Categories: all aviation bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater

Mon, 02 Jul 2007

I Bought a (Dream) Plane!

Of course, the experience was basically stressful, so it was more of an anxiety dream than one of those good dreams.

On a whim (in my dream), I decided to buy a plane. I don't know what the reasoning was, but awake-logic suggests that $20k spent on building a plane vs. just buying one for $20k might suddenly make sense. In any case, I suddenly owned a plane. Perhaps it was a Cessna 152. I was overjoyed!

Then I started looking closer. Apparently, I had bought a plane without even doing a rudimentary pre-flight inspection, much less done any of the research one would normally do. The prop had a sharp wave in one blade, as if it were folded back on itself, then inexpertly straightened again. I realized that this had to have been a prop strike, which is not only a problem for the prop, but a death knell for the engine.

Then I realized that I hadn't thought to check the log books (assuming the plane even had log books). Nor had I hired a mechanic to look it over for me (which I do with motorcycles). In fact, I had effecively walked up to this plane with barely a glance and said, "I'll take it!"

Then, of course, the anxiety really set in, as I started spinning over the fact that I had just bought this plane at full market value for a functional, airworthy airplane, but had in fact purchased something which was barely worth anything as scrap. (This situation is actually a reflection of my waking life, where I bought a minivan for the "functional" price, then found it had a broken head gasket; but that's a different story, and only involves $3k.)

By the time 5 am rolled around, I was awake enough to start planning out this very journal entry, having realized it was a dream and that I was not in fact out twenty grand for a jumbled pile of scrap aluminum. Hooray?

Posted at 08:56 permanent link category: /aviation

Categories: all aviation gadgets misc motorcycle theater

Written by Ian Johnston. Software is Blosxom. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net.