What constitutes regularly flown?

Will Kumley

Will Kumley

Line Up and Wait
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Will
Still in the market for a sub 95K airplane that advertises four seats. I know it means its more like 2 or 3 real seats with minimal baggage and I'm okay with that. However, a couple planes I've considered say flown regularly but looking at the logs they fly at best 30 hours a year for the previous 5 years. Is 30 hours a year enough to not cause concern of a sitting engine?
 
Totally depends. If it’s an hour of hard running every other week all year, then probably fine. If it’s 15 hours a week for two weeks in the summer, then not so much.
 
Will Kumley said:
Still in the market for a sub 95K airplane that advertises four seats. I know it means its more like 2 or 3 real seats with minimal baggage and I'm okay with that. However, a couple planes I've considered say flown regularly but looking at the logs they fly at best 30 hours a year for the previous 5 years. Is 30 hours a year enough to not cause concern of a sitting engine?
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Maybe, maybe not. Depends on a lot of variables. What part of the country--near an ocean is bad, in the desert, not so bad. Were the 30 hours a year one hour burger runs or three long x-country trips months apart. I'd put more stock in a thorough pre-buy from an A&P familiar with the type than I would in the number of hours per year. Thirty to fifty hours a year for a one owner aircraft is pretty common.
 
Engines are a crapshoot regardless. You're worried about internal corrosion, but what if the guy flys the crap out of it and likes to run lean of peak...but doesn't quite grasp how.
 
Will Kumley said:
say flown regularly
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It means whatever the person using the term means. Regardless, one of the best people you can gain important input on buying an aircraft is the APIA you plan to use after the purchase.
 
Racerx said:
Engines are a crapshoot regardless.
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This sums it up. I’ve seen engines that have received the best of care go bad prematurely and engines that pretty much everyone on this board would write off that soldier on forever. Most end up somewhere between the extremes.

Ignore what the internet says and get a trusted mechanic to evaluate the engine if it is a concern.
 
By the way, there’s more to an aircraft than the engine. There are also lots of other parts that will suffer from lack of use. I’d evaluate the entire aircraft to reach a decision. That evaluation may require more effort than what the typical “prebuy” or “annual” entails.
 
Will Kumley said:
Still in the market for a sub 95K airplane that advertises four seats. I know it means its more like 2 or 3 real seats with minimal baggage and I'm okay with that. However, a couple planes I've considered say flown regularly but looking at the logs they fly at best 30 hours a year for the previous 5 years. Is 30 hours a year enough to not cause concern of a sitting engine?
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IMO, no it is not enough flying time.
 
mondtster said:
By the way, there’s more to an aircraft than the engine. There are also lots of other parts that will suffer from lack of use. I’d evaluate the entire aircraft to reach a decision. That evaluation may require more effort than what the typical “prebuy” or “annual” entails.
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Agree whole heartedly. I've spent close to 30k on mx in my first year of ownership, including the first annual. Almost none of that related to the engine. Simply wear & tear that the previous owner deferred; a lot of it landing gear related (retract). He flew it 20 hours in 2020, 35 in '19, 50 in '18, and about 100 each in 17 & 16. Thankfully the engine seems to be in great shape with strong compressions, clean borescopes, and not making any metal. I did have a prebuy, but it obviously wasn't thorough enough. Of course it just had a fresh annual before the sale, by the same shop that had done the previous 3. All that said I'm still glad I bought it when I did considering what prices have done in the last year.
 
Every time I fly my airplane I fly it regularly. From the left seat, one hand on the yoke, one on the throttle, feet on the pedals…
 
Once a week would be regular for me. Once a month or every other month isn’t ‘regular’.
 
texasclouds said:
Once a week would be regular for me. Once a month or every other month isn’t ‘regular’.
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Yeah, we didn't fly all that much in our Skyhawk, but still racked up a couple of hundred hours a year. I guess that was "regular". Less than an hour a week average, not so much.
 
I think for most folks, once the new wears off, if they can fit once a week for an hour or so into their schedule between weather, soccer games, band concerts, etc., that is “regularly flown.” I believe that is sufficient to protect the engine and avionics. I also believe that type schedule is much better than sitting for a month then being flown on a four or five hour hamburger run.
 
FlightAware or another tracking site might answer the question, if the plane is ADS-B out equipped.


FlightAware captures all of my flights, even though there’s no ADSB antenna on my home field.
 
Meh....I'd be more concerned if was hangared or not. Mine flys 30-50 hrs per year and that's once to twice a month with a trip here and there. I've owned aircraft for +15 years and that's enough not to rust out a hangared aircraft. I also run CamGuard.....
 
Bell206 said:
It means whatever the person using the term means. Regardless, one of the best people you can gain important input on buying an aircraft is the APIA you plan to use after the purchase.
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:yeahthat: and if at all possible have that person do the pre-buy and provide you with an annual inspection report. Telling you what it would need for him to sign off the annual inspection for the airplane.

I have purchased 3 airworthy airplanes (and a few projects) of the 3 only the 1st wasn't maintained by somebody I know, and I bought it knowing it was going to be a project airplane after flying it for a summer. Then the fuselage got a like new overhaul after stripping down to the tube frame.



Brian
CFIIG/aSEL
 
Besides price and terms, nothing a potential seller says means anything at all. Mechanical condition, ask a trusted mechanic...
 
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