Out of curiosity, what's your TTAF?

Heflin · Post by **Heflin** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 12:37 am

My '56 B has 10267.3. Folks tell me that can't be right, but it is, according to the books.

It was "employed" in the 60's for a timber company in Alabama. There is a camera hole in the bottom, under the rear seat, so I'm guessing they did survey work or something like it. That's where most of the time came from.

The last 2 owners besides myself have all lived within 10 miles of here.

I was just curious as to what some of the other 170's had as far as TTAF.

Rob

zero.one.victor · Post by **zero.one.victor** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 6:03 am

My ragwing's total time is around 4350. What's so unbelievable about 10,000 hours on an airplane almost 50 years old--that's only 200 hours per year average. I fly around 180 hours a year myself,just for fun. Remember,these 170's were the Skyhawks of their day,used for charter operations,flight training, and business transportation. A friend of mine sold a 206 a few years ago that had like 12,000 hours on it,and it was only about 20 years old. That's like 600 hours a year average!

Eric

doug8082a · Post by **doug8082a** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 12:18 pm

I've just around 4300 on mine.

The camera port was available as a factory option so I suppose it's possible that it was purchased from the factory as a survey aircraft (unless it was added later). Is there anything in the logs about the camera port being added after it was purchased? If it spent all that time employed as a survey aircraft, then it's not surprising that it's got a lot of time on it.

djbaker · Post by **djbaker** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 1:46 pm

We bought our 170A with over 15000 hrs. The airframe was clean and true. It was a total rebuild for us from the start so the time didn't matter. It had been used on for pipeline inspection. Riden hard and put away wet I would assume. When we stripped the whole plane there was not a bit of corrosion so maybe tough love is good for a plane too.

russfarris · Post by **russfarris** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 2:50 pm

I bought my 52 B model with 1,950 TT on it, about three and a half years ago. It's got 2320 on it now; it's now flying the most on a regular basis since the 1950's. (It sat out of license from 1980 to 1990, for example.)
Kinda the other end of the spectrum. I have seen others with lower time, including a 55 B for sale in Trade-a-plane with 525 hours TT, several years back. Russ Farris

N1478D · Post by **N1478D** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 3:58 pm

My A model had 4806 at this past annual in Feb. It's averaged 175 hours per year the last 5 years. It also has the camera bay and probably has some commercial time, but can't remember for sure.

A plane with 10,000 hours could sometimes be a better purchase than one with 500, or vice versa - depending on the care given it. The log books show that mine has lived in many different states, but the owners must have taken really good care of her.

mit · Post by **mit** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 6:32 pm

2767 hours with lots of damage history and flys fine. Just wish I had more horse power!

Alterfede · Post by **Alterfede** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 8:52 pm

Mine has 3500 TT, but dont know how much of them were done here in argentina.

Post by **GAHorn** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 9:32 pm

I don't recall the serial or registration number, but back in the early 70's I worked for a pipeline patrol company that had an A-model with over 22,000 hours on it. It flew over 1,000 hours per year of it's life on average. It had a worn interior and faded paint, but it was still on the job in '73. Maybe it had so much time because it took longer to get the route flown.

(I'm bad. I really don't recall if it was an A or a B, I just had to rib Joe.)
Low altitude work like that places a heavy burden on an airframe with more than average cracking of bulkheads, stringers, etc. due to low-level turbulence. (West Texas desert at 300' is rough!) This meant lots of wear on cables, pulley's, fittings etc., but if it's maintained then all is well. That airplane was in service with it's second owner on pipeline patrol, having been sold by the first patrol company. It had been ground looped several times, run through power lines at least once, and flipped once also, as I recall. But it was repaired, put back in service, and on and on it flew.
The old-timer's rule of thumb when purchasing an airplane was to buy one either with low time, or very high time. The low time one will have low wear on it, and the high time one will have had it all replace. The mid-time airplanes are the ones that most likely are worn out.
Of course, unless you have all the logs since new you really don't know if the total time is correct or not.

funseventy · Post by **funseventy** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 4:31 pm

My 54 B has 3037 TT as of yesterday when I finished the annual. I have owned it exactly 1 year and I put 175 hours on it. I love it as much as any other plane I've owned or flown.

Kelly

N3243A · Post by **N3243A** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 6:07 pm

My '53 B now has 2450 TT. When I bought it 6 years ago it had 1700 TT.

Bruce

C170BDan · Post by **C170BDan** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 6:10 pm

My '56 model has over 2300 hrs. When I bought it there was only 1900 hrs. on it. It sat for awhile in CO before coming to TX. Working toward flying mine as much as Kelly or Joe!

zero.one.victor · Post by **zero.one.victor** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 4:37 am

Kinda funny,I hear people bragging about how low the airframe time is on their airplane. Like it's a crime to fly it and run the time up any higher. I think the other way around--we should fly the heck out of them & have fun with them. That's what they're for! I've owned mine not quite 6 years,and have racked up about 960 hours in it. Remember,the more ya fly,the lower your per-hour fixed costs are! That's kinda like selling a product at a loss,but making up for it in volume!

Eric

N170BP · Post by **N170BP** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 5:36 am

I agree.

A friend has a late model 180 with less than 1000 TTSN.
It's kinda a shame, but he only flies it about 10 hours per
year....

In my (selfish) opinion, all he's doing is preserving the airframe
for someone else to subsequently enjoy. It's highly likely that
the airplane in question won't change hands before he goes to
meet his maker.....

Might as well enjoy life while you can.....

An airplane is a machine, meant to be used and enjoyed.

BTW, my '54 has 3194 TT on it (as of the last oil change, which
was just the other day). I got it flying on the last day of August,
last year. I've put 103+ hours on it since.

Bela P. Havasreti
'54 C-170B N170BP

N1478D · Post by **N1478D** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 9:12 pm

Bet they are more likely to make TBO if they are flown alot too!