Hey all, I'm looking into getting my first airplane to build time in the next month or so. I'm a PPL and doing my training at Purdue. I will need a loan for the plane itself which I'm looking to purchase for roughly $30-35k. (I don't have an exact plane picked out yet) I will be able to comfortably put down more than 20%. What is y'alls advice on where to get this loan at? Is there an aviation specific business that specializes in aircraft financing and getting people like me loans? Another question- is it most common to get preapproved for the loan with said company or bank and then go out to look at airplanes and then when you're ready to buy just contact the company you spoke with and arrange payment with owner? For getting preapproved what information would they need, financial history, credit, monthly income, proof of employment so on so forth? This is my first time making a big purchase like this and I want to make sure it goes smoothly. Thanks!
Although I am a bit older than you (mid 30s), I bought a $23.5K Grumman Yankee right after passing my check ride. Especially if you are pursuing a pilot program, I don't recommend this.
It is very tough to budget for airplane ownership, especially in your first year. In the 2 years I owned my plane I was hit with $2K (carb overhaul), $2.5K (spinner replacement), and $5K (both mags + other stuff) unexpected repair bills. That is in addition to the $650 (year 1) and $1500 (year 2) annuals. Knowing what I know now, some of those bills could have been cheaper, but realistically the repairs had to be done as part of sorting out an old plan that sat for a couple years before I bought it.
But, the expenses were not the worst part, before those bills hit my desk, I lost my plane for anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months while it was repaired. Those disruptions in my flying, especially that early in my experience, were a setback to my progress as a pilot. In addition, it resulted in me flying less overall, because if you think paying $175+ per flight hour is tough, try doing it while paying a $500/month airplane payment, $1200/yr insurance payment, tie down fees and an unknown soon to come bill from the issue that has the plane in the shop.
The last concern is that the plane you buy will not be the plane you need for every part of your training. So you will either put off training to fly you plane, or train and be concerned about how little you are flying your plane. Especially if you are in Purdue's 141 program, you need to focus on flying for your ratings, thats tough to do if you haven't flown your plane in a month (because you were focused on your instrument rating, and the CDI is broken in your plane, again), and you find your self procrastinating your homework by reading airplane maintenance piece about how Lycoming camshafts can rust in 2 weeks if they are parked in humid environments. If you are spending your energy learning how to own a plane, you are not spending your energy learning how to fly one.
Owning a plane is an awesome experience, one that I have every intention of doing again. After I finish my training and get the ratings I want. My DPE had 3 planes in his hangar when I passed my checkride. At the same time, his stepson was working toward his commercial rating, in a rental. At the time, I never thought to ask why he was paying for a rental for his stepson while he owned other planes, but now I know.
