Buying an airplane

Buying an airplane

Visibility: almost unlimited
Temperature: 19°C
Wind: 330, 18 knots
QNH: 1017hPa
Location: EDCE (Eggersdorf)
Equipment: “Kilo Tango” (Flight Design CT LS, a new bird in town!)

I know the airport in Eggersdorf well. It is about 10 minutes by air from Strausberg and a good part of my sports pilots training has happened on the long grass strip over here. Today is only the second time ever I visit Eggersdorf from the ground. I’m here with my flying buddy and he is here to buy an aircraft.

Eggersdorf is the East German base of the Flight Design company, makers of the CT line of light sports aircraft. My friend is buying a used CT LS. He has seen the aircraft here before, has negotiated with the owner by phone, has paid a deposit and is inspecting it today.

When we arrive at the Flight Design facility, “Kilo Tango” is waiting for us on the apron already. She is three years old, has about 400 flight hours and is very well equipped. Dynon glass cockpit, Garmin GPS, 100 horse powers Rotax engine, even leather upholstery – a fun ride!

We are greeted by the manager. He walks us around the aircraft, then lets us explore her some more on our own. We do a thorough check. “Kilo Tango” is in very good shape. She looks almost new and in fact, 400 hours is not much for an aircraft. After a bit, the manager is back and we taxi the plane over to a shop hangar for a technical inspection. We take off the engine cover, check the fluids and do a visual inspection of the engine.

Lunch break and check ride

After a lunch break with stew and aviators stories, it is time to fly. I will stay on the ground today, my buddy gets the check ride for the CT. Him and the manager are gone for almost one hour. The day is clear but a nasty cross wind makes for difficult training conditions. The CT is a very nice flying machine and it is fast for its class. The pilot needs to pay a lot of attention to the correct speeds and it is easy to come in too fast.

Paperwork

When they are back, my buddy is happy but also a bit overwhelmed. I guess it will take a few days for him to wrap his head around the fact that he is buying this high-tech beauty.

We go through the paper work of the aircraft. There are two big binders of documentation plus a number of thick hand books, probably exceeding the useful load of “Kilo Tango”.

On the way back to the big city, we stop by a pizza place. We sit in the sun and it is difficult to stop smiling. What an amazing day.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on September 23, 2012 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/buying-an-airplane/)

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