Abandoned Planes

[phecksel]

Friend of mine knowing I'm looking for a Mooney said "you should come look at two on my field, they've been sitting here for years".

 

One needs an engine, local mechanic claims the other "just" needs an annual.  Both are E's.

 

Any reason to consider a money pit?  Part of me thinks this could be a fun project.  Practical side of me says RUN.

[KSMooniac]

If you enjoy wrenching and get one for as close to free as possible, I'd say go for it.  The sad truth is, however, if you take the price of an otherwise airworthy and flying example of an E in today's market, and add up the cost of an engine + other things that don't like to sit (gyros, radios, rubber hoses and donuts, etc.) you'll quickly exceed the cost of buying an already flying plane that has been maintained.  And of course your labor will be valued at $0/hr for this exercise...

 

The other side of the coin is that you get the pride and satisfaction of bringing back a great plane from her deathbed, and get to make it into exactly what you want.  If you're short of purchase cash and don't *need* to fly right now, it might be a viable way to get into ownership.  We have a member on this board that took a couple years restoring his '77 J into better-than-new condition.

 

I'd still thoroughly check each example out before considering it, though, especially for corrosion of the wing spar and steel cage for starters.  Everything else can be fixed reasonably.  

[orionflt]

I love projects like what you are describing, but I doubt they would be worth attempting a restoration.

[rbridges]

"sitting here for years" is a phrase that scares me.  If I were an IA and could do some of the wrenching myself, maybe, but only if I inspected it with a fine tooth comb.

[Cruiser]

these are great candidates for the new NON commercial category. Owner approved maintenance with low cost equipment.

[Alan Fox]

I got an example two years ago , that sat in a hanger for 10 years or so with a fresh engine , when parked , and still cant get my money and time out of it..... If you cant get it for free , or the value of the cores, Don't buy it.....

[DrBill]

We have a relic like that at our airport.. I know it has not flown in at LEAST 13 years. Started maybe 3 years ago. About 10 years ago he had a potential buyer until the asking price came out $28K... Has sat ever since. I wrote him a letter in 04 offering 10K. No response. It is a shame that it still sits there and he pays $65 / month for the tiedown.

BILL

[Marauder]

We have a relic like that at our airport.. I know it has not flown in at LEAST 13 years. Started maybe 3 years ago. About 10 years ago he had a potential buyer until the asking price came out $28K... Has sat ever since. I wrote him a letter in 04 offering 10K. No response. It is a shame that it still sits there and he pays $65 / month for the tiedown.

BILL

There are a number of planes like that around the country. When I flew out to Alan's airport and he showed me the Piper Meridan sitting there in that condition, it just blew my mind. I think the reason it happens is, just like the rest of us, we have such a love and devotion to aviation that we can't see ourself separated from it.

Letting go of the airplane, is letting go of aviation for many...

[OR75]

i am among those who believes that the re-registration every 3 years is a good thing. sorry.

Always makes me sad to see a plane in the tie down area beaten up by weather, with flat tires and that has obviously not moved for years.

[Jamie]

I'm sure everyone has their version of this, but..

 

Where I learned to fly a "twin" or some sort (didn't know planes then, so don't remember what it was) had sat there so long the tires were flat, and the rims had punched through the tires and "melted" into the asphalt.

 

And then of course, there are these:

 

Abandonded DC-3s

Those have been there AT LEAST 23 years... (since I was in grad school).

[carusoam]

I have witnessed an M20G fly away after a decade + in the tall grass.

These projects make whole airplanes seem low cost in comparison.

Best regards,

-a-

[phecksel]

My former C had been maintenance free for years... right up until I wasn't flying her much.  Go to the point where ever time I flew, I had a minimum $500 repair bill.  Final straw was fuel leaking inside the cabin from the fuel pressure gauge tube rubbing on scat tubing.  Nothing brings on pucker power like discovering a fast drip of fuel at 500' AGL on takeoff.

 

I don't believe it's a project I want to take on, but it would definitely be mine when it's all done

[Yetti]

Tell us more like where they are located.   I would be interested in a project.

[jlunseth]

If you are an A&P with money to burn rebuilding everything, maybe.  Or if you have a relationship with an A&P who will inspect your work for next to nothing.  Otherwise I would say no, there are just too many issues with Mooney's, corrosion being one. 

