DOLLAR VALUE OF LOG BOOKS, ENGINE & AIRFRAME ORIGINAL

[Indopilot]

You can also contact the FAA and request their file on the A/C. I believe it is still $5.00. That gives you a CD of the ownership trail as well as any 337's they have recorded. If a 337 is not listed either it was not sent in, got lost in the mail, or for a period of time in the 80's the FAA was not real good about recording what was sent in according to my PMI out of Scottsdale.Brian

[GAD]

Thank-you for all the information. At this point I have the impression that the complete logs would be very nice to have but will not let it limit the options.

MB is for Manitoba.

Regards, Greg

[DaveF]

Shopping for a 170, I've been surprised at how many airplanes are missing logs, mostly from the first few years. Was there a different attitude toward logs in those days? Maybe nobody expected airplanes to last long enough for it to make a difference?

Each of the three airplanes I've owned had complete logs, and it was darned important in buying and selling. Without complete logs, a '70s Cessna is a very tough sell. That doesn't seem to be the case with 170s, though. Is it simply that missing logs isn't as unusual for older airplanes so it matters less?

I completely agree that the airplane is in the condition you find it, not the condition the logs say it's in. Still, I'm reluctant to buy an airplane without complete logs because I consider them to be the only piece of the airplane that's irreplaceable. They tell the airplane's story. I want to see the log entries for the original factory acceptance test flights and entries from the first owner flown flight hours. In my opinion, the older these airplanes get the more important their history becomes. Of course, I'm just a hobbyist. If I had to earn a living with the airplane I'd probably think differently about it.

Dave

[hilltop170]

I agree original logs do increase the value, sentimental value anyway if nothing else.

This picture was taken September, 2007. Mort Brown, 99 years old, is signing my original production test flight report and original logbook again after 56 years. Mort was the first pilot to fly my plane.


Mort probably flew more 170s than anyone else and still loves to talk to current owners of any of the 1940s and 1950s Cessnas. Sharon Brown, Mort's wife is a very gratious lady who encourages anyone to contact them if you would just like to talk or if Mort flew your plane, Sharon will scan and email the pages from Mort's pilot logbook the day he flew your plane. You can contact them at "Ifliplanz2004@aol.com".

Mort really appreciates current pictures and any stories you might have written about your plane and/or what you do or have done with it. He gets tired easily so long stories over the phone wear him out too much. But he can read anything at his leasure.

[bradbrady]

Full logs do add to the value and (cost) of an airplane! I'm curently working on a Ballanca that has full logs! Good is another subject! I think that the FAA (not becuse of me) will violate the last person that singed the logs of this aircraft! Logs have to be put into perspective... do you know the people/company that has singed the logs? Is the work good? Can the work be trusted?....... and so on, and so on.....My old mentor after checking an aircraft that I had singed off as in 100 Hr., And it was his turn to sign me off As IA, would ask me for the Fairy-Tails (ie log books) When it comes to aircraft as old as the ones we have, condition means more to me than logs!
brad

[Kyle Wolfe]

Just got my CD from the FAA. Interesting reading. Cost is now $10. They can be obtained from http://162.58.35.241/e.gov/ND/airrecordsND.asp

Good article in the Oct. EAA Sport Aviation magazine on this.

Now, I gotta contact Mort......

[bradbrady]

Just got my CD from the FAA. Interesting reading. Cost is now $10. They can be obtained from http://162.58.35.241/e.gov/ND/airrecordsND.asp

Good article in the Oct. EAA Sport Aviation magazine on this.

Now, I gotta contact Mort......

gone up form 6.25 that is to bad. I need to contact Mort too!
brad

[Kyle Wolfe]

Got the items from Mort. How fun to review.

And my FAA database was well worth the $10.

Did some review and spent some time trying to contact past owners. Found one individual who owned our bird back in 1959. He was a delight to talk to, and promised to send me a copy of an 8x10 picture of the bird from back then. Told him I'd do the same.

And the best part was he kept saying how much he appreciated my call...

Can't wait to see the picture.

[cessna170bdriver]

And my FAA database was well worth the $10.

Did some review and spent some time trying to contact past owners.

Sounds like fun! I got my FAA CD a few months back and it turned out I'm not the third owner like I thought. There are a few short-term owners scattered about in '98C's history. The previous owner I'd most like to contact is the original owner, who was based at Graham Air Base in Marianna Florida (now a public airport; I've re-fueled there ). I'd love to talk to him about what it was like flying to Havanna, Cuba in the mid 1950's...

Miles

[Kyle]

Speaking of CD's. When we completed the annual on 87A last year I had the idea to copy the logs. I'm lucky to have them all from the first flight.

I broke out the digital camera, set up a dark colored board on the kitchen table and proceded to take a picture of each and every log page, 337 etc. etc...

Now I have a complete duplicate record that is readable of all the papers associated with the plane. If anything ever happens to the logs, even though I don't have the originals - I at least have a cronological record of everything that was recorded as having been done to the plane. I'll update it this year as soon as the annual is completed.

Total time involved, about 3 hours and that included making the neat little fancy disk label

Food for thought...

Regards,

Kyle

[GAHorn]

Another good method to accomplish this is to scan them into Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files.