Finally got to fly my new bird

Oh no! I am not feeling cocky at all, excited as crazy but not cocky.
Tell me about it, maybe it'll make me feel better, or maybe it'll make me
sweat the days until annual. A friend of mine has a Vtail Bonanza and the
annual before he got it costed $18,000.00! He paid $55,000 for it and the
last three annuals were more than that total.

Ouch. Sounds like yet another reason to steer clear of the venerable
V-tail... Too bad, it's the coolest looking thang...

No, my tale of woe annual only added up to $4900. Of course, I only paid
$32K for that Warrior, so it was still a "high-percentage" first
annual...and it came just months after the SAME shop gave the plane a clean
bill of health at the extensive pre-buy inspection.

They replaced all sorts of things that, in retrospect, probably didn't need
to be replaced -- a piston/cylinder, front fork, muffler, brakes, brake
lines -- all because they were (unknown to me at the time) struggling
financially.

Less than a year after this debacle, this FBO snuck away in the middle of
the night, leaving the city of Iowa City in the lurch (and starting the
airport down the road toward its current financial troubles) and slithered
back up to their home base in Cedar Rapids, where they continue to fleece,
er, I mean service the public.

So, just make sure you find a quality, honest A&P mechanic, and hold on to
your wallet -- it can be a rocky road until you find someone you trust
implicitly. (For comparison, my recent annual, on a slightly more complex
aircraft, cost around $800.00.)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"