Treasury Department Has 6,000 Aircraft Parts To Unload
It must be the auction
season! First Independence Air, now this.
They're not saying how US Customs came into ownership of a
warehouse full of parts -- mostly commercial Boeing parts. The key
thing is that Uncle Sam does not WANT to own a warehouse full of
Boeing bits and bric-a-brac, so government contractor EG&G is
going to sell them at auction for the G-Men.
There are hundreds of lots, containing, they say, over 6,000
parts (we didn't count them ourselves. Sorry about that). What kind
of parts? You name it, they just might have it. We didn't see any
engines on the list (except for APUs), but hard parts from
Actuators to Yaw Dampers are on the list. There are lots of
instruments, tires, and electronic gear: radios, radars, antennas,
even flight data recorders and TCAS units -- expensive stuff.
A .pdf with a complete list is available at the FMI link.
Are the parts yellow tagged? Nope. They're sold as-is, where-is,
and while the website says the FAA inspected them, "however, they
require that all these parts be recertified and/or recalibrated
prior to their use on any US Aircraft. This will be the
responsibility of the successful bidder. Bid accordingly."
But before you get too excited about snagging that high-end HSI
for your Weedhopper, check out the terms of the auction -- which
seem to put a damper on small-fry purchases. To start with, the
auction lots include all the like items in a single lot, so you
can't buy just one HSI, you need to buy them all. And you need a
$10,000 cashier's check deposit up front to show that you're
serious about bidding.
And, you can't put more than $99,999.99 on your credit cards.
Even if your limit is higher. (Heh. Try paying that one off at
27.9% APR when the sucker rate expires). If you buy $100,000 worth
of parts, you need to wire the money, or have a cashier's check
cut.
The auction gets underway on Thursday, April 27 at 9:00 a.m.
(registration opens at 8) at the Broward County Convention Center
in Port Everglades, FL. The auction lots can be viewed in the Aero
Continental Warehouse, 8940 NW 24th Terrace, Miami 33172 on April
24-26.
One parting warning to you EAA types (you know who you are):
there does not appear to be enough there to build a whole Boeing...
and that 51 percent construction stip is going to be a bear to
prove.