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Old October 21st 06, 03:42 AM posted to rec.aviation.owning
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Default Cost of owning a Diamond DA40, new vs 5-6 years old

Peter wrote:
wrote

Nothing major to fix for the first 5 years. What a luxury.


Not unusual. I bought a new Socata TB20 in 2002; spent nothing in the
first two years and spent close to nothing since.

The warranty bill was massive though; about US$100k of mostly American
(Honeywell) avionics had to be replaced...

I firmly expect to spend close to nothing for another 5-10 years.
Then, airframe parts will start to go.

I firmly believe that every penny saved by buying an old airplane is
returned, plus hassle, in the form of extra maintenance costs.


This is a very interesting statement. I bet it is especially true to
owners whos hourly earning rates are above the usual range :-).


It's not like cars, which tend to be very reliable nowadays all the
way through their life, and start to cost big money only when they
start to rust right through, and that takes ~ 15 years on most of the
decent types (here in Europe, anyway); BMW, Honda, Toyota, etc. By
that time the car is worth close to zero anyway; in fact it's worth
close to zero (say less than 10% of its purchase price) a long before
then. I bought a 10 year old Toyota last year and expect to get 10
more out of it. Cars are not a valid comparison, IMHO.

The DA40 seems to be largely problem free - except for the Thielert
diesel engines which have a long history of troubles and it isn't
apparent that this is sorted, but as an American you are probably not
looking at that version.


Yes. I try to stay alive first, then worry about the environment :-).