Katana for 20k

The interior and the panel worry me. Rust on the switches, wavy bits on the glare shield, destroyed door net...
 
Are all DA20s so weak in the useful load department, or just the Rotax ones?

Seems like a heck of a deal, even if its a one-up plane.
 
schmookeeg said:
Are all DA20s so weak in the useful load department, or just the Rotax ones?

Seems like a heck of a deal, even if its a one-up plane.
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I think later Eclipses have a max load of 530lbs give or take a few.
 
I hope that isn't the Katana that is parked outside at 1C5. I forget the tail number, but the paint scheme looks similar. If it is, 20k is too much. It's a very sad plane.
 
Maciej said:
I think later Eclipses have a max load of 530lbs give or take a few.
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My 2004 DA20 (minimal eqpt.) has a useful load of 594 lb. -- 2 big guys and plenty of fuel. :goofy::goofy:
 
The A-1 Katana's are getting more and more rare. That 430 is worth a good penny in and of itself. The 912 has been rebuilt and is relatively cheap to care for and feed. My concern would be if the composite fuselage has any issues. Otherwise it would be good candidate to put in a flight school lease-back type situation.
 
Southeast Aerospace lists them on the shelf for 7,250 and their price for the W is 8,950. Prolly top end of the price chart but within a couple thou. In other words, about a quarter of the asking price. They're still listing an aircraft that has been setting for four years for more than the value of the parts...
 
Henning said:
Same old story here in God's waiting room more than likely. BTW, is a non WAAS 430 worth much anymore?
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I think you'd need more than the WAAS upgrade to get that plane into an IFR-friendly condition. Whoever said it would be a good lease-back trainer is right... but can't imagine what the cost would be to rehab this plane.

In one of the shots you can see the cracked paint... it's just like the one at my home drome 1C5. I still think it may be the same plane. Schaumburg is about 2 airports over and those pics were not taken recently. They were done in the fall, if not last summer.
 
ahkahn said:
I think you'd need more than the WAAS upgrade to get that plane into an IFR-friendly condition. Whoever said it would be a good lease-back trainer is right... but can't imagine what the cost would be to rehab this plane.
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A Katana will never be IFR friendly....is it legal it ever file IFR in one?
 
Clark1961 said:
A Katana will never be IFR friendly....is it legal it ever file IFR in one?
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I would imagine it is, assuming it meets the minimums set in 91.205. IFR-legal and IFR-friendly are two different animals.
 
ahkahn said:
I would imagine it is, assuming it meets the minimums set in 91.205. IFR-legal and IFR-friendly are two different animals.
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True that legal and friendly are two different animals...and it may be that a Katana is prohibited from IMC but legal for IFR...dunno the details but there is some regulatory fine print with it.
 
Clark1961 said:
True that legal and friendly are two different animals...and it may be that a Katana is prohibited from IMC but legal for IFR...dunno the details but there is some regulatory fine print with it.
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Correct. IFR equipped, not certified. So you can actually do an instrument rating in one, all simulated instrument. The explanation given to me was lack of lighting strike protection from the factory. :confused:
 
Got to be a pretty sad story that a low time, 16-year old airframe was abandoned.

At least someone cared enough to put it on a battery to start the avionics...
 
ahkahn said:
I think you'd need more than the WAAS upgrade to get that plane into an IFR-friendly condition. Whoever said it would be a good lease-back trainer is right... but can't imagine what the cost would be to rehab this plane.

In one of the shots you can see the cracked paint... it's just like the one at my home drome 1C5. I still think it may be the same plane. Schaumburg is about 2 airports over and those pics were not taken recently. They were done in the fall, if not last summer.
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That plane will never be IFR friendly.
 
Looks its been stored outside since it was built. The stripes are all cracked and flaking, glare shield light lenses sagging, baldy sun bleached seat belts (probably crunchy too not flexible anymore) lot of rusty looking stuff all over it, poor interior and the list goes on. I don't know anything about them but thats what pictures show
 
Clark1961 said:
A Katana will never be IFR friendly....is it legal it ever file IFR in one?
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I've been under the impression you can file and get a clearance but it is not approved for IFR flight. Basically you could use it in the IFR training environment and that is about it.

ahkahn said:
I would imagine it is, assuming it meets the minimums set in 91.205. IFR-legal and IFR-friendly are two different animals.
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It will never be legal for IFR use. :)


Going by the pictures only, this plane looks like it might be a good deal for a flight school to buy and put on the line. What are the Katanas worth in an airworthy condition?
 
Yeah, as old as it is and from the looks of it, my primary concern is that the plastic is dried and oxidized with de-lamination potential.
 
Arbiter419 said:
Correct. IFR equipped, not certified. So you can actually do an instrument rating in one, all simulated instrument. The explanation given to me was lack of lighting strike protection from the factory. :confused:
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The Katana was a HK36 motorglider with its wings clipped. There is no wire-mesh embedded in the skin to provide static and lightning strike protection like it is done in the DA40 and other IFR certified plastic planes.
 
You guys crack me up ! Apparently none of you have ever done a frame-off restoration. Getting this Katana up to flying condition would be a piece of cake compared to my 81 Ferrari 308 ! The only potentially frightening thing might be the condition of the composite structure.
 
Art VanDelay said:
You guys crack me up ! Apparently none of you have ever done a frame-off restoration. Getting this Katana up to flying condition would be a piece of cake compared to my 81 Ferrari 308 ! The only potentially frightening thing might be the condition of the composite structure.
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That isn't 'potentially' frightening to me, especially not with a 20 year old structure with high UV exposure.
 
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