So Near, Yet So Far - Last - Minute Hiccups While Buying The Airplane Of Your Dreams

She’s sitting there, right outside those double glass doors, resplendent in the Midwest afternoon sunlight. I am imprisoned with three others in a conference room just a few feet from the ramp. If I lean back I can see her, all detailed, shiny and standing remarkably tall.

- Dick Karl

No Ferrari ever looked better on the delivery floor, and this is no automobile. This is the distillation of 50 years of yearning, months of planning and a lifetime of work and saving. This is to be my first jet and very probably last airplane. It’s a Premier 1.

So near, yet so far. There is a lot to do before those doors swoosh open and I climb aboard and fly off into the sunset. The process has been long and more complicated than I had anticipated. Selling our Cheyenne took seven months, and looking for a new (to me) airplane took another two. I had thought that waving some money around would make the purchase quick, but it didn’t. Now I’m in this room.

Who are my minders in this conference room at the Textron Maintenance Center in Wichita, Kansas? I know that two of these men are helping me by being careful and complete. This is just like knowing the doctor is “helping” you when she lays a sharp knife against your skin. This is best for me, you think, but it is painful.

One is Mike Shafer, a broker at Mercury Aircraft Sales. A former NFL player and now friend of mine, he has been with me every step of the way. He’s dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s even as I have squirmed and pleaded for relief. He’s held my hand, told me to be patient and schooled me in the intricacies of engine and avionics programs and how to accept an airplane after you’ve agreed on the price.