Piper PA-24 Comanche 400 Airplane
Sale price: US $40,000.00 Make an Offer
| Condition: | Used | Model Year: | 1965 |
| Make: | Piper |
Topeka, Kansas, United States
Vehicle description
Up for sale is a 1965 Piper Comanche 400. Significant work has been performed to this airplane since it was purchased from its last owner in 2017. Upgraded avionics, to include a Garmin 430W and a Garmin 345 with ADS-B in and out, were installed. The plane had an existing Century autopilot system with altitude hold and ascent/descent. As you Comanche enthusiasts know, Comanches, particularly 400s, usually like to set down heavy. Not this one, as a Robinson STOL kit has been installed, allowing it to land much more like a Cessna than a Piper. Also installed is a RayJay turbo kit, along with extended range fuel tanks. This increases the useful payload to well over 1400 lbs, making this a true four-seat airplane. Also, we have rebuilt the brake system and the landing gear motor in 2017-2018. Now for the last piece…. We started to put the plane in annual in 2018 and discovered that an engine overhaul was needed. With the purchase of the plane and the $30,000 + in airplane upgrades and maintenance items we had invested over the time of our ownership, we simply could not swallow this additional expense. Therefore, we stopped with the annual process (which is why the plane is photographed in its current condition – it flew into annual in 2018, and our mechanic, Keith Hetrick with Hetrick Aviation in Topeka, Kansas, suggested that we not put all of the plane parts back on until a buyer has done a pre-buy inspection). We have priced out overhauls and learned that the cost from someone like Midwest in Newton, Kansas is around $56,000. That being said, the airframe has low overall time and the engine was approximately 1400 hours since its last overhaul. A copy of the plane’s logbooks are available for your review. Please email me and I will send you a link to a dropbox folder with the plane’s electronic logbook entries. For your reference, Scans 113 through 126 contain most of the important maintenance logs for the airplane, and I would suggest starting your review in that section. My email address is [email protected]. Long story short, we need to sell the plane, so someone willing to invest in the overhaul of the engine will get a well-maintained (the prior owner was an A and P mechanic) low-time airframe (less than 3000 hours!) Comanche 400 with a refurbished engine. Of course, this plane is being sold as-is, where-is, and Buyer will be responsible for all costs related to the engine overhaul, transportation of the plane and putting the plane back into annual. This plane is being simultaneously listed on Controller and Trade-A-Plane. Please contact us by email with any questions. Happy bidding!