On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:42:12 -0400, Jon Kraus
wrote:

Lou,

It varies tremendously but the one constant is that airplane ownership
is EXPENSIVE when compared against renting. That is unless you fly 200
hours a year (most pilots average 50-75 hours a year).

I don't know about other folks but I have owned for only 3 years so I
don't have much experience but here is what I found.

For a 2 way partnership in a 100k Mooney it costs me about 1000 a month
to fly 5 hours a month. This includes all my fixed costs of $575 (plane
note, hanger rent, XM weather subscription and insurance). We charge
ourselves $85 per tach hour wet. This includes engine reserve, fuel and
some cash put back for annual inspection expenses.

Our first 3 annual's averaged $5000. We have had several times in the

How many hours are you putting on that thing?
flying over a 130 hours a year my annuals averaged about $500 to $600
with one being close to $5000 due to a bunch of ADs all coming due the
same time as well as the heater crapping out, a flame cone giveing out
and some other things.

Prior tot he cost of gas going up I was runing about $76 or so an
hour. Gas has gone up less than a dollar a gallon here, but at a one
dollar increase that'd be $90 per hour. That cost includes everything
including annuals and $10 toward a major which is getting close. I
may have to raise that to $15 toward the major. BTW that also includes
over $8,000 fo a new 3-blade hartzel prop exchange and labor.

last 3 years where we have had to shell out $1000 here and $1000 there
for things that broke. We like to keep the plane squawk-free so this
could have been cheaper.

I run a progressive maintenance program which is probably why the
annuals have been relatively inexpensive.


Here is the sad part. For me I have come to the realization that I don't
want to shell out this much cash for flying anymore and am offering my
partner the buy-out deal of a lifetime. I am going back to renting but
will probably take a break from flying all together.

Good luck with whatever you do but realize that it will cost you a LOT
more money to own than to rent. That is just a plain and simple fact.

That I don't believe, but it depends on how much you fly. At 100
hours a year it's cheaper for me to own the Deb than rent a 172 around
here.The Deb is paid for but I do not take any credit toward what I
might get out of it some day. That means when I do sell it I can
average that over the hours I've flown and deduct that from the cost
per hour.


Jon Kraus



Lou wrote:
I (like everyone else) am considering purchasing a plane. I've looked
up the cost of ownership in this group and came up with some good
information. However, I'm looking for a spreadsheet that I can plug
the numbers into. Has anyone either made this or know where to
download one? It's probebly not hard to do but I thought I would look
here first. Anybody? Anybody? Anybody?
Lou

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com