Florida men buy an abandoned Falcon 20 jet from Facebook Marketplace for $15,000 but then 'unbelievable' repair bill leaves them stunned

If you buy a private jet like the Falcon 20, you probably hope that the repair bill won’t go sky high and leave you frustrated.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to a certain car enthusiast and his friends after they bought an abandoned example for a bargain price of $15,000.

Yet the bargain price ended up being a cover-up for an aircraft that would end up costing them much more to fly again.

It was perhaps a lesson that, even if the price looks right, sometimes things can be too good to be true.

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This is why the Falcon 20 was so cheap

Cleetus McFarland, famous for his Freedom Factory, was the man who had his eyes on the luxury jet.

Having spotted it on Facebook Marketplace, it appeared to be the type of purchase that was right up his street.

$15,000 seemed like an absolute steal for a private jet, one that was built by Dassault from 1965 to 1991.

Having bought it with four friends, there was a need to work out why it was so cheap and what needed doing.

Well, as it transpired, at the time of filming, the jet had not flown for 16 years, with its last flight in 2008.

So with that long on the ground, it was nowhere near what it was actually worth as an airworthy aircraft.

McFarland was braced for a shock on the cost of repairs, but he wasn’t expecting such a shock when he heard the total.

The question was then, what would it cost to fly the Falcon 20 again?

This is how much it would cost to fly the Falcon again

McFarland’s friend and aviation expert, Joe, was brought in to assess the aircraft and work out its cost.

He didn’t beat around the bush, revealing it would cost $2.5 million to get the jet flying again.

One of the biggest issues was with the engines.

The GE700s in the Dassault jet were noisy, too noisy in fact, so they would need replacing.

To ensure the engines were quiet enough, a hush kit costing $100,000 would be needed for them.

That alone could have cost McFarland and his friends $1 million.

Then there was the need for new landing gear at $300,000.

Perhaps the biggest issue, though, was that the airframe had significant corrosion.

That basically ended McFarland’s hopes of flying the jet again.

Thankfully, all was not lost.

He decided to have the aircraft taken to the Freedom Factory to go on display.

So if you see a former private jet for sale for less than $20,000, maybe it’s best to avoid it.

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