With the deal closed, I authorized the pre-buy mechanic to do all of the items I had deemed necessary to make the airplane airworthy by my standards. That meant pretty much everything on the list excluding solving the pitot heat issue, replacing the windows and replacing the right seat safety belt. The windows for the side and back were the most expensive of these, and I wanted to see just how cloudy they were before investing in a replacement.
One reason the price for 4TV was lower than many other 150s on the market was that it lacked ADS-B Out. This isn't a no-go item, as I could fly it all the way home and back to KTTA without it so long as I avoided all Class B and C airspace along the way. 4TV also has no navigational GPS, so I was looking at potentially having to navigate by pilotage and VORs. A fun challenge, but not my preferred method. To increase situational awareness related to traffic and to createa a GPS source for VFR navigation, I purchased a Sentry unit used from someone at my home airport. It so happened that when I was in the Flying Club space for their monthly lunch, I saw an advertisement for one for $450 so I snatched it up.
My model of Sentry, that includes a carbon monoxide detector
The Sentry provides ADS-B In, which would allow me to see aircraft with ADS-B Out, even if they couldn't see me. 1/2 the situational awareness I ultimately want, but increased peace of mind. It also interfaces directly with Foreflight, which would allow me to plot a course on a map, and track it using my iPad, plus will display weather radar data. The added benefit of a CO detector, while not necessary right now, is huge for when winter comes. Ideally, I'd like to have a built-in ADS-B Out and In solution, but for now this is a great tool.
My plan to fly to Indianapolis to pick up 4TV was foiled twice. On the first go, I had intended to stop at IND on my way back from a work trip in Lincoln, Nebraska. I had brought my flight bag with me instead of my normal work bag, but while on the trip, the mechanic let me know that the spinner was still out for repari and the plane wouldn't be ready to get it. No problem, though, as that week the "heat dome" had fallen over the entire eastern half of the U.S., with temps well over 100 even in the Midwest. I had little interest in testing the climb capability over the Appalachians with that type of density altitude.
A couple of weeks later the A&P informed me that the part was back and that he was going to have it ready to go by the end of that week. I booked a ticket on Frontier for that following Monday night with the plan of flying it back Tuesday. Monday morning I rebooked that flight, however, as the forecast called for low clouds and IFR starting in the mountains through NC. It's a good thing I did, as we ended up with three days of rain, and I would have likely gotten stuck until Friday. I instead paid a small difference to fly Friday night and fly the airplane back Saturday.
After an on-time (actually early) flight, I arrived at IND and hopped into a Lyft to drive me 53-minutes away to the town where 4TV was. After arriving at the hotel, I hopped over to Meijer to pick up a small cooler and some food/beverage items for the trip the next day, went back to the hotel, watched a bit of The Office, and got a good night's sleep.
A very desolate FBO at 6:15am
I awoke at 5am, which is pretty normal for me, showered, dressed, packed and then headed to the Airport 10-minutes away. My Lyft driver new exactly where to go, as he often picked up pilots ferrying aircraft out of the airfield, given the size of the broker located there. I arrived to the FBO at 6:15am, finding nobody else there. No problem, as the Airport Manager had given me the code to access the FBO, so I stepped inside and onto the ramp to find 4TV.
My plan had been to arrive, do a thorough inspection/preflight, familiarize myself with the airplane, and be wheels up around 7:00am or slightly thereafter. But nothing in general aviation ever works to plan, so that didn't happen.
I walked onto the ramp and found 4TV. It was dark, but my first impressions were that she met my expectations. I sat my bag down, pulled out my flashlight, and took a tour.
N704TV tied up on the ramp in Indiana - first impressions
For some reason, I was most curious about the paint, as it had been rated a 4 out of 10 by both the broker and the A&P. I disagree. While there were spots where the paint showed that it wasn't super professionally applied, it generally looked pretty new. I was expecting missing spots and found none. I would have given it a 7 out of 10 myself.
