream machines, but it made it that much more difficult to be stuck in the bloody trenches of an aircraft market that most assuredly belonged to the sellers. The Ugly Truth As anyone who has seriously shopped for an airplane over the past couple of years knows, it’s been ugly out there for quite some time. Airplanes are difficult to come by. Good airplanes even more so. And anymore, examples that are both mechanically sound and attractively priced are virtually unheard of. For the better part of a year, my airplane search became the singular focus of my life. “How are you doing?” my friends and family would ask. I’d reply with something along the lines of, “Well, there was a ‘48 in Ne- braska I should have jumped on, but it sold right away. The cool-look- ing black B-model in Florida isn’t actually a B at all and has had some sketchy mods done that apparently lack the proper STC paperwork.” The silence that would follow reminded me that I was the only person living in my mania, and that they were simply curious to know whether I was still a healthy, functioning member of society—a question I had inadvertently and unknowingly just answered. It was a good thing that I kept the topic alive in those conversations, though, because one of them would ultimately pay off. While exchang- ing some messages with my friend Chelsea in the Pacific Northwest, who owns a sweet Cessna taildragger of her own, I lamented the state
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