How about this Trinidad?

SB 569: Dunno, I have not |yet ?] performed a pre-purchase inspection on it.

Turbos: Probably, but could be insufficient oil supply as well.

Not sure about the TB21 install, but on the Cessna T210 & P210s, the turbo oil supply line comes off a " Y " AN fitting, one line going to the turbo and the other to the oil pressure gauge.

Very easy for a mechanic to get the two mixed up since both have AN-3 flared fittings.

The problem is that the oil pressure gauge side has a very small restrictor …

You guessed it, if the two were mixed up, the turbo bearings would get trashed after a few hundred or so hours TIS. Of course, this would be repeated until someone figures it out.

When was SB569 done?

curiously it’s 3rd turbo failure in it’s 1800 hours TIS

TIT mismanagement, presumably?

Both engine and prop are being overhauled, so my guess is that SB569 got “forgotten” and now has to be done because the aircraft can’t legally fly at all, and is being sold to get some money back.

In fact, it suffered a turbo failure, curiously it’s 3rd turbo failure in it’s 1800 hours TIS . The owner decided it was better to R&R firewall-forward, so prop, engine, turbo and engine mount all went off to Röder Präzision Germany.

N297GT. Some data here

Looks very nice, assuming everything works and it has been hangared always so no/minimal corrosion, but too pricey (especially for a non VAT registered buyer) at €210k including VAT.

Both engine and prop are being overhauled, so my guess is that SB569 got “forgotten” and now has to be done because the aircraft can’t legally fly at all, and is being sold to get some money back. An overhaul on that TIO540 engine is very expensive (way more than an IO540) especially with the inconel exhaust (all GTs have that) so check who is doing it. But it won’t ever sell at that price, IMHO.

It used to live in the USA (some old data I have mentions the original owner’s name) so must have been imported into Europe at some stage. Check the import VAT paid docs, if applicable.

It is a late-2002 aircraft (judging by the later model Shadin fuel totaliser) which was moved to N257JM in 9/2003 and moved back to N297GT later by the looks of it. A few tens of k was spent on avionics (2 x waas gps and the Sandel).

No EDM700 (a big omission) and if you fit one you can’t remove the CHT/EGT instrument (like you can in a TB20) because the EDM700 is not certified to replace the original one in a TB21.

It is really a US centric model that doesn’t apply abroad

There are a lot of homebuilders over here too.

I’s true that many don’t ever finish – for various reasons usually to do with biting off more than they can chew in terms of time, skills, etc. Very few people are going to have the skills and I have seen one such one close-up recently, despite the entire aircraft being factory built, fabric covered and painted. But that must be true in the USA too – human nature doesn’t change.

Homebuilders (the successful ones) are a particular community of perpetual tinkerers (the sort of people who also keep some 1970s sports car) who keep telling everybody they save loads of money by avoiding the certification system but really their biggest saving comes from sinking a huge amount of their own time without accounting for it

And there is nothing wrong with that. I get my TB20 Annual done for ~1500 quid in exactly the same way, and the satisfaction of avoiding a 5000 quid box-ticking company bodge job is priceless

The USA has a big homebuilt scene because they have the airspace to fly them properly – VFR up to 17999ft, and IFR is possible if you have an IR and suitable avionics. In Europe, homebuilts are much more limited in usability because you need the permits and you can’t do IFR and there is much more need for IFR in Europe than in the USA because of Europe’s perverted airspace structure and ICAO-breaching CAS access policies.

If planes like the Lancairs could be flown IFR all over Europe (legally ) the “going places” part of the scene would grow massively. I would buy the Evolution TP very quickly.

The standard training twin is actually the Duchess, with them training international (Asian and European) students endlessly at my base. God knows how many hours they have on them, they just keep going and doing their job. The single engine trainers seem to be mostly C172s. None of those aircraft are at all interesting to me (no more so than doggy performing diesels) but they do fly a lot! Fun to watch them in the early stages of training, and I sure sympathize with them flying in super busy US GA areas, learning so fast, while struggling with the language.

The local DA42 is the only diesel in the area and is owned by a retired brain surgeon who has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on it since he bought it new. It just got new gearboxes after an inflight seizure, and he was naturally happy to have two engines. His wife was on board and she’s still flying with him – a good thing. He likes the plane and has a lot of money to make owning it possible. Meanwhile my friends (gasoline powered) DA40 in the same hangar does cost him a lot in depreciation but not much in maintenance. It’s a bit boring too, but it keeps running, hasn’t yet scared his wife and doesn’t take endless fiddling. Nothing wrong with that.

I’m also happy with the situation I’ve created for myself, where neither direct or indirect expenses are enough that I need to keep track of them. That works for me, to each his own, the more options and less insults and regimentation the better.

Interesting figures LeSvig but not surprising.

The DA 42 has basically become the standard training twin nowadays, due to the fact it can use Jet A1 and is quite economical, as well as it’s G1000 cockpit. It is interesting to see that the others have almost equal market shares.

Here in Europe the call to Diesel is more and more audible. But the US catches up: I was in Naples FL the other week and was amazed at the number of DA42s in the sky. And apart from that, i imagien Continental was thinking something when buying up the whole diesel community.

I would also say that “that small number of people” who buy from the factory can’t be bothered to spend between three and thirteen years to build a kit in their garage. Not everybody has that sort of time, patience, skilll… or garage. It is really a US centric model that doesn’t apply abroad – and any manufacturer in its right mind has to look at the global market. Once the white-haired-white-socks-cum-sandals crowd that is the current US GA mainstay will throw in the towel things will eventually change. Bank checks aren’t being flown at night anymore at long last either…