Rotting Planes. Sad.

Finally got around to taking pics of the airplane grave yard at KFUL. So sad as these were people’s pride and joy at one point, but most (if not all) are never going to take to the air again.

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Love that little Aeronca
Its a 1949 with a Continental 145 engine
Certificate expires 10/31/2019
 
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chemgeek said:
We of course have records for fuel purchases as a part of managing hangar rent offsets, and what we find is that 50% (that's right, HALF) of aircraft have not purchased $100 worth of fuel in a year. About 80% of these have purchased exactly...zero fuel. These planes are just not flying
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Well, I don't know if you can be entirely sure of that. I'm sure it's true for some. However, I buy fuel away from my home airport quite a bit more than I buy it locally there -- it's cheaper and not really any less convenient if I'm going to be out flying locally anyway. Plus the self serve pumps were out of service for a long time here, even though they were selling fuel from the truck for the same price while they were down I usually fuel when the FBO is closed and it's a pain to call out. They're probably fixed now but I don't even know because I got out of the habit of going there.
 
What a Shame. Makes this beginner sad.

I wish they could be made into experimental aircraft. If it could be done what do you think about a rotax in the 152 and 172's? Could be great projects for a HS flying club maybe?
 
ByrdmanFL said:
What a Shame. Makes this beginner sad.

I wish they could be made into experimental aircraft. If it could be done what do you think about a rotax in the 152 and 172's? Could be great projects for a HS flying club maybe?
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You could. Experimental R&D, or Market Research. Pretty limited application, though, not something you could use for a flying club or just general flying around.
 
This has been sitting at the KSLC shade hangars since at least 2014 when I started my ppl training.

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What it used to look like:
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That took 8 years. I wonder what happened?
 
deyoung said:
Well, I don't know if you can be entirely sure of that. I'm sure it's true for some. However, I buy fuel away from my home airport quite a bit more than I buy it locally there -- it's cheaper and not really any less convenient if I'm going to be out flying locally anyway. Plus the self serve pumps were out of service for a long time here, even though they were selling fuel from the truck for the same price while they were down I usually fuel when the FBO is closed and it's a pain to call out. They're probably fixed now but I don't even know because I got out of the habit of going there.
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It's a small community. We are 100% sure these planes aren't flying. Some of these planes can't be physically removed from the hangar due to the junk piled around them. Others have a thick coating of dust on them. And the management hasn't seen them move. There is in fact no reason NOT to buy fuel at our airport until you have used up your offset rebate, because it is essentially "free" fuel. For very $1 of fuel you buy, you get $1 off your hangar rent until you hit the annual limit.
 
76272248-C4D6-4674-8F6A-F77FC9332C23.jpeg 25399C78-160F-4F82-8E0C-12DB75F2F277.jpeg EEC7D39B-B549-40E2-B8C6-AE3CDF37E5C9.jpeg These have been on the ramp way out from the FBO for as long as I’ve been here
 
deyoung said:
Well, I don't know if you can be entirely sure of that. I'm sure it's true for some. However, I buy fuel away from my home airport quite a bit more than I buy it locally there -- it's cheaper and not really any less convenient if I'm going to be out flying locally anyway. Plus the self serve pumps were out of service for a long time here, even though they were selling fuel from the truck for the same price while they were down I usually fuel when the FBO is closed and it's a pain to call out. They're probably fixed now but I don't even know because I got out of the habit of going there.
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They are going to tear down the entire Premier ramp where the fuel pumps are so don't expect us to have anything other than a truck for a long time. They are building another FBO similar to Million Air but I think the Premier guy is still going to own it. Like you, I buy my fuel elsewhere except Ryan of course. They are also going to rebuild Delta taxiway in front of the Premier/Atlantic ramp and they are going to widen 11R/29L.
 
Grum.Man said:
One very minor problem on them exceeds the resale value
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For things like cars, and "every day" planes I can see that.. but when you've got something antique and special there is a lot of romance and emotion behind them.. maybe I'm too much of a dreamer but if I had the cash means and owned something like one of the many Fouga Magister that are rotting at Chino I'd find a way to keep them flying. That's got to be one of the coolest classic jets out there:
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cowman said:
These have been on the ramp way out from the FBO for as long as I’ve been here
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That's a Soviet/Russian jet... no? That super light blue and olive green wheel hub give it away
 
Tantalum said:
That's a Soviet/Russian jet... no? That super light blue and olive green wheel hub give it away
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A couple MiG-29's, in pretty rough shape by all appearances.

