Hi there,
Having had my recent aircraft purchase fall through, I've gone back to looking through the thousands of GA aircraft across Europe. I've come to realise two things:
1) Water is the root of all evil 2) Almost no IFR capable 'affordable to me' aircraft have HSI, Mode-S, 8.33Khz, BRNAV 3) VAT thingy makes pre-1986 aircraft much more affordable
Now for timing - let's assume 1 & 3 are somewhat fixed, that leaves us looking at finding a nice plane. The costs of upgrading to be suitable for IFR in 2014 seems rather expensive. Since there isn't much recovery on money spent on the aircraft, it would seem wise to wait till next year when more aircraft are available with the above items already fitted and allow someone else take the depreciation. It's not that I'm looking at expensive airframes but rather around the 35-50k mark where these things make a big difference.
Any thoughts or opinions on what to go for and when?
DMEarc
You can have one of mine for £50k!
What is your budget, and what is your mission profile?
65% Local VFR 15% upto 350nm trips 20% Converting IR to EASA
Max would be 50k. Ideally 35k. A/P with roll control would be nice.
DMEarc
I don't think that you'll find a pre86 craft with all the mentioned toys next year.. Let's admit it: HSI, ModeS, 8.33, BRNAV is a 30K+ investment all by itself.. If it's just switching the radios you may get away with 5K.. HSI, XPDR and GPS should be common nowadays..
Planes that are now 30 years old won't get this upgrade now only to be parted with next year because the fashion requires a different plane model.
People who fly these planes will keep them and live with the limitations..
There are 50k planes which in theory have all this (I think I even saw a TB20 for sale recently, though it had no AP) but you can expect to have to throw some serious money at it.
Let's face it - why would the seller be offloading an IFR tourer, in good condition, no serious corrosion, a long history of diligent maintenance i.e. not mechanically shagged, which just 10 years ago would have cost 200k and on which everything works, for 50k? Even someone who for ever lost their medical isn't going to be doing that.
Also if you are working towards an IR, that implies you are working towards the capability to do "Eurocontrol IFR" flying. You need something reasonably good for that, with a FL150+ ceiling minimum, to be useful.
I don't know...I know someone who picked up a very nice TB20 for 30something K (and it had AP). The engine was near TBO though but flew sweetly, and after some new cylinders the thing even crossed the atlantic and back and the engine is sweet as a nut. There is a good guy looking after it though who knows what he is doing.
Of course since then the thing has gone through some serious avionics upgrading, painting, new interior etc, with the Aspens and 530w/430W combo etc., N reg, , but even with only one 430W the thing could be IFR for less than your budget. 430W fitted with the garmin CDI is probably £8k?
ok it wouldn't be "brand new" but it would certainly work well.
I reckon it's possible. Each year, the glass fleet grows by 10% (2014-2004 = 10 years). Generally, there is a huge divide between 1986<->2004 where technology moved from retrofitable to integrated. As the 2004 stock depreciates, the pre-86 stock will be pushed down further.
The difficulty with airplanes is that the more you renew, the less incremental value each renewal carries. You can only ask for so much for a PA28/TB10 etc which is 35 years old. Thus is my fear, it seems to make little sense actually doing much to an airplane after purchasing it unless you plan to own it to benefit fully from the CapEx.
I reckon what I'm looking for will be possible but not until the other side of the 8.33/Mode-S window. Anyone other opinions?
Prices are certainly coming down, but they come down at different rates in different categories.
The standard PA28s etc will keep coming down, but in the IFR tourer category there is a certain minimum standard which the owners try to maintain and which has a certain ongoing cost.
The cost of 8.33/Mode S is "nothing" on the scale of what it costs to run an IFR tourer. My 2002 TB20 is still relatively new and has almost zero airframe related costs but I have just paid out $3200 on a replacement overhaul/exchange KEA130A encoding altimeter. That is more than many paid for a whole Mode S transponder install...
An aircraft that meets the IFR requirements today but not from 2014 on might become cheaper next year because then it cannot be sold as IFR equipped. You can tell the seller you buy it but he has to pay for the radio upgrade, etc.
Often aircraft owners are totally fed up with having to invest in an airplane they barely use and are willing to let it go at a low price rather than put the money and effort in to do the upgrade.
