Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 30,019
- Display Name
Display name:
iFlyNothing
As I posted in The Classifieds, the Aztec is sold. It’s actually been sale pending since August. I am selling it to Texas State Technical College in Harlingen, TX, where it is being purchased for the A&P school to be used as a plane for the students there to learn how to wrench on aircraft. Specifics that made this plane an attractive option for the school included the fact that it has full factory de-ice and that it is all functioning, was in good mechanical condition overall, and had respectable avionics, engine monitor, etc. The sorts of things the students rarely get to see because the planes they work on are typically in such sorry shape their systems barely work (if they work at all).
When the man I’d been working with on this deal initially contacted me, it sounded as though everyone he’d contacted up until that point had told him off and said that their plane was too good for that. My response was “You know, this plane would be a really good asset for your school.” It is in good mechanical shape, it isn’t completely beaten up. It still looks and feels like it’s a plane someone cares about, and those are things that are important for students to see and understand. In spite of this, the plane is tired and, I believe, ready to retire.
Aside from being my first plane, it has taken me all over the continent. Under my ownership, the Aztec has flown about 1,000 hours (of which around 900 were with me in the plane). When I plugged in all the locations in my logbook that I’d flown with it, it crashed Great Circle Mapper. It crashed SkyVector. Through reduction of duplicate routes, I finally was able to get Great Circle Mapper to work, and it calculated something on the order of 130,000 nautical miles that I’d flown it. My memory is much like the map – the areas in the northeast quadrant of the country seem blurry and I’ve forgotten many of those flights. The outskirts I remember clearly.
This was the first multi-engine airplane I flew, the plane I got my multi-engine rating in (not to mention my MEI). It was the plane I flew on my first international experience going to Canada, and later international trips to Mexico and other parts of Canada. Tony flew it through a lake at Gaston’s. Jesse broke the left engine, and then I got stuck in his permanent living room for a night.
Perhaps most significantly in my life, this was the plane that Laurie and I flew on our first date, the plane I flew to Newfoundland to marry her, the plane we flew home and stopped in France for our honeymoon (LFVP in the northeastern corner of the map), and the plane that our son experienced his first flight in after being born.
It’s easy to be attached to this plane because of these fond memories. I have learned a great deal from what this plane has had to teach me. When I first bought the Aztec, I was often asked if I was going to fix the dents in the nose where ice slung off the props and dented it. I said no, I liked the dents – they reminded me that the plane knows more than I do. While I still think it knows more than I do, I’ve learned from it what I have to learn. It’s time for it to start the next chapter in its life, teaching others what it has to teach them. Meanwhile, we are better served by the 310 which is faster, more efficient, and in better condition. With 43 years and 10,000 hard hours, the Aztec plane doesn’t owe me anything. Even in the 4 years I’ve owned it, I see the wear and tear on it. The paint is faded and chipped, the interior is scratched, stained, and worn from the over 1,000 animals that have been in it. The cabin has some terrible air leaks, and while that makes for a comfortable interior in the summer, the winter temperatures at night are typically pretty frigid, even with the Janitrol full blast. I remember some very cold night flights in that plane.
I’ve told several people where the Aztec is going, and the response has generally been shock that I would send this plane that has served me so well to what they view as its death. In some ways, I will be sorry to see it no longer flying. I would have been happy to sell it to someone who would continue to fly it, but I’m also practical. The price I was able to negotiate with the school was significantly higher than what anyone else had been offering, in large part because we knew going in it would take a long time to complete, and so I stated I needed to be compensated both for the time I had to hold on to the plane and the risk associated with the deal not going through. As a state entity, I had no guarantees beyond the word of who I spoke with that this would go through. This is the reality of the piston twin world right now.
I will be sad to see the Aztec go, but in the past year the plane has sat, predominantly unflown and unloved. I only used it a brief amount as I was trying to sell it. Its final Cloud Nine flight was over a year ago. There is nothing sadder than a plane that is not being utilized and is just sitting and rotting. It would sadden me more to see it purchased by someone who let it sit and rot than to be purchased by a school where it will be used, even if it isn’t flying. It will also give me a certain amount of satisfaction to be the last person to slip the surly bonds of earth with this plane. When I bought the Aztec, it had been rather neglected by its previous two owners in varying conditions. I feel happy that I managed to give this old plane a chance to prove its worth to the world and go out in glory rather than fade away like so many old planes.
