AIrplane ownership cost
- Thread starter Kingairer
- Start date
Brian29
Well-Known Member
$8500/yr for Insurance (SR-22), $250/month for hangar, $1300 flat rate for annual, usually around 2-3k with parts etc. We pay about $65/hr for our mechanic (pretty darn cheap and he is awesome). Some of the other costs such as oil changes etc. can be reduced by doing the work yourself.
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
About the same here, except insurance can vary a lot.
Inverted25
Well-Known Member
Cherokee 140. Insurance is $550 a year. Hangar is owned so we just pay utilities and taxes on it but at our airport you can get a t hangar for $135 a month. annual is fixed rate of $650 labor plus parts. Usually $1000 or less. We do the tear down and put back together ourselves. We also have a KR-2 which fits in the hangar with the Cherokee. Insurance is around $600 a year and we do conditional inspection ourselves so just parts there usually less than $300.
jrh
Well-Known Member
Cessna 140
Unheated T-hangar w/ electrical outlets -- $90/month
Insurance -- $650/year (lots of time in the plane now, would be more $$$ without TW experience)
Annual inspection -- $950/year (just the inspection, not fixing whatever is found wrong)
I keep thinking about selling my bird because I haven't flown it in a long time, but can't bring myself to do it. It's "pickled" for long term storage in my hangar, without insurance or current annual, so it's only costing me $90/month to keep it around right now. Hopefully will reach a point in life within the next year or two when I can get back into it.
Unheated T-hangar w/ electrical outlets -- $90/month
Insurance -- $650/year (lots of time in the plane now, would be more $$$ without TW experience)
Annual inspection -- $950/year (just the inspection, not fixing whatever is found wrong)
I keep thinking about selling my bird because I haven't flown it in a long time, but can't bring myself to do it. It's "pickled" for long term storage in my hangar, without insurance or current annual, so it's only costing me $90/month to keep it around right now. Hopefully will reach a point in life within the next year or two when I can get back into it.
Boris Badenov
Fortis Leader
Haven't been an aircraft owner for many moons, so my numbers are pretty much useless. Suffice it to say that you should take whatever you think, in the WORST possible case, it will cost, and then multiply by somewhere between 1.5 and 2.
Autothrust Blue
Welcome aboard the Washington State Ferries
Beechcraft BE-50 Twin Bonanza, and I don't want to think about it! 
Kingairer
'Tiger Team' Member
Ask me and my wife, and youll get to different answers.
SteveCostello
My member is well-known.
I hope this topic gets more responses. I've been considering aircraft ownership as a more affordable way to get my ratings, from PPL on up as far as I can with the equipment I get. Nothing too extreme. Something along the lines of a later model Cessna 177. Or, I can just rent the Symphony from an organization that a good friend has lease-backed the plane to. I know that plane ownership isn't cheap, but with the market the way it is now, it's a great time to buy if you can.
rframe
pǝʇɹǝʌuı
Tough question...
If I only had it insured for myself, then I have to fly it 50 hours per year to reach the same hourly costs as renting the next closest airplane, but I'd have to drive 40 minutes to get to it. Also, I paid cash for my plane. There is no way it would be worth it if I had to make payments on it.
I have the convenience of having a plane to do what I want with. I have the inconvenience of having to take care of maintenance (which is fun when I "want" to work on it, and a major pain when I dont have the time or money to work on it), there are always things I would like to improve and there are unexpected maintenance costs which are a financial liability: fix it or dont fly, in the winter there is snow to shovel and an airplane to clean off (I cannot afford a hangar).
In the end, I'd say it's only worth it if you either need access to an airplane whenever you want like for business transportation; if it gives you access to an airplane you would not be able to rent like a tail wheel, aerobatic, experimental, twin, or higher performance travelling airplane; or if subjectively you simply find satisfaction in owning an airplane.
I'm sure there are a few time builder pilots who've bought a cheap plane, put 200 hours on it and sold it without funding engine reserves and such and then their hourly cost was really low... but that's not sustainable, eventually somebody has to pay for wear and such.
I've seen a LOT of people get romantic ideas about owning an airplane, go all in, fly it for 2 months and then watch their plane sit for the next year until they admit it wasn't all they had hoped and then you see the For Sale sign.
Look into joining a flying club (an ownership-based one). I recently joined one and it's leaps and bounds cheaper than renting from an FBO, and frankly I think it's cheaper than owning my own. Here's the numbers:
Club "initiation" fee: $750
Monthly: $85
Club has 4 planes (152/172/177/BE33)
Availability is generally not too much of an issue, even on the Deb.
All are well-equipped (the 4-seaters all have IFR GPS (2 have 430s, 1 has a KLN94).
Planes are rented "dry" with a requirement that you prove you put in x number of gallons per hour (receipts).
Rate for the Deb is only $65/hr dry, + 11 gallons of gas, but it's STC'd for mogas.
172 is like $39/hr + 7.5 gal
177 is $45/hr + 9gal
152 is $32/hr + 6 gallons (IIRC, I don't fly it)
I'd love to buy a Mooney M20C (or even a Deb), which I figure I could get for $50-60k. The note would probably run me around $400/mo (on a long term), hanger would be another $200, insurance would be at least $100/mo (I have a fair amount of time), plus I'm not sure I could operate something like a Mooney or a Deb for significantly less than $65/hr dry (taking into account reserves, etc.). All in all, I think my club is actually a really good deal and a good trade-off of cost v. benefit. Of course, when availability becomes an issue I may change my tune...