Sniff, sniff. Good bye old friend.

My favourite airplane, our club’s Piper Lance, is up for sale on eBay Motors:

eBay Motors: 1977 Piper Lance PA-32-300R – Great Buy, Flies Often! (item 140161831797 end time Oct-14-07 17:00:00 PDT)

Personally I think the reserve is too high, but I think they’re just trying to find out what the market will really bear. It looks like the only bidders so far are dealers bidding less than half what it’s really worth, looking for a totally desperate seller, and we’re not there yet.

But the plane’s annual is due in December, and we were told last year that the engine probably won’t pass another annual, and there just aren’t enough club members willing to pay the surcharge to justify spending the money for an engine and prop overhaul. So this plane is going to get sold, somehow.

So good bye, old friend. I’ll miss your speed, your load capacity, and your outstanding interior room. But mostly I’ll miss the fact that it felt like a good solid honest plane.