" wrote in
ups.com:

So I've decided to buy a plane (in July of 2007), and I've come to a
dilemma. I learned to fly on a Piper Arrow and very much like that
plane, though I haven't flown one in over a year, what I have been
flying is a Cessna Cardinal 177 RGII, very nice plane, great handling
and a pleasure to fly as well, I live in Hawai'i and shipping plays a
big part in inflating the value of planes here... Any plane I buy I
will be putting an AVIDYNE avionics twin LCD system into so I don't
care about the stock avionics packaged, hence my dilemma is as
follows...

I can either buy my flight clubs 177 for 50K (without avionics and a
high time engine (for 20K more the clubs mechanic will put a brand new
engine and prop on).

I can buy a Piper Arrow on the mainland and have it shipped to Hawai'i
for about 10K (from Cali), and refit that with the AVIDYNE system.

or...

I can buy a brand new Piper Arrow for a whopping 427,000 (with the
AVIDYINE and other options I can't get on the older planes stock). And
have peace of mind in a brand new plane that will last a long time
without incurring added maintenance expenses.

Whichever one I buy I will be doing a "lease-back" to the club to allow
other guys to fly it, with a small profit for me (mainly to pay for gas
and maintenance on the plane when I fly it)

Any advice is appreciated.


I wouldn't recommend leasing back a $427,000 plane, even to a club. I
don't know how your club members treat your club's planes, and our club
members for the MOST part treat our planes wonderfully, but it takes just
one, and from my experience usually there are several...

There are different schools of thought on Lease Back in general - a
million threads in this group that you can read. I know because I
considered a leaseback on a new Cessna 172 a couple of years ago. But the
bottom line is that your fellow club members are probably not going to be
looking out for your $427,000 investment the way that you would, and they
will utilize the plane like any other in the club. So while you may have a
full 2000 hours before engine service, you'll still be replacing bald
tires, oil filters, wingtips, light bulbs, and switches at the same rate
whether you spend $427,000 or $127,000. In fact, you may have more of it
on the $427,000 if it is more popular with the club. But your hull damage
insurance bill will be significantly higher, which will inflate the hourly
rate to the club, which may offset the desire of the members to fly it,
especially if the membership is in the club to reduce their flying
expenses. Furthermore, some members may steer clear of a new plane in fear
of damaging it and being responsible.

I don't know what your club's rates are, what the usage is, or what planes
are available. But my guess is that you will be most profitable if you buy
the club's cardinal, or import one like it off the mainland, even if you
upgrade the engine, prop, and avionics. Especially if the club doesn't
already have an Arrow, I think you may find that people who did not learn
to fly on an Arrow may also shy away from it if they've flown high wing
all their life.