Here’s your chance to have your own warbird that will carry 4 people, its robustly designed and built to be aerobatic, has a Lycoming IO-540 engine and will cruise > 165 MPH! The IAR SA Brasov IAR 823 was built in Romania in the 70s and 80s for the Romanian and Angolan Air Forces as trainers. Of the 78 total planes built, about 40 were imported to the US around 2000. Here’s the link to the Wiki webpage for more details on the plane.  As a trainer, it’s built with throttle and prop controls on the left hand sidewall and center console, as well as landing gear and flap switches for both pilots. Primarily aluminum structure with fabric covered ailerons, elevators, and rudder.

This is a project that had issues discovered during its Condition Inspection.  The 823 will need to be trailered to your home airport in order to have them resolved.

N2087P was donated by an accomplished pilot who has aged out of flying. He described it as having flying qualities like an aerobatic Bonanza. This example has 1387 TT and only 250 hrs. since the engine was new. The prop has been upgraded to a 3 blade Whirlwind aerobatic prop, the original straight exhaust pipes were replaced with balanced headers, all plexiglass has been replaced and front sets replaced with more comfortable, automotive seats. It has been hangered since it was imported and the Condition Inspection is in work. The modifications performed required only logbook entries because it’s Airworthiness is Experimental – Exhibition. The compression checks (all in 70s) and engine run were performed when I visited to take the photos. The paint is an off-white in ok shape (add some tan blotches to it and you’d have a desert camo paint job!). There are a few areas where the paint has flaked off and surface corrosion has started ( but its all treatable).

While it’s A/W is Experimental – Exhibition, there are plus’s and minus’s to that:

Plus’s

• Only an A&P is required to perform annual Conditional Inspection
• Owner can make upgrades and do maintenance w/A&P supervision
• Most warbirds fly in this A/W category

Minus’s

• The current Operating Limitations would need to be modified thru your local FSDO
  
  • Current allows a 300 mi radius for proficiency flying and longer flights via Annual program Letter (see example)
  • Current Operating Limitations do not allow flying in Class B airspace

The plane has only flown 5 hours in the last 10 years. There was some cylinder surface corrosion seen in the borescope photos (click on “See Photos”, Cylinder Borescope folder) that the mechanic took before running the engine. He described it as surface corrosion (he did not see any pitting and thought it would just be cleaned up once it got running). The following items were accomplished during the recent Condition Inspection:

• A new Concorde battery
• The engine oil screen was checked and oil was changed.
• Engine was run, mags checked, prop exercised, and compressions checked (all in the 70s)
• All inspection panels removed and inspected (see photos in the Condition Inspection folder)
• Found cracks in the cabin side of the lower firewall flange (see photos in Firewall Flange Cracks folder). This flange supports the lower cowling. The flange is spot welded to the firewall and the cracks are between the spot welds. There are no cracks appearing on the firewall itself. Please see the attached drawing and photos of the cracks (the pink, in some of the photos, was a dye penetrant used to highlight the cracks). The cracks are not in any of the engine mount structure. In discussing this situation with our Director of Maintenance, the resolution would be to rivet doublers over the cracked flange in order to reinforce the area. Without access to any Watsonville, CA area maintenance talent, this work, along with the finalization of the Condition Inspection, will be left to the eventual buyer.

Inspection items not yet performed:

• The gear swing was not performed (as there are jacks on either side of the firewall, the mechanic wanted to get the cracks reinforced before jacking up the plane).
• Engine AD 96-09-10: The oil pump gears need to be replaced (an estimate I saw was ~$2,000 labor and $750 in parts.)

As far as trailering the 823, the outer wing panels are removable, leaving the center section and fuselage sitting on its gear. The width of the center section is 2.8 meters (9′, 2.25″). The Horizontal tail is 3.3 meters (10′, 10″). As far as I know, both dimensions are considered “Oversize”. When the planes were imported in 8′ containers, they had the fuselage/center section tilted about 45 degrees (see photo in Import folder). The 823 does come with the maintenance manual (scanned and linked on the webpage) and specific instructions for reassembly.

The hangar at Watsonville, CA is available until the end of December. After that the plane will need to be moved out on the ramp.