tbstanto
Well-Known Member
I purchased a PA-28R Arrow after I got my private. I used it for my commercial and CFI, as well as some time building. I bought it with 400 hours on the engine, and sold it with almost 800 hours. I flew it all over the country, and would go on 2-3 day time building trips. I paid $45,000, and sold it for $45,000. The annual cost me about $2500 to replace some fuel lines and a couple other things that added up quickly, but it could have been worse. My tie down fees were about $40 a month, but I did have to keep it outside because there was no hangar space available.
I was lucky and it worked out well. I had talked to a couple of flight schools and looked into doing a leaseback. The problem was, however, even though I paid cash for the airplane, I knew that I would be working as an airline FO and would not have the disposable income to fix things on the airplane if they broke. I also did not have an engine reserve fund started, and I would need to save most of the "profits" from the rental to put back into the airplane. It seemed like too much risk and not enough reward at the time.
I also did not have a newer GPS in it. All of the flight schools really wanted a 430 or better, but I had a KLN-90B. I would have loved to put a 430 in it, but I could not justify the money, and the old 90 worked just fine - as did the VOR receivers.
To be honest, I was pretty happy when I sold it. I was always worried that something was going to happen to it. My landings got to be really smooth very quickly because I was so worried about damaging it. In fact, I sold it with the same brakes and tires it had when I bought it.
I was lucky and it worked out well. I had talked to a couple of flight schools and looked into doing a leaseback. The problem was, however, even though I paid cash for the airplane, I knew that I would be working as an airline FO and would not have the disposable income to fix things on the airplane if they broke. I also did not have an engine reserve fund started, and I would need to save most of the "profits" from the rental to put back into the airplane. It seemed like too much risk and not enough reward at the time.
I also did not have a newer GPS in it. All of the flight schools really wanted a 430 or better, but I had a KLN-90B. I would have loved to put a 430 in it, but I could not justify the money, and the old 90 worked just fine - as did the VOR receivers.
To be honest, I was pretty happy when I sold it. I was always worried that something was going to happen to it. My landings got to be really smooth very quickly because I was so worried about damaging it. In fact, I sold it with the same brakes and tires it had when I bought it.