How it all started
I got my pilot’s license in year 2001, right before the 9/11 attacks. Got an instrument rating in 2002, then promptly stopped flying when the family grew.
After moving to California, I started flying again, renting from a local club. A co-worker offered me a ride in his RV-10 in January of 2013, and I got “infected” with Van’s Aircraft total performance.
I wanted to build one in my garage, but the garage was too small. Nevertheless, I started the build, but work and family commitments kept me away from it. I learned that it is hard to balance family, work, and time intensive hobby like airplane building. I sold my kit, and purchased a flying RV-10.
Airplane Weighing
Another “inception” moment came when I made some major changes to the airplane I owned. I replaced a wooden propeller with a metal one, I removed air conditioning which did not work anyway. All these changes caused the weight and balance sheet to get out of whack, so I decided to have the airplane weighed.
A local RV / Experimental aircraft club had aircraft scales, available to club members for weighing RVs only, “no spam cans”. A “spam can” is a regular certified aircraft like a Cessna or a Piper. I joined the club, and flew in to get my RV weighed.
Prime location
It turned out the owner of the scales lived in a fly-in community. I taxied my aircraft directly to his house, and parked it in his “driveway”, where we weighed it. The most time consuming aspect of weighing an aircraft is removal of fuel from the fuel tanks, as you can never be sure how much fuel exactly is there.
During the fuel removal we chatted extensively, and the Scale Captain answered many questions about the community, rules, fees etc. We drove around the neighborhood, and I noticed the “for sale” sign at a few properties. Thinking nothing of these, I just departed after weighing, but the damage was already done.
Taking the plunge
A few months later I flew in to the airpark, and drove around the neighborhood. One lot in particular looked great to me, and it was for sale. I contacted the Scale Captain, and asked him about that lot. He replied that it was for sale for a long time but the owner was asking an unreasonable price. He gave me a contact for a local realtor.
I contacted the realtor, and we had a nice chat. I flew in another time, and met with them at the property. The realtor shared the story of the property with me. The owner was a pilot and wanted to build his dream house there, but passed away tragically. His wife wanted to recoup the investment and placed the property on the market, but they bought it at the top of the market, and it was unreasonably priced. It sat on the market for 10 years, and nobody was buying. Recently though, the owner reduced the price to a much more reasonable amount.
After a short time for weighing my options, I decided to buy the property.
Offer
I wrote an all cash offer, and offered 12% below asking price. The offer was accepted without a counter, and soon after I became a proud owner of a lot in an airpark. That was in December of 2016.
