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Why is this airplane so cheap? (Morane MS-880 Rallye)

The description only says “Low hrs. Airplane”.

http://www.planecheck.com?ent=da&id=38803

ESME, ESMS

50 years old, priced to sell? The description is very short, could have unmentioned problems with corrosion too. The hrs do indeed seem low for its age.

Low-hours pilot
EDVM Hildesheim, Germany

Difficult to say. The Moranes are generally not very expensive and not that sought after, which may well be a mistake. Our fellow poster Malte has written a very nice writeup about them here:

https://www.euroga.org/forums/aircraft/7180-morane-saulnier-rallye-series-morane-pilot-thread

There can be many reasons why it is cheap. If it has the original engine, it may well be a multitude of times over calendar TBO. This can mean something, but doesn’t have to. Same goes for the prop. The single picture provided doesn’t show much, but that the airplane should be receiving some care…

It never stops to amaze me how people advertize their planes so sloppily. How much trouble is it really to write a couple of time states, a list of the avionic and add a couple of pics of the cabin and the airplane? In this case it may well be that inept sales tactics have frustrated the owner so he thinks he has to basically give it away…

It may be worth having a look at it but to do so would require some mechanic who knows these planes well. It could well be a very interesting offer for someone who wants a cheap hour builder or something which can deal with just about any grass runway anywhere. Maybe Malte knows something about this plane.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

I was just searching for @mh’s excellent write up as @Mooney_Driver beat me to it and posted the link My guess on the price is as follows.

1. MS-880s and Rallyes tend to be inexpensive due to lots of supply and limited demand, plus their reputation for airframe corrosion. They seem to be bargains… if you find the right one.
2. This one has never had an engine overhaul. It’s impossible to say what the condition of a never overhauled mid-high time O-200 may be without inspection, ideally including pulling the oil tank and looking inside the crankcases for corrosion. On the other hand a ‘first run’ engine is not a bad thing if you plan to overhaul it.
3. Original avionics, or not updated in many decades.
4. Relatively poor paint and interior.
5. Potential maintenance logbook issues (would need to be checked out)
6. Might be out of Annual Inspection (likewise)

I have a weakness for old planes that need a manageable amount of love, and to me this might be a nice plane/projct for somebody with time and the right level of ability… if (and it’s a big if) the airframe is sound when checked by somebody that knows these airframes very well. The work would need to be done inexpensively as it won’t have a particularly high future resale value, so it’s a plane for a licensed mechanic or somebody with connections to licensed mechanics and inexpensive work. Otherwise it’s usually cheaper to buy one at a higher price that needs little work.

PS Re the photo above, I think with many types of planes and other vehicles, the earlier versions often look better somehow than the bigger, faster, better equipped later variants. To me, this one looks nicely 1960’s French, in a good way, even if some describe Rallyes as ugly. Poor neglected plane

Last Edited by Silvaire at 03 Jan 06:18

Not so different from many PA28s and similar, I think? It depends on the condition. 1331 hrs since 1968 means it’s been a hangar queen most of that time.

It never stops to amaze me how people advertize their planes so sloppily

Yes; really amazing. However, lots of people live in a universe where writing something doesn’t really feature. You get this on Ebay all the time.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Part M

Bathman wrote:

Part M

Not a reason. At least not to those who actually read Part-M. It’s an ELA-1, so you can maintain everything yourself.

on topic: many technically sound Moranes come in a bad look (i.e. dull paint, worn interiors and plastics). You need to look closely at some critical points, but you might find a good one. Many Moranes are talked dead by people, just like @Bathman implied above. IME the amount of really corroded aircraft has been diminished a lot in the past years, as those were parted out rather than sold. It’s a lot of bang for the buck, if you are willing to tinker with it and accept some optical drawbacks.

mh
Aufwind GmbH
EKPB, Germany

Because the guy needs to sell and there are not a lot of people our there looking for Moranes. There can be many reasons such as having lost medical and hangar bills are piling up, so you really just need someone to take it off your hands – I had such a case helping a friend a few years ago and someone ended up getting a very nice plane at a ridiculously low price.

EGTR

There may however be significant life-limited parts. ELA1 doesn’t remove these life limits AIUI.

Socata is renowned for lifed parts and pointless calendar-determined maintenance actions, and the issue is compounded by many parts being made by obscure (and often tiny) French companies making obscure parts which are trivially different from standard US aircraft parts (so the US parts could have been used absolutely perfectly) but Socata use them because (a) they are made in France and (b) they cost several times more which has obvious profit margin benefits to both Socata and downstream. Even a lot of rivets (including pop rivets) are nonstandard; the mainly-US Socata user group has this topic quite often and the guy who runs it takes the position that you cannot substitute these items with standard US parts without a DER design package (EASA 21 involvement, over here)…

On Part 91 N-reg the life limits fall away unless in Chapter 1 of the MM. I don’t know the Morane but could give you various bizzare examples on my TB20. So a plane in Euro-land can easily be worth zero on the basis of returning to airworthiness.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

There may however be significant life-limited parts. ELA1 doesn’t remove these life limits AIUI.

Talking about “life-limited” or “lifed” parts is unfortunate wording though. As you know, they are not legally “limited” unless it is an airworthiness limitation.

Socata is renowned for lifed parts

This airplane has practically nothing to do with Socata though. It is a 50 year old design and airworthiness limitations on parts did not come until the 1990s.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany
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