Real Cost of Ownership: The Affordable Plane

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apache123

Well-Known Member
Based on some of the feedback I received and posts I saw, I decided to take a step down to one of the most affordable to purchase and fly aircrafts out there for analysis.

There are plenty of Piper Cubs and the like which are cheaper to operate, but thanks to being categorized as light sport: their purchase prices have gone through the roof.

There are many amateur-built/experimentals, but I stuck with the certified group as I suspect that'd be a more probable candidate for new student pilots and grumpy old salts alike.


[url]http://realcostofownership.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-affordable-plane.html[/URL]
 
The numbers are OK, and I think the best thing you convey is the idea of building reserves for all major wear items and a smart owner should treat that almost like renting from yourself and put those reserves into a separate savings account each week you fly. However, as a bit of a caution to prospective owners, realize that buying a used airplane a lot of those reserves may not be funded before you need to fix some expensive parts... so make sure you've got the cash savings up front to keep the airplane flying the first few years. Especially if you're planning to pick up a "good deal" airplane that has had a lot of deferred maintenance.

I bought a 150 a few years back to offer flight training in that had not flown much and needed some updating. I despise financing, so I bought a low time airframe/engine that hadn't flown much and needed some TLC so I could just upgrade things over time rather than making payments to a bank for a newer aircraft. Over the past three years I've put two new gyros, new plumbing, new fuel lines, new alternator and controller, new belts and harnesses, new seats, installed intercom, had the COM and XPDR overhauled, put in new NAV and CDI, new ELT, new tire and tube, overhauled fuel valve and strainer...next up will be new paint. Now, I've planned for most of that so it wasn't a big deal, but these sorts of things are not unusual repairs on an airplane with deferred maintenance and let me tell you the cost is not insignificant. My last annual cost $1800 due to troubleshooting a leak that ended up requiring a crank seal replacement and then pulling a cylinder to lap an exhaust valve that had some crap built up on it, again not super unusual catastrophic maintenance, just normal annoying stuff.

My point/warning is that if you're looking at a monthly payment breakdown and thinking "I think I could handle that if I'm careful", then dont do it. You need cash to keep airplanes in the air. Owning an airplane is fun (mostly), I totally enjoy it and I fully expect to buy more, but you've gotta be very real about it and keep extra savings ready.
 
All of that is why I am seriously considering buying into a partnership. Could I afford a plane? Yes. Does it make financial sense for my wife and I? Probably not. Sharing the load with 4 to 7 other folks makes a lot more sense, at least in my case.

But would I love to own my own plane? Oh heck yeah.
 
SteveCostello said:
All of that is why I am seriously considering buying into a partnership.
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Partnerships can be a real win-win. You can spread the love on expenses which really helps with the bigger ticket things like annuals, insurance, and hangars. Also, a good partnership should be strict about reserve funding while few individual owners seem to have the discipline to actually put their engine reserves in savings. There are a lot of privately owned GA airplanes that sit in hangars and on tie-down and fly way under 100 hours per year, at every airport... so they are very under utilized and in a partnership you will probably have very good access to the airplane. You might also be able to own and fly an airplane quite a bit nicer with greater utility than you'd afford by yourself.

Biggest things to watch are to be sure you comfortable with the people involved. It's a business partnership and you should have a good contract defining how decisions for maintenance costs and upgrades will be handled and how scheduling is handled. Also, what if someone wants to sell their share? Do existing owners get right of first refusal and/or does the new buyer need to be vetted by the existing owners to make sure they are someone they want to deal with. If the people involved give you a bad feeling you are likely going to regret getting into a financial partnership with them.
 
One negative to partnerships, is it can be pretty hard to sell a share, at least compared to outright sale of an airplane.

I've seen a 1/5th share in an average 172 here on craigslist for what seems like about 1.5 years and the costs sound very reasonable.

A CFI I know who used to use my airplane with his students owned a share in a 182 and it took him a long time to sell it too after he realized he couldn't even afford to be in a partnership on an airplane burning 12 gal/hour.

I've also seen 2-3 new airplanes come up where the owner thought "I'll buy an airplane and sell a few partnerships"... well nice theory until nobody buys in, then they get hit with the costs of single ownership and the airplane is sold a year later.

The latest iteration is a Mooney that just moved onto our airport and the owner is trying to sell shares right now. It looks like a nice plane if a few people get involved.
 
I've thought about that angle, as well. Here in St. Louis, there have been a few shares that have been collecting some serious dust on Craigslist. At first, I thought they were pretty sweet deals... one is a nicely maintained 172, online scheduling software, $44/tach hour. Can't remember what the monthly was, but it was very reasonable... $140? Something like that. $7,000 buy in for a 1/6 share. Then I saw it was up there for months upon months upon months. Made me a little more wary of shares.

Here's another share that's been up for a while... $21.5K buy-in + $182/mnth, $25/hr dry on 1/3 of a PA-32: http://stlouis.craigslist.org/for/3946591150.html
 
rframe said:
The latest iteration is a Mooney that just moved onto our airport and the owner is trying to sell shares right now. It looks like a nice plane if a few people get involved.
Click to expand...

The more successful partnerships I have seen at the local field have tended to be folks that already fly together, in the same club, and have owned aircraft before. Tend to me more word-of-mouth things than advertising for it.

I would consider it with someone that I knew, but finding a good partner isn't easy. They need to have the same goals out of the airplane, the same finances to carry it, and similar experience to be able to fly it. That's not actually a very easy thing to find.
 
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