Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes A Good Deal? Or a Heap o' Hurt?

I stumbled upon an ad for a very high-time 152 (14,000 TTAF, 1900 SMOH) that also has "light hail to upper surfaces".

So why give it a second look? Well, apparently the hail damage "does not affect airworthiness". Also, it's IFR with dual digital Nav/Coms. And they're only asking $15,000.

So you'd still have possibly 500 hours until overhaul time (assuming it makes it). But then you'd be spending another $15,000 putting a zero-time engine in a hail-damaged plane that would be a tough sell later.

Hmmm...

- Jeff "Cheapskate" Jetton

I was wondering about that same plane. I saw the ad before I purchased 41Q. I did some digging and I think it was an insurance total that those guys bought at an auction. (at the time it was still listed on the insurance company's page as sold). I don't know much about hail except that it can be really expensive to fix. That and I was worried about resale. Will the next guy give me $15k for it?

I paid $14,500 (6 years ago) for 3700TTAF, 900SFREM, MX300, 2nd Narco VOR, 3LMB com panel, dull and flaking paint, complete but worn interior, NDH. Put about 300 hours on her before I hangared her. Straight, solid airframe perfect for restoration (in process). I see one like her every 3 or 4 months for about the same price.

I turned down a 172 with 10,000 hours, next to no paint, NDH, and high time engine, even after being impressed after flying it. He (only the second owner) wanted $18,000! I maybe should have bought that one, too!

My neighbor bought a 175 3000TTAF mid-time engine (GO-300), hail damage (you have to look for it) for $14,000!! He's been flying her for 4 years no problem, after getting his PPL in her!

The high time airplane with high time engine you mention above probably flies just as well as mine did. But, it is no good as an investment! Assuming it has decent paint and decent interior (panel sounds OK), and not counting damage history, hail damage, and WITHOUT the engine, it's probably worth what? $5,500 tops? You've got a $4,500 CORE engine in the nose, that may or may not hold up for awhile. It was a trainer, so likely does have damage history, and does have hail damage. I see this bird as is going for $10K! After paint (replace hail damaged skins), interior, and overhaul, you best plan on flying it for awhile, because you'll have much more invested in it than you could sell it for anytime soon! On the other hand, if you could get her for $10K, and she stays airworthy for another 2 or 3 hundred hours, you can still sell her for $10K (free flying?). But likely not $15K.

Edit: I missed the fact that this is a 152, not a 150 like mine, but considering the extreme high time, I still think while this might be a cheap way to own an airworthy plane, it wouldn't be one you'd want to spend money on for updates!

The way you guys are talking, I must've grossly overpaid for my plane. I bought it from the school where I used to rent. When I bought it in Mar 2001, it had 9000 TTAF and 2000 SMOH, single Cessna NAV/COM, standard VFR equipment. It has some light dimples from hail damage; I'll bet it's hard to find a school-owned tied-down 150/152 with no hail damage. I paid $18.5K for it. It now has 2380 SMOH; not a single problem with the engine since I bought it. Would I do it again if I had another chance? Definitely. Reading stories about all the time, money, effort that other members expended in the hunt for their plane (and sometimes still ended up with a lemon), I think whatever amount I might have overpaid is well worth it.

Hung:

You never overpay if you are satisfied with what you bought. As I recall you mentioned that you trained in the airplane you have and probably had a good sense of how the engine performed, how it handled, and what the maintenence was like for it. Given the good service you have gotten from it, it doesn't sound like 18.5 was too much for a 152. For the rest of us though, a lot of these airplanes are really pigs in a poke and I think Carl's assessment of the one that started this discussion is correct.

Don

Hung,

I think you made a good deal! I paid $14,500 for a 150 in desperate need of paint! You bought a 152 that looks darned good, I think! That's easily worth the extra $4K, even with more than twice the time as my 150. Look at it this way! A mid time 150 might be 3500TTAF. A mid time 152 (they're still using them for trainers) might be closer to 7,000TTAF nowadays. I think my TBO is 2000, yours 2400! O-200's rarely reach TBO without a top overhaul. O-235's frequently go full time! Still worried?