Times have changed.
In 1996 I had a spare $100k to spend. I used $20k as deposit for an $80k block of land that sat vacant for a year, and then I borrowed another $100k and put a house on it. A few years later I obtained my DA to build a couple more houses on the same block. I might build these next year. The property is now worth about $450k and is cash flow positive so there is no hurry.
The other $80k went to buy an aeroplane from Russia. With many palms greased in $US, freight, assembly and painting the final cost was a bit more. The aeroplane was an ex Russian Aero Club aerobatic trainer called a Yak 55M similar, here are details:
http://www.aero-concept.com/fiches/55.html
Here was mine
These are popular in US where many Russians sold them for hard cash. Only about 100 were ever made and mine was the first in Australia. It is known as the poor man’s Sukhoi, who made a better but much more expensive carbon fibre aeroplane that dominated world aerobatic competition for years.
I called my Yak ManiYak as I was certainly able to behave like a maniac in it. On cold days it could climb vertically after rotating on take off. The 360 Hp engine meant it could fly level from 30kph below stall speed to over 400kph in a dive. From level flight about 10 vertical rolls was easy, although the last few were just hanging in the air. It burned up to 140LPH of avgas and 2 LPH of oil and had G limits of +9 to -6, which it met on most flights. In those days I instructed flying on weekends, flew a couple of amateur displays and regularly got beaten in aerobatic competitions.
But times changed and in 1994 it was parked in the hanger and not flown again until sold last year. That was the same year I was married, but there is no connection! It took 3 years to sell and I lost $20k on purchase price (partly due very strong $A). And who knows how much was spent feeding and maintaining the beast for all those years.
So it was fun while it lasted, but the lesson to all those who are still reading is that aeroplanes make for very, very bad investments compared to property!
So, as ManiYak is now no longer part of my life, can I have a name change please Mr Moderator ?
In 1996 I had a spare $100k to spend. I used $20k as deposit for an $80k block of land that sat vacant for a year, and then I borrowed another $100k and put a house on it. A few years later I obtained my DA to build a couple more houses on the same block. I might build these next year. The property is now worth about $450k and is cash flow positive so there is no hurry.
The other $80k went to buy an aeroplane from Russia. With many palms greased in $US, freight, assembly and painting the final cost was a bit more. The aeroplane was an ex Russian Aero Club aerobatic trainer called a Yak 55M similar, here are details:
http://www.aero-concept.com/fiches/55.html
Here was mine
These are popular in US where many Russians sold them for hard cash. Only about 100 were ever made and mine was the first in Australia. It is known as the poor man’s Sukhoi, who made a better but much more expensive carbon fibre aeroplane that dominated world aerobatic competition for years.
I called my Yak ManiYak as I was certainly able to behave like a maniac in it. On cold days it could climb vertically after rotating on take off. The 360 Hp engine meant it could fly level from 30kph below stall speed to over 400kph in a dive. From level flight about 10 vertical rolls was easy, although the last few were just hanging in the air. It burned up to 140LPH of avgas and 2 LPH of oil and had G limits of +9 to -6, which it met on most flights. In those days I instructed flying on weekends, flew a couple of amateur displays and regularly got beaten in aerobatic competitions.
But times changed and in 1994 it was parked in the hanger and not flown again until sold last year. That was the same year I was married, but there is no connection! It took 3 years to sell and I lost $20k on purchase price (partly due very strong $A). And who knows how much was spent feeding and maintaining the beast for all those years.
So it was fun while it lasted, but the lesson to all those who are still reading is that aeroplanes make for very, very bad investments compared to property!
So, as ManiYak is now no longer part of my life, can I have a name change please Mr Moderator ?
