In the pile of ship:
“Effective for aircraft purchases placed in service on or after January 1, 2009, 50% bonus depreciation will be available in 2009,” the group tells ANN. “Bonus depreciation applies only to new, factory manufactured business aircraft. Certain demonstration aircraft not previously titled may also qualify. Improvements such as an avionics upgrade made to a used aircraft will also qualify for 50% bonus depreciation.”
On new aircraft, those deductions can amount to as much as $314,800 against the $358,000 purchase price of a new Diamond DA40 XLS; over $418,000 against the $530,100 pricetag of a new Cirrus SR22 GTS; and $2.5 million against the $4,200,000 price of a Pilatus PC-12 NG turboprop.
That ‘47 Stearman probably won’t qualify. Still, the DA40 XLS is a nice piece of gear, if you’re giving ‘em away.
Note the word “business” in there….
NeptunusLex.com Inc., anyone?
So you offer the Stearman dude a dollar for the plane, have him put a new GPS in it as an Avionics Upgrade for $70K, and you’ve got your bird with a $35K bonus depreciation year one. Oh yeah – you need to paint Lex.com on the side and get rigged to tow banners advertising first annual LEX Open at Torrey Pines to raise money for Valour IT and thar’ ya go…
If Avgas weren’t so dang expensive…
Speaking of AvGas- I used to fly a Stearman out of Ferguson Field (pre-asphalt). Ran regular no-lead gas from the 7-11 down the street. Worked like a champ at half the price. Legal? Not so much…
raz:
There is propab;y an STC you can get that will make Car Gas legal in a Stearman but the catch is you need some that isn’t laced with Ethanol as that will eat up parts of the fuel system. So the boondoggle that Ethanol is also ruins a way to fly cheaper as well as being a not so good way to reduce our petroleum addiction…
Don’t get me started about ethanol in my boat. Besides eating up pump diaphrams and such, that stuff sucks moisture out of the air and into the fuel. Water doesn’t burn very well, as I learned a couple times bobbing out in the middle of Chesbay.