Mechanic in the greater NYC area for Twin Comanche pre-buy

[Tomoharu Nishino]

I'm looking for a knowledgeable mechanic in the greater NYC area (including CT or NJ) that would be able to do a pre-buy inspection for a Twin Comanche located at KISP.

Any recommendations?

[Kristin Winter]

No one that close that I could recommend. The best would be Paul Phillips at Phil-Air in Dover, DE. You would be better off flying someone in, than having a local mechanic do it. Most mechanics are not good a doing pre-purchase inspections as it is not a standardized thing that is taught and most are not experience aircraft buyers. On top of that, there are not too much mechanics that really know the Comanche series.

If Paul is not available, I might be able to do it for you, depending on your timeframe, but you are looking at my traveling from the west coast. However, I typically recommend doing a logbook inspection first. More than half the airplanes for sale that I look at the logs, don't pass muster for the price being asked. I have done three logbook reviews in the last month, and all of them were overdue for compliance with AD 77-12-31, para A and had been signed off as airworthy for the last several annuals, even though it was due. This part of the AD is what is commonly termed as the 1000 hour landing gear inspection.

I do pre-purchase consulting, inspections, and flight training. I own a 1969 Twin Comanche which I have had for almost 10 years. They are great airplanes. Good luck on finding the right one. What model twin is this one?

[N3322G]

Welcome to almost Comanche ownership.

Kristin is spot on. Have read about far too many first annuals that were beyond expensive due to inadequate or no pre-buy.

Once you buy a Comanche be sure to get the Maurice Taylor DVDs from this website, a good POH and take one of the two how-to-fly and maintain your Comanche courses. If its a Twin, get the Alice Fuchs book too. While I'm not a mechanic, I log on here every day as I figure if I haven't had the problem yet, I likely will in the future and if I have had it, I can pass along what was done to fix it.

Hope you are happily flying a Comanche soon.

[Randy Johnson]

Both good suggestions.

I just went through the twin buying process and can recommend North Atlantic Aviation in Beverly, Ma. Bill is the owner and he is awesome.

[Tomoharu Nishino]

A month later...

Thanks for all the suggestions. Managed to find a a pretty clean 1970 PA-39. The local shop on the field (C&W at KCDW) services quite a few PA30s on the field, and I had a prior relationship with them, so asked them to do a logbook inspection. Right off the bat, they caught the AD77-12-31 part A issue. They also told me to craw under the plane, and look for cracks in the webbing in the landing gear strut housing. Their avionics guy spent some time giving my a run down how to test the Altimatic IIIB autopilot during the test flight. And they pointed out things that I should look for that I had gathered from lurking in the ICS forums and other discussions about the Twinkies.

Ultimately I ended up having C&W do the pre-buy. I must say they did quite a thorough job, and discovered quite a few discrepancies that is now being corrected. (I guess with 45 year old airframes, that's part of the deal.)

But pretty happy to have found a pretty clean PA-39. The plane is now mine, and the discrepancies are being corrected.

In the mean time, I will go and get the Taylor DVDs. Already have the POH from Webco which I've been combing through. Can't wait to get her in the air.

[Timothy Poole]

Congrats! Welcome to Twin Comanche ownership!

[N3322G]

Congrats to getting a 39 - what sn? Mine is 10.

Also suggest Alice Fuchs book on flying a Twin available through this website.

[Tomoharu Nishino]