How to 'buy and fly' cheap in 2022?

[pfarber]

Its foolish to think that costs are different because one is fixed and ane is variable. Expenses are expenses.

So if you fly 1 hour a year that single hour is billed at $14,000 lol, no. Only on a spreadsheet.

You can divide by hours, months, number of hairs on the ass of Tinkerbell, how you want to realize that expense is totally in your mind.

 

[fretman_2]

Probably not...my wife and I have talked about increasing the amount next time the insurance needs reupping.

On

Most hull ins is 1-2% of insured value then add on pilot qualifications (hours etc).

$40k hull is not a lot. Could you replace your current AC for $40k??

 

[fretman_2]

I can agree with that. I was only talking in terms of comparing the value of owning vs renting. At a certain point and a certain number of flight hours, your cost per hour of owning is less than the cost per hour of renting.

If you pay $7K per year renting and $7K per year owning...it's all the same. The $7K was just a number thrown out there BTW.

Its foolish to think that costs are different because one is fixed and ane is variable. Expenses are expenses.

So if you fly 1 hour a year that single hour is billed at $14,000 lol, no. Only on a spreadsheet.

You can divide by hours, months, number of hairs on the ass of Tinkerbell, how you want to realize that expense is totally in your mind.

 

[fretman_2]

It is an investment in enjoyment for sure, but I do have other hobbies which causes my accountant wife much grief!

Adding another 2 cents of mine..most of us that aviate and own do it regardless of the cost per hour. We don't have other interests that take priority so our money for multiple hobbies goes into our singular passion. The feeling one gets from doing something that one is passionate about cannot have a price and is therefore not justifiable. Unless one is taking from their families well being, or their own then spend the money, look at it as an investment in life and sanity and ENJOY the pleasures that are unique to what we as Aviators and Pilots call living.

 

[PMD]

Late to the thread, but had a chance to read all 7 pages.

To the OP: I would suggest you do a block purchase of buckfifty time before you move South. You seem to be stuck on nose draggers and the C spamcan is about the easiest thing to find time from.

Once you get to AZ, flying club/partnership is a worthwhile target. What has been written about more hours/less cost is extremely pertinent. Reality is the most expensive thing in the world is a fully licensed, certified, insured and hangared airplane sitting on the ground. Some immediate air time and exposure to some other enthusiasts might help to expand you horizons for target aircraft and arrangements.

BTW: I HAVE managed to get the cost of flying down under $1 and hour. When we lived in the North, my job(s) required a lot of travel, so I first rented then bought airplanes to do that. I would rack up a few hundred hours a year, mostly paid at a high enough rate (still far, FAR cheaper than driving, scheds and charters) to pay for most or often ALL of my costs. Something to think about if your employment opportunities can be thusly manipulated.

 

[KeithO]

PMD, many corporations expressly FORBID the use of general aviation as part of business travel. Possibly because it may have an impact on your life insurance benefit that they provide. My former boss owned a Cessna Cardinal and later a Beech Bonanza and still had to drive 14 hours by car from Michigan to our facility in Seward NE (one way) to visit the facility. The nearest major airport is in the state capital Lincoln, then still a 50+ mile drive and typically you will take nearly the same amount of time because of lack of direct flights and check in / out / car rental etc. So it has to be a special kind of company to allow you to fly for business. Unless you are a VP or GM, then they charter jets for you.... But thats a different story...

BTW: I HAVE managed to get the cost of flying down under $1 and hour. When we lived in the North, my job(s) required a lot of travel, so I first rented then bought airplanes to do that. I would rack up a few hundred hours a year, mostly paid at a high enough rate (still far, FAR cheaper than driving, scheds and charters) to pay for most or often ALL of my costs. Something to think about if your employment opportunities can be thusly manipulated.

 

[PMD]

PMD, many corporations expressly FORBID the use of general aviation as part of business travel. Possibly because it may have an impact on your life insurance benefit that they provide. My former boss owned a Cessna Cardinal and later a Beech Bonanza and still had to drive 14 hours by car from Michigan to our facility in Seward NE (one way) to visit the facility. The nearest major airport is in the state capital Lincoln, then still a 50+ mile drive and typically you will take nearly the same amount of time because of lack of direct flights and check in / out / car rental etc. So it has to be a special kind of company to allow you to fly for business. Unless you are a VP or GM, then they charter jets for you.... But thats a different story...

When I flew as an employee I was working in the North - where most of the sites were only accessible by air or multi-day road trips for the few with land access. I was a young salesman and noticed that several others in other resource areas were also flying their own aircraft. It helps that my boss' boss was an airshow performer (and a guy who contracted me back as a consultant - with ALL travel by air - years later). In most other cases I was flying as business owner but after moving South one of my customers (that I still do work for 33 years later) used me with rental aircraft - until they sold out to a US hedge fund.

It is - as with what is wrong with our entire economy and ESPECIALY genav - are you dealing with someone who owns a company and runs it with reason, logic and skill managing his or her own risk or just another employee who plays with OP(iu)M and does what he was taught in the OPM dens of "business school".