Aviation Forum / General / Aviation / July 2009

The main issue is the fixed cost of owning, which is heavily
influenced by where you live, what airports and maintenance facilities
you have accessible to you, and your own skills.

Hangar costs range from $50 to $1200/month.  In most climates, having
a hangar will in the long run pay for itself if not too expensive,
with reduced wear and tear on the airplane while it's sitting around.

Insurance cost can be reduced by purchasing a lower cost plane,
getting your hours up, and getting an instrument rating.

Maintenance cost is a little bit like hangar cost - airports with
expensive hangars tend to have expensive shops.

So - if you can locate a small nontowered airport with reasonable
hangar cost, a mechanic who is familiar with your type of plane and
doesn't charge you $2500 just to open it up for the annual, and locate
a clean older airframe, you CAN enjoy ownership.  But you do have to
have the resources to handle at least one major repair bill on a used
airframe.  For the pre-purchase inspection, search diligently for
evidence of corrosion - this tends to be the biggest driver of major
repair costs.

One other approach on purchase price is to look for airplanes with
recent damage history.  There's nothing wrong with these if they have
been properly repaired, and many buyers will not touch them (the
"virgin" complex) so they often sell for significantly less.  You will
also get less when you sell it, but if you buy a plane that you can
live with for a number of years, the damage effect wears off over time.

I was a member of one of the best and oldest clubs around.  We have
three very find aircraft and they were well maintained.  The prices
were very resonable for both the monthly dues and for flying costs.
There was absolutely no way that I could cost justify owning my own
plane based on the comparison to the club costs.

On the other hand, the flying club was at times the most frustrating
thing that I have ever been involved with.  I am a weekend flyer who
doesn't have time because of work to fly during the week.  I want the
planes on the weekend or for vacations.  I also don't want to have to
plan every flight weeks in advance but would rather be able to go
flying when I feel like it.  If I wake up on Sat. morning and the
weather looks great for the weekend, I tell my wife to pack an
overnight bag and we GO!  The flying club NEVER afforded me that
opportunity.  We had to schedule in advance and hope the weather would
cooperate.  If we waited too late, the planes would be booked and more
often than not sit in the damn hangar the entire weekend without
anyone flying them.  I lost count of the number of times I would check
the schedule and find all three planes booked only to go out to the
airport and find one or all of them setting in the hangar cold and
unflown.

So what is the best option?  It all depends on your type of flying.
If you want availability on a moments notice without having to be
concerned with getting it back in time for someone else who had it
booked but never shows, go with the club.  The partnership can be a
lot more attractive for scheduling purposes but will cost you more and
you have to be cautious about who you partner with.  Ownership will
put ALL the costs on you and those can be expensive depending on many
different circumstances.

Guess this might be one for the old "If you have to ask...you can't
afford it." type of answer.  Some sample expenses are hangar rent
$175-350 per month depending on location.  Insurance $1200-$unlimited
depending on aircraft and amount of coverage.  Annual inspections will
depend on amount of work being performed but will start at $1500 and
go up from there.  Those are just the fixed type costs and don't
include variables such a fuel and routine maintenance costs.