It might be a bubble, although with new SR22s going for something like 1M+VAT everything below is going to get lifted up. However that can’t be the whole story because the SR22 was always very pricey while at the same time a 1985 TB20 (in a poor condition) was worth maybe 50k.
Sr22 is certainly a bubble but so are most assets out there. I can go into a long discussion about the economics which I am sure will bore everyone but the bottom line is that interest rates are not high enough in the US to slow down the economy. Its actually booming and they are talking about cuts (probably political to keep trump out). You can see how asset prices are similar levels to the helicopter money era and financial conditions are the easiest ever. So the sr22 will keep its lofty prices. But watch out when a recession comes (who knows when) – these things are gonna absolutely collapse as there are so many out there.
UK/Europe is different ball game – uk especially will suffer a lot this year as most mortgages reset to the new reality in 2024 (whilst americans are locked for 30y at pandemic era rates) and sadly it will just mean a wider wealth gap. There’s a lot of wealth and savings around here which isn’t going away for the time being, regardless of the state of the economy.
Peter wrote:
It might be a bubble
I am not sure. The fact of the matter is that there are less and less available and viable airframes and rarity puts up price. Add to that, during the Covid crisis a lot of new pilots have joined the market looking for good airplanes to buy.
We are seeing the same in the Mooney world too, quite a few airframes in recent times have been diagnosed out of circulation (mostly due to corrosion), consequently there are less and less available on the market. Those which are are in many cases well kept and well equipped and they do fetch prices which in the post 2008 depression were totally unimaginable. I’ve seen C and E models go for over 100k which were 30-40k max at the time when TB20’s were in 50k ranges…
Looking at the new and recent airplane prices, the asking prices for viable TB20’s make perfect sense, given the price level of Cirrus and other brands. Personally, I think the TB20/21 series is one of the most attractive and capable GA complex singles around, hence they fetch solid prices these days. Particularly airplanes which are “fly away” condition and don’t need any upgrades or rectification of prior problems.
Update:
I’ve finally flown N219RT after the prop overhaul and many days of terrible weather!
Needless to say, I’m very happy with my purchase!
- the aircraft really is lovely to fly and very stable
- clean stall at buzzer was a non event at about 77 knots (book says 90). I was too much of a chicken to try a full stall on day 1! It’s a bit annoying at the buzzer sounds similar to the buzzer that complains about the landing gear being up with low power
- steep turns were great nose didn’t drop even at 45 degrees. Far cry from Pa28 which was a weight lifting exercise at 45 degrees to keep it from a spiral dive !
- crosswind landing was a non event even with 15-25 knots of crosswind from the North East which us notoriously turbulent at shoreham. Hardly felt any turbulence at all.
My only reservation so far is that dropping the full landing flap can be rather destabilising on the final approach as the speed drops abruptly and the descent becomes quite steep.
Now I need to find someone with solid tb20 experience to get fully trained on it!
Upon selecting flap 2 you have to automatically push the yoke a long way to avoid the balloon effect.
Peter wrote:
Upon selecting flap 2 you have to automatically push the yoke a long way to avoid the balloon effect.
Would you take a little power off whilst selecting full flap?
No, you will need that power now to make it to the threshold.
i was thinking more like take a bit off and apply it back after deployment. Just to make the control movement required smoother (its a big push forward to stop it)
To be honest, I don’t understand the discussion. Apart from the fact that the TB20 flies like a rock with full flaps and the gear out the flap behavior is quite conventional. Put them out, retrim and that’s it. Same as with a Cessna (they balloon a lot) or Piper.
