Owner's poll

If you own your own aircraft, could you discuss:

1. The make and model.

2. Whether you bought it new or used (if used, a bit of history on
it).

3. The cost to buy it.

4. The way you financed the purchase.

5. Your approximate yearly costs for operation, maintenance, and
insurance.

6. Your approximate yearly investment in training, licensing, medical
exams, etc. (to keep current as a pilot, as opposed to just the costs
related to a specific aircraft).

I'm just curious about how much it actually costs to own and fly an
aircraft. I get the impression that it requires either being quite
wealthy or making severe sacrifices and never flying anything better
than a junky tin can.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 03:31:42 +0200, Mxsmanic wrote:

If you own your own aircraft, could you discuss:

1. The make and model.

1982 Bowers Fly Baby.

2. Whether you bought it new or used (if used, a bit of history on
it).

Bought used. I was the fourth owner. The airframe had 100 hours total time
when I bought it. The engine was 25 hours since rebuild.

3. The cost to buy it.

$10,000.

4. The way you financed the purchase.

Sold my half-interest in another aircraft. Bought THAT by taking out a
signature loan at my credit union.

5. Your approximate yearly costs for operation, maintenance, and
insurance.

That would be telling. :-)

Operation: About $12/flight hour, depending on fuel prices.

Maintenance: $250 for the annual inspection. Other maintenance costs
vary...this year I bought a set of tires and tubes (~$300). Most years it's
less. I do my own work.

Insurance: $450/year (just renewed it)

The kicker in this is the hangar costs. I got along quite well for years
sharing a $200/month open hangar with another aircraft owner (e.g., I paid
$100/mo). I currently rent a very fancy hangar designed for a large
twin-engined airplane. I could share it...but I don't. I pay about $380/mo.
The money for the hangar comes from writing about airplanes.

6. Your approximate yearly investment in training, licensing, medical
exams, etc. (to keep current as a pilot, as opposed to just the costs
related to a specific aircraft).

Average ~$100/year (I take a biannual flight review every two years). No
medical costs (operating as a Sport Pilot). Licensing (state registration of
the airplane) runs $50/year.

I'm just curious about how much it actually costs to own and fly an
aircraft. I get the impression that it requires either being quite
wealthy or making severe sacrifices and never flying anything better
than a junky tin can.

Being wealthy never *hurts* (not that I'd know :-), but I know a lot of ordinary
Joes that own planes.

If folks forgive the self-plug, this book might help:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/007...635126?ie=UTF8

Ron Wanttaja

Mxsmanic wrote:

If you own your own aircraft, could you discuss:

1. The make and model.

2. Whether you bought it new or used (if used, a bit of history on
it).

3. The cost to buy it.

4. The way you financed the purchase.

5. Your approximate yearly costs for operation, maintenance, and
insurance.

6. Your approximate yearly investment in training, licensing, medical
exams, etc. (to keep current as a pilot, as opposed to just the costs
related to a specific aircraft).

I'm just curious about how much it actually costs to own and fly an
aircraft. I get the impression that it requires either being quite
wealthy or making severe sacrifices and never flying anything better
than a junky tin can.


If you have a life, could you discuss:
1) The make and model of your so-called life.
2) Whether you bought it new or used (if used, a bit of history on it).
3) The cost to buy it.
4) The way you financed your so called life.
5) Your approximate yearly costs for operation, maintenance, and
insurance of your hypothesized life.
6) Your approximate yearly investment in training, licensing, medical
exams, etc. (to keep current as a human, as opposed to just the costs
related to a hypothetical lifeform).

I'm just curious about how much it actually costs to own a life. I get
the impression that it requires either being quite intelligent or making
severe sacrifices and never living better than a junky tin can.

Go fly. For real. Or better yet, don't. You haven't the social skills to
share space with others.

Rip

I belong to a club..

I paid $2000 for a share (refundable if I sell my share)

$85/mo for maintenance, insurance, hanger, etc.

I have access to 4 planes

2 Archers w/ Garmin GNS 430s - $72/hr tach wet
1 Arrow - $93/hr tach wet
1 Comanche 260 w/ Garmin 430 - $113/hr tach wet.

