Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Darter, $20,000 OBO

Beauty is in the eye of the Beer holder

Darn it Jeff! I really did not think the aircraft market had been hit that hard. You are not helping with the incentive to upgrade an airplane. Looks like them long range wings and other goodies hanging out in the hangar may just stay where they are. And we'll just fly our airplane as it is.

As far as the topic of this thread in which we shamefully railroaded. At one time the Darter could be had quite a bit more cheaply then the 172. We have two Darters on our field and the owners appear quite pleased with them. I can see an advantage of the Darter having the Lycoming engine. Compared to the 172 with Continental. But, other then that..............

Bill
Grants Pass, Oregon

this gets me thinking, instead of getting my 150 painted this year, it may be time to sell it and put the money towards a 172. Would be nice to pull the back seats out and be able to take the wife and both dogs somewhere....

Tough call.....one tough call. Glad it's you and not me.


Jim

That's really not a bad idea. 150's/152's don't seem to have lost their value in this economy as much as larger airplanes. Tough call on whether or not you could recoup (most of?) the cost of a paint job in a sale of the 150 (if it won't sell for what you need out of it, you've still got a nice airplane). Solid but cosmetically challenged 172's can be had for cheap right now (compared to a few years ago). Perhaps following a 172 forum would give you some more insight! You'd need to be prepared for the higher cost of operation, including annuals.

Thats an interesting thought, yes, there are a few more AD's on a 172, but essentially, its a big 150, it shouldn't be all that much more to look after, especially if you get an 0-320, just stay away from H2AD version...... as far as the operation goes, I guess i's 'horses for courses' in that regard, the extra 8-10 lts per hour isn't that much when you consider the utility aspects of a 172 - of course, like anything, you have to use them once in a while to make them pay-off

The 0-300 is a nice sounding, smooth running engine (when its working well), but 'I' would prefer a Lyc engine all the same (just not the H2AD one)

My airplane partner just completed the owner-assisted annual on our 172E (O-300D engine) with our A&P. I've been traveling too much and couldn't participate in person this time around. He said there were quite a few more covers to take off for inspection, but otherwise there were no major differences.

The annual inspection cost was about the same as for the 150 ($600 plus $200 for a dynamic prop balance that wasn't really a requirement). This is the first annual we've done on the 152XL that we acquired a couple of months ago. I am very happy that nothing major was found and we did do a pretty thorough inspection.

Miles per gallon are similar when you take into account the speed difference. You can always fly the 172 at less than full throttle and get pretty good fuel consumption.

The 150 is a little more fun for flying close to the airport, but the 172 is better for cross country flying and a lot more comfortable for taller people like me. A 150 with the front cabin size of the 172 would be ideal for me.

The cost of insurance for the 172 is within $100/year of the cost of the 150.

Tie-down fees or hangar space costs the same for both planes.

So far I'm pretty happy with moving up from the 150G to the 172E. I will miss the 150 once we sell it, though. I do like its looks and upgraded interior better than the 172, plus its airworthiness certificate was issued the exact day my wife was born! If I had more time to fly I might consider keeping both planes.

While I HATE to agree with John or Rick (let alone BOTH in the same thread)

Those were some funny posts!

I find it odd and a bit funny that when ever you see one for sale, the add has the same sentence "low hours" even the owners don't like flying them

John

If you found two airplanes for the same amount of money, one a 172 and one a Darter of similar vintage, spent the same amount of money to upgrade the radios, improve the interior, paint the exterior, etc--the restored 172 would be worth far more than the restored Darter.
There's a reason they were cheaper to begin with and if you looked closely at one next to the other, you'd easily see it.