Buying an airplane

You can find some descently priced Mooney's. My buddy had a tripacer in DED which was a good plane at first but ended up costing him much more than planned because he had to replace the skin with teconite (not sure how to spell it). What about an ercoupe? I know there on the small end but seem like pretty cool planes.
 
Murdoughnut said:
Get a Mooney so I can play with it too
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I'm sorry, we've already selected a Pacer or a Stinson 108 for Beagle. Get a taildragger endorsment.

ghoster said:
got a pretty nice 172M for sale. If interested, PM me.
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See above

Italianaviator said:
You can find some descently priced Mooney's. My buddy had a tripacer in DED which was a good plane at first but ended up costing him much more than planned because he had to replace the skin with teconite (not sure how to spell it). What about an ercoupe? I know there on the small end but seem like pretty cool planes.
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Unless there is a taildragger conversion for Mooney's, he'll be sticking with a Pacer or a 108

The thread can be closed now. Thank you.
 
I am going to awake waco's ire here, but realistically, I'd look pretty hard at an older Cherokee 180. You might be able to find one in pretty good shape for $30k, they're relatively simple, everyone and his brother knows how to work on them, and it's a real four place airplane with decent performance. And for the "character" nazis, you could paint it in old-school lurid Piper "Injun War Paint". I instructed in one for a while back in the day, and while, yes, the hershey-bar is not exactly a wonder of aerodynamics, the thing would take any beating you could throw at it and come up asking for more. Plus, as I said, it'll get off the ground in a big hurry even at high gross weights. Boilerplate: The one I flew had a pretty new motor in it.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
Okay, so any specific beach Musketeer issues I should look for? If I can get a serviceable one near 20k, that's what I am leaning towards.
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The Musketeer isn't the one with the weird engine in it is it? Like an O-346 or something like that? If it does have that engine run the opposite direction, seriously.
 
TUCKnTRUCK said:
Any beech part will be expensive, but the only reason you pay more for an old one, is that your mechanic isn't really "looking" for the deals. Im going through the motions, about to buy a baron... if you get the right guy, its not as bad
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Well, since I'm my mechanic.... ;)
 
I disagree with staying away from Stinsons because of the Franklin engine. One, the Voyager is absolutely a delight to fly, including takeoffs and landings. Two, the Franklin, while parts are hard to find, is a serviceable engine. My 1945 Stinson had a Cont 470 so there is that if you desire.
 
Italianaviator said:
You can find some descently priced Mooney's. My buddy had a tripacer in DED which was a good plane at first but ended up costing him much more than planned because he had to replace the skin with teconite (not sure how to spell it). What about an ercoupe? I know there on the small end but seem like pretty cool planes.
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Ceconite? For recovering, research Stewart brothers. Aswesome stuff.
 
At first I was hesitant about flying a Hershey bar wing. But I quickly felt at ease flying solo from right seat and could beat a helicopter in a spot landing contest. I loved flying that machine...until after about 400 hours I grew incredibly bored with 110 IAS. If I wanted to go that slow I shoulda' kept the Stinson except I enjoyed the almost 1,000 lbs payload of the early model Cherokees.

Flying across most regions in the USA and in all kinds of wx, I had no doubts of that airframe.
 
Mooney for speed, Stinson or other for fun.

Stinson 108 will carry more in comfort than any permutation of a M20.
 
Another vote for the Scareakee. The systems are simpler than today's lawnmowers, with attendant low mx costs. There are a gazillion Cherokees of different flavors out there still flying so parts are *relatively* easy to find and cheap. Wouldn't get heartburn about the tanks that some other user mentioned, they're going to be less of a problem than a full-on wet wing (Mooney) or bladders (182). I'd consider a later model like a 161 or 181 with the better airfoil wing though.
 
+Another vote for the Cherokee. I suppose I'm somewhat biased because I own one, but my Cherokee 140 has been very cheap to own, and I really haven't had any regrets thus far.

I paid 30K even for mine. Had about 4400 TTAF, and 300 SMOH on the engine when I bought it back in January. It even has a surprisingly decent panel/avionics.

Most expensive fix for me so far has been a $400.00 vacuum pump replacement, but that's it.

The hershey bar wing kind of annoys me sometimes (it glides about as well as a brick with power off and full flaps), but I don't regret my decision. My wallet doesn't either.
 
Devil's advocate- you live in Florida, dude. Get a high wing airplane, whatever you get- sightseeing is much better that way. Me personally? I'd get myself a nice C-182. I flew a 182 for a few dozen hours and loved every minute. She had extended range tanks with a great IFR stack. I got to go places and get there fast in that airplane. If I didn't fill the tanks all the way, I could get four full sized adults in there easily. Two or three peeps plus bags if you don't go full tanks would be a snap.
 
