Reflections on a year of aircraft ownership

Since the last one seemed to work pretty well, here's another
cross-posted shot at injecting some relevant content into the group.

My glider's condition inspection was due last month. When I bought my
share, one of the things I did as part of preparing to take ownership of
my share was to help out with last year's inspection (which gave me a
lot of valuable insight as to what everything looked like down in the
guts), meaning that it's now been a year since I bought into it.

So far I do not regret my decision to purchase in the least. I was wary
going into it, partly because owning an aircraft was something new to
me, and partly because this particular glider is much higher performance
and more complex (flaps and retractable gear) than anything I'd flown
before.

The performance and complexity turned out not to be a problem. The
ASW-20 got built in large numbers and is considered a "classic" for good
reason. I found it to be responsive without being twitchy, to handle
docilely, and to have no real bad habits. It took me about six months
before I got used to the flaps (they can be used for landing, but their
primary purpose is to increase efficiency in normal flight, so I'm
constantly moving them around as I change speeds) but ultimately that
was also no big deal. And, while the machine experienced a gear-up
landing in the spring, it wasn't me, the guy with almost no experience
in retractables, but my partner, who has probably spent more time in the
air than I've spent alive.

Owning an aircraft also wasn't a problem, although it's certainly been
more work than simply using club aircraft. While I originally wanted to
own an entire glider outright, it turned out that buying into a
partnership was an incredibly smart move, because that gave me an
instant ready pool of knowledge. Assembly/disassembly, trailering,
inspection preparations, instrument usage, installing a gear warning
system, diagnosing an unresponsive airspeed indicator, all of this was
helped enormously by having partners (and also by having the seller
nearby).

Money wasn't a worry to me, but it's still something I thought about. So
far, so good. I put 55.4 hours on it over the past year, and my share of
the costs have been around $700, which works out to under $13/hour.
Beats renting club aircraft, even ignoring the fact that mine is far,
far nicer than the club's. (Of course I'm cleverly ignoring opportunity
cost on the purchase price, depreciation, etc., and I still have to pay
the regular rate for tows, but still, it's nicely cheap.)

On the plus side, wow, what a machine. I love this glider the way a
normal person might love a woman. It's just an absolute joy to fly.

The performance is incredible. The book promises a 43:1 glide ratio, and
it delivers. At high speeds, it still flies practically flat. On a good
day I'll just set off cross country spontaneously, and only once in the
past year have I not made it back home. (And even then I still made it
to an airport.) Climb performance is also nice, although I wouldn't call
it a "floater". The flaps allow me to fly slow and turn tightly in a
thermal, more so than otherwise.

Landing performance is just breathtaking. Full flaps, full spoilers, and
Vne for that combination (which is a mere 65kts) gives me a 2:1 glide
slope and an incredibly short rollout. I haven't had to land it in a
field yet, but when that day comes, I have no worries about my ability
to squeeze it into a small one.

It's also pretty comfortable, which is important when I'm in it for 5+
hours at a time. The only downside is that the cockpit is kind of small,
so I can't stretch out much, especially on the legs and feet, but this
isn't a big deal. Performance and comfort were the two things that
really bugged me about the otherwise-great 1-26 that a good friend was
letting me fly before, and they're why I didn't buy a 1-26 of my own.

It's a piece of cake to assemble, which means I'm not afraid to fly it
on marginal days. I'm the envy of anyone assembling the club's Open
Cirrus, and of my friend who owns a Ventus, as my wings line up and lock
together like magnets every time. (For those of you who fly powered
aircraft, the idea of assembling your plane before you fly it every day
may sound strange and frightening. It's actually pretty easy to do, at
least if you have the right kind of glider. It only takes me about 30
minutes from start to finish, and most of that is doing fiddly little
bits like hooking up the controls or taping up the gaps on the wings and
tail.)

And of course, it's *mine*, which means that on a good day I can fly it
for as long as I'm wiling and able to keep it airborne, rather than
being called down after an hour or two like in club aircraft. I can also
take it cross country, something which is de facto not allowed in club
gliders. And, although I haven't taken advantage of this yet, I can take
it to other airports and fly it there.

