How NOT get a value for an airplane

[airrace]

I recently have posted on a number of forums looking for a Cessna 140. I've been flying since Vietnam and am still flying today. I've built 2 Lancair aircraft in my life. I have always held aviators in a position a cut above the average. In 54 years I don't think I've met a fellow aviator who has been dishonest. 'Til now...

I received a voice mail from a man in Chattanooga. Said he wanted to "talk airplanes" with me. When he called me again and I answered he told me of all his important positions in his life careers. Said he could only "make calls from his phone and not receive them" due to a problem with his carrier. I finally said that I needed to know how much he wanted for his 140 which was completely disassembled and in storage. He persistently asked how much would I pay for it. I said I could not do that as I had no idea what he had and what condition his disassembled airplane was in. He hung up on me. The old fellow was being disingenuous. He was fishing for value. The broken phone ploy was simply to discourage me from contacting him. I phoned back using a different phone number. When he answered he said "would you believe, they fixed my phone"...

We aviators are more than willing to be helpful. Being honest pays dividends. I would have been more than happy to discuss what I had learned of 140 prices with the old fellow had he just asked. Being straight develops relationships that last. Even had I not been able to buy this old fellow's airplane in pieces I would have been happy to help by spreading the word.

[5422]

I was trying to sell a MT two bladed fully reversible prop that we removed from our Pa-18 and I encountered many tire kickers and low ballers that were just plain rude. Wanting me to cave in lowering my already good deal. Pay for shipping, inspection and maybe return shipping if it doesn't fit their plane. LOL I just decided to keep it.
The out of the blue a gentleman from across the country calls and asks for pics and log copys, part and serial numbers. We dickered for a bit on price and came to an sale agreement He called the local prop shop to inventory my whole setup then he overnighted the check to the Prop shop secretary I picked up the check and copy of bill of sale agreement and it was shipped out. He wasn’t a very talkative fellow but he was straight forward and didn’t want to waste either of our time and wanted a safe secure way to pay. To bad all deals can’t be like that.

Some people think that having a pilots license holds you to a different standard than non fliers. Pilots are people.....aviation has its fair share of zipperheads.

[8413]

I was looking at an aircraft to purchase. Found one and got all info from the seller. I specifically asked if it had had any prop strikes. He admitted to one and sent a pic of the damaged tip of the prop in an effort to show how minor the damage was. Said the crank dialed good. But Lycoming requires a teardown inspection which he didn't think was necessary. I elected not to buy the plane as his price did not reflect what it would cost to tear down the engine and inspect.

Fast forward about a year and I see the plane being advertised by another seller as "no damage history". I emailed the guy to see if he was aware of the prop strike...he was not and was extremely upset when I sent pics as proof. He said that he asked about damage history when purchasing the plane, but didn't specify "prop strike". I guess the other seller figured if he didn't ask SPECIFICALLY about prop strikes, he wasn't obligated to tell him about it.

I normally wouldn't get involved in someone else's business, but figured I would want to know if the roles were reversed.