I Learned About Flying From That

Tom Wood

Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 10:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The author purchased a used Piper Cherokee 140 that was misrepresented, containing multiple discrepancies and mechanical issues found upon inspection, yet proceeded with the purchase despite initial concerns.
During the flight home, the aircraft was caught in a severe thunderstorm and struck by lightning, causing smoke in the cockpit, a blown-off trim handle, and physical damage to the plane.
After costly repairs, the lightning strike left permanent issues, including a magnetized engine that rendered the compass unreliable, leading the author to never fly that plane IFR again and to adopt a personal 1,000-foot IFR ceiling minimum for future flights.

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I was excited about buying a 1966 Piper Cherokee 140, discovered in Trade-A-Plane. I negotiated with a gentleman in Owensboro, Kentucky, who finally accepted my offer for $10,000 after several conversations on the phone. I never saw the airplane but made a deal that if it was not as advertised, I would not take it. The airplane was supposedly in excellent condition with a fresh annual inspection, certified IFR, new paint, a good working instrument panel and ready to go.

To save money I took a bus from my hometown in eastern Pennsylvania on a summer morning and after traveling all day, finally made it to Owensboro. I stayed in a little hotel that night and got a ride the next morning to a crop duster’s farm where the airplane was located. I was truly in the middle of nowhere. As soon as I saw the airplane I started to have concerns. The airplane was freshly painted but the job was poorly done. Looking at the logbooks, the owner was an IA and had done all of his own annual inspections and I could not find any entries for the paint job in the logs. I could not find any evidence that the control surfaces were balanced either after the work. I also saw a leak in the right brake line, found a small engine oil leak, the clear window was taped up to hold it closed and several other problems, but I thought that I could fix most of them myself when I got home. He did check the engine compression in front of me and all cylinders were in the low 70s.