- Joined
- Aug 5, 2018
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Well, I done did it. I bought that Cherokee 180 at auction down at KIMM (Immokalee, FL just outside Ft Myers). Site unseen, so we shall see. No logs, got the CD in and have been going through it.
Interesting bird, spent most of its life out west but about 6 years ago a gentleman bought it and flew it around out there a while before taking it to Florida in 2015; he even posted an article on flying it close to beaches and talked about the one that went down and killed someone walking on the beach. Then 4 years ago he just stopped flying it but came out to wash and run it regularly, then 2 years ago just stopped coming out and stopped paying the bill. Airport repo'd it and I picked it up.
It'll be for my son to learn on - he wants to follow me to the airlines, God bless him... lol
The good: S-Tec 55 autopilot, Garmin 400 WAAS GPS with GPSS steering, electric trim, '68 model, one flip-flop radio, newer glass, couldn't pass it up.
The bad: it's been sitting. Front seat covers are disintegrated, front strut collapsed, someone stole the left fuel cap, and no logbooks. Previous owner is sitting on them, have to reconstruct - going to call the last guy to do the annual tomorrow.
Had an older semi-retired but experienced I/A look at it this weekend. He tore it all apart (airframe only) and surprisingly found no corrosion and all the inner bays treated with corrosion-X. However, he found this on the left rear inboard wing corner. Note the circled area. Looks like a crack.
This plane was never a trainer that I can see and has about 5,000 hours TTAF by last 337 in 2014.
Just wondering what I'm looking at in terms of repair cost? The I/A said he'd have to ask a buddy who's done them before at a neighboring airport but I'm just polling the group on what this usually entails if any of you have done this repair before?
Thanks,
Interesting bird, spent most of its life out west but about 6 years ago a gentleman bought it and flew it around out there a while before taking it to Florida in 2015; he even posted an article on flying it close to beaches and talked about the one that went down and killed someone walking on the beach. Then 4 years ago he just stopped flying it but came out to wash and run it regularly, then 2 years ago just stopped coming out and stopped paying the bill. Airport repo'd it and I picked it up.
It'll be for my son to learn on - he wants to follow me to the airlines, God bless him... lol
The good: S-Tec 55 autopilot, Garmin 400 WAAS GPS with GPSS steering, electric trim, '68 model, one flip-flop radio, newer glass, couldn't pass it up.
The bad: it's been sitting. Front seat covers are disintegrated, front strut collapsed, someone stole the left fuel cap, and no logbooks. Previous owner is sitting on them, have to reconstruct - going to call the last guy to do the annual tomorrow.
Had an older semi-retired but experienced I/A look at it this weekend. He tore it all apart (airframe only) and surprisingly found no corrosion and all the inner bays treated with corrosion-X. However, he found this on the left rear inboard wing corner. Note the circled area. Looks like a crack.
This plane was never a trainer that I can see and has about 5,000 hours TTAF by last 337 in 2014.
Just wondering what I'm looking at in terms of repair cost? The I/A said he'd have to ask a buddy who's done them before at a neighboring airport but I'm just polling the group on what this usually entails if any of you have done this repair before?
Thanks,
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