55.4 hours and 35 flights in a year. A lot of those flights were
familiarization flights or just fun flights when conditions didn't
permit soaring, so my average soaring flight time is probably 2+ hours,
with the best one at nearly 6 hours. I haven't kept close track, but
I've made several cross country flights, totaling maybe 500 miles, which
is pretty good considering that I haven't been pushing it hard at all as
I get used to it.

All in all, it's been a great year. All of the good things that I
anticipated in owning an aircraft have come true, and none of the bad
things. It was a great choice, and I'm looking forward to another year
with it.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

On Dec 4, 12:28*am, Mike Ash wrote:
Since the last one seemed to work pretty well, here's another
cross-posted shot at injecting some relevant content into the group.

My glider's condition inspection was due last month. When I bought my
share, one of the things I did as part of preparing to take ownership of
my share was to help out with last year's inspection (which gave me a
lot of valuable insight as to what everything looked like down in the
guts), meaning that it's now been a year since I bought into it.

So far I do not regret my decision to purchase in the least. I was wary
going into it, partly because owning an aircraft was something new to
me, and partly because this particular glider is much higher performance
and more complex (flaps and retractable gear) than anything I'd flown
before.

The performance and complexity turned out not to be a problem. The
ASW-20 got built in large numbers and is considered a "classic" for good
reason. I found it to be responsive without being twitchy, to handle
docilely, and to have no real bad habits. It took me about six months
before I got used to the flaps (they can be used for landing, but their
primary purpose is to increase efficiency in normal flight, so I'm
constantly moving them around as I change speeds) but ultimately that
was also no big deal. And, while the machine experienced a gear-up
landing in the spring, it wasn't me, the guy with almost no experience
in retractables, but my partner, who has probably spent more time in the
air than I've spent alive.

Owning an aircraft also wasn't a problem, although it's certainly been
more work than simply using club aircraft. While I originally wanted to
own an entire glider outright, it turned out that buying into a
partnership was an incredibly smart move, because that gave me an
instant ready pool of knowledge. Assembly/disassembly, trailering,
inspection preparations, instrument usage, installing a gear warning
system, diagnosing an unresponsive airspeed indicator, all of this was
helped enormously by having partners (and also by having the seller
nearby).

Money wasn't a worry to me, but it's still something I thought about. So
far, so good. I put 55.4 hours on it over the past year, and my share of
the costs have been around $700, which works out to under $13/hour.
Beats renting club aircraft, even ignoring the fact that mine is far,
far nicer than the club's. (Of course I'm cleverly ignoring opportunity
cost on the purchase price, depreciation, etc., and I still have to pay
the regular rate for tows, but still, it's nicely cheap.)

On the plus side, wow, what a machine. I love this glider the way a
normal person might love a woman. It's just an absolute joy to fly.

The performance is incredible. The book promises a 43:1 glide ratio, and
it delivers. At high speeds, it still flies practically flat. On a good
day I'll just set off cross country spontaneously, and only once in the
past year have I not made it back home. (And even then I still made it
to an airport.) Climb performance is also nice, although I wouldn't call
it a "floater". The flaps allow me to fly slow and turn tightly in a
thermal, more so than otherwise.

Landing performance is just breathtaking. Full flaps, full spoilers, and
Vne for that combination (which is a mere 65kts) gives me a 2:1 glide
slope and an incredibly short rollout. I haven't had to land it in a
field yet, but when that day comes, I have no worries about my ability
to squeeze it into a small one.

It's also pretty comfortable, which is important when I'm in it for 5+
hours at a time. The only downside is that the cockpit is kind of small,
so I can't stretch out much, especially on the legs and feet, but this
isn't a big deal. Performance and comfort were the two things that
really bugged me about the otherwise-great 1-26 that a good friend was
letting me fly before, and they're why I didn't buy a 1-26 of my own.

It's a piece of cake to assemble, which means I'm not afraid to fly it
on marginal days. I'm the envy of anyone assembling the club's Open
Cirrus, and of my friend who owns a Ventus, as my wings line up and lock
together like magnets every time. (For those of you who fly powered
aircraft, the idea of assembling your plane before you fly it every day
may sound strange and frightening. It's actually pretty easy to do, at
least if you have the right kind of glider. It only takes me about 30
minutes from start to finish, and most of that is doing fiddly little
bits like hooking up the controls or taping up the gaps on the wings and
tail.)

