Use of Donor Plane

[mkjprice]

Has anyone ever bought an older plane with mid time engine, and parted it out as a donor plane for their own project?

I was looking on Ebay and a local Online Classified site, and there are several onlder Cherokee's out there with mid time 180hp engines, and some with Garmin Instruments for around $30k. What would be the downfall of taking a certificated and flying airplane apart to make an RV fly. I even saw and Aztec for $45,000 with 2 O-540 that were less than 500 hours TSMOH and 150 SPOH. I though that would be a good donor for a Rocket or Super anything. I have since ruled out a Rocket build, but it seemed like that would be a reasonable and economical route to go.

Just thinking out loud here.

[SMO]

I bought a Rocket that had an off airport landing and was totaled. I used a lot of the parts, sent the engine to AeroSport for a refresh, sold most of the avionics to fund the setup I wanted, etc.

Would I do it again? Probably not, was a bit more hassle than it was worth - going to get the wreck, dismantling it, checking out the parts, disposing of the items I did not want, etc. I suppose I saved a few (~5) thousand dollars overall, but could just as easily have lost as much if the engine had been toast.

As an aside, most of the stuff I sold was sold on this site. The integrity of the people on this site is way above the bar of the general population and I did not have any issues. There is a reason Doug's annual fee from me is a little higher than he asks - I will be years paying back the value I have already received.

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by SMO

I bought a Rocket that had an off airport landing and was totaled. I used a lot of the parts, sent the engine to AeroSport for a refresh, sold most of the avionics to fund the setup I wanted, etc.

Would I do it again? Probably not, was a bit more hassle than it was worth - going to get the wreck, dismantling it, checking out the parts, disposing of the items I did not want, etc. I suppose I saved a few (~5) thousand dollars overall, but could just as easily have lost as much if the engine had been toast.

As an aside, most of the stuff I sold was sold on this site. The integrity of the people on this site is way above the bar of the general population and I did not have any issues. There is a reason Doug's annual fee from me is a little higher than he asks - I will be years paying back the value I have already received.

One trouble is that Rocket parts are cheap...

I bet the Cherokee you mentioned has certain parts that are probably no longer made by Piper - a good link into an owners group could get you more $$ from salvaging those particular parts made of unobtanium - or of gold (e.g. Cessna door hinges......)

[mkjprice]

The planes that I saw were mostly flyable aircraft, that had current annuals, or you could operate on a ferry permit.

Some expamples:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Piper...item3f0c25b543

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/64-MO...item1c1d853a00

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218...lpid=5&search=

These are just a few that I have found. I realize that you may be taking a crapshoot on a used airplane, but I thought this might be a realistic possibility, for a part out of items you don't need, but save some money on items you do.

Could create a scenario that you could have a decent analog panel and a decent engine and a lot of other part to sell off.

Again - Just thinking out loud.

[pierre smith]

Wentworth, Atlanta Air Salvage and others have a wide selection of engines to pick from, as we did and also my buddy with his -4. They also have used instruments to pick from and wheels/brakes/tires, etc.

I mention this because your time could be better spent building your -8 than disassembling an old airplane and then the hassle of packaging parts to ship off and re-sell.....and the attendant collection problems.

Best,

[eMKay]

That's my plan, I keep looking on barnstormers and ebay and it seems about once every few weeks a suitible plane comes up. I won't be ready to buy for years but it's nice to know they are out there. My perfect donor would be a 152 sparrow hawk and there was one a couple months ago, low time engine, hail damage, it went for $12,000 or so IIRC.

[Nihon_Ni]

Personally, I would have a hard time destroying a perfectly good flying airplane just to save a few bucks. I think every airplane should have someone who loves it and I would always look at the plane I was building and know that I "killed" another plane to make mine. Now, if you find one that's been totaled that's a different story. But even then, I agree with the other guys who suggest spending your time building your plane instead of going into the salvage business.

[dypen]

The question has been in my head for long time without finding the answer I was happy with ... Finally I found the thread I was looking for

The answer is easy to understand when you read this thread, better to spend time on your RV build and new parts. Disassemble, store and sell old aircraft parts can be time consuming.

As donor aircraft I saw a Piper, Cessna, Beech, Grumman or perhaps better a twin with Lycoming engine as donor for two RV build. My first choice, Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche has O-320 160 hp. Maybe there are some twin out there that have O-360 (IO-360) 180 hp?

Many older aircraft that are for sale are actually sold for far below the asking price in ads, I have followed the market over time and many are being sold for half of the asking price and some as cheap as just 1/3 part of the ad price. This applies airworthy aircraft that can be flown home.

[fl-mike]

An old wood wing Mooney provided an engine, prop, and lots of misc parts for an RV-4 a friend built many years ago. He did have to "bump" the cowl in a few spots. Sold the residue to a salvage yard. Worked for him. Personally, I like a new plane to be new, but budgets may prevent that.

[dypen]

It will be an option to bring down the price, it is allowed to upgrade in the future