Old Jump Planes Just Sitting Around?

[Skydive2 1]

Do you have any old Jump Planes just sitting around at your dz, never flying, just rusting away? There seems to be tons of them like that.

[Rdutch 0]

Not my dz, but at Titusville last time I was there, there was the old caravan they used as a jump plane, just sitting there without an engine. Its a cargo caravan, without windows.

Ray
Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

[PhreeZone 15]

We have an old Beech 18 with no instruments or engines that is still around.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Sonic 0]

We only have one plane at our dz - an old 182. and that never seems to be in the air

-----------------------------------
It's like something out of that twilighty show about that zone

[Antithesis 0]

We have a beech too.. the only thing that it needs are new props.. But I understand that they are like 40,000 a piece.

I travel the land, Work in the ocean, Play in the sky

[kingbunky 3]

we have an old 182 that was badly damaged in a taxiing accident. it was gutted and had the tail chopped off, the wings removed, and a set of steel legs bolted to it. we use it as our mock-up. works great!

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[riggerrob 558]

Old jump plane airframes often get pushed back in the weed when the cost of overhaul exceeds the cost of a decent used plane.
For example, you can buy a "beater" Cessna 182 airframe for about CAN$40,000 while a new engine costs about CAN$40,000.
The price split is even more dramatic on turbine engined airplanes. When you buy a used King Air, you are basically buying the instrument panel and the time remaining on the engines. The airframe is often tossed in for free. When your current pair of engines wear out, it is often cheaper to buy another used King Air, steal the engines and push the second airframe into the weeds.
The only reason for overhauling old airplanes is if there is nothing else available to do the job. For example, last winter, Abbotsford, BC spent an obscene amount of money repairing their Fairchild Porter after it taxied into a ditch. They had to spend the money because a Porter is the biggest airplane that can operate out of their short runway and the overhaul was still cheaper than importing another used Porter.
It is only economical to overhaul old planes if spare parts are cheap and you have an experienced mechanic who knows all the quirks of that model of old airplane.

[diverdriver 5]

Quote

Do you have any old Jump Planes just sitting around at your dz, never flying, just rusting away? There seems to be tons of them like that.

Anybody seen a Helio lately? How about a Load Stall, I mean, Loadstar.

Chris

[diablopilot 2]

Quote

How about a Load Stall, I mean, Loadstar.

Had one taxi out and fly away never to be seen again last year. Of course this was after it was belly landed 3 years prior.

Blue Skies,
-jp-

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[diverdriver 5]

Uhhh huh.

[freakous 0]

How about a Load Stall, I mean, Loadstar.


We have a couple of Casa's and 182's just waiting to be used for scrap metal.

Also there is a working Loadstar at the DZ, it goes up everyonce in awhile. Just not as a jump plane. Funniest thing is that the tires are always wet from the leaking oil. I think the owner of the plane has some land in Saudi Arabi.

[PhreeZone 15]

>We have a couple of Casa's

Damn... those are all that popularof a plane to start with.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[skypuppy 1]

Not really a jump plane, but there's been an old PBY (Canso?) sitting in the hangar at Gan as long as I can remember... The owner used to come out and run the engines on the taxiway once a year, but that was it... The Cdn Warplane Heritage was trying to talk the owner into donating it, but he wouldn't... At that time they figured it would take a couple of years to get it into shape to fly it to their base...

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[puffdaddy 0]

We have an Illusion 76 sitting at our DZ. It will be turned into a Bar and a bunkhouse soon. How cool is that. We thought of turning it into a mock-up but the list of injuries would be too high. The door is 3 meters above the ground

Cheers

" You have never lived until you've almost died, and for those who has experienced it, life has a flavour the protected would never understand"

[freeflyguy 0]

Quote

Anybody seen a Helio lately?

We have one that mozy's by once in a while. It is based at Kapowsin. Cool plane. I've never seen a plane fly so slow. Not a jump plane though

----------------------------
bzzzz

[jerry81 10]

We have an Antonov 2 at our club, although it's not rusting yet- we usually jump from it. It takes forever to get to altitude, it's noisy as hell and reeks of oil, but otherwise it's quite comfortable and it just feels like home.
As for flight characteristics, it's amazing. It can't go really high (10000' max), but I've seen it land on a runway less than 300' long and take off from less than 200'. And from the ground you can always see when it's dropping people since it almost stops completely. It may be because I've done my first jumps from it, but I love this plane!