Sabreliner Skinny

[FOB]

I am looking for the good, bad, and ugly on the Sabre 60 and Sabre 75 series. I have been approached to research a couple of these in anticipation for resale to South America. Any pre-buy type "gotcha" areas would be great, as would pilot reports.

Performance opinions in the hot and high environment would also be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Not sure of the good and the bad... but they do have the market cornered on UGLY.



sorry, no useful information...

we do have a few sabre guys on the board I think, who will probably give you some info worth reading...

 

[Thedude]

Corrsion check. The Sabre series is really bad about this since the wing root and the fuselage are two different types of metal.

 

[FOB]

Worth it?

Corrosion, and I feel the engines and avionics might have issues. At the very least they appear tired, but I only have preliminary info on these birds. Asking price is $150,000 a piece. With the looming DVSM requirements, I am not too sure what the future holds for these fellas. They have been ramp queens in Chino for a couple years now.

I am trying to get motivated to develop a sales pitch, but I really don't know squat about Sabreliners except that Michael Dorn flies one! South America might offer them a new life, or am I wasting my time?

 

[slickmagneto]

FOB

Sabres have been sold in Central and South America since the early 80's. Cheap fuel and no noise problems there.
Sabrliner Corp., Midcoast Aviation and Jet Harbor Corp. are the most experienced companies that have solid contacts for sales of
Sabres in these countries.

If you do not know the difference of a 60 to that of the 75, Iwould have doubt on the possibility of a sale.

The 65 model will be able to achieve RVSM cert., the 40/60/75 will probably be cost prohibitive.

Good Luck

 

[FOB]

A '69 "60" and a '72 "75" is what is on the table. I am thinking rsvm compliance will be around 200,000, if at all feasible (practical). The issue could be avoided if the planes can stay away from CONUS.

So what are the opinions of the 60s the 75s?

And yes, a new home for these planes is unlikely at best. Especially since they have made it all the way down to my desk, but I do enjoy a challenge and learning about different airframes. Certainly could use some operator insight however.

Ugly they are, but only nasty in bad paint or FAA colors.

 

[P3-Adub]

FOB

I thought Micheal Dorf flew a Sabre Jet ? Korean War fighter ??? I saw him getting into his jet down in Van Nuys, big difference between that and a Saberliner 60 or 75. Sure would be nice to play with your own Sabre jet, it has been several years since I ran into him down there. I understand there are some common parts/systems between the fighter and biz jet ? Mainly the wing on the 40and 65 ??? I know of a 40 series that had terrible corrosion on the forward fuselage that almost rendered it scrap material, when finished the owner loved it. I guess the 60 is still a great plane, sort of a red headed step sister though, no offense.

 

[FOB]

P3

Wings Channel had a special with M.D. flying around in his Sabreliner. I forget which model. He had an attraction to the military heritage of the thing. Must be nice to have a Sabre and a Sabreliner to tote yourself around in.

 

[jetboy 604]

Those Avmat (SUS) guys seem to know about them they have 3 or 4 being scracped over there at any given time.
Don't have there number handy but they must have a web site.

 

[SabreFlyR]

The only way to do a prebuy on a Sabreliner is a 48 month inspection.

This is the biggy. But once it is opened up and if it's bad it will not fly again, unless you want to spend some major $$. Expect to spend $75,000 to $100,000 on the average 48 month.
If the 60 model does not have an AP105 autopilot or better, then rvsm will deff be cost prohibitive. Also be wary of your engine times on the JT12. Alot of them are advertised with mid time engines however the compressor and turbine disc will time time out before the o/h is due, creating what we call a short run engine.

Sabre 75's are much the same with the exception of the avionics and engines. Most of them have an AP105 which is rvsm capable. Sabreliner is working on the stc now for the 75 model with hopes of stc'ing the 40/60 next summer. Avmats has told me support for the CF700 is good from GE and it can be made stage 3 for around $200,000.
I think you mentioned that the 75 was a 1972 model. Might want to check that, I believe they didn't come out until 1974.

For Sabre maintenance go to Avmats, Jet Harbor or Sabre Corp.

Have flow the 75/80, 60 and currently fly one of the best equipped 40A's in the country. They are good flying planes, even easy to hand fly at altitude. Real popular down south also.

 

[slickmagneto]

If the asking price is only 150K I would bet that these airplanes are only good for salvaged parts. Butch at AVMATS would have snapped these puppies up if they were worth rebuilding.

 

[FOB]

Thanks

SFR,

Thanks for the good info. That is exactly the insight I was looking for. 75s were made from '72 until '73. Only 9 produced. The 75 has the 105 AP and the 109 FD, so that one has potential. The 60 is worrisome. The owner actually would prefer to sell as a set for 300,000. The 60 might prove to be a good parts cart for the 75. Still working a positive spin... Glad to hear the RSVM guys working on further STCs.

SMag,

I have wondered myself why they have sat for 2 years and not parted out or picked up already. Sabreliner Corp. has a Latino rep in-house to work C/S America to boot. But hey, if I can have a little fun, learn something new and make some $$ trying to sell 'em, why not. Maybe even get some right seat time on the ferry flight!

It is a lot of high-perf airplane for for very cheap (red flag, I know). Even if used for a just a few years and then parted out would make sense. We will see.

Anyone know a Mark Perez? I checked him out at FSI a few years back. He should be flying a Sabreliner out of the Chicago area.

Thanks again!

 

[slickmagneto]

The reason there were only 9 of the 75's made was because they were WAY underpowered. I don't think there are any flying.
JT12-8 had 3300# thrust.
CF700 had 4500# thrust.

I would research the 60 model in detail. There is also an airframe limitation on some models at 10,000 hrs. This may have no bearing if flown outside the U.S.

If the owner of the 60 is asking 300k, this could be a flyable airplane.
Get back to us with Airframe total time, airframe cycles and engine total time/cycles since new and since overhaul and we can give you a guess as to what the buyer will need to spend.

Good Luck

 

[SabreFlyR]

Thanks for the good info. That is exactl

Ok, most refer to these (75) as the 70, hence the serial numbers 370-xx.

Almost forgot about those first 9 stepchildren. (lol)