Are General Aviation Airplanes a Prudent Investment?

[jynxyjoe]

Mostly, airplanes are toys, just like cars, they are neither prudent nor an investment unless you have a dire need to get from point A to B. I can't get the bus to work, very rare is it, that a person needs a plane to get to work.

They will hold value, but they aren't investments unless they are somehow making you money.

 

[Inverted25]

I didnt feel like reading all the posts but I would like to add something. Flying and owning a airplane isnt just for the wealthy. As said before homebuilts can be extremely cheap to fly and own. Take a KR-2 for example. Two place homebuilt that will do around 150mph on 4 gallons a hour. On barnstormers there is one for sell for 17k that has only 100 hours on the engine and brand new paint. That is a steal. It costs less than 400 a year for insurance on it and the maintence we do by ourselves and is cheap. Now if you buy one built you can't do your own maintence so that another story. But there is nothing more rewarding than building your own and and mainting it and its not expensive at all. We own both a cherokee 140 and the KR-2. The KR-2 flies 50 mph faster and on half the gas on the cherokee. The only reason we keep the cherokee is it has alot more room for baggage.

 

[shdw]

are general aviation airplanes really a prudent financial investment?

They are about as sound of an investment as building a house inside an active volcano. But boy would it be fun huh?

 

[Murdoughnut]

I didnt feel like reading all the posts but I would like to add something. Flying and owning a airplane isnt just for the wealthy. As said before homebuilts can be extremely cheap to fly and own. Take a KR-2 for example. Two place homebuilt that will do around 150mph on 4 gallons a hour. On barnstormers there is one for sell for 17k that has only 100 hours on the engine and brand new paint. That is a steal. It costs less than 400 a year for insurance on it and the maintence we do by ourselves and is cheap. Now if you buy one built you can't do your own maintence so that another story. But there is nothing more rewarding than building your own and and mainting it and its not expensive at all. We own both a cherokee 140 and the KR-2. The KR-2 flies 50 mph faster and on half the gas on the cherokee. The only reason we keep the cherokee is it has alot more room for baggage.

Nah, I want to have someone to sue (or for my loved ones to sue) when *** starts falling off in the air

 

[ctab5060X]

getting the plane to the point you have it was awesome - wings hung, engine on, etc. I would always get really excited at that point - it looked like an airplane and all that we needed was to hook up the "little stuff". It just seemed that the "little stuff" seemed to take five times longer than it should and most of my knuckle skin was removed at this point.

Ugh! I remember when we rebuilt my Citabria, we got it painted, wings and control surfaces on and were down to the "little stuff". The "little stuff" still took over a month to finish and it was well over a month and a half before we could even fly! :crazy:

 

[ILSstud]

Ugh! I remember when we rebuilt my Citabria, we got it painted, wings and control surfaces on and were down to the "little stuff". The "little stuff" still took over a month to finish and it was well over a month and a half before we could even fly! :crazy:

When you did fly it though...how was it?

 

[t-cart]

Smooooooth.

 

[ctab5060X]

When you did fly it though...how was it?

From the time we actually completed reassembly and got all the paperwork in order, it actually took another couple of weeks to get good weather conditions that agreed with our schedule to be able to do the first flight.

Flew just like it always did, just a tad bit faster (nice slick fabic and paint does that for you ). Only minor problem I had to compensate for was the seats had new cushions, not ones that were crushed from 30 years of use... I was honestly sitting about 2 inches higher than I did before. :insane:

Of course to add in with the little things... rigging the airplane. This took a good many flights across several weeks to tweak everything.

 

[ILSstud]

The real question is how do you guys work on these planes without making your significant others jealous?? Thankfully for me she enjoys flying might even start training. Although judging from her driving I would need tranquilizers each time she soloed!

 

[ctab5060X]

The real question is how do you guys work on these planes without making your significant others jealous?? Thankfully for me she enjoys flying might even start training. Although judging from her driving I would need tranquilizers each time she soloed!

When the Citabria was rebuilt, I was still very much single, in college, and living out of a suitcase because I was coming home every weekend to my parents house to help them work on the airplane. Not much was done during the weekdays (until we started reassembly). I had my classes set up where I could be home on Friday evening and leave early Monday so we had all weekend. Mom would drive down to the hangar (about 30 min from the house) with pizza and we would work into the late hours, go home and repeat for Saturday and Sunday... good times and good memories.