A non-profit club is the most reasonable way to own an aircraft.

--Dan



Mxsmanic wrote:
If you own your own aircraft, could you discuss:

1. The make and model.

2. Whether you bought it new or used (if used, a bit of history on
it).

3. The cost to buy it.

4. The way you financed the purchase.

5. Your approximate yearly costs for operation, maintenance, and
insurance.

6. Your approximate yearly investment in training, licensing, medical
exams, etc. (to keep current as a pilot, as opposed to just the costs
related to a specific aircraft).

I'm just curious about how much it actually costs to own and fly an
aircraft. I get the impression that it requires either being quite
wealthy or making severe sacrifices and never flying anything better
than a junky tin can.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message

The money for the hangar comes from writing about airplanes.

.....(I take a biannual flight review every two years).

Interesting. You get paid to write about airplanes and aviation, yet you
still don't know the difference between biannual and biennial. What a
country!!

On Mon, 23 Oct 2006 23:51:42 -0400, "John Gaquin"
wrote:


"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message

The money for the hangar comes from writing about airplanes.

.....(I take a biannual flight review every two years).

Interesting. You get paid to write about airplanes and aviation, yet you
still don't know the difference between biannual and biennial. What a
country!!

I let the even-higher-paid editors worry about that! :-)

Ron Wanttaja

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
If you own your own aircraft, could you discuss:

1. The make and model.

1946 Ercoupe 415-C

2. Whether you bought it new or used (if used, a bit of history on
it).

Bought it used in 2002. The plane was first sold to a someone in Oklahoma
City on March 5, 1946. From there, it went to Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and
Iowa (when I bought it). I took it from Iowa to Texas, back to Iowa and now
in Minnesota. I got the FAA CD-ROM a couple weeks ago and looked through its
entire history. IMHO, worth ordering for your plane

3. The cost to buy it.

I paid $9,000

4. The way you financed the purchase.

Cash

5. Your approximate yearly costs for operation, maintenance, and
insurance.

Varied from $200 to $1,000 for annual inspections and maintenance per year.
Also approximately $800 for insurance per year. Hangar rent ranged from $400
to $1,000/year depending on where it was hangared. So the fixed annual fees
ranged from $1,400 to $2,800 per year.

6. Your approximate yearly investment in training, licensing, medical
exams, etc. (to keep current as a pilot, as opposed to just the costs
related to a specific aircraft).

Biennial flight review and medical is about $150 every 2 years. A medical
($100 of it) isn't required to fly as Sport Pilot*.

I'm just curious about how much it actually costs to own and fly an
aircraft. I get the impression that it requires either being quite
wealthy or making severe sacrifices and never flying anything better
than a junky tin can.

This year, the total annual/maintenance, hangar and insurance (fixed costs)
came to around $2,500. I only flew about 25 hours during the year (between
annual/maintenance) so it was $100/hour to fly, not counting the fuel and
oil costs per hour (approx. $25/hour). If I had flown 100 hours during the
year, it would have been ~$50/hour (total) to fly.

This is the reason why my aircraft sale is pending. Paid $9,000 for it 4
years ago, flew it over 100 hours and selling (pending) it for $16,000. I'm
getting most (all?) of the money that I have put into it for maintenance and
annuals, etc., so overall, it WAS cheap to fly!

*I can fly my Ercoupe under Sport Pilot rules; no medical required but have
renewed my medical anyways because I like to be able to (or have the option
to) fly at night or to fly something bigger like a C-150.

-Greg B.

I have a 4 seat 1953 Piper Tripacer. It cost $17,500. I pay about $1000 a
year for insurance and about the same for an annual. I was paying $175 per
month for a hangar, but now I'm paying $50 a month for a tiedown. I was able
to use autogas for an hourly rate of about $12 to $15 an hour for gas, but
since the ethanol mandate hit my state, that's up to about $35 an hour for
gas. I financed it through MBNA for 5 years. The payment was $308 a month
and it has been paid of for a couple of years now. Medical costs $75 every 2
years and registration costs $100 per year (up from $75).

