Airplane ownership equals more flying

saddletramp

saddletramp

Line Up and Wait
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Oct 15, 2015
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Walla Walla. WA
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saddletramp
I'm past the point of needing to build time. That was a worry when I "wore a younger man's clothes" as Billy Joel put it. I remember flying every chance I could to get the 1,500 PIC I needed so I could fly Part 135 charters for the FBO I was instructing with at the time.

I started back in flying a year ago after a ~20 year hiatus. In the period from September 2015 until July of 2016 I logged a total of 20.1 hours. Renting proved to be a hassle when I wanted to go places & stay overnight.

Two months ago, on July 5th, I purchased my 182. As I entered todays 2.7 hours flight tonight I decided to tally use the hours since plane ownership. 30.1 hours.

So 2.2 hours per month as a renter & 15.0 hours month as an owner. I hope to keep this pace up. I know airplane ownership doesn't make a lot of sense if you fly less than 100 hours a year.

Presently, I look for an excuse to take the airplane whenever possible. I'm glad I made the leap & so is my better half.
 
Congrats on the purchase! 30 hours in two months? I can hear the Hobbs meter whirring from here. I did 40 hours in two months during my Phase 1 period, and that seemed like a ton. I was itching to finish it and get out of my assigned practice area.

Nothing about owning a plane makes a lot of sense, but even if I flew only 50 hours a year, I'd happily shell out the AMUs to have my own aircraft waiting and ready for a flight, whenever the skies are clear and the mood strikes.
 
Congrats on your new plane! We gäbe the same experience. Since 08/01/16 we flew over 40 hours on our 'new' plan... :):D Michigan winter will be there soon - I guess that will slow us down. . :(
 
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Congrats on the plane. That's quite a pace you have going there. Heck I flew something like 35 hours last year and ownership still makes sense to me. I may have spent a little more for those hours (not by much), but I can go wherever I want, whenever I want. That's worth a lot in my book. I'm putting a few more hours in her this year since last years total was a disgrace. Anyway, glad you're getting to enjoy flying again after the long break.
 
Congrats,and good luck with the plane,I'm doing about 160 a year and having a great time.
 
Congrats and keep her flying! I've found over the last 7 years of ownership that the more I fly, the less stuff breaks. Maybe I've been lucky, but I'm not breaking that pattern to find out... :)

Cheers,
Brian
 
We've put 420 hours on our 22 that we bought last 9/11. And that includes the 8 weeks in the shop for new avionics, chute repack, starter replacement and annual. I've put on 150 hours on the plane. I'm now at 550 hours or so. When I starts back 3.5 years ago after a 32 year hiatus I had 105 hours. So I can relate.
 
Renting didn't work for me either. Regardless of the cost, I love owning my own plane that I can fly anytime and anywhere I like.
 
Wait until your wife gets her certificate, Saddletramp. Better buy stock in Shell :).
 
somorris said:
Wait until your wife gets her certificate, Saddletramp. Better buy stock in Shell :).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. At this point she's only wanting to learn enough to takeoff & land. Yesterday, she flew it left seat for 1.4 hours to Hood River, OR. She asked me to take the left seat on our return trip. I asked her why she didn't want to fly home & she said "that was way to much straight & level practice for me!". LOL
 
Renting was difficult at best. Just way too many constraints. I brought my 1991 AG5B Tiger home in April and despite a pretty hectic work schedule, I have over 50 hours in it and just getting comfortable flying it. Just the freedom of knowing I can fly wherever I want, when I want and stay as long as I want is worth the cost and expense of owning my own plane. Besides, not everything in life needs to be evaluated in economic terms. If that were the case, no one would ever own a boat, an RV, a luxury house or car, or anything else beyond a bare necessity and yet we all own some of these things from time to time. So why not an airplane if you can?
 
I've put 117 hours on my new airplane in about 2.5 month of having it online (flew it a little then put her in the hangar and did a bunch of work for a month or so). Not planning on slowing down any time soon!
 
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