Now that I am married, if I had to do this again, I would get my wife involved. She loves tinkering with things and considering she loves photography and art stuff, there are lots of things that she could do on a project like that.

 

[t-cart]

My wife works all day.:bandit:

 

[ctab5060X]

My wife works all day.:bandit:

...and yet here you are sitting on the computer posting on JC when you could be working on the airplane!

 

[t-cart]

...and yet here you are sitting on the computer posting on JC when you could be working on the airplane!

I'm like a snake in the winter. Don't hardly come out unless I have to.

 

[BillErvin]

it looked like an airplane and all that we needed was to hook up the "little stuff". It just seemed that the "little stuff" seemed to take five times longer than it should and most of my knuckle skin was removed at this point.

As the saying goes among builders and restorers.... 90% done 90% to go

Back to someone who mentioned Experimentals...I have always wanted to build a Velocity XL or XL5 with my dad.

My brother and I looked at them pretty hard, but the one thing that set me aback in my Demo flight was the amount of runway you needed to take off and land. My 3200 ft strip would have been challenging!!!

Take a KR-2 for example. Two place homebuilt that will do around 150mph on 4 gallons a hour.

Nice airplane, but the builder learning curve is pretty steep

That is a steal. It costs less than 400 a year for insurance on it and the maintence we do by ourselves and is cheap. Now if you buy one built you can't do your own maintence so that another story.

Actually non-builder owners can do the maintenance, just not the condition Inspection

The real question is how do you guys work on these planes without making your significant others jealous?? Thankfully for me she enjoys flying might even start training. Although judging from her driving I would need tranquilizers each time she soloed!

Get them involved in the build process, I found woman to be much better on the rivet gun than most men, and much more detail oriented. You'll find many husband/wife building teams in the RV community.

 

[stesta5074]

Drop the RV talk. Long live Lancair!

9 gph / 250 mph

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

Drop the RV talk. Long live Lancair!

9 gph / 250 mph

They sure are nice. I used to sit and drool over the one in the hangar where I worked in the summers past. But, they do cost a decent amount to build. Personally, I'd love to build a Kitfox S7. Close to 750 pounds of useful load for a 2 place means you can fill it up with gas, 2 big people, and junk in the back. Plus, its got a cowling the gives the impression of a radial engine (or if you want to jump off the deep end, put a new radial on it even).

 

[WacoFan]

They sure are nice. I used to sit and drool over the one in the hangar where I worked in the summers past. But, they do cost a decent amount to build. Personally, I'd love to build a Kitfox S7. Close to 750 pounds of useful load for a 2 place means you can fill it up with gas, 2 big people, and junk in the back. Plus, its got a cowling the gives the impression of a radial engine (or if you want to jump off the deep end, put a new radial on it even).

Amatuer!

How about a Radial Rocket - at New Century in fact - http://www.radialrocket.com/

Or...why hasn't anyone brought up a Bearhawk for a homebuilt???
http://www.bearhawkaircraft.com/

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

Amatuer!

How about a Radial Rocket - at New Century in fact - http://www.radialrocket.com/

Or...why hasn't anyone brought up a Bearhawk for a homebuilt???
http://www.bearhawkaircraft.com/

Hey now, the only Kitfox I know of with a Rotec is over at Gardner, last time I heard. I'm a college student and a kitfox is a marginally affordable way to fly. A bearhawk or even a radial rocket, really isn't. But, those Radial Rockets look cool.

 

[BillErvin]

Drop the RV talk. Long live Lancair!

9 gph / 250 mph

Friends, don't let friends, build plastic airplanes

Or...why hasn't anyone brought up a Bearhawk for a homebuilt???

After a lottery win, It would be very high on my list.... or a Murphy Moose with a M-14Pirate:

 

[ralphbrynard]

I have never owned an a/c but I would be curious to find out if my idea hasn't been tried already and to which degree of success:

what if you purchased an aircraft and then started a flying club. Keep the club small so that you don't end up getting short listed when it comes to flying your own plane, but big enough that, at the very least, operating expenses (even when you operate it) are covered by club dues/rental fees.

I'm sure it would be a little more involved (probably need to file for an LLC and check with your insurer) but if done right might be a good thought for someone with the resources to do it.