Abandoned airplanes

AKBill said:
3 years ago the city auctioned a Beech A23 that had been sitting on the ramp for years (no engine or prop). My wife went to the auction and offered $200, that offer was rejected because the tie down fees owed by the owner exceeded $1600. The city wanted $1600 as a minimum bid. I called the airport and offered $400, told them I wanted the plane for parts. I explained I would move the plane off airport at my expense. Built a shed to store the parts $1000, $200 for a uhaul truck to move the plane. Took 1 month working weekends to dismantle and move. Sold $1400 worth of parts and have the rest of the plane in the shed.

Wings, landing gear, flaps, ailerons, stabilator all fit my Beech Sport..:)
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I would walk or drive by nearly every day and watch as the pieces of that plane came off. I thought you were shipping it somewhere. There's also an old 172 over at the west tie downs that is now falling into disrepair. I gave it's last 2 owners instruction in it and signed one off for his checkride.
 
Htaylor said:
I would walk or drive by nearly every day and watch as the pieces of that plane came off
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Did you see it when my wife and a friend put a banner across the fuselage that read "Red Neck Flight School"? The wings were off and the fuselage was sitting on pallets. I was at work and got a call from the airport manager. Not knowing what the wife had done and they said "you need to take the banner off that plane". I said "what banner", then called my wife (Tami). She can be such a goof ball, I asked her to remove the banner....:)
 
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Checkout_my_Six said:
View attachment 50684 yup....even this?...and there is a several year waiting list. :eek:
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Especially that! If the owner just can't let go of his life's work and he's never going to fly it, store it off the airport. Move it somewhere else. You know why folks like this don't leave? More often than not, an airport hangar is the cheapest storage a person can rent and that's because the rates are artificially low so to encourage active pilots to use the airport. Storing broken, stationary junk in perpetuity is not using the airport! Get that crap out of there and let someone on the wait list actually use the hangar and the airport.
 
These are at a privately owned, public use airport in Tennessee. Two guys pay hangar rent in advance each year. Neither lives here anymore. They refuse to even discuss selling anything. Most are total junk. The old 150 has more corrosion than I've ever seen. The Champ was restored and flown before unceremoniously shoving into the hanger to not fly again five years ago.

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Wow a Varga Kachina and an Aeronca just sitting like that is really sad. I wonder what the story is there, there's a lot of neat stuff in that hangar, but it doesn't look like they've moved for a while- the Varga is kind of throwing me, is it missing a wing, or is that just how the pictures came out??
 
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AKBill said:
Did you see it when my wife and a friend put a banner across the fuselage that read "Red Neck Flight School"? The wings were off and the fuselage was sitting on pallets. I was at work and got a call from the airport manager. Not knowing what the wife had done and they said "you need to take the banner off that plane". I said "what banner", then called my wife (Tami). She can be such a good ball, I asked her to remove the banner....:)
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In some parts of the country, that can be confused with something giggity. ;)
 
dresbackg said:
Wow a Varga Kachina and an Aeronica just sitting like that is really sad. I wonder what the story is there, there's a lot of neat stuff in that hangar, but it doesn't look like they've moved for a while- the Varga is kind of throwing me, is it missing a wing, or is that just how the pictures came out??
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There is no "i" in Aeronca.
 
dresbackg said:
Wow a Varga Kachina and an Aeronica just sitting like that is really sad. I wonder what the story is there, there's a lot of neat stuff in that hangar, but it doesn't look like they've moved for a while- the Varga is kind of throwing me, is it missing a wing, or is that just how the pictures came out??
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They are all complete and flew in. In 13 years, other than the Aeronca Champ, I've never seen anything move.
 
dresbackg said:
OMG! I'd love to see that, too bad it's just sitting like that! Was it never finished, I wonder? That would be a great plane to have!!!
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The story is it flew a couple of times....and the owner/builder almost lost it in a ground loop. That model is know to be squirrelly. Now it sits. Several folks have offered to buy it....but the family can't agree to anything. The old man who built it is dead. So, it's been sitting there for years. I've never seen it outside the hangar....and the family continues to pay the rent.
 
Local airport here doesn't care about what's in your hanger. Just needs something in it that flies, anything else is optional unless it is flammable or explosive.