That's about it.

mike

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
If you own your own aircraft, could you discuss:

1. The make and model.

2. Whether you bought it new or used (if used, a bit of history on
it).

3. The cost to buy it.

4. The way you financed the purchase.

5. Your approximate yearly costs for operation, maintenance, and
insurance.

6. Your approximate yearly investment in training, licensing, medical
exams, etc. (to keep current as a pilot, as opposed to just the costs
related to a specific aircraft).

I'm just curious about how much it actually costs to own and fly an
aircraft. I get the impression that it requires either being quite
wealthy or making severe sacrifices and never flying anything better
than a junky tin can.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Mxsmanic wrote:
If you own your own aircraft, could you discuss:

1. The make and model.

1/2 of clean '76 Beech C23 Sundowner with a nice panel and radio stack.

2. Whether you bought it new or used (if used, a bit of history on
it).

Used. I was in 5th grade in '76. G I've known my co-owner for 6-7
years, so we had a relationship before we bought the plane.

We bought it from four guys who had owned it about 9 years and were
upgrading to a C24 Sierra. We still see the previous owners on a
regular basis and have an excellent relationship with them. They flew
it a lot, and we fly it a lot, so the plane stays fresh.


3. The cost to buy it.

$46k ($23k for me)

4. The way you financed the purchase.

My personal savings, put aside over the years from part-time businesses
I operate.

5. Your approximate yearly costs for operation, maintenance, and
insurance.

We bill ourselves $60/hr, + $10/hr TBO fund, for operation, which covers
fuel, tie-down, oil changes, and misc. crap. We pay the ~$900-$1000 for
annual, and the insurance bill out of pocket when required. I think our
last insurance premium was ~ $750, but I don't remember exactly.

6. Your approximate yearly investment in training, licensing, medical
exams, etc. (to keep current as a pilot, as opposed to just the costs
related to a specific aircraft).

My PP training (47 hrs.) was ~$4500, 1/2 in the Beech and 1/2 in rented
Warriors. Regular flying keeps me current. G I'll usually spend ~ 2
hrs every 6-8 weeks doing slow flight, performance takeoffs and
landings, and stalls. I do hood work on a regular basis when there is
another pilot in the right seat. I'm in continuous training, because I
enjoy it. Since the additional training is optional for a private
pilot, I'm not adding the cost here.

I'm just curious about how much it actually costs to own and fly an
aircraft. I get the impression that it requires either being quite
wealthy or making severe sacrifices and never flying anything better
than a junky tin can.

One of our tie-down neighbors has a $10k C152. Is it pretty? Not
really... But it's an airplane, and flying is flying, and flying is fun!
If couldn't afford to own what I have, I would be in a club, renting,
or the owner of a beater.

Mxsmanic wrote:
If you own your own aircraft, could you discuss:

1. The make and model.

2. Whether you bought it new or used (if used, a bit of history on
it).

3. The cost to buy it.

4. The way you financed the purchase.

5. Your approximate yearly costs for operation, maintenance, and
insurance.

6. Your approximate yearly investment in training, licensing, medical
exams, etc. (to keep current as a pilot, as opposed to just the costs
related to a specific aircraft).

I'm just curious about how much it actually costs to own and fly an
aircraft. I get the impression that it requires either being quite
wealthy or making severe sacrifices and never flying anything better
than a junky tin can.


I have a C-172F /G. I am not wealthy, but it is where I put some of my
income after taking care of retirement savings, home care, eating, etc.
I own it alone and it is not a piece of junk. It has a 180hp engine. I
waited to own an aircraft until I successfully put two kids through
college and they were on their own. I could have bought a membership to
a large country club and played golf, I could have bought a boat ( I
actually had a 21' runabout for 20 years before buying the plane), I
could have done lots of things. I could have spent $100000 for a
simulator, but a real plane is a lot of fun. (I flew a Folker F100 full
motion simulator once. While a thrill, I still enjoy my Skyhawk). The
rest of your questions are N/A.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI