Hidden costs of buying/owning

bflynn said:
Loaded question, right? What are some of the hidden costs of buying or owning? Here's a list that I have, what am I missing?

Buying:
Price
inspection
travel
Taxes

Owning:
Storage - ramp fee or hangar
Loan payment, if any
insurance
annual, without any maintenance

Maintenance, allocated per hour
Engine reserve
Unexpected maintenance in excess of maintenance reserve
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None of these seem like "hidden" costs to me. They are (or should be) well known by an aircraft buyer/owner. To me, hidden costs would be things like unexpected repairs, unscheduled maintenance, or things like that. If proper research is done, there isn't much hidden in the cost area.
 
And yet no one has mentioned "pride of ownership." To me, that takes care of all the entries in the debit column of the owning a plane balance sheet.
 
Here's my top 10 but I could probably come up with at least 10 more

1. Avionics - you will always want more/better
2. Gizmos - Headsets, flashlights, handheld radio, iPad
3. Subscriptions - Garmin Pilot, Foreflight, etc.
4. Taxes -
5. Training - You'll fly more which means you need your IFR, multi, etc.
6. Lunch - always costs more at the airport.
7. Upgrades - Unless you're flying a 747 you'll always want bigger.
8. Vacation property - it's so easy to fly here we should buy a place.
9. Logbooks - Somebody has to pay for them.
10. All the extra miles you put on your car driving to the airport.
 
denverpilot said:
Avionics failures hasn’t been mentioned. Gyros fail, etc. People always plan for the engine, but rarely a panel failure. Some just use it as an upgrade excuse. Can get spendy either way. :)
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Yeah, this does happen - I just went through it. A bunch of stuff in my panel failed at the same time. Would have cost me probably about $5,000 to fix or replace all the old stuff. I was so annoyed with that old garbage that I did the smart thing and replaced them with $30k worth of new stuff!

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you end up doing the upgrades that you swore you would never do.

There's also a whole list of items that I couldn't live without that I would immediately have to install on any plane I own in the future. Some of which are necessaries that are easily overlooked, and others fit in the categories of pure upgrades. Among the first list: engine block heater (Reiff Turbo XP for me, preferably), Switchbox for turning the heater on, canopy cover, cowl plugs, iPad mount, iPad mini, 6 cylinder EGT/CHT monitor, etc. Among the second: Sportsman leading edge for a Cessna, minimum one-axis autopilot.
 
Hidden = easy to overlook, like taxes. You can't overlook them for long.
 
AA5Bman said:
Logbooks?
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If you own a plane, you'll fly more which means you'll log more which means you'll need to buy more log books. It's not a big cost but it is a hidden cost.
 
AA5Bman said:
Yeah, this does happen - I just went through it. A bunch of stuff in my panel failed at the same time. Would have cost me probably about $5,000 to fix or replace all the old stuff. I was so annoyed with that old garbage that I did the smart thing and replaced them with $30k worth of new stuff!

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you end up doing the upgrades that you swore you would never do.

There's also a whole list of items that I couldn't live without that I would immediately have to install on any plane I own in the future. Some of which are necessaries that are easily overlooked, and others fit in the categories of pure upgrades. Among the first list: engine block heater (Reiff Turbo XP for me, preferably), Switchbox for turning the heater on, canopy cover, cowl plugs, iPad mount, iPad mini, 6 cylinder EGT/CHT monitor, etc. Among the second: Sportsman leading edge for a Cessna, minimum one-axis autopilot.
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+1 on avionics. DG failed on day 3. Bought a parts plane (good plane, no engine) with new interior and nice legacy panel the next day for 1200.
 
With all the info about costs out there on forums and type clubs, I don't think there's such a thing as 'hidden' costs. What there is, in abundance, is the chance for large unpredictable, random, expenses. Most of these can be accounted for to some extent with a maintenance reserve, but to be hit with an early overhaul, or expensive AD can still hit pretty hard.

Patrick
 
Don’t forget the always expensive “While we’re in there we might as well do .....”


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