Highest total time on a GA aircraft you've heard of

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DMD3.

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DMD3.
I once read in a magazine about a Skyhawk that had over 19,000 hours tt. I saw the article 12-15 years ago, so there's no telling how many hours it has on it today.
 
I flew a Beech 99 that was 35,000+ hours. Also once flew a C-150 that had 20,000 hours on it (previously used for pipeline patrol)

Not GA, but I've flown a 727 that was over 100,000 hours.
 
I flew my PP checkride in a C172P with 19000 hours, all of that basic training since day 1. Flew just fine.
 
There are aircraft for sale out there,with 35,000 hrs plus. Both singles and light twins. It's all about the maintenance.
 
There was a ex-DZ twotter for sale that had something around 30k on it
 
I took my PP ride in a 172N that had about 15,000 hours on it.
 
i know my school has a Tomahawk with over 20k hours on it. You'd never catch me in one of those...certainly not that one.
 
mtuomi said:
I flew my PP checkride in a C172P with 19000 hours, all of that basic training since day 1. Flew just fine.
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Was it a green/white colored one by any chance? If I remember correctly, that's the color of the one I read about. Can't remember who owned it or where it was bases, though.
 
One of my flight schools 2001 C172SP's has almost 7k on it. It is a trainer from day one.
 
Lots of 30k+ airframes. I'd be curious what Cape Air is getting out of their 402s. I know it's enough that they want to find replacements.
 
I took this in the 172M I fly not crazy high hours but getting up there. The owner said he got it in 1978 with about 1700 hours on it. I cut my flight a few 10ths short that day so I could leave it for him to roll over.:D
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Currently has about 200 hours on a Penn Yan rebuild of the 180HP overall in pretty good condition for the hours.
 
RotorAndWing said:
I flew a Beech 99 that was 35,000+ hours. Also once flew a C-150 that had 20,000 hours on it (previously used for pipeline patrol)



Not GA, but I've flown a 727 that was over 100,000 hours.
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R&W...for what you would consider a stable, reputable airline, is there a generally accepted major overhaul/refit and then generally accepted retiring time for airliners? Or does it just vary by plane, looking at some formula with squawks and such?
 
I thought there came a point where there was metal fatigue or something and planes had to be scrapped. Maybe I invented that idea. Is there no set number for a plane to be scrapped?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I thought there came a point where there was metal fatigue or something and planes had to be scrapped. Maybe I invented that idea. Is there no set number for a plane to be scrapped?
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Some planes do have time limited structural parts, Piper Tomahawk wings are good for 10'000 hours (or somewhere around that number anyway).
Cessna has the SID inspections, but they are not mandatory in Part 91.
 
TheTraveler said:
R&W...for what you would consider a stable, reputable airline, is there a generally accepted major overhaul/refit and then generally accepted retiring time for airliners? Or does it just vary by plane, looking at some formula with squawks and such?
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Each manufacturer sets a maintenance program for their airframes. As the airframe ages the inspections concentrate on various components that are replaced, inspected or overhauled.

Basically it works out to a A, B, C and D inspection. A and B checks are routine and often and broken down into different phases. The C check is very comprehensive, sorta like a super annual.

The D check is the "heavy" check, usually 90 to 120 days (again, varies). The D check the plane literally comes apart, paint stripped, everything removed. Skins get various methods of examination, control surfaces overhauled, landing gear overhauls, cockpits reworked, updates installed, etc, etc.

Basically an airline determines when the airframe is no longer economically viable it's time to go. This takes into many factors, with fuel consumption, maintenance and manufacturer support factored in.
 
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Almost bought a 172M that had 28,000 on it. 26,000 of it by one owner that used it for his fish spotting career. He just retired.
 
RotorAndWing said:
Each manufacturer sets a maintenance program for their airframes. As the airframe ages the inspections concentrate on various components that are replaced, inspected or overhauled.



Basically it works out to a A, B, C and D inspection. A and B checks are routine and often and broken down into different phases. The C check is very comprehensive, sorta like a super annual.



The D check is the "heavy" check, usually 90 to 120 days (again, varies). The D check the plane literally comes apart, paint stripped, everything removed. Skins get various methods of examination, control surfaces overhauled, landing gear overhauls, cockpits reworked, updates installed, etc, etc.



Basically an airline determines when the airframe is no longer economically viable it's time to go. This takes into many factors, with fuel consumption, maintenance and manufacturer support factored in.
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Thanks for that, very interesting. Gives me two thoughts. One: very happy that we don't go through such trouble in GA. Not that it would be warranted, as I'm sure the hobbs hours aren't even comparable. Two: happy to know that it is so often and in depth, especially given the amount of time that I spend flying commercial. I flew close to 600k miles this year.
 
