Pro tips for when you're ready to buy your airplane!

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AOPA Social Media Marketer Cayla Hunt shares some helpful tips on what you should be looking out for when buying an airplane.
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[@tylerp6375]

Be sure to lay physical eyes on the airplane and fly it if able before committing. The mechanic may not inspect things that are only able to be checked during flying and they may have a different idea of what looks good. I bought a plane based on photos and the inspectors recommendation that was across the country and had to repair two instruments and it was in rougher shape than I expected.

[@flywithaopa]

Good advice!

[@DanFrederiksen]

Pro tip, don't buy a cessna 172. Get an LSA instead. Run it on mogas. It's literally quarter the running costs and service. With a repairman certificate you can do the annual inspection yourself. And you can sell a couple of owner parts at your local airfield that way you can share purchase cost, insurance and hangar. I had 1/8 share, it was rarely used so the calendar was open like it was all mine and it was like I had no financial burden from owning it. It was an Evektor. I paid a bit under 7000$ for my part, it was a 2005 plane or so. 200$ a year in insurance and hangar and 28.5$ an hour including fuel. And we have high gas taxes here in Denmark. And some LSAs even have parachutes. And weren't used in WW2. And I believe you can do IFR in some LSAs with the right instrument. And to my surprise it seems that in Europe they are allowing GPS only navigation without ILS and VOR instruments.

[@No4murasame]

Hanger, man, talk about catch 22. You want to have a hanger ready for a new bird, you can’t have one if you already don’t have a bird, and the wait list is 10 years long. I’m just ranting.

[@MrZrryan2]

PRO Tip # 1 = win the lottery.
How to make a small fortune buying and selling airplanes??? Start with a large fortune.

[@pilotblue6535]

You have been away for a while. Glad to see you

[@rkm237]

That plane... in the background... of the opening shot... it looks SO FAMILIAR!

[@scarybaldguy]

"Make sure there's hangar or tiedown space available."
Cayla, I have some extremely bad news for you and any other potential owners...

[@cayla_mcleod]

haha that's why I made sure to mention it!

[@cmritchie04]

The airplane might not be registered in a persons name but rather a business name for legal "firewall" reasons