Cheap airplanes to buy, own and fly thread

The advert suggests this plane is equipped with a Rotax 912.

To get back to the original purpose of this thread, a really cheap and enjoyable aircraft is the British-built Rollason Condor. It’s a Druine design, made at Croydon Airport and assembled at Shoreham in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s by a company owned by Norman Jones who was the founder of the Tiger Club at Redhill. He insisted on Anglicizing the construction by using BSP and UNF fittings rather than metric ones, a Rolls Royce built O-200A engine and surplus WW2 instruments, even the electric fuel pump is an SU model, as found on ’60’s British cars. Every aircraft was fitted with a placard which encapsulates Norman Jones attitude to flying, it says quite simply “all aircraft bite fools”.
I bought one three years ago with my sons, who have PPL’s, with the express purpose of enabling them to build experience in how to operate an aircraft, not just to fly them. The Condor cruises happily at 90 kts, at 18l/hr, and has delightful handling, it’s a lot more dynamic than a Cessna 150, and it has a tailwheel which to my mind is an essential handling skill for any pilot. It is a strictly VFR machine, although with attention to the instruments would certainly be a candidate for the LAA IFR approval scheme (they were originally approved for IFR and night flying when on a CAA CofA in the old days).
All Condors are a now UK Light Aircraft Association managed type, which is a breath of fresh air compared to owning an EASA type (which I also do). We do all our own maintenance under the supervision of our LAA inspector which has taught my sons (and me) a lot about practical aero engineering. If we wanted to upgrade the avionics it would cost a fraction of the price for an EASA type, and would end up with more capability….but we don’t need to, it’s a delightfully old fashioned two seat VFR aeroplane and it has a bit of style in a convoluted way.
A good Condor cosst £15k, so the insurance is low, and I am sure it won’t depreciate. An annual costs less than £500, including Permit renewal and parts. Our most expensive parts bill so far has been £470 for two new tyres (they are an odd and pricey size).Ours had a mode S transponder fitted when we bought it and an Icom 8.33 radio which works well.
And one day the guys will have learned all about what it takes to manage an aeroplane, both in flight and at airfields here and in Europe; then they can start transitioning to the Marchetti and I will have to face the question “Dad can I borrow the aeroplane for the weekend?”.

WilliamF wrote:

Then I’d pick up a good Taylorcraft BC12D.

Note that many of the Auster designs are a followon to the Taylorcraft (Auster originally was Taylor Aeroplanes of England Ltd). The only downside (for some people, an upside I’m sure!) is the Gipsy engine which takes rather more TLC (and harder to find parts) than the more common Lycoming or Continental engine. There are conversions to Lycoming for the Auster.

My friends have had a whole series of Austers, one even owned the 260hp AOP11. I’m generally a fan of the Steel Aeroplane. I’ve been to Eggesford and paid homage to the good Auster people there. The magic of the Taylorcraft is the performance on the A65/A75 engine which is readily available and so frugal. It just floats off the deck and makes decent speed in the cruise. I’ve had a J3 with an A65 and it was nowhere near as good. The Taylorcraft is just so light, and keen to fly. The Auster is solid and will handle much greater winds. The Auster wouldn’t work out of the same places the little Taylorcraft would unless it was the bigger horsepower model. The Beagle Terrier is the one I’d want if I was going that road.

The other cheap to buy, own and fly bargain is a Piper Colt.

WilliamF wrote:

The other cheap to buy, own and fly bargain is a Piper Colt.

I remember seeing one for sale at a fly in circa 2001 for $13K and thinking ‘what a bargain’. Eighteen years later guess what they’re worth?? And they actually don’t fly too badly either!

With the exception of the ADS-B debacle here in the US there has certainly never been a better time to own your plane. $13K or whatever for a quite practical plane is incredible. However, ADS-B OUT would cost a significant fraction of the value of a Colt, so I believe most of those planes and similar won’t ever be flying to urban US airports again.

Silvaire wrote:

However, ADS-B OUT would cost a significant fraction of the value of a Colt

Personally, I don’t think “I only bought this plane for X, therefore I shouldn’t spend Y on avionics Z”. If it adds utility then I add it. Actually, having spent less on the aircraft means I can spend more on upgrading it :-) If I had a Colt in the US, I’d put ADS-B in (and not a cheap bodge either) because only paying $13k for the plane would mean I would have enough left over to put in a no-compromise and tidy ADS-B transponder in.

alioth wrote:

Personally, I don’t think “I only bought this plane for X, therefore I shouldn’t spend Y on avionics Z”. If it adds utility then I add it. Actually, having spent less on the aircraft means I can spend more on upgrading it :-) If I had a Colt in the US, I’d put ADS-B in (and not a cheap bodge either) because only paying $13k for the plane would mean I would have enough left over to put in a no-compromise and tidy ADS-B transponder in.

The ‘upgrade’ (I see it as the opposite, it’s nothing I want on my plane) certainly ‘adds enough value’ if you can’t legally take off from your base without it However for most people in the US with Colts and so on this is not the case, there is no ADS-B mandatory airspace anywhere near home. For that reason I don’t think many will be motivated to equip – there is no value added and they will instead write off the relatively small affected areas. That leaves an issue going forward for those of us who are stuck in ‘2020 jail’, living and operating in area where ADS-B OUT is mandatory and looking out at fun, inexpensive planes we might buy and enjoy, but which will now need a big hassle and expense to get home and make legal for our area. Leaving the area is the other option and it will look better for me in a single digit number of years, once a very large paycheck is no longer necessary and I’m living on investment income.

The only bright spot in that scenario is Uavionix making their wing tip and tail mounted UAT units available for somewhat reasonable cost and hassle, vastly leap frogging Garmin etc. technology and also adding autonomous mode so the whole world can’t watch every move you make at 20 second intervals. If I could do it again I would have avoided Garmin, bought a good used identical KT76A King transponder to replace my aging King for a few hundred dollars, then gone the Uavionix UAT route. Any of the possible solutions is also a lot less hassle for Experimental category aircraft (no shop, no test, no IA certification and no 337) making those aircraft even more attractive to me and others. The ADS-B thing has been a big shot in the arm for homebuilts in comparison with certified aircraft in the US, and it will remain so because any changes, refits, upgrades etc involving ADS-B won’t require as much hassle either.