Decathlon input

what. a. holiday weekend!
while i’m a bit in a state of shock - its happening. scoured over the plane and the books for three days.
negotiated offer, shook hands, agreed and wrote a check.
holy moly.

most-definitely will keep ya’ll posted as things unfold on my end. i know pictures help!
cheers!
 

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good morning, everyone. we're still at it with the purchase. several weeks in and we're still trucking right along. insurance quote is lined up and all that's next there is 'binding it in'. the pre-purchase was completed a few days ago and the report came back fairly straight-forward, ".. it's a really clean, nice airplane in good shape."
with only a handful of items to address, the next ask was completing the annual - which i elected for. a couple 'big ticket' items to address during pre-buy: stall warning horn is INOP and #1 cylinder compression was in the 40's whilst others were in the 70's..
myself and the mechanic (and a few others) have all agreed that this plane just simply doesn't run. the last time i've known it started and ran to temp was the quick fire-up i completed and then sometime last (early fall). the plane never really sees the light of day beyond that hangar.

so maybe the rings didn't set quite right for the compression test.. the plan is to warm up the engine (change the oil as well) and then complete another compression test.
from memory, i recall the last annual logbook entry stating that #3 was the low one in the high 60's and the rest in the 70's -

i'm confident we'll get there. if not... well.... THEN, we can all start talking about worst case scenarios!

once we've got a date in mind for the annual, aircraft will head to warm, lit, heated hangar and annual will begin. after that - i'll look to get a week of LV (leave) and head down for instruction time, familiarization flight time, knock the rust off, and XC plan back to KCLM!

got a hangar lined up here, got a new separate account started for funding this new... hobby(?).. err, Chapter(?)... career(?)... adventure!

keep you posted as details unfold.
the last thought is to discuss with 'seller' to inquire about (maybe?) a sales price reduction? while i agreed to pay in full, as advertised - i'm confident we'll be able to reach an understanding with the pre-buy / annual findings that need to be addressed.

cheers folks!
 
Sounds really complicated. I have only purchased or been involved in maybe ten aircraft transfers, but they were all just take a look, test-fly, and buy.

As I recall, this one was priced correctly to start. Re-negotiating might trigger a rescission, especially if there is another buyer in line. That' is the way my buddy got this drop-dead gorgeous Citabria last October. Deal was done with someone else who was putting more and more conditions on it. We were "standby." We got a really good deal in the end. Best Citabria I have ever seen!

On the compression - I am "odd man out." When a cylinder goes soft I fly it for several hours and re-test. About 80% of the time it comes back.
Two weeks ago I had a soft cylinder on my Decathlon; this week all are perfectly even.

Years ago a guy had a local shop do a compression check on a Helio. It failed miserably. Owner flew it several times, then the potential purchaser came to town. I set up the differential pressure gauge, showed the guy how to read it and turn it on and off, gave him paper and pen, and handled the prop for him. Passed with flying colors. He didn't buy it. Good for him; the Helio is a very specialized airplane.
 
Do in this order, compression check, compression check failure, fly an hour, recheck compression of failed cylinder, if it stills fails, bore-scope cylinder. On compression check if it failed, where is the lost air going? If out the exhaust then valve or valve seat issue , if out the oil cap then rings issue. Some folks will take Marvel mystery oil and spray into the bad compression cylinder, some times a lot of it, then pull the engine through a few times and let it sit a day then pull it through again a few times, remove the bottom plug and drain the Marvel out. Fly again to temp, recheck. In a perfect world aircraft that sit this long should have the engine pickled. Of course rarely does that happen. Cylinder issues still beat having a corroded cam shaft and can be fixed for a lot less than a rebuild. Good luck.

Brian
 
took ownership over last few weeks..
everything checked out and wrapped up. checks, payment, title, registration, insurance..

aircraft back in bend.. i’m in bend(!)

flew 2.1 today w/ instructor for a little familiarity..
grass strip!! that was a first.
flew over phil knights residence.. whoa. money.

aiming for a few more days of instruction and then wx permitting, ferry flight back to KCLM on wednesday.

lotsa fun today. its official!

- the radio knobs are just a tad tricky
- the garmin dash mount *needs* to go
- r/h whelan strobe is inop (not sure if its a ‘bulb’ or something else.. l/h light works as advertised.. its also same circuit for adsb-out (i believe)

keep ya’ll posted!!
fly safe, fly neighborly!

cheers,
b

*i’ll grab more pics in coming days!
 
