autoevolution
 

Man Comes Close to Firing Up 20 Year Abandoned Cessna, Until Shady Disaster Strikes

If you haven't been keeping up with the saga of the Rebuild Rescue YouTube channel and their quest to revive a long-abandoned Cessna twin-engine private airplane, you owe it to yourself to go and check it out.
Cessna DIY Project 9 photos
Photo: Rebuild Rescue
Cessna DIY ProjectCessna DIY ProjectCessna DIY ProjectCessna DIY ProjectCessna DIY ProjectCessna DIY ProjectCessna DIY ProjectCessna DIY Project
The unfolding tale of how one brave auto DIY guru decided to try his luck within the aviation space is turning out to have more twists and turns than anyone could have anticipated.

The previous two episodes in the video series chronicled how the channel stumbled upon, negotiated, and got all the preparations done for starting up this old bird for the first time in at least 20 years, if not much longer.

As you would expect with what is essentially aviation's equivalent of a barn find, there were more than a few things that needed to happen before this Cessna is ready to take to start its engines again, let alone fly.

Getting the paperwork settled and clearing the engines of rodent droppings and tumbleweeds took the better part of two 30-minute plus long YouTube videos. It looked like all was going according to plans with the publishing of the third video in the series.

As we all know, you need fuel, air, and spark to get a gas-powered airplane to fire to life, like with most internal combustion engines. At least two of those three critical pieces were almost at hand when a surprise phone call with the owner of the airport made everything go off the rails.

Astonishingly, someone who'd watched the previous videos in the series used identifying numbers on the aircraft to trace it back to the original owner. This person promptly offered to buy up the airplane for $20,000 of cold hard cash, essentially buying out the plane from underneath the agreement made between the channel and the airport the plane sat for over two decades.

It brings the entire future of the series into doubt. As far as we're aware, the true owner could really use that $20 grand. What a rotten bit of luck. Check the video below if you want to see more.

If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories