High time airframe question

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On Jul 19, 6:55 am, Mike Spera wrote:
If these cracks are caught by your mechanic, they won't kill
you but they'll kill your bank account. If we have a choice between a
"well-maintained" (yeah, right) older high-timer and one that has sat
for years, I'll take the sitter as long as it doesn't have corrosion
issues (humidity, salt air, or non-human residents). Both airplanes
will need new engines and interiors and other plastic and rubber bits
replaced. The high-timer will need structural repairs, maybe a lot of
them. They're not cheap. By the time you're done you could have far
more tied up in the airplane than it would ever be worth in resale
value.

There may be some dud A&Ps out there, but there's also a lot of great ones
that have extensive knowledge of older aircraft. Just because an aircraft
is high time doesn't mean it WILL require structural repairs, and even if
they do, not all such repairs are expensive as some can be addressed by stop
drilling or other solutions. Just because the aircraft is high time,
doesn't mean it WILL need a new engine. In fact, it's less likely to need
one. An older aircraft that's sat for several years or has never had an
overhaul WILL need one as well as a new interior and probably new glass,
whereas the high time aircraft stands a good chance of having things like
interior and glass replaced at some point and definitely has had the engine
reworked or replaced. Everything really boils down to a proper pre-buy from
a knowledgeable mechanic which is just as important regardless of how much
time the airframe has.

At 9,000 hrs, I would definitely consider my airplane high time, but it's
still going strong and there's the same type out there still going strong
with twice that many hours. Since I fly the thing only about 200 hrs per
year, it's going to take 10 years just to get 2,000 more hours assuming I
still have it by then. Since I'm confident my aircraft is structurally
sound, the chances of it needing a significant structural repair are pretty
much the same as a low time aircraft.