The Chief in the below pictures is rotting away at a undisclosed airport.....undisclosed to keep you highly motivated restorers from scooping it up before I can convince the owner to sell it to me. The owner is a mechanical engineer who after reading an article in PM in the 70s decided he could rebuild a chief and teach himself how to fly. He did a great job with the rebuild. When finished in 1988 all reports are the airplane was top rate.
After his first landing trying to teach himself how to fly this Chief he determined it was too dangerous to fly when it got a little squirrely on landing. At that point the Chief was parked and began its demise. Five years ago I made the owner a very solid offer but he refused telling me he was going to start flying again. Move forward five years and it still has not moved. The only reason the tires have air is because the airport manager keeps them filled. Now the birds have entered the cockpit and ruined the cockpit. I made the owner another offer yesterday and again he said he plans to start flying again.
But you must remember it is his, he had a dream when younger like many of us, Orville and Wilber included, and way down deep he still does. It is a shame, but every man has his own dreams and destiny. You and me included. Hopefully someday it will fly again.
Doug
Keep the pointed end forward--
The dirty side down.....
And the blue skies on top....
Why don't you start with an offer to help him get the plane flying...either financially, or time related? I did that with a '41 Chief when I was a kid in Chicago. I was able to fly the airplane, but it was never sold to me...and it is now in the museum at Chanute AFB, Rantoul, IL. I still have pictures of it. It belonged to Marc Foose...one of the golden birdmen from the 1930's. It was the last airplane he had when he died. His Byrd bi-plane had been sold just prior to his death...another one I couldn't afford! Doc
Doc - 1T8
1943 O-58B NC47185 (43-26975)
1946 7AC NC2241E - "Dearly Departed"
EAA TC #5453 CAF Life #2782
FAA Senior AME #20969
"Leben ohne Reue"
I know of a Chief that's "completely disassembled" a few miles from where I live in Western Wisconsin. Like many others, the owner thought he was going to rebuild it and learn to fly but never progressed further than storing the plane in his large shop. I looked at it once and thought it probably had some potential and it certainly wasn't in any worse shape than my L16 project. Does have complete logs and he had sent the engine out (A65, I think) to have the block checked, crank, rods, etc. done. My mind is a little fuzzy but I think I offered him $5000 once and he said he had almost that much in the engine. Last I knew he wanted $10,000 which is on the high side in my opinion but he's one of these guys that will hang on to it forever. He's well into his 60's and still has some of the old motorcycles that he had when he was in high school.
Make him a deal where he can come and fly the airplane, or even get some instruction on the way to getting his license. Include your dream with his and it might just work!
Yep, lots of these plane siting out there especially as the pilot age progresses. I have been looking at a nice RANS S7 for several years. The owner purchased it over 10 years ago and bent the landing gear in a crosswind accident. He also had a prop strike. Fixed the gear and replaced the prop blade....put in in the hangar and it has been sitting there ever since. It has a Rotax 912 and he never had the crank checked after the prop strike. The plane currently sits on flat tires, brakes totally drained, covered with dust, and 10 year old fuel in the tanks. He started asking $50K and now says he'll take what he paid for it...$38,000!!!! I think he is nearly 80 and is living in a fantasy world because "LSA planes are selling like crazy", Everyone that has checked has found that Rotax wants $12K to tear down the engine and rebuild it back to spec, all the lines need replacing, and tanks drained and cleaned. There may be other issues but the longer it sits the more issues that are going to appear. He'll pass away before he sells it for what he wants and then his estate will get it.
Some of these guys just can't face reality and as someone has said....the won't give up on dreams no mater how out of touch they are.
WW
You guys are describing the Sedan I am flying right now. The PO had a hard accident in a ultralight (10" rod in his back) after just buying the Sedan. He evidently then never flew again, being scared of it, so the Sedan just sat there. The only good part was that he had a partner who flew it every month or so, otherwise it would have just wasted away...
