Closed up shop

On the way home from the in-laws after Christmas I checked my iPhone email. I found a new message letting me know my flight school, where I was renting an airplane, has gone bankrupt.
I had noticed for a while that there wasn't much activity there so it wasn't a big surprise, but it's still a big disappointment. I feel quite bad for the owners, of course, but that also means I have no way of flying now.

So now I'm once again looking to buy an plane or find an existing aircraft at KUZA that I can buy a share of. I looked closely at a Piper Warrior for a bit but that was scoped up by another buyer. I had a goal to keep enough money aside to put a Aspen PFD in it - all the better for safer IFR flying.

Now I'm looking around some more and trying to find something that fits my purchase budget without having too high of an ongoing cost. Taking a look at older Mooneys and Piper Arrows now.

Comments

ddf said…
I'll be interested in how you decide what to do. It seems the economy cuts both ways, closing the school while at the same time there appear to be great bargains out there. What are your mission requirements? What resources do you use to find information?
January 12, 2010 at 10:36 AM
Jason (Photon) said…
So far I've tried to sort out the recurring costs involved in owning each airplane I'm researching. I plan to make a post about my findings once I settle in on a decision. I've been searching controller.com, trade-a-plane, and ASO. I've also seen a few airplanes in the shadeports at KUZA that look nice - trying to determine if there is a reasonable way to contact some of the owners to see if they want a partner.
January 12, 2010 at 10:49 AM
Colin said…
I am on a web forum with a bunch of Diamond owners and a couple have tried the Aspen units. I love the idea and was dismayed to learn that there is tremendous issues with the build quality and support.

In an ideal world they would make for safer IFR flying. I think in the real world they are a huge hassle and waste of a large chunk of cash. One fellow is on his fifth unit. It still doesn't work reliably. He's out $14k so far.
January 12, 2010 at 11:26 AM
Jason (Photon) said…
Colin, I'd like to check those posts out - is that available on a public link?
January 12, 2010 at 11:38 AM
John said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
January 12, 2010 at 1:38 PM
John said…
I have some history/insight into older mooneys (and in general a high, biased opinion of them). If you have questions please ask. One I know of is

http://sites.google.com/site/n3291f/home

I've flown it and know the owner. Good aircraft and it has a new panel and a sweet auto pilot.
January 12, 2010 at 1:39 PM
Anonymous said…
Millz!

What a bummer! Now is the time to jump on an airplane if you can! I'm selling a share of a 1998 182S but don't know if it will do you too good being based in Florida! haha

-Jason
January 13, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Darrell said…
Check the Aircraft Partnership Association @ www.theapa.com to see if there are any existing partnerships in your area, or people interested in starting a co-ownership.
January 13, 2010 at 8:26 PM
Ben Lauer said…
unrelated comment - how did you get your log 10 stats to show up on the right side?
hit me up: benthos at gmail dot com
February 22, 2010 at 7:31 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Updating data on the Garmin Perspective system

Image
After changing from the Avidyne system to the Cirrus Perspective (G1000) system, I had to relearn an important part of owning an airplane: how to update all the data the systems use. There's even more data in the Perspective, including AOPA directory data and more charts. In this walkthrough, I make use of the Jeppesen app for Apple OS X: JDM .  It has worked well for me, though I did need to call Jeppesen when I first set this up to get my subscriptions fixed up.  They gave great customer support when I did. The process starts (optionally) by hooking up a ground power unit (GPU).  In the case of the Cirrus, you can certainly do this without it, but I tend to hook it up just to be sure.  The systems draw about 8-10amps while updating, but you won't generally have the power on for long.  One tip I've read: power up the GPU before plugging it into the plane, at least for the one I bought.  That saves the plane from seeing any power spikes that might have occurred when t
Read more

G1000 transistion training - emergencies - final flight

Image
For the final flight in my G1000 transition course we focused on failure scenarios. Not the "engine goes POOF" kind but the avionics kind. Normal situation This picture shows what the 2 Garmin screens show in a normal (non failure) situation. You can see we have 2 screens - the left PFD focusing on flight performance (airspeed, heading, attitude, altitude) and the right screen (MFD) focusing on engine data, mapping, checklists, and everything else. Failed PFD screen In this scenario the screen that is right in front of you (the PFD) has failed. This basically means the screen has gone dark. We simulate that by dimming the screen down to 0% brightness. After darkening the PFD we shot a GPS approach into Rock Hill. When this failure has occured you shift the G1000 into Reversionary mode. That means the info that is normally split across 2 screens is now merged into 1. It actually duplicates the same data on both screens, but since the PFD screen is no longer functioning
Read more

A-10C Standby Compass - Sun Shade

Image
 One of the final items to add to this instrument build (besides the text covers for the lower LEDs) was the sun shade for the AR LED box.  I made this out of thin aluminum sheets , cutting it from a template using some metal sheers .    My template was created by tracing some of the actual artwork from the DCS sim, and then scaling it to the proper size. It turned out ok, not perfect but pretty good.  Primed and painted it and then installed it using 2 of the 4 holes that were already on the LED box 3D print.  I used some heat inserts in those holes to give the screws something to bite, but the holes are really too big for my inserts so had to use some glue to help out.  
Read more