Firebird2XC said:
Devil's advocate- you live in Florida, dude. Get a high wing airplane, whatever you get- sightseeing is much better that way. Me personally? I'd get myself a nice C-182. I flew a 182 for a few dozen hours and loved every minute. She had extended range tanks with a great IFR stack. I got to go places and get there fast in that airplane. If I didn't fill the tanks all the way, I could get four full sized adults in there easily. Two or three peeps plus bags if you don't go full tanks would be a snap.
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I think we should help him to narrow down his choices, look at his budget, I doubt an airworthy C182 would fit in there (and even if it does it will need $$$ to get pretty or have an updated instrument panel), even a C172 may be really hard to find in that price range (but not impossible), the C182 will also burn more gas then most planes mentioned so far in the thread with not a big gain of airspeed, it does have some more room but it`s really only noticeable in the back seat....it will also cost more in MX.
 
swisspilot said:
I think we should help him to narrow down his choices, look at his budget, I doubt an airworthy C182 would fit in there (and even if it does it will need $$$ to get pretty or have an updated instrument panel), even a C172 may be really hard to find in that price range (but not impossible), the C182 will also burn more gas then most planes mentioned so far in the thread with not a big gain of airspeed, it does have some more room but it`s really only noticeable in the back seat....it will also cost more in MX.
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True enough. I suppose I kinda threw out the budget aspect of things. Still, it'd be a good overall general airplane to own. I'd like one myself, someday.
 
trafficinsight said:
Well, since I'm my mechanic.... ;)
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Then you wouldn't have a problem! Beech parts are costly when you have to have them "NOW" If you plan your service well, and replace parts before they hit service limits, the parts cost isn't generally more than any other comparable plane.

In the Baron i'm assuming 5k/yr parts, 4k annual. Some years will be more, some less. Fixed costs to own, hangar, and fix.. I'm assuming 20k/yr untill it's paid off... and I'm expecting that to be short.

I'll also add, look into a partnership, and use that to expand what you can own. There are plenty enough hours in a month for 2 people to share a plane!
 
TUCKnTRUCK said:
Then you wouldn't have a problem! Beech parts are costly when you have to have them "NOW" If you plan your service well, and replace parts before they hit service limits, the parts cost isn't generally more than any other comparable plane.

In the Baron i'm assuming 5k/yr parts, 4k annual. Some years will be more, some less. Fixed costs to own, hangar, and fix.. I'm assuming 20k/yr untill it's paid off... and I'm expecting that to be short.

I'll also add, look into a partnership, and use that to expand what you can own. There are plenty enough hours in a month for 2 people to share a plane!
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Since Barons of some form are still in production it's probably a little easier for you.

For our Duchess we broke a cowl flap cable... the price? $1,000 only available through Beech, and there was one left in the country. After that there was an 8 month lead time. I can't have our main moneymaker sitting for 8 months, at least that time we got lucky.

Fuel strainer bowl for a Duchess... 22,000$ Engine gauge cluster? 14,000$ and a 6 month lead time. The sticker that sticks to the window in the Duchess that says You must be at least this tall to use the shoulder harness is $160.00... for a STICKER. Fuel tank placards, $250.00 EACH. Flap tube bushings $600.00 each and there are FOUR of them. I could go on...

What do some people do? Shady things, that's what. Aviation product liability lawyers kill more people than they save.

Beech wants out of production airplanes off the market and in the scrap yard, it's that simple.
 
Sucks that parts are that streep for you... Yes there are lots of barons around still. We have two parts donors at my home field (even better)

Don't get me wrong, there are crazy parts out there..but like I said, of I know I'm looking for something, I can put feelers out way in advance, and that helps.

I don't think beech wants the old ones gone, they just don't want the back end support and liability costs. If they wanted them gone they would do what they did to the star ships.

The baron also has lots of common parts, spoilt with the bonanza, I'm sure that also helps
 
trafficinsight said:
Since Barons of some form are still in production it's probably a little easier for you.

For our Duchess we broke a cowl flap cable... the price? $1,000 only available through Beech, and there was one left in the country. After that there was an 8 month lead time. I can't have our main moneymaker sitting for 8 months, at least that time we got lucky.

Fuel strainer bowl for a Duchess... 22,000$ Engine gauge cluster? 14,000$ and a 6 month lead time. The sticker that sticks to the window in the Duchess that says You must be at least this tall to use the shoulder harness is $160.00... for a STICKER. Fuel tank placards, $250.00 EACH. Flap tube bushings $600.00 each and there are FOUR of them. I could go on...

What do some people do? Shady things, that's what. Aviation product liability lawyers kill more people than they save.

Beech wants out of production airplanes off the market and in the scrap yard, it's that simple.
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It`s the same thing for many out of production Cessnas and Pipers...

I have seen some crazy things done to some Travel Airs we wanted to buy, where the owner just didn`t had the $ for the Beech part.
 
trafficinsight said:
The sticker that sticks to the window in the Duchess that says You must be at least this tall to use the shoulder harness is $160.00... for a STICKER. Fuel tank placards, $250.00 EACH.
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Uh...label maker and labeling tape?
 
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