The 172 i trained in has close to 20K on it. I'd take my wife and kids up in it any time, and do on occasion.
 
JasonM said:
Interesting. I had not heard of that. Was it this one? :dunno:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/spotting-fish-from-the-air/
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Nope, it was out of Newport News, VA. He worked for a commercial fishing operation, guiding the boats to Bunker for like 35 years. It was structurally and mechanically immaculate. The interior was pretty bombed out though.

Cessna has a SID that provides ongoing MX recommendations for up to 30,000 hours. In this SID, cessna states that there is no guidance for MX beyond 30,000 hours and they recommend the airframe be scrapped. It's not regulatory, but it's certainly not going to help your selling price :no:
 
If the SID checks become mandatory, that will be a VERY expensive check to write for 100-series owners.

I'm unsure what the average price in the US is for those checks including the NDA tests, but in Europe it is 5 figures, well exceeding the average value of the airplane.
 
Trained on a C150 with over 13000+ hrs on it. Door used to pop open in flight. G-BIJV was the reg.
 
The plane I've been flying the last few days for work has about 20k on it. Our highest time airframe is 36k IIRC (and it's spent all of it's life in Alaska)
 
warthog1984 said:
Ask a DC-3 operator that question...
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There's a DC-3 (N18121) now at Aurora, Oregon, that is believed to be the highest-time piston airplane in the world, at over 91,400 hours. It was picked up at the Douglas factory at Santa Monica in 1937 by Eddie Rickenbacker himself on behalf of Eastern Air Lines. In the 1980s it was operated by Provincetown-Boston Airlines as N36PB, and was featured in the 1985 PBS/Nova special on the DC-3's 50th anniversary, "The Plane That Changed The World". It was also seen in the wonderful 12-hour BBC documentary from 1987, "Reaching for The Skies"".

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kenjr said:
i know my school has a Tomahawk with over 20k hours on it. You'd never catch me in one of those...certainly not that one.
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Great little airplanes. I flew one within the last year and would again in a heartbeat. Way more comfortable than a 150/152 for two normal sized guys.

Just don't spin it. Especially with aft CG. I have yet to (unintentionally) spin an airplane yet in all of my time flying...so I don't understand why I'd do it in a Tomahawk. Luckily, it doesn't know that it's a death trap...so it shouldn't start the spin without me. :rofl:
 
1 of my 170 buddies has a 1953-170-B that just flipped 26,000 hours, he does his own maintenance and annuals.
He fish spots, has aux tanks, and does 10-12 legs over the boats.

he carries nothing in his aircraft but fuel, single comm, a CB, and a ELT.
 
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All these numbers make the 6000 hr life of an F/A-18 seem slightly pathetic
 
The PA-12 I flew on pipeline patrol had over 40,000 hrs on it, and the 150 my boss was flying had over 35,000hrs. Pretty sure those are the highest time ones I have come across, though I have come across quite a few in the 10-20k hr range.
 
RhinoDrvr said:
All these numbers make the 6000 hr life of an F/A-18 seem slightly pathetic
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Wow, that would put the operating cost over $100k an hour if you don't include the cost of the airport it operates off. If you amortize in its share of the carrier costs, it would have to be well over $5MM hr.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Lots of 30k+ airframes. I'd be curious what Cape Air is getting out of their 402s. I know it's enough that they want to find replacements.
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Cape rebuilds their 402s every few years. The issue is that the cost to rebuild them is skyrocketing.
 
DavidWhite said:
The plane I've been flying the last few days for work has about 20k on it. Our highest time airframe is 36k IIRC (and it's spent all of it's life in Alaska)
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I have probably flown that plane.

I flew C-207s in Alaska that had 20,000+ hours on them. Most of them had 5 or 6 accidents in the log books. I have seen a few C-207s that had more than 30,000 hours on them. Alaska time is not easy time for a 206/7.

I used to fly a C-206 that did an unintintional off airport landing a few miles out of Barrow. It flipped onto its back and sat on the tundra for two years before it was recovered and repaired. It was a sweet flying 206.

I flew a 172 in Alaska that had a little over 25,000 hours. It had multiple accidents in its history. One time I trimmed it up for level flight, then let go of the controls. The left wing dropped and it started a steep left spiral. I refused to fly it after that.
 
Henning said:
The PA-12 I flew on pipeline patrol had over 40,000 hrs on it, and the 150 my boss was flying had over 35,000hrs. Pretty sure those are the highest time ones I have come across, though I have come across quite a few in the 10-20k hr range.
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VW 1 and VW2 when they were decommissioned all their Willy Victors had well over 200,000 flying hours doing dew line patrol.

they were so old that we metal smiths at MNC / PMR would inspect the fuselages looking for nicotine stains along the rivet rows. same with the old buck 18s

but we know you can't compare the long range patrol with a C150.
 
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