They tore down a 6 hanger building, chasing away 4 airplanes.

No waiting list for a hanger because the airport manager can't be bothered. The manager is also the city attorney. I am pretty sure federal airport budget goes into someones pockets. I just can't prove it right now.
 
There's at least 10 abandoned at HNL by the T-hangers, which is surprising since it's class B. Sometimes on the weekends when the flyers aren't parked among them it looks like a junkyard of abandoned planes.
 
abandonedplaneswo.jpg abandonedretract.jpg There were some abandoned aircraft across from my hangar when I was based at SWO near here, it was really sad to see nice planes go down like this. I moved my plane closer to me 4 years ago or so, and they disappeared after that; not sure what happened to them. I think the airport finally got rid of them due to ramp fees, but I'm not sure how.
 
Ramp rot at KBXG. When the runway and parking area was repaved, they pushed the Beech in the grass to pave and pushed it back afterwards. My brother-in-law tried to buy this plane to restore about six years ago, but as so often is the case, the owner was unrealistic on its worth. So it sits year after year.
 

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AKBill said:
Did you see it when my wife and a friend put a banner across the fuselage that read "Red Neck Flight School"? The wings were off and the fuselage was sitting on pallets. I was at work and got a call from the airport manager. Not knowing what the wife had done and they said "you need to take the banner off that plane". I said "what banner", then called my wife (Tami). She can be such a good ball, I asked her to remove the banner....:)
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I missed the banner, but saw it on pallets until you moved it. I was a pilot for Wings for 5 years so I walked between the hangar and the terminal many times. I know the current airport ops manager, (Scott) quite well. I'm in SoCal now but may be back this summer.
 
dresbackg said:
View attachment 50690 View attachment 50693 There were some abandoned aircraft across from my hangar when I was based at SWO near here, it was really sad to see nice planes go down like this.
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It is sad when beautiful things die. Machines are no different than people in that they have a life span and when they outlive the value proposition they once had, they rot and die. I too find it very sad, but it is what it is.

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Htaylor said:
I missed the banner, but saw it on pallets until you moved it. I was a pilot for Wings for 5 years so I walked between the hangar and the terminal many times. I know the current airport ops manager, (Scott) quite well. I'm in SoCal now but may be back this summer.
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I think AKbill is in juneau? I flew for LAB years ago, I heard they still have a lot of plane scattered across SE Alaska.
 
I think we have all come across these situation where we see perfectly great stuff got to waste.... it is sad...

To me if it is not being used... sell it to the first person that has money in their hand..
 
Getonit said:
I think AKbill is in juneau? I flew for LAB years ago, I heard they still have a lot of plane scattered across SE Alaska.
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Yes, they do. And according to jr they are all still in flying condition. I wish I had taken a picture of the planes rotting away at Haines. Just one look and even non aviation folks can see they will never fly again.
 
It's a shame that so many airplanes are rotting away. The problem is if it is a Cessna or Piper or other GA aircraft even if they gave it to you it would cost way more than the airplane is worth to restore it. As an example you can buy nice 7AC Champs for around $20,000. It would cost $20-25,000 just to get it re covered and painted at a good shop not to mention the mechanical problems that would have to be fixed.
 
MickYoumans said:
Ramp rot at KBXG. When the runway and parking area was repaved, they pushed the Beech in the grass to pave and pushed it back afterwards. My brother-in-law tried to buy this plane to restore about six years ago, but as so often is the case, the owner was unrealistic on its worth. So it sits year after year.
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I just saw that airplane this morning! I thought, "wait, didn't I just see a picture of that plane"
 
yakdriver said:
It's a shame that so many airplanes are rotting away. The problem is if it is a Cessna or Piper or other GA aircraft even if they gave it to you it would cost way more than the airplane is worth to restore it. As an example you can buy nice 7AC Champs for around $20,000. It would cost $20-25,000 just to get it re covered and painted at a good shop not to mention the mechanical problems that would have to be fixed.
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For sure. I know of a Taylorcraft that has been sitting in an open front t hangar for decades and hasn't moved. I bugged the owner for years to sell it to me. Now that it is a total pile of rags, he is slightly considering selling it. Not sure I would take it even if it was given to me considering the condition.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Those are some really old pictures of what I see out my office window every day. Right now with a quick binocular glance I see tons of F-16s, C-130s, KC-135s, F-14s and A-6s.
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When you're bored do you pretend to work 'em? :D

Forget, which did you work on when you turned wrenches?
 
