Saw it too and scratched my head…
Maybe they took 3 years to finish it…
I don’t think Socata “built” any TB planes after 2002. They decided to stop production around early 2002 and then ran down their stock of major airframe parts. A few were sent out in 2004/05.
But I am sure that TB21 is 2003 because that database (which I found on the net – as acknowledged – and which later vanished) is too accurate in too many places and must have come from right inside the factory.
Maybe a typo. It does happen….
nice airplane otherwise, but without a DME difficult to fly IFR in Europe legally, much less “importable” to EASA without fitting one. Also did not fly much.. 450 hours in 10 years…. makes 45 hours per year. Otherwise nice avionic set up (if one doesn’t get scared of the KFC225 after Peter’s experiences here…. ) and probably one of the closest possibilities to buy a “like new” TB21.
Someone I know in Australia bought a TB21GT “new” around 2005/6 from Socata Florida. When he got it back to Oz it had 150 hours on it. Oz is a long way away from Florida but not that far. The purchaser made a few calls to find out the aircraft was apparently their demonstrator and many other things were uncovered which I dare not put here. At the gates of the courts Socata capitulated and paid some sort of compensation I believe.
Therefore, I’d be very sceptical of this being 2006. It will have been built latest 2003 ish as stated above and maybe finally sold in 2006.
I would also take the cylinders off or at least bores cope it very carefully before buying. Has the crank MSB been done?
On a slightly different note my Oz pal could not get the KFC225 autopilot to work properly at all. It never really worked in that plane. He paid a lot and replaced it with an S-tec55X since then the 55X has operated trouble free apparently.
Yes; I was going to mention that OZ guy also 
That was another “2006” TB. Not this one probably, as this one claims to have been the only owner since new.
Yes… things visible right aware are
- no DME (illegal for IFR in all of Europe – except perhaps Class G)
- no 406MHz ELT
- no ADF
- no EDM700 (on a TB21…??)
- probably no SB569 crank job
- very low hours for the 10-11 year age, so probably engine corrosion (in addition to the prob99 corroded engine ex-Socata)
The ELT is not suprising. All the 2001-2002 era TB20/21s got the ELT200. Fortunately there is an easy Kannad replacement.
The lack of a DME is very very unusual.
The lack of an EDM700 is also unusual. On the TB21 – not so for the TB20 – the EDM700 is not certified to replace the factory CHT/EGT instrument so you have to leave that in place, but my recollection of that era is that most TB20/21s were being shipped out pretty well loaded up i.e. ADF, DME, prop TKS, EDM700, fuel totaliser (this one has what looks like a Microflo-L from the late-2002 era, but the panel pic is too poor to tell).
The lack of an ADF …. that’s another debate
The engine job is likely to trigger an overhaul (or a de facto overhaul) because only a crook is going to release a corroded engine back to service.
Accordingly, the price is too high. With all systems 100% working, no corrosion, airframe in good condition (no real wear on moving parts etc) but without a gold plated Lyco-official SB569 job, it is worth about €100k.
In fact without SB569 this plane is not even legal to be airborne, and won’t get the next Annual.
There are various things one can do to the KFC225 to make it work. When it’s OK, it is the best performing AP possible, short of a DFC90 of GFC700, neither of which will ever come to a TB. The 55X weaves around quite a lot in any turbulence (IME, SR20 most recently).
Peter,
My 55x does not “weave around quite a lot”. It’s rock solid.
The only time is gets confused is when you go from HDG to NAV when slightly off track. The best option to overcome this is HDG and NAV. Then it’s perfect.
I can only speak for mine in my Katmai.
Yea, the engine is a big questionmark. It is within the 12 year limit, but as you say, a prime suspect for corrosion and other low operation defects.
Whether the SB569 was done we can not determine… if it was and if the engine checks out a thorough test, the situation might change.
The add sais “Engine Monitor”, however I don’t see one.
DME, can be added, there is panel space. The Artex can be replaced with a new one easily enough, been there, done it.
One big question mark is the GNS530, if it is of the series which Garmin does no longer support or not. It might well be.
On the up side, it doesn’t have a 8.33 problem (unless the 530 is of the obsolete kind) and has very few hours generally.
Price, well, a normal planecheck price or one by a rather naive optimist who has not kept up with the collapse of the GA marketplace. If the plane was as gold plated as it sais it is, kick off 30% and it might sell. If it needs a total engine job, GNS eventual replacement plus everything else, an offer of 50k might be a starting point.
Whether the engine is within the 12 year limit for the AD depends on when the engine was installed in the airframe. This should be evidenced by the very first entry in the engine logbook (the original French Socata one, which most TB owners did not continue with). See the very last bit here.
There is an alternative “opinion” that the 12 years starts when the CofA was issued, but Lyco disagree with that.
A separate issue is that I don’t think Socata got a delivery of any engines after about 2001. For example, my engine was shipped by Lycoming on 24/2/2001 and didn’t get installed by Socata until 8/1/2002. The first run was 7/2/2002 – nearly a year later, which is “not quite” long enough to render the engine legally unairworthy but is very close. These dates are verified – from Lycoming and from my original French factory logbooks. Despite very regular use, the engine was found to contain widespread (but not deep) cylinder corrosion when opened up for SB569A in 2008 (see pics in above article). I know that in 2007 Socata still had 14 of the engines on the shelf (admittedly these were the TB20 variant and not the TB21 variant) and by then they would have been so badly corroded that an overhaul would be required before the engine could be shipped with any paperwork (I checked that too – I tried to buy one, but they would not sell me one which I could overhaul by a shop of my choice). So unless they took extra deliveries of the TB21 engines I think any planes “dated” (genuinely or not) after 2001 have the 2001 engines in them.
Of course if SB569 has been done, and you can be fairly sure it was done by a reputable shop, then you know the engine is OK.
Otherwise, you are looking at an expensive job, and probably the cheapest current solution (for those who ignored SB569, hoping it would go away, and missed the 2009 deadline for the $2500 crank swap) is a Lyco remanufactured (exchange) engine which I believe is about $50k for the TB20 and a lot more for the TB21.
The GNS430+530 are fine. They don’t do LPV but LPV is barely relevant in Europe currently, and you can upgrade to the “W” boxes for about $3500 per box (they change the internals). They do 8.33 and they are PRNAV capable. Being Socata installed, the functionality should be fine, with none of the interface bodges which are so often found in avionics. I had the option of a 430+530 when I was getting my TB20 and went for the Honeywell KLN94+KMD550 option instead (now, with some re-hashing, it looks like this but the centre stack is the same) which was/is far better for my VFR+IFR usage, but I will pay a heavy price for that if/when PRNAV is forced upon GA.
Engine apart, if this plane has been sitting in a dry hangar it could well be in a very good condition.
It’s funny how things that go around come around 
I get asked by many prospective TB buyers about various TBs…
S/N 2222 is up for sale again. I did some investigation and it turns out that Socata had it in stock from when they originally made it in 2003, until 2005 when they generated fresh paperwork for it so it became a “2005” aircraft. A manufacturer (being a 145 company) can do this legally.
The “2006” above is fiction.