And of course, it's *mine*, which means that on a good day I can fly it
for as long as I'm wiling and able to keep it airborne, rather than
being called down after an hour or two like in club aircraft. I can also
take it cross country, something which is de facto not allowed in club
gliders. And, although I haven't taken advantage of this yet, I can take
it to other airports and fly it there.

55.4 hours and 35 flights in a year. A lot of those flights were
familiarization flights or just fun flights when conditions didn't
permit soaring, so my average soaring flight time is probably 2+ hours,
with the best one at nearly 6 hours. I haven't kept close track, but
I've made several cross country flights, totaling maybe 500 miles, which
is pretty good considering that I haven't been pushing it hard at all as
I get used to it.

All in all, it's been a great year. All of the good things that I
anticipated in owning an aircraft have come true, and none of the bad
things. It was a great choice, and I'm looking forward to another year
with it.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

Sounds like everything's going according
to plan. You're a better man than me if you
can share ownership. Incidental damage would
really tick me off.

Don't lose your ability to enjoy passing time
doing something for fun. I'm getting to where it
seems necessary to quickly "get there" and then
achieve something.

---
Mark

In article
,
Mark wrote:

Sounds like everything's going according
to plan. You're a better man than me if you
can share ownership. Incidental damage would
really tick me off.

It helps that, of my two partners, one never flies it, and the other is
so vastly and incredibly more experienced than I am that I can only look
up to him.

I remember very clearly when he landed gear up, as I was the club's duty
officer that day and watched it happen. I even argued with him on the
radio while he was on final about it, because he was absolutely
convinced it was down until he had ground out a long white stripe on the
runway.

I was shocked, and a little angry, and worried about his mental state.
But my main reaction was, if it can happen to him, it can *definitely*
happen to me.... And thus I enthusiastically helped out with the
installation of our gear warning system after we got it back from the
shop.

Don't lose your ability to enjoy passing time
doing something for fun. I'm getting to where it
seems necessary to quickly "get there" and then
achieve something.

Well, a push to "get there" is hard to maintain in a glider. On the
other hand, I have noticed that, like a drug, I seem to need more and
more achievement as time goes buy. I remember back when soaring for
30-40 minutes was fantastic. Now a 3-hour flight is just kind of ho-hum,
especially if I only stay local. Still, I try to keep in mind relative
achievement, that if I stay up for 30 minutes on an otherwise dead day,
that's a major accomplishment too. So far, so good....

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

On 12/3/2009 9:28 PM, Mike Ash wrote:
Since the last one seemed to work pretty well, here's another
cross-posted shot at injecting some relevant content into the group.


Wow! Thanks for the write-up, Mike. Gliders is one aspect of flying
that I'm still considering and sure love reading of your exploits.

Due to finances, I've had to reduce the amount of flying that I'm
doing, but just went out the other day to maintain my currency and
had a really wonderful flying day. It made me realize that I really
don't want to let anything get in the way of my ability to fly!

Thanks again for sharing. By the way, I think you should have
included rec.aviation.owning.

Best Regards,


--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Member, Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

In article ,
Mark Hansen wrote:

On 12/3/2009 9:28 PM, Mike Ash wrote:
Since the last one seemed to work pretty well, here's another
cross-posted shot at injecting some relevant content into the group.


Wow! Thanks for the write-up, Mike. Gliders is one aspect of flying
that I'm still considering and sure love reading of your exploits.

Due to finances, I've had to reduce the amount of flying that I'm
doing, but just went out the other day to maintain my currency and
had a really wonderful flying day. It made me realize that I really
don't want to let anything get in the way of my ability to fly!

Thanks again for sharing. By the way, I think you should have
included rec.aviation.owning.

I didn't think of including .owning, since I don't subscribe to it. I'll
have to check it out, since it *is* appropriate to my situation now....

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

Mike Ash wrote:
Since the last one seemed to work pretty well, here's another
cross-posted shot at injecting some relevant content into the group.

