One thing which seems to be missing from this discussion is any mention of how much you have to spend, what you will do with it between purchase and ready to fly, and how long you are willing to wait between those two events.
If you have patience and a place to store it, you can save a lot of money. If you have a lot of money, you can get it back in the air rapidly.
I'm with the suggestion to go for first refusal, but make it "their bid plus $100" -- that's a big enough jump to entice him to say yes.
But INSPECT BEFORE YOU MAKE THE OFFER. It's been sitting a LONG time.
If you have the money to play with, you might get two of them, using one as a donor if necessary. For that matter, if they're in decent shape, if I had the money I'd be tempted to buy the entire fleet, then sell them off as projects.
This, of course, assumes that there is no corrosion worth worrying about.
I think you hit the nail on the head! It's a definitely formula of money and time. It makes the most sense to have a place to store it where I can work on it, and that has the need of a T-Hanger written all over it. At $450 per month, that also means it's best to return it to the air rather quickly, as there is no reason to pay for a hanger for an aircraft that doesn't fly. I've been discussing possible partnerships with some friends to help keep individual costs down.
I'm going to get out to the airport this weekend, and look behind every panel I can get off. Keeping my fingers crossed for no corrosion!!!
I am very tempted to buy the other two 152s in the fleet. They would be great if I needed any intimidate parts, and also a good reference resource for N67965 as I work on it. As well as being good projects for someone else!
Zachary I have seen a lot worse. Looks like from the photos it's only surface corrosion. A lot of time with some scotch Brite and then spray the entire inside with ACF 50 and you should be good to go.
This also gives you more bargaining power on the purchase price!
I am not an expert, but I think $4500 for the engine is a little (maybe a lot) high!
I was thinking the same thing Stacey. Worn out engine that has sat for years ?? Buying a "pig n a poke" for sure. I've seen engines with 1200hrs go for that amount.
As a comparison, I have a friend that owns a 250 Comanche. Engine has 250 hours on it, CS prop was rebuilt but never installed (still in the wrapping back from the shop). The plane has been sitting in a hangar for 10 years. It isn't in bad shape, but one can by a flying Comanche for the amount of money needed to get it in shape. The owner told me the plane might be worth $5k. So there ya go. Personally, my A&P told me to stay away from that plan and no one I talked to is interested so... there ya go.
Zachary welcome to the club!!
Comanche's are cool but how about a WWII DC-3! About 5 years ago one was for sale in Tucson. She hadn't flown in a long time...no engines...the owner wanted to sell her for $11,000...what he could get from the scraper...I don't think she got any offers and was melted down
It sounds like the owner knows you really care about this "special" 152 and may be trying to take advantage of you...if he's a good guy since you worked for him he should give you a break as opposed to the scraper.
I would love to look up the 150s I trained in 42 years ago, but unfortunately my log book only shows Cessna 150.
You know old friends are special...but new friends can be special as well....
Good Luck Zachary!
Bill Simons N2527J 1963 Cessna 150D rental Philippines
Comanche's are cool but how about a WWII DC-3! About 5 years ago one was for sale in Tucson. She hadn't flown in a long time...no engines...the owner wanted to sell her for $11,000...what he could get from the scraper...I don't think she got any offers and was melted down
It sounds like the owner knows you really care about this "special" 152 and may be trying to take advantage of you...if he's a good guy since you worked for him he should give you a break as opposed to the scraper.
I would love to look up the 150s I trained in 42 years ago, but unfortunately my log book only shows Cessna 150.
William, I asked my mechanic about the Comanche 250 and he was not very positive. Too many ADs on those models and he doesn't like retractables anyway. Ha ha No one at the plane's home airport is interested so it must be a lost cause.
As for the DC-3, that is on my list of cool planes. Boy O Boy how neat that would be to buy one and "Do her up rite!" and have the money to fly it like I do Delmar. I don't think going back to work would be able to support that project LOL but that would be a motivation. Imagine instead of taking the Aerobat up for a Saturday Morning flight... take the DC-3. " Cool factor unparalleled !! $1000 hamburger flight and you might as well buy the burgers for everyone on the plane as well. Ha ha. Ah.... good thing dreamin is free. Have a great day !
