Was just looking around Controller and came across a $225,000 AG-5B Tiger.

Two 430s, one WAAS, no panel pics so not sure if standard 6 pack, maybe HSI.

But it is 2002 airplane, with 27.5 hours TOTAL TIME.

Even hangered all its life, sounds like taking a HUGE chance.

I thought Grumman quit building Tigers in 1982...

Edit... I guess 181 more were built in the early 2000s before a different company went out of business

Maybe, but an engine IRAN will be cheaper for a Tiger than a Bo. The bigger problem is when you are all done, no matter how much or how little you spend, you will have a Tiger and they are only worth so much.

And not a single picture of the interior?

https://www.controller.com/listing/for- ... e-aircraft

I believe that American General put an updated Tiger back in production for a short run in Meridian Mississippi.

This might have been one of the batch of 51 from Tiger Aircraft in West Virginia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Aircraft

Planes are built to fly, but there’s often a mismatch between the pilots who can afford a new airplane and the pilots with the health and free time to use a new airplane. If the airplane was hangared, I would say at the same price it’s less risky than a 1970’s plane with more hours. The risk is only if you pay too much.

I used to live close to Martinsburg WV where those airplanes were built. Got a tour of the factory and a demo flight. Tigers are excellent airplanes. They even made a few G1000 versions.

In a world where it takes nearly half a mil to buy a new 172, $225K for what is essentially a brand new Tiger could make sense to some buyers, providing it all checks out. And of course everything is negotiable.

It is kind of disappointing that an avionics firm would not at least take pictures of the interior. My other guess is that they are going to try and upsell an avionics package, which might not be a bad idea at this point. Around 30-40 AMU, with trades on low-time avionics if they are working will get most everything refreshed. It may take a little more to get rid of the vacuum pump, which will need overhauled. It is entirely possible to put 50-100AMU into the panel and autopilot.

At a minimum, that engine needs a scope and some TLC. It may need an IRAN or overhaul if that engine wasn't broken in properly. It might be even worse if they just started it up every few months or years and did a ground run and didn't change the oil because it "looked clean". My guess would be $8k to take care of the engine, the hoses, etc. if it's healthy. The prop should be good to go.

If you don't take care of that leather, or fabric, it may look good but crumble after a few dozen hours of sitting on it. That's about an 8-12AMU risk. The paint definitely looks like it has been hangared most or all of its life.

The tires weren't flat but my guess is that, if they haven't been replaced in 2 decades, they are going to need new tires. You can do them yourself but to have a shop do them will be around $1k. May as well check the If it's been in dry country the hubs and pucks

Once you are all said and done my guess is that bird is going to run the new owner up to $300K but you still have a great plane that is near-new for less than the price of a new 172.

Wasn't it awesome when MRB was being used for the Tiger and was going to be the home for the SJ-30? That really put the "Eastern Panhandle" on the map back then.

It's flown about 3 of those hours in the last 3 months. So, it seems airworthy.

Interestingly, the registered owner has held it for a number of years. There may or may not be an incident history on this N-number.

Yes I forgot about the SJ-30, that was exciting news at the time!

In fact I recall that era as sort of a mini boom full of GA optimism. It had only been a handful of years since Cessna restarted its single engine piston line, the OMF Symphony and Liberty XL were touted as the modern trainer, Cirrus was starting to crank out the SR20’s and 22’s, Mooney, Beech, Piper and Commander were in production, as well the Micco SP20 and SP26, and you could even buy a brand new 4 seat Luscombe. The Adam A500 was on the drawing board and the future looked really bright for GA.

The unfortunate thing with the 2nd and 3rd generations of Tigers is that they used a cheaper to manufacture square airbox instead of the original cylindrical design. This results in about a 1" loss of manifold pressure and the newer ones are noticably "doggier" than the original. I've owned both '77 and 2002 models. I've always regretted selling my first Tiger.

I have many hours dual received in an AA-5B tiger. I think it was a 77 model, and it is a solid platform. This was when I was single digit years of age, but I always enjoyed flying it.

Several years when prices were skyrocketing, I was helping a lady to find a Tiger.

We found an ad listing one of the last ones built. 2 owners, 1900 hours.
$175,000 !!

She called the seller and asked why the price was so high.

They answered, "There are no more being made". Then they added. 'We'll take 150"

lol

FYI, I did my PP in a 78 AA-5B. LOVE them.

I looked at getting one when I decided to buy, but the prices were high for the avionics compared to other planes.