My glider's condition inspection was due last month. When I bought my
share, one of the things I did as part of preparing to take ownership of
my share was to help out with last year's inspection (which gave me a
lot of valuable insight as to what everything looked like down in the
guts), meaning that it's now been a year since I bought into it.

So far I do not regret my decision to purchase in the least. I was wary
going into it, partly because owning an aircraft was something new to
me, and partly because this particular glider is much higher performance
and more complex (flaps and retractable gear) than anything I'd flown
before.

The performance and complexity turned out not to be a problem. The
ASW-20 got built in large numbers and is considered a "classic" for good
reason. I found it to be responsive without being twitchy, to handle
docilely, and to have no real bad habits. It took me about six months
before I got used to the flaps (they can be used for landing, but their
primary purpose is to increase efficiency in normal flight, so I'm
constantly moving them around as I change speeds) but ultimately that
was also no big deal. And, while the machine experienced a gear-up
landing in the spring, it wasn't me, the guy with almost no experience
in retractables, but my partner, who has probably spent more time in the
air than I've spent alive.

Owning an aircraft also wasn't a problem, although it's certainly been
more work than simply using club aircraft. While I originally wanted to
own an entire glider outright, it turned out that buying into a
partnership was an incredibly smart move, because that gave me an
instant ready pool of knowledge. Assembly/disassembly, trailering,
inspection preparations, instrument usage, installing a gear warning
system, diagnosing an unresponsive airspeed indicator, all of this was
helped enormously by having partners (and also by having the seller
nearby).

Money wasn't a worry to me, but it's still something I thought about. So
far, so good. I put 55.4 hours on it over the past year, and my share of
the costs have been around $700, which works out to under $13/hour.
Beats renting club aircraft, even ignoring the fact that mine is far,
far nicer than the club's. (Of course I'm cleverly ignoring opportunity
cost on the purchase price, depreciation, etc., and I still have to pay
the regular rate for tows, but still, it's nicely cheap.)

On the plus side, wow, what a machine. I love this glider the way a
normal person might love a woman. It's just an absolute joy to fly.

The performance is incredible. The book promises a 43:1 glide ratio, and
it delivers. At high speeds, it still flies practically flat. On a good
day I'll just set off cross country spontaneously, and only once in the
past year have I not made it back home. (And even then I still made it
to an airport.) Climb performance is also nice, although I wouldn't call
it a "floater". The flaps allow me to fly slow and turn tightly in a
thermal, more so than otherwise.

Landing performance is just breathtaking. Full flaps, full spoilers, and
Vne for that combination (which is a mere 65kts) gives me a 2:1 glide
slope and an incredibly short rollout. I haven't had to land it in a
field yet, but when that day comes, I have no worries about my ability
to squeeze it into a small one.

It's also pretty comfortable, which is important when I'm in it for 5+
hours at a time. The only downside is that the cockpit is kind of small,
so I can't stretch out much, especially on the legs and feet, but this
isn't a big deal. Performance and comfort were the two things that
really bugged me about the otherwise-great 1-26 that a good friend was
letting me fly before, and they're why I didn't buy a 1-26 of my own.

It's a piece of cake to assemble, which means I'm not afraid to fly it
on marginal days. I'm the envy of anyone assembling the club's Open
Cirrus, and of my friend who owns a Ventus, as my wings line up and lock
together like magnets every time. (For those of you who fly powered
aircraft, the idea of assembling your plane before you fly it every day
may sound strange and frightening. It's actually pretty easy to do, at
least if you have the right kind of glider. It only takes me about 30
minutes from start to finish, and most of that is doing fiddly little
bits like hooking up the controls or taping up the gaps on the wings and
tail.)

And of course, it's *mine*, which means that on a good day I can fly it
for as long as I'm wiling and able to keep it airborne, rather than
being called down after an hour or two like in club aircraft. I can also
take it cross country, something which is de facto not allowed in club
gliders. And, although I haven't taken advantage of this yet, I can take
it to other airports and fly it there.

55.4 hours and 35 flights in a year. A lot of those flights were
familiarization flights or just fun flights when conditions didn't
permit soaring, so my average soaring flight time is probably 2+ hours,
with the best one at nearly 6 hours. I haven't kept close track, but
I've made several cross country flights, totaling maybe 500 miles, which
is pretty good considering that I haven't been pushing it hard at all as
I get used to it.