Well, I'm back from my preliminary hunt for corrosion, I definitely found some.
I'm hoping it's nothing too serious...
Thoughts?
I'm not seeing any lost metal there, no pitting. Just surface scuzz, and I've seen a lot worse.
Find the worst spot you can, and see if you can push a small screwdriver through (by steady pressure, not stabbing). If so, the plane is history. If not, then it would be worth having an A&P take a look.
As for the DC-3, that is on my list of cool planes. Boy O Boy how neat that would be to buy one and "Do her up rite!" and have the money to fly it like I do Delmar. I don't think going back to work would be able to support that project LOL but that would be a motivation. Imagine instead of taking the Aerobat up for a Saturday Morning flight... take the DC-3. " Cool factor unparalleled !! $1000 hamburger flight and you might as well buy the burgers for everyone on the plane as well. Ha ha. Ah.... good thing dreamin is free. Have a great day !
Gene, in 1974 I got my PPL in a Cessna 150 at Clark Air Base, The Philippines. While there my wife and I got to ride in a Navy C-47 in the morning from Clark to Subic Bay Naval Base...the morning air was relatively cool and it was a pleasant flight....the flight back a few days later was in the afternoon and it was nasty hot inside! Well one day it was odd as all of a sudden 23 C-47s were parked on the "tarmac"! They stayed there a week or so and then I noticed they had all been moved to a grass field on base. I went over to them and no one was around them so I climbed up into the pilots seat and "dreamed!" A few days later I noticed a whole bunch of Filipinos were milling over it like Poobs fire ants....me being the curious type went over to check them out and the foreman said to me "we take all the good parts from all of these and we make 3 good airplanes....BUT we have no engines! Then he laughed and said BUT we get we get!" I was totally appalled at the professionalism of his "mechanics" as they were literally taking the wings off with hand hack saws!
Yes that DC-3 in Tucson was sad! I thought like you it sure would be cool to get her going again but you either have to be rich or have rich friends.
I used to be loadmaster for BarbieIII, a WWII B-25 based in Phoenix at Falcon Field until they sold her to a museum in NY. One of the co-pilots of Barbie acquired a beautiful DC-3 and had special arrangements with the Commemorative Air Force so they could give rides to the public with her. The pilot is a great guy and he needed volunteers to help keep her going...so you could actually fly with her for free except for the time you spent helping out with her...I was thinking about it but just don't have the time...so Gene you can have DC-3 dreams and they may not cost as much as you think for the real thing!...And if you lived here the DC-3 pilot is such a cool guy he would let you take some time at her controls as well!
Bill Simons N2527J 1963 Cessna 150D rental Philippines
Well, I'm back from my preliminary hunt for corrosion
I'm semi relieved that you injected the word "preliminary", Zack, as I can caution you that a cursory peek in the bilges or through the wing tips like this most often times doesn't come close to revealing what's taking place in the deep abyss of the air frame.
Club members Sandy Newfang, Wayne Westerman and yours truly learned about corrosion in the school of hard knocks. Sandy had her wing removed, disassembled and rebuilt where Wayne and I threw our planes away.
Below are some pictures of mine the day the A&P school hauled the corpse away.
I wish we lived closer together so I could inspect it for you as I'm fond of what you're trying to do here and your desire of restoring the plane you learned to fly in....I really like your idea.
I'm semi relieved that you injected the word "preliminary", Zack, as I can caution you that a cursory peek in the bilges or through the wing tips like this most often times doesn't come close to revealing what's taking place in the deep abyss of the air frame.
Club members Sandy Newfang, Wayne Westerman and yours truly learned about corrosion in the school of hard knocks. Sandy had her wing removed, disassembled and rebuilt where Wayne and I threw our planes away.
Below are some pictures of mine the day the A&P school hauled the corpse away.
I wish we lived closer together so I could inspect it for you as I'm fond of what you're trying to do here and your desire of restoring the plane you learned to fly in....I really like your idea.
Absolutely Jim, I definitely have a few more rounds of detective work ahead of me.
Sorry to hear about You, Sandy, and Wayne! Those pictures are really, really sad. It's exact scene I'm hoping to prevent. What ended up being the areas that were affected on everyone's aircraft?
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