It’s in as new condition, hangared by one owner who passed away recently. Aircraft like this are typically bought new in the US by older pilots who are stepping down from another plane which has been sold to finance the purchase. They often fly very low hours, the purchase seems to be symbolic more than practical.
Agree, that looks like a very good deal. I hope it has been hangared since it has sat around a lot (<15hr/yr avg). The model seems to have seen a lot of the world, with several stories written on trans-atlantic and even ’round-the-world flights in it. From the write-ups it seems to have outstanding operational economy and range.
I don’t believe it has any missing logs, with 115 hrs and eight years since manufacture those would mainly be the factory documentation, plus a few annual inspection logbook entries. Not much to lose. It’s Experimental but that is usually a positive for (US) market value – for example many factory built LSAs are converted under FAA rules to E-LSA to make parts supply and maintenance easier.
The biggest negative I could see that this is the long wing version – which is a challenge to hangar.
Do these typically depreciate two-thirds in less than a decade, regardless of minimal hours?
That is a very low price for a good quality and versatile airplane. But it is not certified, is it? So it is either experimental or ultralight. So market value will depend very much on maintenance documentation?
A friend at my base just bought a 115 hrs TT (IIRC) 2011 Pipistrel Virus LW for $42K, equivalent to €37.7K, with 80 HP Rotax, cockpit controllable VP feathering prop, ADS-B and a fresh annual. As new condition to my eyes. He and his wife are sailplane people, as well as having built and flown a number of nice high performance homebuilts. Seems like a very good deal to me, but these aren’t attractive to the broader US market. Do these typically depreciate two-thirds in less than a decade, regardless of minimal hours?
The Pipistrel Garud…. It looks like a neat little plane to me. Refering to conventional air force terminology, you have to wonder what the ‘basic trainer’ looks like if this is the ‘advanced trainer’. OTOH the cadets will probably learn a lot from flying such a light plane first, and they won’t forget it.
Virus as a name for sales to an English speaking government like that of India does seem like a bit of misstep, given a million choices, but whatever… I don’t suppose the Indians care because they’ll give it it their own name.
I always thought the ‘Nova’ car story was cute, but apparently Spanish speakers don’t generally ‘hear it’ that way… For instance, Pemex (the nationalized Mexican oil company) named one of their their fuels Nova at the pump.
Wasn’t it VW that had to rename their model “Nova” in the Spanish speaking countries, because it means “doesn’t work”? But probably Pipistrel never thought about other languages at the time they chose their name.
PS: it seems to be an urban legend, but a nice one IMHO: http://www.duetsblog.com/2012/07/articles/branding/that-story-about-the-chevy-nova-its-a-no-go/
… and worse in French ;)
One must agree, though, that each and every of their designs has been impressive – with a possibility of doubt on their recent 4-seater.
The company name sounds absolutely awful in German…
