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Finding Your Ideal Aircraft: Advantages of a Drawn-Out Transaction

A chance flight in a 1957 Bonanza helps seal the deal.

A flight in a V-tail Bonanza helped convince the author to buy a competing model. [Credit: iStock]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The author experienced an unexpectedly lengthy, but ultimately educational, six-week process purchasing a Commander 114B, including clearing a critical pre-buy inspection.
  • Logistical challenges of fetching the newly-inspected aircraft were resolved with the help of a friend and his speedy Beechcraft H35 Bonanza.
  • The comparative flight in the Bonanza allowed the author to observe its performance and consider if it would make them regret their choice.
  • This experience ultimately helped the author let go of a "speed fixation," confirming that the Commander's performance is "fast enough" for their needs as the purchase closes.
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Buying an airplane seems fairly straightforward at first, like a process that should not take very long. Yet six weeks have passed since my wife and I made an offer for a Commander 114B that seems right for us, and it still is not ours—not quite.

Like most aircraft shoppers, we are aching to get started on the list of trips we cultivated ever since first considering the purchase. However, in our case the wait has been so educational—and at times verging on priceless—that I would not trade the experience. 

Jonathan Welsh

Jonathan Welsh is Lead Editor of Aviation Consumer and a private pilot who worked as a reporter, editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal for 21 years, mostly covering the auto industry. His passion for aviation began in childhood with balsa-wood gliders his aunt would buy for him at the corner store. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @JonathanWelsh4

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