Last I knew, capital losses could be deducted up to $3000/year and the
excess loss could be carried forward a number of years. I haven't
checked this lately as I haven't had the need, but I haven't heard of
this being changed.

That meets with what happened when I sold my last house. So. Does the
purchase and later sale of an aircraft fall in the capital gains/loss
category?

If you perform an annual and your mechanic tells you you need $xxxx
worth of repairs, can you write that off as a capital loss until you
make the necessary improvements?