Need help; T206 shopping
 

I am seeking some opinions on dollars vs hours; I am currently looking to purchase a T206 and have narrowed my search down 2.

-2005 T206 850TT w/tip tanks, 150hours STOH
-2006 T206 350TT w/WAAS

The one with 350TT is approximately 50k more. I am a VFR pilot who is going to get his IFR in this next plane. I am not sure is the extra 50K is worth lower time? Is WAAS going to be a great benefit? I would like to put SVT and active traffic in the bird when i get it, but with the 2006 I would not have the budget.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

thank you.

I think you should go with the higher time aircraft as it means it's been flown more. 350TT in 5 years isn't very much. It means that that engine most likely has been standing around with corrosive oil for longer than the other one. Granted, on such new engines it's less important, but still a factor.

When planes stand around more than they fly something always starts to go south.

Sorry, I should have clarified. US FUNDS.

I would not spend the extra money for the lower time, between these two aircraft. Perhaps there are other factors affecting the relative values?

The recent top overhaul sort of makes up for the higher time somewhat. That said, engine time is not as much an indicator of the life you can expect from the engine, as the actual condition of the engine.

As said, a very low utilization engine can be less good. 350 hours in 5 years is okay, as long as that time was spread evenly across that calendar period.

Are you hard over on buying a new build T206? A late 1970's to 1985 T206 will be less than half the cost, have what IMO is a better engine (Continental TSIO 520) and have a significantly better useful load. Find one with a Garmin 530/430 stack and you have all the avionics you need.

If you are set on a new build T206 than I second the notion about buying the cheaper one. Cessna has a SB to upgrade the early G1000 to WAAS and I see it has already had a top overhaul, something you will be paying for in the newer lower time one, in about 150 hrs :E

G1000 upgrade path
 

"Cessna has a SB to upgrade the early G1000 to WAAS ..."


Apologies for taking up an old thread, but the subject has become very relevant to me and two aircraft owners I know.


Is it indeed possible to upgrade early, i.e. pre-GFC700, G1000 to WAAS ??


I have found an SB about upgrading early G1000 with GFC700 to WAAS, but nothing about the ones with the KAP140.


I would also be interested to know if there is any way to upgrade pre-GFC700 G1000 to a GFC700-version. I suspect there is not, but I have a specific case with a WAAS GFC700-equipped plane being around 100.000 more expensive than a similar non-WAAS KAP140-equipped plane, so even if the upgrade path is expensive, it could be interesting.