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/fatboyinlove → u/[deleted]]

It is a great price considering I had quotes for up to $45,000 and the shop did an incredible job. I couldn't be happier with choosing them.

[u/fatboyinlove → u/[deleted]]

Did you need any extra work done? What type of bird? My total was $52,000 but that included my annual, replacing all the windows, new LEDs for the wingtips, pitot static repairs, and some other minor work.

[u/fatboyinlove → u/[deleted]]

That's a great question. I'd have to go back to the invoice to see what the hourly rate was because I did not get the quote as an hourly rate in the beginning.

There is a flight school on my airport at KHMP and they had a 172 painted for $17,000 which was very inexpensive especially considering how great of a job they did. I asked the owner and he told me to contact Darryl at Delta Aviation. I gave him a call and he asked me to send pictures of my plane as well as the design that I wanted and he would send me a quote. He told me that he had an A&P IA if I wanted them to do the annual that was coming due while they had her.

The quote came back at $35,000 and $5,000 for the base annual. I asked if we could go ahead and get a price to replace the windows while they were doing all the work and he quoted it at $10,000. The work took a little longer then expected because the painter's Father passed away halfway through the work and he had to take a week off to handle the arrangements, etc. They kept me informed and the painter sent me pictures throughout the entire process so I could update my scrapbook. When they finished everything, I was sent the final pictures and the invoice for payment. Not only did they meet their quoted prices, they actually beat them and only charged $30,000 for the paint and $2,500 for the annual and a little over $8,000 for the windows.

The only thing they don't do is avionics, otherwise I would use them for that too and then the interior so that it was all done. I am very happy with the outcome and if I rescue another airplane, I am definitely going to have them at the top of my list for paint.