[N601RX]

If there is any structural corrosion, then no.  If there isn't any and your able to invest a lot of your own time and have an A&P who will sign off any work, then it could turn out ok.  If there isn't any major corrosion and the fuel tanks are ok a few thousand in parts and your labor should get the airframe back in airworthy condition. You can probably expect to overhaul the engine/prop.  The cost for this can vary all over the place, once again depending how involved your A&P is willing to get and if their willing open up the case.

[nels]

I always thought it would be good experience to take an old junk airplane apart and maybe save some stuff for spares and sell off some stuff to pay for the initial investment. The trouble is two fold, it would have to be cheap and you have to have a place to do the surgery and store the remains. Still, the hands on education would be great.

[AmigOne]

Something strange about these "abandoned" airplanes. Their owners are often hard to find but if you they often do not react well to offers. In fact they get angry that you call them. They seem to have a kind of a death wish for their airplane. At my airport I saw a nice Cessna 140, a twin Comanche, a Mooney, a Cessna 150 and a Bonanza be slowly destroyed by the weather and the birds.

[rbridges]

Something strange about these "abandoned" airplanes. Their owners are often hard to find but if you they often do not react well to offers. In fact they get angry that you call them. They seem to have a kind of a death wish for their airplane. At my airport I saw a nice Cessna 140, a twin Comanche, a Mooney, a Cessna 150 and a Bonanza be slowly destroyed by the weather and the birds.

 

they also seem to feel that their plane that was airworthy 20 years ago still commands a decent price when they try to sell it after decades of rotting.

[bdjohn4]

There's a C and I think a G or F at W88 (Air Harbor, Greensboro NC) that have been sitting for 10+ years. One has a motor with only 20 hours on it. Sadly, the motor is most certainly garbage at this point. I went with an already flying plane, but would love to see someone snap one or both of these up and repair. I'd imagine that having two ACFT to start with you'd have enough parts to complete and fly one of them.

JML

[Mooneymite]

RUN!

 

The sad truth is that perfectly good, airworthy aircraft are selling at a huge discount right now.  Aircraft Spruce is still selling the hardware you'll need at full retail.  While some used parts are also cheap, new avionics and other essentials are not.

 

Today, there is no monetary advantage in building/restoring.  Buy the "perfect plane" at a low price and be happy.

[phecksel]

RUN!

 

The sad truth is that perfectly good, airworthy aircraft are selling at a huge discount right now.  Aircraft Spruce is still selling the hardware you'll need at full retail.  While some used parts are also cheap, new avionics and other essentials are not.

 

Today, there is no monetary advantage in building/restoring.  Buy the "perfect plane" at a low price and be happy.

My friend hates looking at the planes just sitting there rotting away.  While the planes might be flyable, there's no way I'd make a cross country flight home after the local field A&P did an annual to make them flight legal. 

[1964-M20E]

Corrosion is the key if that is under control and not a problem and everything else is there you have potential.  The biggest thing I see in getting one of these airworthy is many hours of cleaning and lubrication.  The other wild cards are tank sealing, and miscellaneous mechanical gremlins that will pop up.  If with a minimum amount of inspection and work you can get one fired up and see that most everything is working you might have a chance.

[scottfromiowa]

I paid over $50k for a hanger queen that I am still putting AMU's into 10+ years later. Man would I love to be entering now and buy that eBay 201 and do it again. When I am done I would have a 201 for M20E(2000) dollars. Sigh...

[NotarPilot]

these are great candidates for the new NON commercial category. Owner approved maintenance with low cost equipment.

Did I miss something on the boards recently? Did this NON commercial category get approved?

[pirate]

18 years ago I bought total runout. I kept redoing things, I eventually ended up with is what I consider a brand new updated 1970 C model. Every nut, bolt, rod, wire, bushing, engine, prop, etc, etc,etc was replaced / refurbished. I added certain mods for my liking and to enhance its looks, I put a " LOT " of money into it knowing I would keep it never to sell. I think it's no different than someone wanting to have the Mooney Factory refurbish a old neglected runout C, E or 201. When I think of what a factory would charge for the re creation of what I did I feel like I got a deal. I enjoyed the experience so much that afterwards I got very bored and took up building a 200hp RV 7.