Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes High Airframe Hours ?

And will out perform 152's pound for pound of payload!

..........Climbing into my flaming armor............

This doesn't happen to be an airplane you are training in, does it? If so, walk away now....emotional attachment can be a terrible motivator.

If not, I like some others would have not problem with what you describe other than the price is too high considering you have an overhaul coming up. If it was a 1000-1200 hour engine, I would think that to be a pretty good deal.

If this plane is expensive at 2000 hours at $20K...but a good deal if it had 1000 hours -- then half an engine job is worth $5K??

I would think that there should be a linear relationship between hours and dollars -- given a fresh engine is $15K.

Yes, there's a linear relationship between hours and dollars. But I don't see how you deduced from Jeff's statment that half an engine job is worth $5K.

John you're new to this game. So, keep asking questions and looking till you find the right plane at the right price!

I look at engine times a different way. If I love the airplane, how many years can I fly it before an overhaul, rather than the linear dollar difference you mention. Additionally, I then add to that....will I have saved enough by then to do it.

My Cardinal was on the borderline. I could sell it for $57,000 (bought it for $53K and flew it two years), but in another 2 or 3 years, I would be overhauling it at a cost of about $20-25K. Now I have a $80K investment in an airplane that would be worth about $70-75K, so I decided to sell it.

The Cherokee, that was just a bone head deal. Just got my annual bill of close to $4K due to repairs needed from years of marginal maintenence. So, I paid $37K, have about $8K more into it after the engine work (and it had a 160 hour engine when I bought it), so I am sitting at $45K. Bad investment....maybe, maybe not. I will still have $35K LESS cash invested into the airplane. It is a low time airframe and now the engine is up to snuff with years of flying in it. Market today is about $42K to $47K so I am probably upside down a few grand, but I know what I have and hopefully it will suit my purposes for many years to come.

Oh...by the way....I have started working on an STC to move the wing on top of the fuselage, but getting some resistence from the FAA about those 7 foot long gear leg extensions. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

An "overhaul" can range from $6k to $20+k, but usually falls somewhere between $8k and $15K on an O-235. "Value" and "worth" are relative terms, and mean different things to different people (including mechanics). On average, yes, $5k should pay for about half of a 4-cylinder overhaul.

I'm also looking at 150s though I prefer the ones from the late 70's. It's hard to find something nice for a reasonable price. It seems that most of the listings I've seen are from CA or TX. I'm trying to find something close to KY.

Patience is a virtue that's for sure. On the other hand when you do see something nice you have to move pretty quickly. I've procrastinated in the past and missed a couple of good deals

I'm taking it all in! There's a lot to learn.