A&P recomendation for a pre-buy, Tucson AZ area

[Pete Marshall]

Hi guys, I'm looking into the buying a PA30 located in the Tucson AZ area. I would like to have a pre-buy done on it by an A&P who is experienced with the twin Comanches and figured this would be the best place to find good suggestions. Thanks in advance for any recommendations. I'm looking forward to getting my new bird, but what to have it thoroughly checked out before I hand over the money.

[jeffrey aryan]

Pete,

FYI,

I know this is out of your area but try Denny Haskins and Eric Paul out of Redlands, Ca. They are very good.

Jeff Aryan

[David Pyle]

Pete,

If you want 100% assurance contact Pat Barry 949 362 1600 (in SoCal) and have him do the prebuy. He might come to you. Failing that contact Lorne Harmon (Prescott AZ) 928 717 2630 for advice. He is CFF president and his wife is treasurer of ICS.

[Pete Marshall]

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll be sure to update as I move forward.

[David Pyle]

Peter,

How about the update you promised...

[Pete Marshall]

Well, no real update as of yet, I'm taking my time to be sure it's the right plane for the right price. I did find someone to do my pre-buys for me, it turned out a friend of mine who is a maintenance supervisor with UPS has extensive PA30 experience including being involved in a full restoration of one. That has made shopping much easier for me, with his airline privileges he can shoot in pretty much anywhere and check a plane out for me. We looked at one here in FL last week which wasn't up to level I was looking for, next week we'll be heading out to see the one in AZ. From the information I have on it. it sounds like the plane I've been looking for, but I'll make that call once I see it, fly it, and have my guy check it out thoroughly. I'll update next week after we check it out, hopefully I'll be updating with a picture of my new plane.

[Pete Marshall]

Hey guys, my apologies for taking so long to update this, I ended up working out a deal on the plane in AZ and brought it back to FL with me at the end of July. I've put just shy of 70 hours on it since then and other than a clogged fuel injector that kept me in Austin, TX overnight it's been flawless. I'm not crazy over the paint job, but for the price I negotiated, 600 hours SMOH engines, and 150 hours since new props I figured I could live with it. And when ATC calls me out as traffic to other planes they always see me hahaha!
I've been upgrading the pretty dated panel slowly since I got it, and I'm just about finished with that project. The WAAS enabled Garmin panel is going in tomorrow, and the radios and transponder have already been replaced.

smooth air and clear skies!

[jeffrey aryan]

Pete,

At least you are flying.

Congratulations,

Jeff Aryan

[John Wedge]

Glad you found a good one - paint is only skin deep and its whats under the skin that counts - have fun making updates to the plane of your dreams.
John

[Pete Marshall]

Exactly John, I bought it as a time builder so low hour engines and strong mechanical condition were much bigger factors to me than the paint. Although I've gotta say it's growing on me. I'm just about finished updating the panel and I will probably redo the interior as well while I own it. Heck I'll just fly it over to Austin when it's time to sell and find a longhorns fan they'll love it!

[N3322G]

Congrats Pete and nice job on the flying hours.

I've had injectors clog in the past also. What helped was vacuuming the tanks at annual - got a lot of junk out that just didn't sump - have since replaced all tanks but that was years later. And I'm assuming you know that it is recommended to sump before first flight and after last flight of the day.

Hope you continue to enjoy trouble free flying.

[JIMICS2452]

All you need to paint is change the black to blue, then look for a Gator!

What part of FL are you in, I live in the Ft. Myers area.

Jim Hiatt

[Pete Marshall]

Pat, good idea, if I have more problems with them I'll try that out. I do sump before and after flying, so hopefully that will keep the problem from coming back.

Jim, we've joked about that also. I'm in Daytona, I fly over your way to Naples every so often to go to Michelbob's

[Andrew Foster]

Please be very carefull vacuming a fuel cell. This is a good way to cause an explosion. Fuel vapors are highly flamable, and the brushes arcing in the vac motor, with fuel vapor, would not be a good recipe. Make sure you do this uder proper supervision.