How much airframe time is too much?

trafficinsight said:
1 C152 with 13000 hours, and 1 C152 with 9000 hours.

There is some talk of replacing them... my question is: What are you gonna replace the 152's with? And it's still 30 years old!
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The really crazy thing is the C-150/152 was designed to be a disposible airplane. Good for about 10 years of flight training and then buy another one.

Still going strong at 3X it's desgined service life.
 
I have heard there are DC-3's still flying with 100k+ hours. I regularly do aerobatics in a 10000 hr aircraft.
 
We had a Baron at Airnet (probably still flying) that I'm pretty sure Orville gave Wilbur his solo endorsement in. Lots and lots and lots and lots of hours on that bad boy. Take good care of it and no problems. Think of how long your car lasts you (relatively speaking a very long time) and what you put it through. You'd never do some of those things to your airplane...and you get more mx done to your airplane too.

-mini
 
minitour said:
Think of how long your car lasts you (relatively speaking a very long time) and what you put it through. You'd never do some of those things to your airplane...and you get more mx done to your airplane too.

-mini
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Yes but if your rear axel falls off you skid to a stop and look like a fool. If your wings fold up you get a front seat to your funeral. :)
 
i recently talked with a cessna engineer who specializes in accident investigations about this issue. i was asking him what he thought about the 11,000 hour 180/185's that the california highway patrol was selling recently. his response was an emphatic "buy one if you can". he really felt strongly about hours being almost meaningless, and condition and care being the factor the determines the structural airworthiness. this was the case with the CHiPs aircraft.
 
shdw said:
Yes but if your rear axel falls off you skid to a stop and look like a fool. If your wings fold up you get a front seat to your funeral. :)
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...which is why we do so much more mx. So the wings don't just "fold up".

Personally, I'm kinda looking forward to my rear axle falling off....right after the timing belt breaks (:rolleyes:).

-mini
 
I've flown a few turds with 1000TTAF and owned two cherry airplanes that were over 4000TT.

It all comes down to the maintenance and housing of the aircraft.

I've been involved in buying and selling GA aircraft for about 4 years now and I wouldn't blink at 4000TT after opening a few panels.
 
USMCmech said:
Compare the following.

3 year old C172 with 1500 hours, vs 40 year old Comanche with 8000 hours

The Cessna sits outside in Houston. Students learn to land in it, and have porposied it hundreds of times, plus all those screwed up crosswind landings. The firewall has been replaced once. Renters and students climb in and out 3-4 times per day, tearing up the trim, carpet, seats, ect. The engine has been overheated during slow flight countless times. It's been spun several times as students try to learn stalls. Students have been doing 0 G parabolas with the resulting 2-3 G pull out. 500 hours per year is actually low for a flight school airplane.

Vs

The Comanche was hangared in Lubbock. It's only had two owners, both of whom used it as their personal aircraft. It's been repainted twice, with a full strip, prime, paint job by a quality shop. The interior has been redone 3 years ago. There has been a few cases of hangar rash, but all have been fully repaired and documented.

I know which one I'd buy.


The point is that TTAF is only one part of the picture. A flight school Cessna ages about 5 years for every year on the line, and can be a total wreck in a short period of time. A private airplane that averages 100-200 hours per year will last basicly forever.

Paint jobs and interior refurbs are great because they let the mechanincs look at the bare metal one every 10 years or so.
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:yourock: I couldn't have said it any better.

Of course there are also the ones which are old worn out and flight school airplanes.... :insane:
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
:yourock: I couldn't have said it any better.

Of course there are also the ones which are old worn out and flight school airplanes.... :insane:
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I'd rather fly one of my old school's 4000 hour 172s than some of the 1500 hour airplanes I've come across turning wrenches here.
 
Roger said:
Ugh. Corrosion. I've seen some ugly stuff at work in the last week or so...
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Yeah, I know what you mean.

I've started taking the wing tank covers off of Cessnas at annual. One of the other shops on the field took one off for a leaking tank and found inter-granular corrosion had destroyed the wing attach fitting and spar inside the tank bay. There was no way to see it from any of the inspection panels, everything from the outside looked normal.
 
trafficinsight said:
Yeah, I know what you mean.

I've started taking the wing tank covers off of Cessnas at annual. One of the other shops on the field took one off for a leaking tank and found inter-granular corrosion had destroyed the wing attach fitting and spar inside the tank bay. There was no way to see it from any of the inspection panels, everything from the outside looked normal.
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Interesting tip.
 
I'd almost rather fly one that's been wrecked a couple of times, then you know someones gone through the thing with a fine toothed comb once or twice.
 
ppragman said:
I'd almost rather fly one that's been wrecked a couple of times, then you know someones gone through the thing with a fine toothed comb once or twice.
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also, if you didn't, you wouldn't fly most of the airplanes in AK.
 
I owned a 1966 150 that was used for flight intruction for the entire life of the airplane, had been wrecked twice, lived outside, and had a grand total of 18,242hrs AFTT :eek: as of July 2008 when I sold it still in annual and airworthy... to a flight school...
That airplane was still airworthy and flew somewhat straight but having said that its always a good idea to check the aircraft logs before taking out a rental bird.
 
Alaska45 said:
I owned a 1966 150 that was used for flight intruction for the entire life of the airplane, had been wrecked twice, lived outside, and had a grand total of 18,242hrs AFTT :eek: as of July 2008 when I sold it still in annual and airworthy... to a flight school...
That airplane was still airworthy and flew somewhat straight but having said that its always a good idea to check the aircraft logs before taking out a rental bird.
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Nice picture of the gorge in that avatar of yours, I miss some things about anchor-town.
 
ppragman said:
I'd almost rather fly one that's been wrecked a couple of times, then you know someones gone through the thing with a fine toothed comb once or twice.
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I agree with you in principle from a pilot's perspective. However, if you're talking ownership things are different. Even if everything is fine with the airplane, you still carry the burden of trying to sell it (eventually) with two wrecks in the logbooks. It can be damn near impossible to sell without taking it in the shorts.
 
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