Expert: Planes at Farmingdale State auction could fetch up to $100G

Had it with traffic on Long Island roads? Try flying. 

Three Piper Arrow training aircraft from Farmingdale State College’s Department of Aviation are going up for auction June 27. 

Michael Canders, director of the school’s Aviation Center, said officials are selling the planes because of a change in Federal Aviation Administration requirements for students training to be commercial pilots. The FAA no longer requires flight time on a plane with retractable landing gear like the Pipers’ and instead, accepts time on a technically advanced aircraft with digital-based electronic displays, or “glass” cockpits. 

Farmingdale, the only SUNY school with four-year degree programs in aviation, graduates 15 to 30 students in those programs each year. School officials have already added glass-cockpit aircraft to the fleet, Canders said. 

New York State’s Office of General Services announced the auction, which will be conducted by a private company at the college’s Republic Airport Aviation Center and online. A spokesman for the office, Joseph Brill, said in an email that 90% of any sale will be returned to SUNY, with 10% going to the state's general fund as an administrative fee. A 2019 auction of five Farmingdale Cessnas returned $301,400, Brill said. 

The office’s auction schedule suggests the state puts few aircraft up for sale: Four other auctions scheduled for June, one Tuesday, and three scheduled for later in the month, feature mostly land-based vehicles and lawnmowers. Shipping for the planes is not available and a 13% buyer premium will be charged on purchases, according to the website for the auctioneer, Perry Auctions.

Farmingdale’s Pipers — two with about 5,000 hours of flying time, one with about 1,500 — the “workhorses” of the college’s 21-aircraft fleet, have been used since 2003, Canders said.

“They’re immaculate, they’ve been beautifully maintained and they’re in great shape,” with inspections every 50 flight hours, more than the FAA requires, he said. 

Pre-bids on Perry Auctions' website were at $15 per plane. Asking prices for Piper Arrows on controller.com, an aircraft sale website, range from $55,000 to $225,000. 

Carmine Gallo, a Wantagh native and the former administrator and top executive of the FAA’s Eastern Region, said the Farmingdale planes could fetch $50,000 to $100,000. Long Island has a history of aviation, decent weather and enough moneyed residents to make it a robust market for used aircraft, Gallo said, with potential customers including flight schools, collectors and general aviation pilots.

“If I had the money, I’d bid,” he said.

Brill, the state spokesman, said small businesses and aerial advertising companies are also potential bidders. 

Also going up for auction are three Frasca flight simulators the school bought in 2010. Canders described them as “pretty antiquated.” Gallo said they might find a home with another flight school or a “really eccentric collector.” Similar models are currently selling used for about $3,000 to $5,000.