So there I was, talking with my biz partner when he mentioned that his elderly father just lost his medical and would no longer be able to fly his 65 C33. Actually, this heartbreak was a year or so in the making, but the final blow is always hard to take nevertheless.

To make matters worse for him, he just put in a new engine about a month before he lost his medical.

I went to see it and it's been stored outside and it is in ROUGH cosmetic shape. Paint is peeling off the rear stab, and the interior is ragged.

Still, his dad who is probably one of the most generous and gracoius people I have ever met offered to give the plane to us if we'd like it. I've been flying since 2005 and dreamed of owning my own plane - and I'm incredibly grateful that he'd consider making that dream a reality for me. His son, while not currently a pilot, does intend on getting his license in short order if/when we bring the deb down to FL from NY.

Now, if something is too good to be true, it usually is....

I have a couple concerns. Cosmettically, I am not worried - even spending $20K on cosmetic concerns, I figure we still come out FAR ahead in the financial calculations. My concern lies primarily with what we cannot see. For example, this plane hasn't been flown (or to my knowelege, even started) in over a year! Apparently he has had his buddy at the fbo come spin the prop for him manually over the months, but it has not been brought to operating temp in quite a while. I wonder what hidden gremlins await us?

We are having a 'heavy' annual performed on it and soon I'll find out the condition of the airplane, such as it is, through the Mechanic's eyes.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I wanted to reach out to this forum and get feedback on anything you all in your collective experience may have to offer now that you know the background.

Again, I think it's an incredible opportunity if it works out, and I am incredibly grateful at this generosity, but that said, I have seen 'free' boats before that you coulnd't pay me to take - I am just hoping this isn't another free object which will end up costing more than one that was immediately airworthy.

Thank you very much for any/all tips. I am totally open, and I am as wet behind the ears as you can get as it relates to aircraft ownership.

Thank you,
Tim Street

'Sounds good, but in whose name will the plane be registered?

I recommend a partnership, with 50/50 sharing of expenses and a buy/sell agreement price. If one of you wants to bail (other things happen to make one unable to fly) the agreement would/could be executed by one or the other.

I hope y'all can make this work.

Good things can happen.

As you'll hear a solid Pre Buy will let you know most of what to expect, good for you. where are you located ?

Bo, do you mean a "pre-gift acceptance"?

ALWAYS look a gift horse, er, airplane in the mouth.

Tim, I must be missing something, if it's free what's not to like or be concerned about.
my .02 anyway
Gilles
V35

Tim,

Any chance you'd be willing to post pics? Interior and exterior? I had a '66 Deb with IO470K (225hp Continental) for my first airplane. Loved it. Would buy a '65 or '66 again in a heartbeat, except swap out the 225 for a 260. Keep us posted on how the deal pans out and what your mechanic finds. I'm green with envy!

Light Plane Maintenance just did an article saying that pulling the prop through is the worst thing one can do to an inactive engine. That said, if he took care of the airplane in the past mechancally then having to redo the engine is a small investment considering the value of the airplane.

Bo, do you mean a "pre-gift acceptance"?

Tim, If you could post more about the plane we could do a better job with ya. Let us know the following:

TT, TSMOH, Prop TT, Prop TSMOH, equipment list, damage history, modifications.....

Pictures are also very important.....inside and out.

Expect to pay $1-2,000 for a good inspection....and possibly $2-3K more for repairs.

Even though this is a gift...you really need to know the value of what you're getting before you go dumping a pile of money into it.

Best wishes....my $0.02

Hi Max,
thank you very much for the input - Those are definitely items that he and I will be discussing in the coming weeks. He's a great guy, and we've been in business for a while, so I am not worried about getting screwed or anything - especially since I never owned it to begin with, haha :-)

That said, from a strict liability perspective, I do think that I'd be most comfortable having the airplane owned by an LLC of which he and I are members... I'll definitely explore this further. Thanks!

I guess sometimes good things can indeed happen, haha!

Yes, I'm actually going to have a full annual done on it, which I would hope is more thorough than a pre-buy, since it is indeed out of annual.

Regards,
Tim

Great question Giles. I guess my biggest concern is that I don't know what I don't know. For example, I've been big into boating since I was a kid, and I can take you to darn near any boatyard here in FL and find somebody that would give you free boat and I could show you that it was still overpriced :-)

For the amount it would take you to fix that heap that was 'free', you could have paid that amount and saved time just buying a quality used boat that wasn't abused, and therefore given away free.

Ultimately, I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity here and I'm simply being cautiously optimistic about everything so in the event there is a mechanical deal-breaker involved, I won't be let down too hard.

It's very hard to remain emotionally neutral when the fulfillment of a lifelong dream is just dangling in front of my face, but I don't want that to cloud my judgement. Hence the reach out on here as to find out what folks who had been here and done it would do in my shoes...

Thanks,
TIm

Wel doggone Rick, you said it better than I did. My whole goal here is to ensure that my buddy and I aren't going to be sinking a ton of money into a plane with the airworthiness of the Hindenburg haha.

Thanks for the punch list - I will have my buddy get all the books for me (he's up with the plane in NY) and get me the info you requested below, as well as a ton of interior/exterior pictures.

Thank you again for all the sage advice.

-Tim