Nubie Question: New or Used for New Pilot?

As others have mentioned, you take a big depreciation hit plus
interest charges on a new aircraft.

As you gain experience, your requirements, likes, dislikes, etc will
likely change.

I'd suggest starting with an older model until you refine what you
really want. Maintenance costs are higher, but all aircraft are
expensive to maintain whether old or new.

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 10:51:32 -0700, PaulH wrote:

As others have mentioned, you take a big depreciation hit plus
interest charges on a new aircraft.

As you gain experience, your requirements, likes, dislikes, etc will
likely change.

I'd suggest starting with an older model until you refine what you
really want. Maintenance costs are higher, but all aircraft are
expensive to maintain whether old or new.

Are there any rules-of-thumb to go by when taking higher maintenance
costs into account on older planes? What constitutes an older plane? 10
years? 30 years? Or is it all relative?

I had an '82 172 from 82-99, on leaseback most of the time.
Average was $14/hr for maint (not including TBO accrual for engine)
Did NOT seem to get worse toward the end. Some years were $19,
some were $8. Put 8000 hrs on it. Final year on lease was $13.50.

I find I spend more per hour in personal use, because there are far fewer
hours to spread it over.

"Greg Copeland" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 10:51:32 -0700, PaulH wrote:

As others have mentioned, you take a big depreciation hit plus
interest charges on a new aircraft.

As you gain experience, your requirements, likes, dislikes, etc will
likely change.

I'd suggest starting with an older model until you refine what you
really want. Maintenance costs are higher, but all aircraft are
expensive to maintain whether old or new.

Are there any rules-of-thumb to go by when taking higher maintenance
costs into account on older planes? What constitutes an older plane? 10
years? 30 years? Or is it all relative?

It depends a lot on how the previous owner and his/her A&P treated
maintenance issues. Catch-up is very expensive. It also depends on
your attitude. Retractable gear can add significantly to maintenance
cost if the owner is very particular because the cost of failure is so
high.

Example: gear strut shows leakage. One owner will have the seals
replaced immediately, another will let it go until it's flat, another
will put on the list for the next annual. Multiply this by 1000
individual parts.

Review the annual logs. On an older aircraft (5 years) it should
show lots of nitty-gritty fixes - seals, hinges, wires, etc.