txflyer
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Fly it like you STOL it ♦
This is the 421 to Varieze conversion kit.
What was the verdict? Landed hard on the nose gear and had a couple prop strikes?
oh well, let the insurance deal with it. I'm sure the owner can buy another one or downgrade/upgrade as he wishes. Beats the heall out of trying to sell it before the dual prop strike.
My immediate thoughts as well.
You can't give twins away right now.....
Why are the twin shops busy with pre-buys?
Because they're so cheap, folks are starting to see some value.
Some problems with actuator length have started to crop up, resulting in failure to maintain function of over-center lock. They think a skip off of the nose gear during landing can trigger a failure mode.
That's (I think) what happened to RJ in his 421 at SAT
Really? How much difference in book value for the '78 421 in the picture (prior to the gear-up) between now and three years ago? And is it up or down?
That's newer than that I think, it has trailing link gear, didn't that start in 81?
Info from Flightaware database, appears to be FAA registration. But maybe they're guessing at it.
Either that or it's been wrecked before and had the wings changed, maybe stolen and had a data tag swap.
Really? How much difference in book value for the '78 421 in the picture (prior to the gear-up) between now and three years ago? And is it up or down?
I just parrot what I hear. I don't have a 421 blue book.
Don't believe all of it, whoever said it was probably doing the same thing. :wink2:
I keep copies of various pricing guides because I need them, and talk to one of the top Twin-Cessna brokers who lives here.
Average retail prices for that model are up a tiny bit, from $270k to $280k, and the transportation-value airplanes are most-always at the top of the resale heap.
I haven't looked, but suspect that others haven't fared as well.
A broker was telling me that twin comanches are a steal, and a heck of a deal according to him.
The fuel burn on the twin comanches comes in right around a big single for both engines combined he was saying ... .
Twin Cessnas are known for nose gear issues, as Wayne has pointed out. Sometimes the pilot's fault, sometimes the shop, but often neither. It is not a superior design.
Assuming that picture was taken today with its FlightAware, interesting to see that it apparently flew rarely and then flew down VFR.
Not actually a design fault but a maintenance maintainer fault. The gear inspection for the 300/400 series Cessna is a long procedure and one of the parts is getting beneath the pilots floorboard and inspecting the linkage. Since this is a difficult area to access and time consuming, as well as the mechanics who are only interested in putting the plane on jacks and "swinging the gear" it gets overlooked and over time will weaken from lack of maintenance.
I'll come back and delete this post if y'all think I should, but FYI, there were some chocks under the nose of that plane that magically vanished according to one source I trust.
Can throttling over chocks collapse the nose gear like that? I wouldn't think so... they're not that big....?
A broker was telling me that twin comanches are a steal, and a heck of a deal according to him.
The fuel burn on the twin comanches comes in right around a big single for both engines combined he was saying ... .
FAA database is consistent with Flight-aware information. Maybe you're looking at it wrong.
Depends on how you look at it. I agree that if properly maintained then it shouldn't matter, but when was the last time you heard about a Baron or Aztec/Navajo having a nosegear issue compared to a Twin Cessna?
Personally, I think there's a bit of both. The design isn't as good, but shouldn't break if taken good care of. I still am more careful about where I take the 310 vs. the Aztec, even though I take good care of the 310's gear.
I don't think you should delete it at all, nor do I think there's anything suspicious. It just makes me wonder how frequently the plane was flown.
Can't mistake trailing link gear...
Personally, I think there's a bit of both. The design isn't as good, but shouldn't break if taken good care of.