Velocity26

I am just saying that, when you start into a very comprehensive pre-buy inspection, the lines blur with an annual. If the annual is getting close, you might have well have just have the annual done for the pre-buy.

Skipper, Where do you look? You would have to literally take the airplane apart to check everything. I think that the first thing would be to check the nose gear and firewall attachments. If the broke the nose gear and replaced it, good enough. If they neglected to see that it cracked stuff on the firewall, you could be in big trouble. There are too many places that you need to check and Sellers are not happy about someone taking their airplane apart searching for stuff. It gets expensive to do a comprehensive inspection ... not much different form an annual.

I have 2 airplanes that come to mind. They were both listed as "No known damage history". I was searching the N number and found pictures of the Glasair just below the surface of a lake/river where the pilot landed it after losing power just after take-off. 90% of the airplane was submerged, including the engine and cabin, only the top of the tail was not dunked. The second was a Piper with "no known damage history" although there were a half dozen pictures of the airplane where it had been tied down during a hurricane, torn loose by the winds , gear collapsed, and wing damaged after being tossed around like a toy.

Maybe not be as "Stunning" as those pictures might imply ... A lot has happened since those photos were taken. This is a perfect case of "Buyer Beware", so do your homework.

The speeds are likely similar, but the SportsCruiser is like a sports car, handling wise, compared to the Cessna being an econo-box. I have no experience with the Piper, although I would expect it to handle better than the 152 also.

Coffee, We have a lot in common! I am also preparing to retire and have 30+ hours towards my PPL. I had wanted to wait until I had my license in-hand to get an airplane, but feel that I am close enough to make an educated decision, with the help of my friends here. What part of the country are you in? Have you flown much in a SportCruiser? Leo

Dave, forgive me for not identifying myself, this is Leo ... a/k/a "the student from Hell". The rectifier may get hot in flight, but I have not noticed a warning light in flight. I usually see the warning while on the taxiway, after a long flight.

Didn't you change it out 3 weeks ago?