If you want to track the Aztec’s last flight, it’ll be either sometime on Friday or Saturday, with the destination being KHRL. It will be the same place it’s always been:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6927Y
I know there are some folks on PoA who used to have alerts set up for the Aztec. One person commented to me a couple years ago he had to quit them because it was costing him too much in text messages! Well, if you set up for alerts now, I can promise there won’t be many more.
When the man I’d been working with on this deal initially contacted me, it sounded as though everyone he’d contacted up until that point had told him off and said that their plane was too good for that. My response was “You know, this plane would be a really good asset for your school.” It is in good mechanical shape, it isn’t completely beaten up. It still looks and feels like it’s a plane someone cares about, and those are things that are important for students to see and understand. In spite of this, the plane is tired and, I believe, ready to retire.
Aside from being my first plane, it has taken me all over the continent. Under my ownership, the Aztec has flown about 1,000 hours (of which around 900 were with me in the plane). When I plugged in all the locations in my logbook that I’d flown with it, it crashed Great Circle Mapper. It crashed SkyVector. Through reduction of duplicate routes, I finally was able to get Great Circle Mapper to work, and it calculated something on the order of 130,000 nautical miles that I’d flown it. My memory is much like the map – the areas in the northeast quadrant of the country seem blurry and I’ve forgotten many of those flights. The outskirts I remember clearly.
This was the first multi-engine airplane I flew, the plane I got my multi-engine rating in (not to mention my MEI). It was the plane I flew on my first international experience going to Canada, and later international trips to Mexico and other parts of Canada. Tony flew it through a lake at Gaston’s. Jesse broke the left engine, and then I got stuck in his permanent living room for a night.
Perhaps most significantly in my life, this was the plane that Laurie and I flew on our first date, the plane I flew to Newfoundland to marry her, the plane we flew home and stopped in France for our honeymoon (LFVP in the northeastern corner of the map), and the plane that our son experienced his first flight in after being born.
It’s easy to be attached to this plane because of these fond memories. I have learned a great deal from what this plane has had to teach me. When I first bought the Aztec, I was often asked if I was going to fix the dents in the nose where ice slung off the props and dented it. I said no, I liked the dents – they reminded me that the plane knows more than I do. While I still think it knows more than I do, I’ve learned from it what I have to learn. It’s time for it to start the next chapter in its life, teaching others what it has to teach them. Meanwhile, we are better served by the 310 which is faster, more efficient, and in better condition. With 43 years and 10,000 hard hours, the Aztec plane doesn’t owe me anything. Even in the 4 years I’ve owned it, I see the wear and tear on it. The paint is faded and chipped, the interior is scratched, stained, and worn from the over 1,000 animals that have been in it. The cabin has some terrible air leaks, and while that makes for a comfortable interior in the summer, the winter temperatures at night are typically pretty frigid, even with the Janitrol full blast. I remember some very cold night flights in that plane.
I’ve told several people where the Aztec is going, and the response has generally been shock that I would send this plane that has served me so well to what they view as its death. In some ways, I will be sorry to see it no longer flying. I would have been happy to sell it to someone who would continue to fly it, but I’m also practical. The price I was able to negotiate with the school was significantly higher than what anyone else had been offering, in large part because we knew going in it would take a long time to complete, and so I stated I needed to be compensated both for the time I had to hold on to the plane and the risk associated with the deal not going through. As a state entity, I had no guarantees beyond the word of who I spoke with that this would go through. This is the reality of the piston twin world right now.
I will be sad to see the Aztec go, but in the past year the plane has sat, predominantly unflown and unloved. I only used it a brief amount as I was trying to sell it. Its final Cloud Nine flight was over a year ago. There is nothing sadder than a plane that is not being utilized and is just sitting and rotting. It would sadden me more to see it purchased by someone who let it sit and rot than to be purchased by a school where it will be used, even if it isn’t flying. It will also give me a certain amount of satisfaction to be the last person to slip the surly bonds of earth with this plane. When I bought the Aztec, it had been rather neglected by its previous two owners in varying conditions. I feel happy that I managed to give this old plane a chance to prove its worth to the world and go out in glory rather than fade away like so many old planes.
If you want to track the Aztec’s last flight, it’ll be either sometime on Friday or Saturday, with the destination being KHRL. It will be the same place it’s always been:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6927Y
I know there are some folks on PoA who used to have alerts set up for the Aztec. One person commented to me a couple years ago he had to quit them because it was costing him too much in text messages! Well, if you set up for alerts now, I can promise there won’t be many more.
..