All in all, it's been a great year. All of the good things that I
anticipated in owning an aircraft have come true, and none of the bad
things. It was a great choice, and I'm looking forward to another year
with it.


Nice report. I had my plane for 12 years and I agree with you. It was
available with I wanted and didn't have to worry about anyone else. Plus
I did owner assisted annuals and all repairs (with A&P/IA oversight). I
KNEW my plane inside and out. In 2001 we installed a factory overhauled
Lycoming O-360.

You made a comment about depreciation. Mine did not depreciate. I sold
it this year and even in a down economy I sold it for almost twice what
I bought it for. Not bad. Like I said, it got a OH engine, and during
the time all avionics were OH and I did add a IFR GPS. (No, not any
fancy Garmin item)

I wish I still had it. D*** medical....

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
Sold
KSWI

In article ,
Ross wrote:

You made a comment about depreciation. Mine did not depreciate. I sold
it this year and even in a down economy I sold it for almost twice what
I bought it for. Not bad. Like I said, it got a OH engine, and during
the time all avionics were OH and I did add a IFR GPS. (No, not any
fancy Garmin item)

I expect to be able to sell my share for the same price I bought it for.
This means depreciation will roughly follow inflation, which is not a
lot, but it adds up.

The big worry is a refinish job at some point in the distant future. My
gelcoat is in fantastic shape considering that it's almost 25 years old,
but someday it will have to be redone, and the cost of that is likely to
be 1/3rd-1/2 of the total cost of the aircraft.

I wish I still had it. D*** medical....

Sorry to hear about that. I know it's not the same thing at all, but one
of the benefits of flying gliders is that the only medical exam you have
to go through is asking yourself in the morning, "Am I fit to fly?
Yep...."

I've watched many fellow glider pilots who also fly powered aircraft
lose their medicals and struggle to get them back, and it's so
frustrating. One lost his medical due to a Hepatitis C infection! He was
robust, healthy, continued to fly gliders all throughout with no
problems, but somehow this disqualified him. He was fortunate enough to
be cured of the infection and finally got his medical back, but it's
just all so crazy.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

On Dec 4, 1:03*pm, Ross wrote:

You made a comment about depreciation. Mine did not depreciate. I sold
it this year and even in a down economy I sold it for almost twice what
I bought it for. Not bad. Like I said, it got a OH engine, and during
the time all avionics were OH and I did add a IFR GPS. (No, not any
fancy Garmin item)

I wish I still had it. D*** medical....

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
Sold
KSWI-

What about going LSA?

---
Mark

On Dec 5, 7:39*am, Mark wrote:
On Dec 4, 1:03*pm, Ross wrote:

You made a comment about depreciation. Mine did not depreciate. I sold
it this year and even in a down economy I sold it for almost twice what
I bought it for. Not bad. Like I said, it got a OH engine, and during
the time all avionics were OH and I did add a IFR GPS. (No, not any
fancy Garmin item)

I wish I still had it. D*** medical....

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
Sold
KSWI-

What about going LSA?

We have a different set of medical requirements for Microlite/
Ultralites.
A lot of older pilots here who have failed their medicals go flying
microlites

george wrote:
On Dec 5, 7:39 am, Mark wrote:
On Dec 4, 1:03 pm, Ross wrote:

You made a comment about depreciation. Mine did not depreciate. I sold
it this year and even in a down economy I sold it for almost twice what
I bought it for. Not bad. Like I said, it got a OH engine, and during
the time all avionics were OH and I did add a IFR GPS. (No, not any
fancy Garmin item)
I wish I still had it. D*** medical....
--
Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
Sold
KSWI-
What about going LSA?

We have a different set of medical requirements for Microlite/
Ultralites.
A lot of older pilots here who have failed their medicals go flying
microlites


Do you know still have to self "certify" that you are fit to fly? In the
US if you fail your medical you cannot fly LSA. If you let your medical
expire and do not renew it then you can fly LSA. But you still have to
self certify.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
Sold
KSWI