A Doctrine of Aged Care
I vividly recall the reaction from my wife when I told her I was going to start flying lessons; although her comments were a little less harsh than my mothers who wondered whether I had developed a deathwish. Imagine the reaction when I told her that I was going to buy an aeroplane: “Huh! And where is that million dollars coming from?” It didn’t get much better when I suggested we upgrade to something bigger and faster some five years later. Now don’t get me wrong, I would love to get into a 2017 Cirrus SR22T at just under $A1 million at today’s exchange, or even the Diamond DA42 for about the same, but for many people, including me, they are simply unaffordable.
That leaves the choice of buying an old aircraft that is affordable, or hiring someone else’s.
As most GA and LSA enthusiasts know, despite people looking at you in awe when you declare plane ownership, you don’t need to spend a million dollars to get yourself into a nice, comfortable and safe aircraft. It may not have a ballistic parachute and Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, but it can give you many years of good service.
My aircraft is a 1977 Piper Lance and, after a quick calculation, that makes it 41 years old! Would I drive a 41-year-old car? Probably not: manual choke, sticky carby float, thin wheels, the list of reasons go on and not least of which is the huge technological advances in the
