Used Piper Meridian (and others)

AdamFrisch wrote:

I’m an expert bottom feeder, but I don’t think turbines are expensive at all if you just look a little outside the obsessive choices like TBM, PC12 and M600’s (it’s like those are the only options when you frequent boards). There are plenty of options that deliver same performance, for much less in overall cost (and yes, I’m including maintenance and purchase in this):

Adam, has not your recent experience perhaps shown that sometimes you get what you pay for?

Adam,

well, your expertise has landed you with an airplane you bought in 2014 and is it actually flying yet?

While none of the airplanes you have linked are actual projects with small items like engines e.t.c. missing, at least two of them have registrations I’d not like to tamper with (4x and RF) and one of them (Merlin) is also not an airplane I’d like to try out myself, too dangerous. The Cheyenne looks nice though.

For me, an airplane should be “fly away” that is airworthy and not having “Must do now” items plus at least 1000 hrs potential on the engine(s) to be interesting.

BUT, in principle you are very right. Some of the attractive single turboprops are viciously expensive and the price difference to an older twin turboprop which can do more or less the same in much greater comfort may well be worth considering. Clearly, a twin will cost more in operation and maybe also because it is heavier (Eurocontrol) but you can probably fly it for a while with the difference in price only.

AdamFrisch wrote:

I’m an expert bottom feeder, but I don’t think turbines are expensive at all if you just look a little outside the obsessive choices

you are very true on this that goes for planes, cars, etc and one can end up with a real nice toy

as i said before i am in no way in a position for a TP but it is fascinating to read and see your finds!!!!!!

but what happens when you reach 5400 hrs on the engines on lets say that 690B you linked or the 3600hrs on the Piper ? will these costs than be well more than what the plane costs to start with?
on the Piper there is no TTAF do these Pipers have airframe limits?

Mooney_Driver wrote:

have registrations I’d not like to tamper with (4x

what is or could be the issue with that reg???

Pay an extra $2million to avoid $2000/year in enroute charges…

I don’t think that is possible because the only turboprop which avoids the route charges is the Jetprop and you will be hard pushed to pay $2M for one of those, although it may be possible if you started with a new one.

The Meridian has a 2T STC but it is virtually impossible to fly it legally at 2T.

Peter_Paul wrote:

what is or could be the issue with that reg???

I am familiar with two airplanes imported from there which proved to have major issues before they could be flown in EASA land. One was a Seneca which became a total maintenance horror to the point where it got sold on about a year later for a song just to get rid of it, the other was an Aerostar which had been operated in the desert there and which required a massive injection of money to make halfways airworthy. In both cases doing proper pre-purchase inspections was difficult to impossible as to where the airplane was and would have required ferry flights to and fro which in the first case would almost have been more expensive than the airframe…

Having said that, there are a lot of registrations I’d not touch without much larger caution than I’d touch a plane out of other countries where standards are higher. Today I’d say within EASA Land things have become easier than before as planes which are good to fly in one EASA country should in theory be good to fly in any other as well, but seeing reports from some countries, I’d be hesitant even there. Outside EASA land, even more diligence is neccessary in particular when it comes to whether any mods or STC’s can be actually used in EASA land.

This does not mean that individual airframes may not be a good buy but I’d think they do require a lot more thorough checking and actual testing before you put any money down for them.

AdamFrisch wrote:

It flies, just with longer gaps in between…

Great to hear. Did you sort out the avionic problems now and have a sealed cabin? In that movie you posted, there are still a lot of red flags to be seen….

Sorry if I came out harsh, I do enjoy your sharing your adventures very much but in almost every case I am glad I am not involved in making any of your previous buys airworthy. And I really ask myself that if you take all the money you spent on them together, whether in the end you could have been much better off buying a bit more upmarket and get flying right away.

For me, any airplane I would consider buying has to be in airworthy condition and ready to do what I need it to do from the day I buy it. Of couse one can later on modify things you don’t like, but frankly, I do neither have the patience nor the courage nor the financial means to take on projects like you did.

Unfortunately a pressurised turboprop will totally outclass any unpressurised piston. It is also probably an order of magnitude safer than any piston twin. It’s just a damned shame that they cost so damn much to buy

Check out next months Pilot Magazine with a comparison of a Cirrus SR22 G5 and a Piper Meridian of equal cost. The results may surprise….