@yakdriver Would your friend be Bob Hannah?
I'm in total agreement with you, a guy definitely has to find that niche. Congrats on your business.
One of our oil field clients was Doug Champlin. Met him casually a couple times on location, just small talk about the oil biz and what we were doing for him, never mentioned aviation or anything. I move down here to AZ and took a tour of The Champlin Fighter Museum one day and see Doug's picture as the main benefactor. Needless to say, (after putting 2 and 2 together) I had no clue he had that many planes and was that involved in the WWW aircraft world. What an awesome collection.
I'm reminded of this song.....California Dream'n.....
We've all seen the derelict planes ranging from old Piper Tri-Pacers on up to Lear 25's on the various ramps around the country.
How come nobody is taking these planes (like all the car guys do with the old cars) and refurbishing them to modern (or even classical) day standards? Is there just no profit in doing it?
Edit to add: What I mean by "nobody", is a basically team of A&P/AI's, painters, avionic experts, upholsters, etc. etc. who could all go in on an airplane, do their magic, then turn around and sell it for a profit.
I work in the real estate industry and a lot of people look into the home flipping market with dreamy eyes thinking that's how they'll get rich and fund their retirement nest egg. Yes, some people can do it right and make a profit, I imagine the same is true for airplanes, however as many risks as there are with cars and houses, that's only further magnified with planes as the costs for just about anything are astronomically high and if you are not a legal professional there is very little work you can do yourself. What kills me is when I see an old 172 with a 160hp engine with a whole fleet of top of the line avionics... you will never recoup those costs.
Depends who you would sell it to and what kind of planes you refurbish. Planes with a loyal fanbase like Bonanza, Mooney, Cubs, etc., I bet that it is true, you see the same with boats. But I am sure there are also new low time pilots out there who would love a Warrior, Cherokee, Archer, Arrow that wasn't completely shredded and falling apart at the seams...
Besides being fuel hogs, look up the price of an engine overhaul for those Aerostars and you'll have your answer. One of the highest on the market.
My only guess is the twin's higher operating costs vs. a comparable SE complex. Somebody mentioned a Duke the other day. I looked on Controller and found a pristine one for around $200k that was like a brand new plane. I'd love to have a fast pressurized twin just because I think their sexy, but that type of aircraft just don't fit my current mission profile, at least for now anyways.
Yes. Something like that applied to planes with up to six seats and speeds of up to 250 knots indicated airspeed to match BasicMed restrictions is what I'm saying would go a long ways.
That works great in the higher end markets. Not so much on the lower end. Our plan would be to do complete in-house refurbs and appoint the planes with zero-time engines, neutral color interiors, tasteful paint and graphics, and updated avionics rather than doing any custom builds. I've found over the years of being in business that many people lack conceptualization skills and the ability to see the big picture. Thus the reason many car dealers mostly sell what's on their lots, home builders mostly sell tract homes, Suit makers mostly sell off the rack, etc. You start offering people choices and that opens up a whole other can of worms that I don't want to deal with. Our planes would be "what you see is what you get"!
Zero time as in a complete rebuild to factory or better specs. All engine docs, parts, and specs would be made available to a prospective buyer.
That works great in the higher end markets. Not so much on the lower end. Our plan would be to do complete in-house refurbs and appoint the planes with zero-time engines, neutral color interiors, tasteful paint and graphics, and updated avionics rather than doing any custom builds. I've found over the years of being in business that many people lack conceptualization skills and the ability to see the big picture. Thus the reason many car dealers mostly sell what's on their lots, home builders mostly sell tract homes, Suit makers mostly sell off the rack, etc. You start offering people choices and that opens up a whole other can of worms that I don't want to deal with. Our planes would be "what you see is what you get"!
Out of what market?
Is that what your extensive research has told you? Just wondering where you're pulling all of your data from?
https://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-sale/17112921/1981-aerostar-602p-superstar-700
And you both have very good insurance policies, right?
Yeah, the $100K one with the high time engines definitely isn't for the light hearted. But personally speaking if I had $500K and was ready to buy a plane I'd be looking very closely at it. On one hand new engines are a pain, but at least I would know that I have brand new donks out there. I'd still end up with a remarkably fast, pressurized, decent payload plane
You could do a lot better than a 500K A*...
Companies come and go all the time. Doesn't mean there's not a definable market. I've found a few players already that do exactly what I am proposing and they've been in business for quite some time now. I've already identified my market and know exactly how to go after them. That's my business. The internet has made it so easy with the multiple petabytes of information available for download and parsing. What's funny is my potential clients don't even know that they're potential clients yet.
One thing I've found out about starting a new business... when you have multiple naysayers and doubters telling you your ideas are no good, that's usually a good indicator that you have something viable and potentially profitable. BTDT many times and have the T-shirts. I appreciate your input.
Just curious... what type of business do you currently own?
