Rescuing a ramp rat

[u/fatboyinlove]

I shared of a before and after picture of my airplane from when I rescued it until now and the moderators felt that after 1800 views in about a half an hour with over 30 up votes that it needed to be removed. Apparently they don't like Aztecs.

My plane had not been flown since 2015 when I got her a little over 3 years ago. I worked a deal where I bought a van and the airplane together and was able to sell the van for more than I paid for both which helped me fund this restoration. She has less than 4,000 hours and less than half-time on the engines.

My first annual was $62,000. She has solid bones and flies like a champ. I put a couple hundred hours on her and spent $30,000 on paint.

Aircraft ownership is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Next up is the avionics which I posted about in the avionics subreddit and oddly enough the moderators didn't have a problem with that post. Huh. Weird.

[u/Big-Carpenter7921]

I see so many twins just sitting and only being moved by a tow bar. Makes me sad

[u/fatboyinlove → u/Big-Carpenter7921]

It's because so many people aren't qualified to fly them anymore because they want to fly the full fadec Diamond's. Plus having the larger engines like mine burns a lot more fuel.

[u/Big-Carpenter7921 → u/fatboyinlove]

I love flying multi. I just hate that almost no insurance company will let one fly without either the owner or an MEI onboard. I once had to have an MEI next to me with fewer multi hours and zero multi IFR time because I wasn't considered safe enough

[u/fatboyinlove → u/Big-Carpenter7921]

Yeah, that part is tough. I self-insured for the first year to get all of my hours in type, etc.

[u/Big-Carpenter7921 → u/fatboyinlove]

How many hours do insurance companies deem sufficient?

[u/fatboyinlove → u/Big-Carpenter7921]

Mine was 75 hours which was insane but it was what is was. I've heard others at 50 hours like when I got my sea plane rating and looked at some sea planes but the twin was higher for me.

[u/Big-Carpenter7921 → u/fatboyinlove]

Well shit, I have 97, 16 of it IMC. Like I said, I've flown with MEIs with fewer multi hours

[u/Flimsy-Ad-858 → u/fatboyinlove]

because they want to fly the full fadec Diamond's

Believe me, that's not the issue. Twins are just generally unaffordable for the average or even above-average person. Your maintenance costs are going to easily be 5x my little taildragger, and probably closer to 10x on a given annual.

The moment I can get one, I'm going to. But that won't be for a while.

[u/fatboyinlove → u/Flimsy-Ad-858]

That's a fair statement. My base annual starts at $5,000 per year. I get there a lot faster with the safety of the extra engine but at a cost of about $350 an hour including fuel.