tawood
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- Apr 7, 2016
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This might sound like a rant...it's not. More of just a reminder to us all that sometimes, owning an airplane can get downright painful to our wallets....
As way of some background, I've owned 6 planes (one at a time) since buying my first plane in 1994. Of all my previous planes, I think I typically would spend $2-5k a year in maintenance including annuals. Now, I should add that I am very involved in my plane's care, and do EVERYTHING that I can do myself, maintenance wise, that does not require an A&P sign off...such things as oil changes, paint touch up/fabric repair, bearings, tires, brakes, etc. Also, I tend to buy VERY well maintained/low time aircraft (paying a premium for such planes). I like my planes perfect, or nearly so, and I keep them that way. But I also think I've been lucky, at least a little lucky. Before owning my Arrow, my worst year (heck my only year above $5k for maintenance), was the year my little Cherokee 140 developed a hard-to-find vacuum leak in the intake system: grand total $14,000 after throwing part-after-part, mechanic-after-mechanic, until the leaky butterfly valves on the carb were found and the carb was rebuilt ($14,000 was the year total, not just the leak repair).
Then came along my Arrow. Can you say, "MONEY PIT"!!!??? Or at the least, it was the end of my good luck.
So last month marks 2 years of ownership. My annuals have been what I think is "typical"...$2000 or maybe just a little more. So what's the problem then, you ask? Well, besides annuals, I've spent (drum roll please), $80,000, in 2 years, fixing broken parts. Yup, $80,000. And the engine? Not a lick of problem (so far anyway). The airframe? Perfect, plane kept indoors its whole life, never a trainer, and not a lick of corrosion. Got a good prebuy too. So what happened?
Well, a prebuy does not show that your 3 year old vacuum pump is about to fail with only 250 hours, or your 4 year old alternator is about to quit, or your newish starter is about to disintegrate itself, or your gear pump, also with low hours, is about to crack, or every single gyro in your plane has also been touched by the gremlins (two of them twice!), ad nauseum!!! Also add newish battery failure, solenoid failure, gear leg cracks (those were EXPENSIVE), the autopilot developing an intermittent wig/wag problem that took months to sort out, brakes developing multiple leaks, gear developing multiple leaks, gear up switches failing, burned out waylen strobe bulbs at $699 a pop, engine mount replacement, muffler developing cracks, prop picking up a nick that can't be repaired, tires (not tire but TIRES, as in 3) picking up items going flat, defrost control breaking, comm 2 quitting, fuel drains leaking, wheel cracking, LED headlights (I have three and have replaced 2 at $500 each) burning out, I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch....
160 hours in 2 years, divided into maintenance, gas, insurance, and hangar rent = $700 an hour!!! OUCH!!! BTW, plane is also smooth as silk (even had the prop balance checked just to be sure), no vibrations, or anything else that I could see that might lend itself to creating such problems. Heck, even my hangar is insulated with free electricity, so I run heat in there from fall until spring. My plane has NEVER been started up while cold soaked and is totally babied...
Remind me again why I own? LOL. Okay, enough b1tching, I'm going flying before something else breaks.
As way of some background, I've owned 6 planes (one at a time) since buying my first plane in 1994. Of all my previous planes, I think I typically would spend $2-5k a year in maintenance including annuals. Now, I should add that I am very involved in my plane's care, and do EVERYTHING that I can do myself, maintenance wise, that does not require an A&P sign off...such things as oil changes, paint touch up/fabric repair, bearings, tires, brakes, etc. Also, I tend to buy VERY well maintained/low time aircraft (paying a premium for such planes). I like my planes perfect, or nearly so, and I keep them that way. But I also think I've been lucky, at least a little lucky. Before owning my Arrow, my worst year (heck my only year above $5k for maintenance), was the year my little Cherokee 140 developed a hard-to-find vacuum leak in the intake system: grand total $14,000 after throwing part-after-part, mechanic-after-mechanic, until the leaky butterfly valves on the carb were found and the carb was rebuilt ($14,000 was the year total, not just the leak repair).
Then came along my Arrow. Can you say, "MONEY PIT"!!!??? Or at the least, it was the end of my good luck.
So last month marks 2 years of ownership. My annuals have been what I think is "typical"...$2000 or maybe just a little more. So what's the problem then, you ask? Well, besides annuals, I've spent (drum roll please), $80,000, in 2 years, fixing broken parts. Yup, $80,000. And the engine? Not a lick of problem (so far anyway). The airframe? Perfect, plane kept indoors its whole life, never a trainer, and not a lick of corrosion. Got a good prebuy too. So what happened?
Well, a prebuy does not show that your 3 year old vacuum pump is about to fail with only 250 hours, or your 4 year old alternator is about to quit, or your newish starter is about to disintegrate itself, or your gear pump, also with low hours, is about to crack, or every single gyro in your plane has also been touched by the gremlins (two of them twice!), ad nauseum!!! Also add newish battery failure, solenoid failure, gear leg cracks (those were EXPENSIVE), the autopilot developing an intermittent wig/wag problem that took months to sort out, brakes developing multiple leaks, gear developing multiple leaks, gear up switches failing, burned out waylen strobe bulbs at $699 a pop, engine mount replacement, muffler developing cracks, prop picking up a nick that can't be repaired, tires (not tire but TIRES, as in 3) picking up items going flat, defrost control breaking, comm 2 quitting, fuel drains leaking, wheel cracking, LED headlights (I have three and have replaced 2 at $500 each) burning out, I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch....
160 hours in 2 years, divided into maintenance, gas, insurance, and hangar rent = $700 an hour!!! OUCH!!! BTW, plane is also smooth as silk (even had the prop balance checked just to be sure), no vibrations, or anything else that I could see that might lend itself to creating such problems. Heck, even my hangar is insulated with free electricity, so I run heat in there from fall until spring. My plane has NEVER been started up while cold soaked and is totally babied...
Remind me again why I own? LOL. Okay, enough b1tching, I'm going flying before something else breaks.
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