It has been a whirlwind couple of months. C172 pilot owner here. After a May 2024 vacation that included a Vans factory tour I got all excited for a Vans plane. At the end of the tour I got to sit in a 14, surprised I might have fit as I am very tall and a bit overweight. Set up a discovery flight with Zach, did this in a 10 as it has more room for me. The marriage has suffered since, my poor wife clearly enjoys our 172, having worked a lot on it making it a forever plane.
I set out to learn the market for used 10s. I seriously considered building for the adventure but am a bit grateful to not get on that emotional roller coaster. In a used plane I was looking for something that did not need major effort with regards to a new engine, avionics, or other major expenses. Due to my body habitus, I tried to find one with a plain panel design, no center console projections or throttle quadrants, certainly not without sitting in the planes. I was surprised how many engines installed in new planes were overhauled, these I perceived to be less valuable than older engines that were installed new.
I found a plane in Texas that generally seemed to fit the above. Broker had worked on the plane for a while, seemed to have a business started with experimental. Seemed to be a fella that could do a good prebuy. Decent paint, 5600 series AFS panel, IFR legal GPS, met interior/engine requirements.
I emailed and talked on the phone with Vic. Bought his book. He was willing to do a flat fee based log inspection, consult over the phone on prebuy inspection, not willing to travel. I really wanted the best set of eyes possible to look over the plane. So I combed the net, found someone I'd seen in some videos, assumed to have lots of RV experience, willing to travel. Nick Syracuse of Inside Out Aviation. Nick examined the available logs remotely, picked up a few concerns. He set up travel plans with the broker. Bill paid in advance of travel, airfare split with another prebuy at same airport. I arrived the day before the inspection, got a test flight in. Assisted in opening the plane up some in the morning sweltering heat. Nick arrived with his own tools, only requiring an air source. It was nice to meet him and follow around listening and asking questions. I'd tried to familiarize myself with a scary list of SBs, Nick very receptive to questions, showing me where specifically to look for things. I got to see the borescope images real time. Nice report with images and comments, along with offer of follow up phone calls. We talked about the kind of flying I might do and thus received some specific ideas on improvements. I might set up a first annual at his shop to go over some items pointed out in the inspection to bring the plane into better condition. His business seemed to be booming. Note on price: this cost more than many prebuy advertised prices, I was more than willing to pay thinking of it as my best insurance before shelling out big bucks.
Okay, so enough story telling. Price agreed upon, I'm buying the plane. There are several things I want to learn about.
1. I watched my most recent 172 annual. Manuals were constantly consulted for things like diagrams and more importantly torque specs. How does one get such things for an RV? Do I need to comb thru a construction manual and develop a chart? Will Vans sell me such a construction manual? Does anyone have a Vans RV 10 torque setting chart? What about a comprehensive list of potentially consumable parts to replace at each CI (things like the washers replaced at each of my spark plugs). If I hire a certified shop to work on the plane, how do I organize my own service manual, reference manual to make things easier?
2. 15 year old prop has never been serviced. I expect to not overhaul, but to reseal and IRAN. I can find some descriptions of doing this, but no videos on Vans RV prop removals. I might leave this for my first CI but I will have more downtime this fall, might send it out. Any pointers on removal and reinstall? Any videos of this? CI not due until June 25.
3. ADAHRS- there is only one, a 2nd suggested for IFR flight. I could either go a route of doing another of whatever is in the plane, but in learning about them I wonder if a G5 is a better option given the built in battery? There is no backup battery in the plane.
4. The cylinders had some corrosion and pitting, plane has not flown much the past 2 years. I plan to use Camguard, fly it 20 hours, get Blackstone tested, then change oil regularly for a while. Fly a lot. Anything else?
Insurance and instruction already researched, plans made. It will take a couple weeks from here to take delivery. Anything else I should be thinking of?
I've posted a lot of questions here on subjects like building a workshop, prebuys, and builder assist. Thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge thus far. I'm grateful for the help.
I set out to learn the market for used 10s. I seriously considered building for the adventure but am a bit grateful to not get on that emotional roller coaster. In a used plane I was looking for something that did not need major effort with regards to a new engine, avionics, or other major expenses. Due to my body habitus, I tried to find one with a plain panel design, no center console projections or throttle quadrants, certainly not without sitting in the planes. I was surprised how many engines installed in new planes were overhauled, these I perceived to be less valuable than older engines that were installed new.
I found a plane in Texas that generally seemed to fit the above. Broker had worked on the plane for a while, seemed to have a business started with experimental. Seemed to be a fella that could do a good prebuy. Decent paint, 5600 series AFS panel, IFR legal GPS, met interior/engine requirements.
I emailed and talked on the phone with Vic. Bought his book. He was willing to do a flat fee based log inspection, consult over the phone on prebuy inspection, not willing to travel. I really wanted the best set of eyes possible to look over the plane. So I combed the net, found someone I'd seen in some videos, assumed to have lots of RV experience, willing to travel. Nick Syracuse of Inside Out Aviation. Nick examined the available logs remotely, picked up a few concerns. He set up travel plans with the broker. Bill paid in advance of travel, airfare split with another prebuy at same airport. I arrived the day before the inspection, got a test flight in. Assisted in opening the plane up some in the morning sweltering heat. Nick arrived with his own tools, only requiring an air source. It was nice to meet him and follow around listening and asking questions. I'd tried to familiarize myself with a scary list of SBs, Nick very receptive to questions, showing me where specifically to look for things. I got to see the borescope images real time. Nice report with images and comments, along with offer of follow up phone calls. We talked about the kind of flying I might do and thus received some specific ideas on improvements. I might set up a first annual at his shop to go over some items pointed out in the inspection to bring the plane into better condition. His business seemed to be booming. Note on price: this cost more than many prebuy advertised prices, I was more than willing to pay thinking of it as my best insurance before shelling out big bucks.
Okay, so enough story telling. Price agreed upon, I'm buying the plane. There are several things I want to learn about.
1. I watched my most recent 172 annual. Manuals were constantly consulted for things like diagrams and more importantly torque specs. How does one get such things for an RV? Do I need to comb thru a construction manual and develop a chart? Will Vans sell me such a construction manual? Does anyone have a Vans RV 10 torque setting chart? What about a comprehensive list of potentially consumable parts to replace at each CI (things like the washers replaced at each of my spark plugs). If I hire a certified shop to work on the plane, how do I organize my own service manual, reference manual to make things easier?
2. 15 year old prop has never been serviced. I expect to not overhaul, but to reseal and IRAN. I can find some descriptions of doing this, but no videos on Vans RV prop removals. I might leave this for my first CI but I will have more downtime this fall, might send it out. Any pointers on removal and reinstall? Any videos of this? CI not due until June 25.
3. ADAHRS- there is only one, a 2nd suggested for IFR flight. I could either go a route of doing another of whatever is in the plane, but in learning about them I wonder if a G5 is a better option given the built in battery? There is no backup battery in the plane.
4. The cylinders had some corrosion and pitting, plane has not flown much the past 2 years. I plan to use Camguard, fly it 20 hours, get Blackstone tested, then change oil regularly for a while. Fly a lot. Anything else?
Insurance and instruction already researched, plans made. It will take a couple weeks from here to take delivery. Anything else I should be thinking of?
I've posted a lot of questions here on subjects like building a workshop, prebuys, and builder assist. Thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge thus far. I'm grateful for the help.
