David Megginson
September 10th 03, 01:01 PM
"Shashank Pabrai" > writes:
> From the hourly amount paid to me, when I subtract the fuel and
> maintenance costs, it appears like I will be making approx. $ 15 -
> $20 per hour.
>
> Does all of the above sound good / reasonable? Or am I being duped
> by the flight school? :-)
I don't know if you're being duped deliberately, but this is a complex
area with razor-thin margins -- I wouldn't try it unless I were very
experienced with airplane ownership and with the business of renting
airplanes, and I could make good deals with local repair and avionics
shops.
So how much will you get an hour? Is the FBO covering insurance? In
addition to, say, $25/hour for fuel and $8/hour for engine reserve,
you have to consider that you have avionics, parts, interior, and
paint that will wear out more with each hour flown.
For example, this month your vacuum pump might suddenly give up the
ghost after 700 hours of use, so you'll have to pay a few hundred to
buy a new pump and have it installed; next month, one of your navcom
radios will start spilling over onto other frequencies, and after
handling the angry phone call from ATC (since the student pilot
couldn't figure out the problem and shut down the whole airport for 15
minutes), you'll have to decide between a $500 repair, a replacement
used radio, or a new $2000 one. Later the same month, someone will
leave a door wide open in heavy winds, and a gust will catch it and
bend hingest. After you give up on trying to prove who did it, and
recover from the shock of the price of replacement parts from the
manufacturer, you're off to the wrecking yards to try to find an
OK-condition door (which will inevitably have a dramatically different
paint scheme). And so on.
I've never done a leaseback, but I get my plane's maintenance done in
the same hangar where our club planes are maintained, so I get to see
all the stuff they go through. Luckily, the club has its own shop, so
the work is not quite as expensive, and they also have a pool of parts
and radios pulled off other planes. Still, renting out an airplane is
not for the inexperienced or for the faint of heart.
All the best,
David
> From the hourly amount paid to me, when I subtract the fuel and
> maintenance costs, it appears like I will be making approx. $ 15 -
> $20 per hour.
>
> Does all of the above sound good / reasonable? Or am I being duped
> by the flight school? :-)
I don't know if you're being duped deliberately, but this is a complex
area with razor-thin margins -- I wouldn't try it unless I were very
experienced with airplane ownership and with the business of renting
airplanes, and I could make good deals with local repair and avionics
shops.
So how much will you get an hour? Is the FBO covering insurance? In
addition to, say, $25/hour for fuel and $8/hour for engine reserve,
you have to consider that you have avionics, parts, interior, and
paint that will wear out more with each hour flown.
For example, this month your vacuum pump might suddenly give up the
ghost after 700 hours of use, so you'll have to pay a few hundred to
buy a new pump and have it installed; next month, one of your navcom
radios will start spilling over onto other frequencies, and after
handling the angry phone call from ATC (since the student pilot
couldn't figure out the problem and shut down the whole airport for 15
minutes), you'll have to decide between a $500 repair, a replacement
used radio, or a new $2000 one. Later the same month, someone will
leave a door wide open in heavy winds, and a gust will catch it and
bend hingest. After you give up on trying to prove who did it, and
recover from the shock of the price of replacement parts from the
manufacturer, you're off to the wrecking yards to try to find an
OK-condition door (which will inevitably have a dramatically different
paint scheme). And so on.
I've never done a leaseback, but I get my plane's maintenance done in
the same hangar where our club planes are maintained, so I get to see
all the stuff they go through. Luckily, the club has its own shop, so
the work is not quite as expensive, and they also have a pool of parts
and radios pulled off other planes. Still, renting out an airplane is
not for the inexperienced or for the faint of heart.
All the best,
David