Steve said:
I.ve seen average condition GA-7's sell for over $100k so I guess the repairs are over $65k? When I spoke with them the price I was told was $37k for it as is.
I wouldn't really hold being gear-upped against any airplane I was looking at. If done right, a smooth touchdown does realitively little damage. A surprising number of pre-1990's Seminoles have been geared up, almost to the point where it doesn't really count against them.
If you are considering this, think about this:
In any gear up repair, the landing has to have been smooth, and airframe damage has to have been minor (scraping of belly skins, antennas being cleaning off, damage to the training edges of the flaps, that kind of thing) to make it worthwhile. On this Cougar, I see that the pilot's window was broken...I sure as heck would like to know what caused that...if it was caused by the landing, that was an awful lot of airframe flex, and you can bet the are other problems.
Engines I wouldn't worry about. You can always buy two new engines and props, and you can probably get some core value for the engines on the plane.
I wouldn't expect this to be a turnkey operation and make any money off it (IE, drop this thing off at a shop and say "call me when it's fixed). As the other guy said, this would be a better project for an A&P.
There are exceptions...back in 1989, there was a PA-44 that had been geared up twice. The FBO wound up buying the aircraft from the owner (it was a lease back) to settle the lawsuit. The FBO fixed it up...all the right repairs, new paint, nice new leather interior, TWO new engines and props (right of the crate new). It had a 2 axis AP and HSI already, so it was a nice bird. The price? They really didn't know what they had...$40,000. Heck, you could have sold the engines and made that back. I kick myself to this day that I didn't beg, borrow or steal the money for that...
Nu
