[JimC]

"i should have walked but i had a considerable amount of time and money into the prebuy [...] so i accepted his deal"

If you can't back out of a deal after a prebuy inspection, then it's not a prebuy inspection.


Here's another look at Western Skymasters: I just landed a new-to-me T337 from Ron Lillie at my home airport.

Is it the nicest plane ever? No, there is no $65,000 retractable twin that is the nicest plane ever. $65,000 retractable twins need work. Period.
Is it airworthy? Yes.
Am I satisfied? Yes.
Did something minor break on the flight home? Yes. It's a fifty year old bargain-basement airplane. S*** happens.
Will I be doing business with Ron again? Yes.


For those of you getting ready to buy your first Skymaster, here's a suggested order of items. I highly recommend not moving to the next step until the previous step is complete.

1) Go over all the paperwork you want to examine.
2) Agree on a resolution for any discrepancies found.
3) Get a mechanic to look the plane over.
4) Agree on a resolution for any discrepancies found.
5) Perform (or have a qualified pilot perform) a test flight.
6) Agree on a resolution for any discrepancies found.
7) Fix the seller-resolved discrepancies.
8) Confirm that the seller-resolved discrepancies have been fixed.
9) Close the sale.
10) Fly it home.

Don't try to do all the steps in one day. It won't end well. Buying a plane is like buying a house - it takes time.

For this Skymaster, it took me about 8 weeks from my first call to Ron to today. I found him easy to work with and I expect to do business with him again.