Some of us drive our 60-year old car, or our 70-year old motorcycle, to fly our 80-year old airplane. Because, in each case they are simple, well maintained (and easily maintained) exemplars of industrial design.
Amen to that. You have to really enjoy this to be able to sink the required amount of time, money and effort into it.
My condoleances . PSACs, SCIs and SASes can put even the most ardent insomniac to sleep.
Which "free money" was this, exactly? Fraudulent PPP "loans"?
Eh, a $35k Bellanca will only cost $100k vs. a $50k Bonanza that'll cost $140k . . ..
Exactly.
Actually it was relying on a job to not get in the way.
All of that just sounds like normal ways that people earn money.
To an extent I would agree given the differences between aircraft ownership and the others you list. However, where there is a noticeable difference among aircraft owners is when the flying is no longer a priority for whatever reason. The average owner tends to turn a blind eye to the aircraft where as an "engaged" owner will ensure the aircraft is taken care of until flying is a priority again. In general, that simple difference is usually the reason behind a lot of the additional costs incurred by your average aircraft owner.
Yes but going back to my example now, base salaries have gone down, stocks plateau (tech) and layoffs become more common. You add all those with expensive housing, kids back to school, RTOs, etc and you have less time and money for your hobby
Opportunity costs. Sometimes loans make sense even when you don't need the loan to "afford" something.
Yeah, This is very good advice.
ya but....the psychology isn't good....you'll end up spending way more than you should and refinancing for longer than if you just got a consumer loan.
And, so long your money is wisely invested and your balance sheet is positive, you aren't living on credit
I am apparently now in the upper class of pilots, sort of. About 6 years ago I got traded my 80's vehicle with almost 300,000 miles on it for a early 2000's vehicle that now has just over 200,000, hoping to get close to 300,000 out of it also.
I will say.....not knowing....buying my plane 15 years ago was one of my best investments.
Yes, but. Certified is still a level more expensive due to parts available that are literally the same quality, or even better, but not certified to use on the certified aircraft. Also, labor is substantially cheaper if you are a good mechanic and willing to follow the same guidance an A&P would.
If engine overhaul is the only relevant factor, I would need the facilities to do it under supervision like @Jim K is doing. So in my case it would still be about facilities and time availability relative to my job, not airplane costs.
Example: someone in another thread posted about being charged 25 hours of labor to install a magnetometer for an AV-30. That's $2500 to install a $250 part. I installed my own magnetometer, which is proof that any fool can do it.
Having one of each? I can easily say my Exp is more expensive in every way except annual inspection, because I can do my own inspection on the Cub. Parts? Certificated planes are limited to what’s approved. Exp’s have no such limits. Tricked-out IO390s aren’t cheap. Cold air sumps, electronic ignitions, fuel injection, gas shocks…. There’s no free lunch if you maintain a high quality aircraft.
That makes no sense. You can’t consider upgrades as essential for a well maintained aircraft. If you do, then I still maintain the certified is more expensive because then you’d have to buy a better certified airplane to get a simple upgrade.
Maybe you don’t. My airplanes are both nicely modified and very well maintained. Modifying certificated airplanes is very limited. Not so with experimentals. If you aren’t interested in improving what you have? I guess you’d see it differently. My comments about parts are true.
I’ve made major improvements on all the planes I’ve owned. It’s cost me significantly more to do so on the certified ones. Especially labor costs as even doing it yourself you still have to pay someone to review your work and do the paperwork.
That and......THE SPREADSHEET.
I would guess that around 90% don't know what they're in for, especially the stoooooopid costs of some parts.
A smart owner DOES "nickel and dime" in some ways, mostly by educating themselves and doing the same maintenance for less money.
This!!! That's where the remaining 10% who *do* understand what they're getting into come from. I was on the board of my flying club for eight years before getting my own plane, and served as treasurer or maintenance director for most of that time. There are many expensive lessons to be had in aircraft ownership, and the more you can learn with other people's money, the better.
It looks like the T-6 burns about 32 gph in cruise, or about $160/hour for fuel, *4 = $640/hr so it seems 4x fuel still works...
I think many people just have NO CLUE what maintenance really costs. Labor is fairly easy to understand. Parts... Man, there are a lot of parts that would be $12 on a car that are $1000 on an airplane.
But they'll look at that $50K Viking and think "That Dan guy is wrong." So I now use a slightly different version of this saying: "There's nothing more expensive than a cheap airplane."
