I hope this is the right newsgroup for this question ---

An A&P mechanic at the flight school I am attending is considering buying a
172M (75/76 model). He is looking for a partner that will pick up the tab
for all maintenance - that is buying repair parts - he will do the labor.
While I haven't seen the 172, I suspect that it has not been taken good care
of. He said it needed painting and a lot of interior work. I have no idea
what condition the engine is in.

My question is, is this a reasonable agreement? I know that there are
probably a lot of questions that need to be answered before a definitive
decision can be made, but good guesses at this point would be more than
welcomed. BTW, I am not independently wealthy :-).

Thanks,

Harry
San Antonio, TX

For the two aircraft I have owned, my maintenance costs tend to be about
10-20% labor and 80-90% parts, so I would not consider such an arrangement
equitable. I also stay far away from "fixer-upper" aircraft. I believe
they cost you far more in the long run than buying a well-maintained
aircraft to begin with.

Happy landings,
Ross Oliver

As long as when it's complete it's an 80/20 partnership in your favor!
Wayne

"Harry Gordon" > wrote in message
...
> I hope this is the right newsgroup for this question ---
>
> An A&P mechanic at the flight school I am attending is considering buying
a
> 172M (75/76 model). He is looking for a partner that will pick up the tab
> for all maintenance - that is buying repair parts - he will do the labor.
> While I haven't seen the 172, I suspect that it has not been taken good
care
> of. He said it needed painting and a lot of interior work. I have no idea
> what condition the engine is in.
>
> My question is, is this a reasonable agreement? I know that there are
> probably a lot of questions that need to be answered before a definitive
> decision can be made, but good guesses at this point would be more than
> welcomed. BTW, I am not independently wealthy :-).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Harry
> San Antonio, TX
>
>

In article >,
Harry Gordon > wrote:
>172M (75/76 model). He is looking for a partner that will pick up the tab
>for all maintenance - that is buying repair parts - he will do the labor.
>While I haven't seen the 172, I suspect that it has not been taken good care
>of. He said it needed painting and a lot of interior work. I have no idea
>what condition the engine is in.

Well, figure a factory overhauled O-320 would be about $12,000 and misc
parts that go with it would be another few thousand, and once you paid
to have it installed the total bill might be $18k or so. So maybe $3k
in labor and $15k in parts.

An engine may be the worst case, but even extremely labor intensive jobs
favor the equipment. Avionics West just told me that it would take about
60 hours (@ $100/hr) to install a $7500 S-Tec 30 autopilot. More labor
for the S-Tec 50 (same features, separate control head). You'd almost
break even there, assuming your friend's labor is worth that much.

--
Ben Jackson
>
http://www.ben.com/

Gentlemen,

I want to thank you for your responses. You have pretty much confirmed what
was going through my mind. This had that ring of being "too good to be true"
offer, and you know what that means :-). I think I will keep my options open
and look elsewhere. Thanks again.

Harry


"Harry Gordon" > wrote in message
...
> I hope this is the right newsgroup for this question ---
>
> An A&P mechanic at the flight school I am attending is considering buying
a
> 172M (75/76 model). He is looking for a partner that will pick up the tab
> for all maintenance - that is buying repair parts - he will do the labor.
> While I haven't seen the 172, I suspect that it has not been taken good
care
> of. He said it needed painting and a lot of interior work. I have no idea
> what condition the engine is in.
>
> My question is, is this a reasonable agreement? I know that there are
> probably a lot of questions that need to be answered before a definitive
> decision can be made, but good guesses at this point would be more than
> welcomed. BTW, I am not independently wealthy :-).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Harry
> San Antonio, TX
>
>