Refurb of the Month

click for larger image Although considered somewhat high maintenance, Cessna’s P210 offered — and continues to offer — unique performance at an affordable purchase price. A careful search will find older airframes worth refurbishing, and that’s exactly what Steve Wathen of Columbus, Ohio did with his P-210. Have you refurbed an airplane recently? If so, […]

Do all of us harbor the fantasy of finding that perfect vintage aircraft stored in a barn somewhere, only awaiting the tender hands of restoration? Well, it’s no fantasy. Those airplanes are out there. In 2004, Ron Tanner found this 1946 Champ in a Massachusetts barn, where it sat unmoved since 1952. He bought it […]

click for larger images For every “after” photo of an aircraft refurb, there’s a “before” photo to match, and this time, we’re showing just such a pair from Kitchener Aero Avionics, a well-known shop in Canada. To be fair, the “before” panel isn’t too shabby. With a Bendix/King HSI and a Garmin GNS530/430 pair in […]

When Piper replaced the Apache with the Twin Comanche in the early 1960s, the idea was to create “everyman’s twin” with the relative safety of a twin but with approachable sticker price and operation costs of a big single. The persistence of loyalty to the peppy and comfy airplane is exemplified by Frank Dorrin’s devotion […]

When Jerry Yagen replied to our recent query seeking interesting aircraft refurbs, he said he was working on a light twin restoration and would we be interested? Sure. Shortly, a handful of photos came pixeling into the inbox of a de Havilland DH98 Mosquito. Light twin indeed. Yagen’s reason for restoring the Mosquito are straightforward […]

Fresh off the factory floor, a modest airplane like a Piper Archer may be better built, but its basic performance has been baked into the airframe for years. That’s why a project like Lyle Holbo’s 1965 Cherokee 180C, our refurbed airplane of the month, will keep pace with an airplane 40 years newer. Holbo bought […]

This month’s Refurbished Aircraft of the Month comes from Mike Van Sicklen at Tejas Aero Services in San Marcos, Texas – a shop that specializes in refurbishment of Cessna twins. Tejas recently finished this beautiful 414A owned by Eduardo Valdes. In addition to new paint and interior, a Tejas specialty, the airplane has a pair […]

If you can’t afford a new airplane — and let’s face it, most of us can’t — a refurbed late-model aircraft can do 90 percent of the mission at a fraction of the cost, especially one like the popular Mooney M20J 201. That’s the strategy Bennett Bibel followed in his pull-out-all-the-stops rebuild of a 1983 […]