Piper Navajo for sale $ 1.500.000 ??!!

[knot4u]

Still find that these days on the mil engine run pads, where the tailhook gets lowered and secured to chain/cables on the concrete secure point, along with the other landing gear strut secure points, and full power engine runs performed.

We were doing it with a piston powered airplane, although that particular plane still holds the 3K speed record (kind of, FIA doesn't have that particular category anymore). We couldn't even run full power on the engine test stand, it was built on a 18 wheeler flat bed trailer and the fear was the torque would flip it. The only way we were ever able to get real numbers was to fly it, and then take it all apart again, reassemble it and fly again. Have to admit standing next to that thing at high power chained to the ground was pretty exciting, you could start seeing one strut get really, really light. Of course these runs were made in the middle of the night on a ramp adjacent to our hangar, something that could never happen at KVNY today. The blast fence was an area for jets only back then.

 

[Richman]

I don't know a lot, but I've picked up a thing or two over the last couple years re: aircraft acquisitions, though from the point of view of working machines, not personal transport. I've been part of both the "buy a premium turnkey machine" and "buy a known fixer upper" and my limited perspective is that it's 6 of one half dozen of the other, pay more up front or pay more down the road, with the advantage up front being that the airplane is ready to go instead of having a long layup before you can use it.

"It depends". If you've got a good shop and a handle on the sub-contractors of the deal (avionics, interior, paint, etc), that it can turn out ok. If you've got a guy flathatting running around for the lowest bids halfway around the country, then it's going to probably not turn out well. Avionics seems to be the worst.

There's a lot to be said for a de-bugged machine ready to fly, even with a slight cost premium. Someone has already had the headaches and spent the money on shop time to fix all the problems that invariably creep up.

Richman

 

[Roger Roger]

"It depends". If you've got a good shop and a handle on the sub-contractors of the deal (avionics, interior, paint, etc), that it can turn out ok. If you've got a guy flathatting running around for the lowest bids halfway around the country, then it's going to probably not turn out well. Avionics seems to be the worst.

There's a lot to be said for a de-bugged machine ready to fly, even with a slight cost premium. Someone has already had the headaches and spent the money on shop time to fix all the problems that invariably creep up.

Richman

Oh, and "current 135 machine" is right up there with "fresh annual with sale" in my book.