Book review:The Illustrated Buyer's Guide to Used Airplanes by Bill Clarke

"Owning a personal aircraft,except for a very few people in unusual
circumstances, simply does not make economic sense. It's a toy and,
invariably, an expensive one. However, for those who want to fly, it's
the best toy in the world, a source of immense satisfaction.

Sadly, many people try to make what is invariably a purely emotional
expenditure into a "sensible" one, and wind up spending almost as much
money for a boring and unrewarding aircraft as they would have to go
all the way and buy an airplane that will do what they really would
like.

The General Aviation industry, obsessed with promoting its wares as
rational business decisions, foundered at the very time the speedboat,
exotic car, and expensive motorcycle (read: Harley-Davidson)
businesses blossomed. The reason is that these business openly vended
their wares for what they we expensive toys. No one tried, as
Cessna and Piper have for forty years, to get even the most gullible
affluent buyer of Cigarette boats and Ferraris that they were buying
anything but fun and snob appeal.

Personally, I find the wares of Wichita pretty deficient in the fun
factor as compared to homebuilts and warbirds, and I'm not one of the
few people with a legitimate business case-and there still are a
(very) few-for owning a 310 or a Bonanza. But if you want to buy a
certificated light aircraft, this book does offer a good insight into
their respective strong and weak points and explains how the procedure
of buying one is best managed. My main disagreement is with how the
word "investment" is used with regard to aircraft not in revenue
service. (If it isn't, it isn't an investment-and leaseback doesn't
count.) If you want an investment, buy stocks, bonds or real
estate-but, unless you're Southwest Airlines, never, ever an airplane.
"