You are doing the right thing - getting a good checkout. Spend lots of time in the pattern. Say Hi to Fred George while you are in Bend.
 
ahoy, folks. bummer news to report today..
whelan strobes completely inop… annnnd….
we discovered in logbook today that the transponder has not been checked since (maybe install??) back in 2021..
sooo.. tried running it on test equipment today - did not pass. power and mhz…

sooo… we’re not too comfortable flying xc w/o a transponder (ads-b out)…
either shopping for new garmin gtx 326 OR send this one out for repair… approx $800..

went from going real good to all-stop.

keep ya’ posted.
 
I have a Garmin something - memory says 322. I will check.

Try re-racking? Antenna cable on and off a couple times? Etc? Same with the strobes - any place you can disconnect and re-connect, do it several times. If it was really the central power module, I think both strobes would go out at the same time.
 
By the way, I took a Decathlon over LAX, inside the Class B, with no problems at all - You just notify the feds and they e-mail you an authorization. ATC never uttered a peep.

Most important is that you get a lot of landings done before your X-C.
 
When my transponder check failed it was the old antennae cable. new cable fixed it.
 
morning, forum goers. thanks for the replies and valued input..
i’ve chosen to sit tight and address the discreps. postponing any training flights, familiarity or landings.
ferry flight will be another trip :/

paying for two hgrs is a bummer.

we discussed ferry flight options in our risk managememt / ADM… just wasnt worth it to me.

i hope its something fairly simple, i wish i had option to work discrep myself. not much i can do with only a leatherman.

as things unfold over next coupla’ months, i’ll update ya’ll. until that time,
b
 
Label them inop iaw 91.213 (d) and continue on.

I'm curious what risk is being incurred by operating with no strobe or transponder?
 
Tangogawd, yea - we had a few discussions on impacts of no transponder..
i should add too - i get the impression it works, hell it logged my flight sunday morning.. (half anyway)..

we could have ‘went for it’ and flown totally legal..
but NOT having operable or inspected ADS-B Out -
idk.. just wanting to be comfortable we would have needed to mod our flight around the charlie and bravo airspace… doable, but not what we had in mind..

the other thought was: i’m trying to build some familiarity time w/ an all systems go aircraft.. hell, i was advertised ADS-B out aircraft..
well, kinda(?) - as it was last inspected in 2021… and i certainly take onus on some of this tardy inspect - i’m wondering why nobody mentioned it during sales transaction.. ?
seller, pre-buy, annual… ??

but..

its registered in my name now. its on me. its my baby.
i like to fly with clean logbooks. it has equipment installed that should be working as advertised..
i like being seen, and being legal..

and lastly - per my insurance quote - i need 5 hrs instruction and 10 t/o’s and ldgs to be ‘insurable’
not even close w/ a 2.1

as bob mentioned, all about those landings..

anyhow - driving home tomorrow… active duty calls.
will rinse and repeat soon’ish. xpndr sent to garmin today’ish.

best,
b
 
Airplanes break routinely. Sounds like your transponder broke after you had made several flights, and your strobe symptoms sound a lot like they were mostly working when you got the airplane. Be prepared for other stuff to break, and unless you have an old time mechanic, be prepared to replace expensive stuff.

It will fly fine with neither working. If you are low on tailwheel time, grab a qualified instructor and take him/her with you for the ferry flight. I cannot stress how important that is.

Wanna hear a war story? A really nice guy came to town, and hired me for a checkout. He said his insurance required two hours, but since he had 20 hours tailwheel time they waived it. When he told me he had 20 tailwheel hours I looked him straight in the eye and said "hire an instructor to go with you."

We spent an hour in the pattern - I signed "intro to xxx" - not a checkout - and off he went. I e-mailed a couple friends saying "not my fault" well before the ground loop. If I hear from either the feds or the insurance company, I will present those e-mails.

I could have productively spent five pattern hours with him, and at least got him semi-ready, but my advice would have been the same.
 
Just re-read your post. Ten landings is simply not enough unless you have a hundred tailwheel hours already under your belt. Not sure when the insurers will wake up - might be soon. A ground loop can run as high as fifty grand!
 
haZA!!
insurance quotes are one thing - my personal preference is another.
i ‘spose thats where the rub is.

my preference is to feel confident, comfortable and ready from a ‘qualified’ instructor - i want my landings and takeoffs to be with me and me alone at the ctrls (guarded by a CFI is one thing)..

i agree w/ ya’ll. being ready, in a good aircraft, with quality training is the way to go.

it was great today being alongside the runway. all the GA traffic w/ the Epic guys - those take takeoffs are friggin’ sweet; c’mon now!!

i love the smell of burnt jet fuel.. and turning dinosaurs into noise!!
 
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