A $5000 annual and I get to take my airplane home in pieces

[Bill Greenwood]

Eric I don't think your problem is that the airplane was certified. That just means it met some minimum standards back then. Maybe you can save some money doing some of the work yourself, but to be safe that work still has to be done at a reasonable level. Compression of only 40to 45 is pretty low and almost certainly something in there is worn. Maybe rings, maybe a valve, but it is unlikely to fix itself. And you say, "it might be true" as if you think the a a&p is not telling you the truth. You should stand right next to him when he does the compression test and look at the figures on the gauge yourself. One way to tell if the wear is valves is to listen at the exhaust when the pressure is in the cylinder and see if you hear where the air is espcaping. If not valves, put at small amount of oil into the cylinder to seal the rings and retest.

Do you think you could buy a 54 year old automobile, for a rock bottom price, perhaps $2000 and have it be in excellent
shape and not need any service? Wish you could but in airplane terms that is not realistic.

Can you buy a flying RV for $20,000 and if so how good a plane is it?

Still, $5000 for an annual sounds awfully high. What did they do, was it something major like replacing the fabric?

Hope you get it right in the end and enjoy flying.