Ask Pete!

by Pete Schoeninger

Email your questions to Pete@Flymilwaukee.com

Q: I’m considering buying an airplane with a buddy. This would cut purchase price in half, along with hangar rental and insurance costs. What (if any) are the downsides of an airplane partnership?

A. Sharing ownership with a friend allows you to buy and fly “twice” the airplane. But the biggest problem I’ve seen is when one partner wants out for a variety of reasons, which sooner or later is going to happen. People get job transfers, get divorced, have financial calamities, lose a medical, etc. So if nothing else, you should have in writing how to end the partnership. I can recommend the attorneys that write and advertise for this magazine. Additionally, AOPA, and possibly other groups, have information on creating a partnership agreement, so you won’t have to reinvent the wheel. As a last resort, I can give you some more ideas. Email me at pete@flymilwaukee.com.

Q: I heard you express admiration for the designer of the Spirit of St Louis. I have never heard of him. Please tell me more.

A. At the age of 27, Donald A. Hall designed, and the Ryan factory built, 60 days from start to finish, the Spirit of St Louis, which had a gross weight of 5300 pounds, a range of 4000 miles, and could take off in 2000 feet, powered by a 220 hp engine. Few airplanes even today can do that. In my opinion Donald Hall never received the recognition he should have.

An interesting fact is that Charles Lindbergh did not finish college, and Donald Hall did not finish Army Flight training. But in their respective roles (Lindbergh as a pilot, and Hall as an aeronautical engineer), they made one of the most famous flights of the last century.

If you are interested in long distance flight, do a search on the Internet for “Technical Preparation of the Airplane Spirit of St. Louis” by Donald Hall. That paper, presented to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (Paper #257), has astonishing calculations and graphs. For instance, the best economical cruising speed was calculated at 95 mph when heavy, but by the end of the trip that had changed to 75 mph.

Q: Within a 75-mile radius of my home airport, the price of 100LL varies from under $4 to over $7 per gallon. Why such a spread?

A: Many factors, such as 1) When did the seller buy their last load of fuel? If the fuel retailer (FBO) bought a tanker full (8000 gal plus) of 100LL just before gas prices took a dive a few months ago, he may have paid a dollar a gallon more than his competitor 30 miles away. 2) Is the fuel self service or delivered to you via truck and line person? A halfway decent used truck is a substantial amount of money ($25K?), and so is insurance, maintenance, employee wages, etc. 3) Is the fuel government subsidized? At some locations tax money is used to build a facility, and the gas is then sold by the municipality, just to provide a service, without looking to make a profit or pay off debt or overhead? 4) At some locations a fuel retailer has to pay dearly to be on the field in the form of a lease or rent for office space and a local flowage fee. This all adds up, and affects the price you pay at the pump.

Q: My airplane is approved for – and I use – car gas without any noticeable problems. Now I am going to take it out of service for about 3 to 4 months and I’m worried about car gas deteriorating in my fuel lines, carburetor, and tanks. Any ideas?

A: Some car gas users in my area begin using 100LL avgas in the fall for winter operations, because they feel 100LL has better storage properties.

Q: What do you see for the used airplane market trends?

A: Not much change… piston twins continue to slowly decline in value. Overall, others are about holding even.

Q: Last night on the Internet, I saw a guy make a wheel landing in a Super Cub, and as the airplane slowed and the tail started to drop, he added lots of power and some braking to stop with the tail still in the air.  He then turned the airplane 180 degrees with the tail still off the ground, and took off. The tail wheel never touched the ground! You used to own and fly a Super Cub. Did you ever try that?

A: I never tried it because a screw up (nose over with prop smacking the ground) means a new prop, engine tear down or more to the expense of at least $20,000.

Q: Occasionally, I land my Cessna 182 Skylane at a large airport that has substantial corporate jet traffic. I am allowed to unload my passengers at the main terminal, but the linemen there will not let me park in the row of transient jets next to the terminal. Instead, they make me park much further down the ramp. Are they discriminating against me because I am a very minor customer in their greedy eyes?

A: I used to get that gripe when I managed a large flight center. In truth, you don’t want to park near jets. When the jets depart their parking spots, they have to apply quite a bit of power to get started rolling, and then usually turn sharply. That jet blast could blow your airplane into another airplane, or flip it over, or otherwise ruin your day.

Q: Why don’t we see many low-wing airplanes on floats?

A: Most floatplane docking is done at piers, and most high-wings go over the piers. So an experienced seaplane pilot can get his high-wing floatplane right next to a pier, so he only has to step out of his plane onto a float, and one more step onto a pier.

Q: Like many aircraft owners, I started with a two-place airplane, then went to a low-powered four-place, and kept moving up the food chain for power and avionics. As a baby-boomer, I am now trying to decide if I can afford to keep what I got, or if I should downsize to a two-place airplane again, or throw in the towel.

A: To fly as affordably as possibly, it is hard to beat renting if a suitable airplane is available near you and you fly under 100 hours a year. If you would like to continue owning something, I sure would favor a basic four-seat metal (Cessna 172 or Piper Warrior) over any two-seat aircraft. Cubs and Champs are wonderful classics, but they MUST be hangared, and have very limited range, poor heaters, and usually no electric systems, and cost nearly as much to buy as an old four-seat metal airplane.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pete Schoeninger is the aircraft sales manager and appraiser at Gran-Aire, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis. (414-461-3222).

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