Yes, fortunately I did the right thing.
Two years later our flying club wanted to a buy a Cessna from Estonia. I told them to do it over a notary or lawyer – but they preferred to send € 20.000 down payment to some bank account abroad. Then they went there to pick up the plane. All phone numbers inactive, nobody there. The plane belonged to a guy in Belgium who had no intention selling it …
I agree that you should go for the Normally Aspirated unless you plan to cross the Alps frequently when a turbo is good to have.
For most people, the extra payload (about 75lbs) is worth it.
Again depending upon your typical payload, if you can get Air Conditioning then I would. It is a real godsend in the summer, especially if you are forced to hold on the taxiway at a busy airport.
In my earlier Cirrus, we also went for the Avidyne package upgrade with the two new screens and the DFC 90 digital autopilot. The DFC 90 AP is incredible and I think even better than the Garmin autopilot in the G5. If you can afford it, I would go for the Avidyne 540 and 440 stack as there is now enough panel space since they announced that the transponder can effectively be “behind” the panel.
Peter wrote:
If I fly mine to the USA, live there for 5 years, and then fly it back, there is no issue with import VAT?I don’t know, but equally I am not sure.
I don’t think so. It remains UK VAT Paid. Of course the US may hit you for import duties on the French Aircraft if you are staying for that long. A US made aircraft would still prob have to be imported but there is no tax due.
Again depending upon your typical payload, if you can get Air Conditioning then I would. It is a real godsend in the summer, especially if you are forced to hold on the taxiway at a busy airport.
In my earlier Cirrus, we also went for the Avidyne package upgrade with the two new screens and the DFC 90 digital autopilot. The DFC 90 AP is incredible and I think even better than the Garmin autopilot in the G5. If you can afford it, I would go for the Avidyne 540 and 440 stack as there is now enough panel space since they announced that the transponder can effectively be “behind” the panel.
I got an NA with Air Condition, and that’s really great to have in the summer, especially when you have passengers. And yes, the DFC90 is fanastic, It was actually the first thing I did after buying the plane. It’s also nice that the overhauled PFD and MFD come with glass screens, much better than the plastic they had before.
I went for two GNS430*W*s, because that’s really much cheaper than the IFD440s. I don’t mind typing in the waypoints – i fly the same routes many times.
How reliable is the aircon on planes these days? I don’t know so I am asking. On the TB series there were a couple of systems in use and according to owners I spoke to (not many; mostly in the US) both were about as reliable as aircon on a Vauxhall Viva. The components used in retrofit certified GA systems date from that kind of era. Modern car aircon systems are really reliable but the one on my 1987 Toyota Celica (much better than a Viva of course; I had it for 15 years) never worked for more than a year. On the TB they had Keith, WestAire and Aurora. Keith Products were the original factory units so they could be added as they are part of the aircraft Type Certificate. Aurora Aviation and West Aire Systems have an STC.
According to reports there are massive QA issues with the IFD boxes. Approximately 100% arrive with really obvious faults and have to go back. Avidyne swap only one at a time, which is a problem if you had two installed. But very few planes for sale will have these at present.
Regarding escrow, what stops the lawyer handing over the money when he receives a bogus proof of ownership transfer? Anybody doing a dodgy deal where escrow is being used will target that as the weakest link. This is the standard scam on Ebay+Paypal (PP being the cowboy outfit “bank” which was forced by the FCA to publish a phone number!). You buy something, file a NAD (goods “not as described”) claim, PP grab the money from the seller’s account, you then submit a bogus proof of the return postage (send back an empty box, and email the post office receipt to PP) and when they get that they give you the money. Maybe proper escrow uses a more robust method. I have never used that with a plane – how is it done?
It’s very true there are many plane sale scams. One hears reports almost every week. But they seem to work – buyers seem willing to pay 4 figures to view a plane!
A/C: Mine is reliable, looks like it has always worked since 2006. But i heard bad stories too, and the parts are extremely expensive … I can only hope :-)
Escrow: If a notary would hand over the money then he is responsible for it too. That’s what you pay the notary for. And AFAIK the proof of ownership has to come from the BUYER, and since the notary knows me she will always call me.
Here is the link to the Avidyne Stack
(Peter please note I am not pasting in the picture as I got into trouble last time for promoting Cirrus with an avionics image. I do not work for them (but love the product and company) (;
I compared the new Avidynes to the new Garmins and thought the Avidynes were quite a bit better
http://www.avidyne.com/products/ifd540/index.asp
I dont work for avidyne either
The IFD440 has the clear advantage that it has knobs AND touchscreen and the better GUI. Max. 3 touches/keystrokes to any of the pages.
There is no problem posting this sort of stuff, Cirrus_Man.
What you (or someone – I can’t recall) originally posted was more or less the whole web page, with nothing but the marketing description, and together with the poster being new to the forum it looked like a dealer posting. We get those from time to time. Purely commercial posts are allowed if the poster participates generally and usefully in the forum in other respects.
There is no problem at all in posting a screenshot like e.g. this
to illustrate a posting or a discussion etc. I do that all the time.