:D
AKBill said:
Did you see it when my wife and a friend put a banner across the fuselage that read "Red Neck Flight School"? The wings were off and the fuselage was sitting on pallets. I was at work and got a call from the airport manager. Not knowing what the wife had done and they said "you need to take the banner off that plane". I said "what banner", then called my wife (Tami). She can be such a good ball, I asked her to remove the banner....:)
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Good golly Miss Molly!

I bet you meant goof ball. :D
 
You'll be seeing a lot more of this in the next 10 years. On my hangar row (6 units facing each other), only my AC and my neighbor have been airborne in the past 12 months. The V-tail Bo across from me goes into annual each year and has had new tires placed on it this year ... mechanic tells me the only engine time in the past 4 years is the oil change run-up and the owner won't pickle the engine.:(
 
danhagan said:
You'll be seeing a lot more of this in the next 10 years.
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Agreed. I see nothing on the horizon to slow, or stop the shrinking of GA. As more people stop flying and few start, there are just more airplanes than there are pilots needing them. The low hanging fruit goes first. Those that have ailments go from "needs some repair", to scrap as values stay low. There will come a stabilization period where the supply and demand equalize, but we're not there yet.
 
My fiendishly clever plan - leave Maryland (DC metro area) so I can stop paying other people's bills, retire a goodly distance outside the ADS-B "lame zone", buy something fun I can roll, and never turn on a transponder again.

My clever part is to buy it at a deep discount, as ADS-B and pilot ageing drive prices down. . .
 
Ventucky Red said:
I think we have all come across these situation where we see perfectly great stuff got to waste.... it is sad...

To me if it is not being used... sell it to the first person that has money in their hand..
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:yeahthat:

As many before already said: people have unrealistic ideas what their plane is worth. It's sad though to see once really nice planes rot away... :cryin:
 
danhagan said:
You'll be seeing a lot more of this in the next 10 years. On my hangar row (6 units facing each other), only my AC and my neighbor have been airborne in the past 12 months. The V-tail Bo across from me goes into annual each year and has had new tires placed on it this year ... mechanic tells me the only engine time in the past 4 years is the oil change run-up and the owner won't pickle the engine.:(
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I suspect that a huge amount of this is the absolutely idiotic medical stuff, which is finally coming to an end. I think the medical reform will be a good step to restarting aviation, as many more people who were active pilots will get out there and at least look at it again. At my airport, Im the only plane that leaves the hangar normally at this time. There are other planes that fly there, but not many, and not often. Some planes I'm sure have never left their hangars in 2 years. Some planes at AXS had not left their hangars the entire time I was there from 2001-2012, either, a period of time when the airport was much more active, especially before 2008.
 
A 182 and a 170 belong to a friend. I worked on both for a while and he let me fly the 182. My wife and I flew it to OSH and a few other places and did about 30 hours in just a few months. I did the annual on it and last year he had owned it for ten years...total time since he bought it....including the 30 that my wife and I flew...88 hours. The 170 has been in annual for almost three years and hasn't flown since before then. Breaks my heart as both a very good aircraft. I am in the process of buying a share in a 182RG and my wife and I are flying it now like we own it (basically renting it for a fixed cost plus fuel) and one owner hasn't flown in five plus years and the other flew about 20 last year. We have flown it 22 hours in the the last five weeks. Trying to buy the whole thing. I want an airplane so bad and it kills me to see one rotting. Sell it, donate it to a maintenance school, get out of the hangars so others can come in...turn it into aluminum cans...at least it would be useful.
 
Do they count as rotting if they're in a heated hangar? There's a large hangar (might even be the largest on the field) with at least 10 aircraft in it. In talking with a former mechanic at the field a couple years ago, he said the guy that owns them lost his medical in the early 2000's and none of them have flown since. Some aren't anything special, but I know there's a T34 in there and what must be a practically new Micco SP26.
 
If you see a Cleveland 40-76A nose wheel on any of these abandoned planes I'd like to buy it. It's a 6 inch nose wheel for a Cessna single engine.
 
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