FIVE TIPS for Finding Your Perfect Airplane
It’s time to ‘think outside the box.’
BY JASON McDOWELL
IF YOU'RE ENTERTAINING the idea of purchasing your first air- plane, you likely have dozens of aircraft reviews and buyers guides bookmarked in your browser. You’ve learned how important it is to match an airplane’s capabilities to the sort of flying you expect to do most often. And if your daydreaming has evolved into analysis, you might have already begun to narrow your choices down to a handful of potential candidates. But how do you determine which type is truly best for you? In a mar- ket where competitively-priced examples sell within minutes of being posted online, what factors should you anticipate ahead of time to make your entry into ownership as painless as possible? Anymore, it’s about getting creative and thinking outside the box. Attend Fly-Ins Imagine if there was a nationwide network of airplane dealerships that specialized in everyday, real-world, used airplanes. Chances are your local dealership would become a regular haunt, and you’d constantly find reasons to stop by on your way home from work. That dealership network doesn’t exist, but local fly-ins do. On any summer Saturday morning, there’s bound to be a pancake breakfast or EAA chapter event taking place in your area. Simply look for event
calendars online and drive out to them as you’re able. There, you’ll get to see an ever-changing variety of airplanes up close and in person. Better yet, you’ll be able to chat with their owners about what those types are like to own. If you’re invited to sit in them, you’ll learn how comfortable they are (or aren’t), and indeed, whether you even fit. At the end of the day, you’ll walk away with a working familiarity of vari- ous types and the unique ownership concerns of each. Get Out There While the web is a wonderful resource that should be fully utilized, it’s no substitute for the connections we can make with others in person. Most of the time, this process begins—again—on a Saturday morning, but this time, at your local small-town FBO. There, the regulars will likely be gathered around a table, swilling 100-octane airport coffee, telling tall tales, and solving the world’s problems. Bring a friendly smile and a fresh box of doughnuts for the group and you’ll be welcomed into the fold. Before long, you may have a lead on an airplane that the owner has talked about selling, but that isn’t yet on the market. And just like that, you’ll have beaten hundreds of other shoppers to it. This is how I found my own airplane. While whining about my lack of success in finding a reasonably-priced Cessna 170 to a friend, she
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