Aviation Consumer recent edition had the 182 as it's featured used aircraft. One of the people giving owner feedback said his all-in cost per year is $30,000 for about 100 hours' flying time. I would like to have a 182, but that is a little rich for me.
I read the article, but I think you're singling out a top 5% airplane to characterize the entire fleet. N9339G has a top of the line engine, panel, anti-ice equipment, and more. So it's not his annual fixed costs for what he has now are going to be pretty steep.
But I bet before he started upgrading, the annual costs were much more palatable.
Out of curiosity, what amount would not be a little too rich for you? $20,000? 18?
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For everyone else, here's the excerpt from the Aviation Consumer article that somorris references"
I was a first-time plane buyer in spring of 1998. While I had gotten my pilot certificate as a teenager in 1971, I had not flown since 1973.
As a low-time pilot I needed simplicity, and for commuting I needed speed, dispatch reliability and some-weather-flying capability. Since I like small airfields and dirt strips, good prop clearance and good short field performance was wanted. As I would be taking it all over the U.S., I wanted any mechanic to be able to take care of it.
As I would be taking friends and family, I needed four seats. As I had some money (but not a lot), I needed a plane that was affordable to acquire and operate. All in, this is a perfect specification for a legacy Cessna 182. I ultimately purchased N9339G, a 1972 P-model. After new paint and interior, it’s now N314PY.
An instrument, commercial and multi-engine rated pilot, I initially flew it 200 hours per year, but for the past eight years I average around 100 hours per year flying it most weekends, including traveling with my wife to visit friends. Other times I fly to practice instrument approaches or basic airmanship. I still have not gotten tired of steep turns, stalls or precision power-off landings in this airplane.
As I have been using the plane fairly seriously, I have slowly been upgrading. It is now a particularly capable 182, especially with the Texas Skyways O-550 engine upgrade. At 5000 to 8000 feet, it burns 15 GPH (ROP) at 145 knots true. At 17,500 feet I see 9 GPH and 115 knots true. This is useful when heading east. The aircraft has tremendous high density altitude performance.
With the 40 degrees of flaps and the AoA system, plus the 182’s fat wing, I can fly it safely at 50 knots. This makes getting in and out of 1500-foot airfields comfortable. Perhaps a better pilot could reliably go even shorter.
The aircraft has Flint extended range fuel tanks in the last internal wing bay, for a total of 102 gallons usable, instead of 79. The additional two hours of endurance adds utility.
During a major avionics upgrade, I had all the 1972 vintage wiring removed and replaced with modern wires and pullable circuit breakers, in addition to replacing all of the antennas, signal cable and connectors—beautifully done and reliable, too. I also added a 70-amp alternator.
Avionics mods include a Garmin GNS530W, SL30, S-Tec 30, Angle of Attack system, Avidyne EX500 MFD with approach charting, TAS and TIS traffic systems, EDM800 engine monitor, Aspen PFD with synthetic vision. I don’t recommend the $2000-plus Aspen ESV software upgrade. It’s just not engineered right to be useful, in my opinion.
The cowling and wingtip dual HID pulsating recognition lights are useful, however. When in continuous mode, they are plenty bright enough to land at unlighted fields.
The aircraft has a TKC deicing system. It’s not approved for known icing, of course, but it enables me to fly through New England all winter with just the occasional cancellation—something you can’t otherwise do. As the TKS fuel tank make access to the empennage difficult, I had a DER approve a rear access panel.
My longest nonstop trip in N314PY was 10.5 hours from Flagstaff, Arizona, to Teterboro, New Jersey. This included two picnics at 17,500 feet and three restroom breaks (the 182 gives lots of space for easy maneuvering inside.) I landed with 45 minutes of fuel remaining. My longest wander was two weeks as far north as I could still find drums of 100LL. I made it to Resolute, Pond Inlet and Qikiqtarjuaq.
I now fly without the wheel pants installed. I like the improved view (one of the benefits of a high wing, in addition to easier access and staying out of the rain), and maybe take a one- to two-knot hit.
As you can see, sort of everything about this 182 has been swapped/replaced/improved. The airframe is clean and I treat it with Corrosion X every other year to keep it that way.
I can’t think of any downside to my Skylane. I fly it at night, in weather, with passengers—although though not all three simultaneously. Like any plane, you have to keep up with maintenance. That’s not cheap, but as most every mechanic can work on a 182, it is about as reasonable as an airplane can be.
My honest all-in cost is $18,000 for the first hour of the year. Insurance is $2900 for $170,000 on the hull and $1 million smooth through USAIG, and brokered by Sutton James in Connecticut. My hangar is $4500 per year, oil and small stuff is $1000, annual inspections around $2000, capital costs are around $5000. Then there are database upgrades at $1000-plus, $1000 for training, plus imperative magazines like Aviation Consumer. After all that, add $125 per hour—$75 for gas and $25 for engine and prop reserve.
If I had known for real how much plane ownership would really cost (I think real all-in cost for my annual 100 hours is $30,000) I would not have bought the plane.
But, if I had known how much I absolutely love everything about flying and owning the plane, I not only would for sure have gone ahead, but would have done so a decade earlier.