I poppped open the door and did a quick look inside. Everything looked like the photos, except I noted that the instrument gauges looked to be in better condition than I thought they would. The looked somewhat cloudy in the photo, but absolutely fine for the most part in-person. I didn't spend too much time inside, instead wanting to do a walk around.
The walkaround was a satisfactory experience. Although it was dark, I searched the plane for some major problem that was going to make me regret owning it. But I didn't find anything. There were a few obviously uneven spaces on the leading edge of both wings, but nothing that concerned me about flying it. Empennage looked great, although I did spot an old's wasp's test inside the horrizontal stabilizzer in that part at the end where there's a gap. No big deal, though. As I walked around I noted that the attach point for both mains to the landing gear strug showed some brown spots that were either grease or rust. Again, nothing too critical - just something I noticed. Tires looked to be new, as they were supposed to be. The side windows had some sticky substance on them - almost like a decal had been badly removed. Nothing that would keep me from flying, but I noted it.
At the nose I looked inside the cowling. It showed its age, but nothing stood out other than foam insulation around a line that was starting to break off a bit. Running my hand along the propeller, I did find one issue, however. On the trailing edge of the blade to my right while facing the airplane there was a dent near the tip fo the blade. The dent was large enough that I decided that I would notify an A&P about it, but not so large that I thought it would ground the flight. Still, the pre-buy said nothing of a dent, so this was a bit frustrating. More on this later.
I went inside and sat in the airplane. It was tight, and when I went to push the seat back, I soon realized that it was already back and this is where I would live. So be it. I hit the master and alt switch. Much to my relief, she powered up, as the avionics fans came to life. Running across the light panel, I turned them all on, though the lettering was such that I could barely make out what was what. I also dropped the flaps and they came down as they should. All lights checked out, including the beacon which had its switch fixed during the pre-buy MX work. I shut it all down and did my external inspection.
On the external inspection, the only thing I noted was that the engine only had 3 quarts of oil in it. It made me wonder how many had been in it when they tested the engine, but this was something I could resolve with the oil I had asked the A&P to leave in the plane for me.
Except there was no oil in the plane. There was also no logbooks. We had agreed once I let him know I was coming on Saturday morning to have the logs left in the plane, along with the key and two quarts of oil. None were in the plane, nor was the required registration and airworthiness certs. Great. I e-mailed the A&P, but it was 6:45 in the morning on a Saturday, so I wasn't expecting a reply. They were also closed on Saturdays which is why he was supposed to leave it in the plane. I warapped up the rest of the pre-buy, set up the cockpit for my departure, and headed back to the FBO.
The FBO didn't re-open until 8am, so I wasn't getting off the ground anytime soon. I called the after-hours number listed on the phone and reached someone from the Airport who gave me the A&Ps cell number. I texted and then waited, grabbing a cup of coffee while I did.
After hours phone list for the Airport
Around 7:30am I received a reply from the A&P indicating that the logs were all supposed to be in the back of the plane. I went back out again and confirmed their absence, to which the A&P let me know he'd head up to the airfield to figure out what was going on. The FBO guy showed up around 7:45am and gave me three quarts of oil (the last he had!) so I could at least solve that problem. It did, and I paid him for it while waiting for the A&P who showed up around 8:20am. I met him at the airplane, where he pointed out to me that the airworthiness cert was in the glovebox. I was horrified thinking that I had him drive in on a Saturday because I hadn't checked the glovebox, but he confirmed that the logs that should have been in it definitely were not. A call to one of his guys confirmed that they hadn't made it to the plane, but were still in his safe. He ran back to get it as I wrapped up a few final flight items, now eyeballing a departure closer to 9:00am.
In retrospect, I should have asked him about the dented prop here, but was in a hurry to get out. An area of weather was of course behind me, and I wanted to at least get out of Indiana and avoid that, not to mention the build up that would come as I got closer to the mountains and NC. So I shook his hand, secured items in the cockpit, and prepared to start up and get on the road.
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