Welcome to 32396

My wife and I recently welcomed the newest edition to our family, "student-pilot" Connor in October. It means sleepless nights for awhile, and unfortunately, very little flying. Not to mention, with the increase in W&B, I'm going to need to step up to a bigger plane .

This plane is an excellant choice for anyone looking for simple, inexpensive flying. This plane is a good choice if you fit one of the following profiles

• If you're a student pilot working towards your private and your tired of paying outrageous FBO rental rates. Owning your own plane means each flight hour's cost is just fuel an oil. How does $30/hr sound?

• Or if you're a private pilot working towards your Instrument Rating. It's hard enough work without the challenge of flying different planes, with different avionics, most of which doesn't work. Having your own plane means being intimately familiar with every guage, and the confidence of knowing it's reliable.

• Or if you're working towards your Commercial or ATP, and you're looking to build time inexpensively.

• Or maybe you're a professional pilot building a career in the left seat, and you're looking for something simple and fun to fly on the weekends.

I've only owned 32396 for a short time, but it's some of the funest flying I've ever done. You're going to love flying this plane.

32396 FAQs

A few common questions and answers about 32396

Q. Where is the plane kept?

A. The plane is kept at Caldwell Airport in Fairfield, NJ. Identified KCDW. http://www.airnav.com/airport/KCDW. The plane's tiedown is B-12, 100-yards north from the base of the tower.

Q. Is the plane IFR certified?

A. Yup. The plane is equipped with a solid arrangement of IFR avionics. It has a Narco MK-12D ILS/Loc/GS, a Narco CPM-136 Audio Panel with builtin LMB, a Narco Nav-11 Loc, a Garmin GNC-300XL panel mounted IFR GPS and a Precise Flight Standby-Vacuum.

The plane's IFR inspections were last done in April, 2004.

Q. What's the Garmin GNC-300XL Installed in the Plane?

A. The Garmin GNC-300XL is a TSO 129a, Class A1 certified GPS. It's legal for use IFR enroute, terminal and approach modes. The unit is also legal replacement for DME and ADF identification. The unit has a Jeppesson database that's updated every 28-days with the waypoints, identifiers, frequencies and GPS and GPS-overlay approaches.

The GNC-300XL is also a 760-Channel Com unit, with standby frequency.

More information is available at http://www.garmin.com/products/gnc300xl/.

Q. Who did the last engine overhaul?

A. The last engine overhaul was done by Penn Yan Aero. If you're from the North Eastern, United States, you'll know Penn Yan as one of the THE premier engine shops. You can read about them on their website at http://www.pennyanaero.com/.

During the overhaul, the 160-HP RAM STC was also performed. This upgrades creates a singnificant improvement in engine performance on take-off.

During the overhaul, a problem was discovered with the original engine. Rather than repair it, a decision was made to replace the engine with a newer one. For this reason, the engine total time is much less than the aircraft total time. To you, this means extending the effective life and number of additional overhauls you'd be able to do.

The engine has Steel Cylinders.

Q. Who does the maintenance?

A. I use O&N Aircraft at Factoryville, PA - identifier 9N3. This is a top-flight shop, with some of the best mechanics in the business. I think the best recommendation I can make about their service is that I fly 2-hour round trip for an oil-change every four months.

You can see their website at http://www.onaircraft.com/

Q. What's the useful load of the plane?

A. 776 pounds. The plane carries 50 gals of fuel. It also has a reduced fuel "tab" option to only fuel 36 gals.

Q. What sort of performance can I expect?

I flight plan for 100 Kts, but usually see north of 105 Kts.

Q. How much are you asking for the plane?

A. I originally paid $38,000. I put over $12,000 in upgrades. In August, I put the plane up for sale at $46,500.

My son was born in late Octoboer, so I've now lowered my asking price to $42,000.