Nauga,
and airplanes in need of a post
 
Yeah I've only heard bits and pieces of the story behind them. It's something along the lines of they'd bought several of them to fix up, got one up and running, made one test flight and then everything stopped... presumably lack of funds/things costing a lot more than was expected. Supposedly there's a totally fixed up one tucked away in a hangar.
 
I think there must be some form of a disease that affects mainly older men when it comes to airplanes. I have shared hangar space at KCOE. One of the planes in the hangar is a Cessna T210 that was pickled in 2009 when the owner lost his medical. There is also a Lancair 320 that the owner died last week. He lost his medical 3 years ago. Up the street, a gentleman died with a Cessna 337 in the hangar for over 12 years. That hangar and the 337 sold in less than a week at a give away price once the owner’s children got involved, and now the 337 is undergoing an annual. The Lancair will soon be for sale. Several guys at the airport are trying to get an idea of what value it may have for the surviving widow. If theses guys knew how hard it is on the surviving family members to get rid of some of this stuff, maybe they would do something different.
 
My cousin stopped to look at this one on Friday as a potential project. I think last time it flew was 05. It’s got some nasty corrosion.
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I posted these in another thread, but they belong in here since it floated back to the top:
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KCTK southwest of Peoria, IL. Went back on Google earth and it looks like it's been there since 1996. Registration renewed in 2019. There's 3993 US registered PA-32s. This is one of them :(
 

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Heartbreaking :(
 
Yes its heartbreaking to see. I remember a Staggerwing in that condition. Fabric hanging off of it. But it would cost more to restore most of these planes than they ever could be worth. I spent many countless hours working on several derelicts to get them airworthy again. Needs to be a labor of love with many AMU's to waste.
 
My friend manages an FBO, so i asked about these planes that rot away. He says they still pay the monthly tie downs, they still pay insurance on the plane. He also said that slot of these people bought planes not realizing the cost when things break So they don't have the money to fix them , so they just end up rotting. But you know these owners probably brag all the time that they own a plane. It's the same with boat owners, they brag about owning, but never touch them.
 
TommyG said:
My friend manages an FBO, so i asked about these planes that rot away. He says they still pay the monthly tie downs, they still pay insurance on the plane. He also said that slot of these people bought planes not realizing the cost when things break So they don't have the money to fix them , so they just end up rotting. But you know these owners probably brag all the time that they own a plane. It's the same with boat owners, they brag about owning, but never touch them.
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That's pretty much the case here too. We have several ramp queens that have sat out for years and years, but they keep paying their monthly tie down fee's and such, so we don't do anything. Now, if they were occupying a hangar and the plane inside hasn't moved in over a decade, than it might be a different story.
 
What is even more sad is that in the hands of salvagers these aircraft could be turned into parts to keep the rest of the us flying. Instead they sit.
 
Bummer, Lots of people love to restore planes/cars....
 
Never understood the psychology of keeping these things storage-payment current. For all the pride in ownership smears I put up with with my "cosmetically challenged" spam can, at least I'm buying fuel (274 gallons last trip, over $5 average price), incurring mx costs and patronizing destination services (landing/parking/use/potato fees).
 
F9F25E3B-0454-4126-B767-F76373DEA90A.jpeg Should be easy to check this one for corrosion…

At KPTV
 
RyanB said:
That's pretty much the case here too. We have several ramp queens that have sat out for years and years, but they keep paying their monthly tie down fee's and such, so we don't do anything. Now, if they were occupying a hangar and the plane inside hasn't moved in over a decade, than it might be a different story.
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Maybe, maybe not. The hangar across from mine is occupied by a mid 1950s vintage Apache that I don’t think has flown since the 80s or 90s.
And a car, and a couple of motorcycles, and stacks and stacks of boxes of stuff, and...

Well, as storage space goes, airplane hangars are pretty cheap, as long as you have some derelict to park there so you can say it’s being used for an airplane.
 
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