Americans buy one of the cheapest planes in the country and attempt to fly 700 miles from Washington to New York nonstop

This team of YouTubers bought a Piper PA-46 Malibu plane in Washington and travelled 700 miles home to New York.

The plane is beautiful, but the team faced many issues, including a legal one that made it unairworthy and could only be flown by a specific person.

On the journey, they faced stressful weather and visibility conditions, and even though the Piper Malibu is well known for its impressive engine, there was some struggle to get it back home safely.

The previous owner had the Piper Malibu for over 17 years and had recently upgraded the cylinders for $20K, it didn’t seem to have helped.

EXPLORE SBX CARS – Supercar auctions starting soon powered by Supercar Blondie

The Piper Malibu was an amazing deal

The team from YouTube channel JR Aviation were extremely pleased to purchase a Piper PA-46 Malibu plane that was currently residing in Washington.

They travelled from their home in New York to go and pick it up, with the plan to fly it back over 700 miles to bring it home.

The Malibu is praised as one of the best piston aircraft, featuring a pressurized cabin, twin-turbocharged Continental 520 engine, and a fuel capacity of 140 gallons, meaning that it could potential fly from East to West across the whole of America.

The older continental engines have far better fuel capacity than newer piper engines and the YouTubers compared it to their other Piper plane which they didn’t think was as fuel efficient.

Travelling 700 miles from Washington to New York

When the team got to Washington, they hit a snag with their plans. The plane was legally unairworthy because its annual inspection had expired, requiring a special ferry permit to fly it home.

Due to the special permit, the only person on the team who was allowed to fly the Piper Malibu was Owen and only one person was allowed in the cockpit while it was flying.

During the flight, Owen dealt with stressful weather conditions and low visibility due to fog, causing an emergency landing.

Owen loved flying the plane and apart from the fog and the weather diversion, he had a smooth flight, landing safely in New York.

The plane had its cylinders replaced by the previous owner for $20K, and they were not working properly, so the owner sold.

The JR Aviation team is looking forward to upgrading the plane and getting it back legally in the skies, no matter the cost.

DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie