Peter wrote:
With a typical knackered GA plane being worth only about 10k and most of that being the engine time left, there isn’t much of an incentive to do anything with it. After some years it usually can’t be flown out (you probably can’t even rotate the prop, due to rust) and carting it out on a pickup is going to cost a few k and then a few k more to put it back together. It is cheaper to leave it at the airport and let them scrap it. The problem is that the airport could go after you for the scrapping cost and any unpaid parking…
In the US, the higher level 
medically disqualified ex-pilots seem to keep their planes in a hangar (not outside), paying the rent and flying them occasionally with friends for some years. Maybe the flying ceases at some point but the plane stays in the hangar, rent paid, because it’s part of the owners self image to own it. Maybe it’s a homebuilt that he did in his forties and flew for years after. He certainly doesn’t look forward to moving and organizing the other stuff in the hangar and he likes to have lunch with the other guys at the airport. I think that’s just fine…
Eventually in the end, owner gone, the friend or a group of friends sells the plane. I knew one like that (a Piper Clipper) that got flown after several years of storage and some of us were a bit nervous about the long-time stationary engine. But it was fine, and and after 10 hours and some oil changes it sold instantly – Clippers have control sticks not yokes, and are in demand. All part of life’s rich pattern and the planes outlive the people.
Peter wrote:
This is a lesson: keep eating the veg and keep off the fry-ups and airport cakes and other crap which seem to be the staple diet of most GA pilots If you ever have to face the FAA SI process, or the EASA version, you may as well take up knitting.
Well put. I’m doing my best and hoping that the occasional slice of Bavarian chocolate cake is offset by lots of salads!
Silvaire wrote:
Well put. I’m doing my best and hoping that the occasion slice of Bavarian chocolate cake is offset by lots of salads!
Keep in mind that the nutrition-terrorists come up with new and completely different diets for health and longevity every couple of years…
There are a lot of long time aircraft owners who just keep and fly their plane because they don’t know how to stop. Come around as a young and nice guy and they will hand their aircraft over at a bargain price with free advice and maintenance. Worked well for me.
achimha wrote:
There are a lot of long time aircraft owners who just keep and fly their plane because they don’t know how to stop. Come around as a young and nice guy and they will hand their aircraft over at a bargain price with free advice and maintenance. Worked well for me.
I’m hoping to be one of those old guys some day, but not for 30 years!
In the US, the higher level medically disqualified ex-pilots seem to keep their planes in a hangar (not outside), paying the rent and flying them occasionally with friends for some years
I reckon the average US pilot has more people hanging around to fly with than the average European pilot, and if this happens to an N-reg owner over here, he can forget finding people to fly with because almost everybody with a valid FAA paper either owns his own plane or is a bizjet pilot and most of them won’t fly in a piston 
Keep in mind that the nutrition-terrorists come up with new and completely different diets for health and longevity every couple of years
You need to separate proven reality from ideology. Most vegans are ideological vegans. And where I live, a vegan needs to be left wing and – for maximum authenticity – lesbian And a lot of them eat tons of cakes which are of course vegan if they contain no dairy or eggs.
There are a lot of long time aircraft owners who just keep and fly their plane because they don’t know how to stop
Sure; a lot of hangar queens are owned by currently “capable” pilots. It does amaze me that they continue paying the £4000/year hangarage… Having said that, over the past decade the main airport hangar at EGKA has somehow cleared out a load of hangar queens. I don’t know how it was done.
My Super Cub 90 was a ramp mummy for nearly ten years – am a bit fuzzy how I ended up owning it, all I remember it happened at a friend of the owner’s sixtieth birthday party somewhere in County Dublin – flying it back over the Irish sea (Carnarvon sported a nice 30 knot wind), I soon realised the original Irish linen fabric might need attention!
Like Trigger’s broom, tube and fabric is eternally rebuildable.
At my local the resident mummies are an Apache, a Cherokee 180 and a Grumman Traveller – the NeverGo Twin was sold as a film prop. The Apache may be S/N 2 or 3, and may be an original Twin Stinson, so has some archeological value.
Some indoor ramp mummies waiting for new owner at lesb.
The hangarage at LESB must be incredibly cheap…
But the bigger Q is: why is Spain so full of abandoned aircraft? Was there some kind of a GA bonanza many years ago? Obviously Spain did have an economic bonanza in years past from the influx of EU money which went on loads of large building projects, and somebody must have got rich on that – probably anyone who owned a building company, or some of those who issued planning permissions (bribery). @coolhand and @aart might know more…
‘Full’ is relative of course. There aren’t that many airfields in Spain, so GA has always been quite limited here.
The crisis indeed hit hard here. From what I can see, there has been a major shift from certified to UL.
The picture of these mummies inside is an interesting story. The rights to the use of that hangar was disputed for years between the local aeroclub (who claimed free usage rights from some prehistoric convenant ) and AENA. Aeroclub finally lost, and had to move out, leaving some crap behind. Recently a helicopter company restored it and moved in, and it’s now a wonderful hangar.
And no, hangarage is not cheap here at all, although I don’t know how it compares to the rest of Europe nowadays. I pay almost 5€/m2 per month. So close to 800/month because I wanted a spot where I can move and out of without having to touch other aircraft. The hangar is from the pre WW era (I’m talking WW1 of course) and therefore comes with the unique feature that the doors are stuck firmly by rust, luckily in the open position. Latrines without running water. OK, now I’m exagerating..
Ok, I have to admit, that my photos are from 2015 when I was there at LESB trying to find a plane for rent.
For years, the tastiest plane in our hangar was our Jodel. It was also the most active.
After discovering wood problems in January, we’re soon to take delivery of our repaired, recovered, and repainted wing.
