Chuck,

There is a myth about "project airplanes" that somehow the numbers will
work out. They rarely do. It almost never happens that the purchase
price is low enough to make it worthwhile. A neglected plane has all
sorts of "surprises" in store. Planes not only need repair, they need
constant upgrading and replacement of old "stuff" that may not have
broken yet. I'm sure the Arrow you are looking at has none of this done.

Also, getting an airplane in such poor condition back to flying snuff
usually take LOTS of time on the phone and LOTS of time needling
suppliers to get stuff fixed and LOTS of time going up blind alleys
locating parts. Are you guys trying to take on a 12-18 month project? Do
you want to fly or to get a risky education while fixing? If you want to
fly, get the money and buy a decent bird. 99 times out of 100 it will
cost way LESS than what you are contemplating.

There is really no way to make this work. Even at salvage value of about
$18k, once you add it up, it still makes little sense. $25 k for the
engine and firewall forward, $10k for the paint job, $6k for the
interior rehab. You are in the mid 50s. All you need is a bad call from
the prop shop to put you over budget compared to getting a ready-to-go
bird. Add in a couple of cracked landing gear components and you are
really under water. This all assumes the avionics are recent vintage and
working properly- bet they are not.

MAYBE it would work if one of you is an A&P with a place to work on it
AND you got it for free. This does not sound silly if you think about it
objectively. Would you buy a house under the terms proposed? Probably not.

I would not recommend going into this transaction. I would rather spend
the 12-18 months trying to find the right plane.

Good Luck,
Mike
Hi everyone,

I thought I'd throw this out for discussion and see what comes from
some of the experienced people on the list.

I'm helping out some at a local school. The owner of the school is a
REAL penny pincher. He scrimps and saves anywhere he can. He'd reuse
oil if he could (he already fights with the A&Ps about reusing old
spark plugs). But in the process, he's let his fleet go to hell --
and I mean REALLY to hell.

.stuff snipped about the plane