How do we (you) afford to fly?

Van Johnston said:
Heredity. Which give me about ~1.5% interest in 240 acres of subsurface mineral rights in the Permian basin in west Texas. The higher avgas goes, the more I can fly...
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Mine gave me some in Louisiana... Not enough to fly on... 1/100 of.... 1%! Got $16.00 off my oil well this year.... Yay me!

Now, if my ship comes in... I'll be in real clover! (Lotta shipping stock right now)

LOL!
 
I get paid to do it as a CFI. Right now only instructing on Saturdays because doing it full time doesn't pay the bills. Working on that ratio to go more towards flying and less towards actual work.
 
Wagondriver said:
Idaho every year for camping and hunting...camp for the weekend a few times a year. A couple of trips to MN...hunting trip.
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I afford flying by NOT doing this.

I work a day job and run a hobby farm evenings and weekends. So naturally, I can't go on vacation which saves a lot of money. Made the mistake of jumping into aviation head first without saving up. Worst and best thing I ever did!
 
focal_plane said:
Drive old(er) cars
Work on own cars as needed
Rarely eat out
No $500 sneakers
No kids
No pets
No cigarettes
No cable
No streaming

sounds like no nuthin i guess, but not really, we don't miss any of it.
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^ That.
 
Southpaw said:
I'm spending the kids inheritance, they said it was ok to do so. :)
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Yep ... I told the children that when they come to the "reading of the will" to bring their checkbooks 'cause some people are gonna be wanting their money back! :D
 
I remember riding in the car with Dad after I was an adult. Ahead of us was an RV with a "We're spending our children's inheritance!" bumper sticker. Dad said "See that? That's your Mom and I. If there's any leftover at the end, great, but don't count on it."
 
It hurts a little the first few times, but you get used to it and the money is great.
 
Generally, we got lucky with family finances. Things sucked at one point, when I quit working full time to raise the kids. With a Commercial Certificate in hand thanks to my prior work, I scratched my flying itch by getting a job flying traffic patrol part time in 172's, and got to borrow the work plane from time to time for personal use. But then things got better, and we went the ownership route. We clubbed it to start, with owner assisted maintenance. We are experimental now with 90% owner maintenance, some parts from NAPA, and non-TSO avionics. That keeps costs manageable.

Finances now are good: College payments are done, a humble retirement is on track, and debt is only by choice (like recently, when borrowed money was so dang cheap). The aforementioned bad times led us to keep living a frugal life, only buying used cars and fixing them myself, learning how to charge HVAC systems with black market freon, etc. If M'lady (still full time) lost her job for whatever reason, we would survive, even if we didn't do the Wal-Mart greeter thing for benefits.

Honestly, we should stop our one vice, the COVID-induced "support your local eatery" program we've fallen into, with bonus tipping because we sympathize, having had children earn money as servers. If we went back to the 'bad times' program of eating out at most two or three times a year, that would add quite a few flight hours per year. Or more retirement income. Okay, flight hours. There, I said it.
 
focal_plane said:
Drive old(er) cars
Work on own cars as needed
Rarely eat out
No $500 sneakers
No kids
No pets
No cigarettes
No cable
No streaming

sounds like no nuthin i guess, but not really, we don't miss any of it.
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I can add, only one women, no debt, pay myself first and manage it as well as i can.
 
I carry no debt. Just save responsibly to fly and occasionally write checks for engines and avionics.
 
Two. A Pacer and Cherokee180. Bank of Dad. He could make a penny scream for mercy but he was very generous to us kids after we got out of college, had a job, and into our twenty's.
 
Van Johnston said:
Heredity. Which gives me ~1.5% interest in 240 acres of subsurface mineral rights in the Permian basin in west Texas. The higher avgas goes, the more I can fly...
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My wife inherited a tiny fraction of a percent of a well in the Permian (Scurry County). Pays about enough to fill up the airplane once a month but she usually spends it on something useless like clothes or shoes. Go figure! :arf::blowingkisses:
 
Ref 2 previous

At one time most of the bases/posts had Aero Clubs. Bergstrom AFB had new

Cherokees for $7 / hr - wet!
 
Many good points already stated:

Corporate job
One car payment (2019 vehicle company pays me to have)
All other cars are older vehicles I maintain myself (1984 to 2011)
One child (married, so after the honeymoon, chances of more kids dropped off dramatically :p)
Sold off the expensive cars (toys... which happened due to the above child)
Slimmed down on hobbies (no more racing, car shows, guitars sat in the closet, etc.)
Frugal vacations

But also as another poster stated - Rotax. I purposely went Sport Pilot and purchased a Light Sport (used, in cash, needing work) so that maintenance and operating costs would be lower. And I converted my plane to E-LSA so I could work on it myself (much in the same line as maintaining vehicles myself).

My biggest cost of aviation are (in order):
  1. Hangar rent
  2. Insurance
  3. Annuals (which I will alleviate with the LSRMI class this year so I can do my own annuals)
  4. California Use Tax
  5. Fuel burned during the year
  6. Hangar property tax that my county charges to hangar renters
  7. Maintenance parts (oil, oil filter, brake fluid, etc.)
 
I was spending my share of my inheritance from my folks on flying lessons until my wife got terminally sick. Now, it’s going for her 24/7 caregivers. For now, all of my flying is simulated so I only pay for electricity and 3rd party add-ons We have solar that helps with the electric bill. Our long term care insurance helps a lot, but only covers about half.
 
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Salty said:
I will never understand the shoe thing. Most of the time nobody can even see them, and it sure as heck ain't about comfort or practicality. And when they can be seen - nobody is freaking looking at your feet, and if they do, they don't care what you are wearing. Unless you're wearing socks with sandals / flip-flops. That deserves execution, or at least severe shunning.
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Yep, I get my shoes at Walmart. The $20 kind. Yes, they do wear out fast, but I can replace them fast too. I go to high level executive meetings. No one looks at your feet.
 
The continued affordability of owning a plane is partially dependent on maintaining an extensive shoe collection for my co-pilot. Keeps the Captain happy as well.

Walking in them is beside the point.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
AA5Bman said:
How the heck do you get into hang gliding? Looks like so much fun, but my wife would kill me if the hang gliding didn’t. Maybe once the kids are gone... would love a thread on this subject.

For my part, when I think about how and why I am able to afford aviation, it’s really because I went on a major personal finance kick in my early 20s and read every Dave Ramsay type book I could get my hands on and sorted my financial life out. In my opinion, you can afford some involvement in aviation at almost any income level if you have that part in order.
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The US Hang and Paragliding Association maintains a list of schools and instructors here.

Hang gliding is not any more likely to kill you than is flying a Cessna or Piper.

Bill said:
I flew HG for a while, then took a break, and expect I'll pick it back up in retirement. There is a great school near me, and others around the country if you Google some.
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There's a certain amount of physicality involved in flying a hang glider. I'm 64, and I'd say I could have flown to about age 61. That's not necessarily true of everyone, I'm not at all athletic, but I do seem to be aging less quickly than the average person my age. I'm thinking a sailboat would be more my speed when I retire, which I hope will be in six years.
 
Crashnburn said:
I was spending my share of my folks on flying lessons until my wife got terminally sick. Now, it’s going for her 24/7 caregivers. For now, all of my flying is simulated so I only pay for electricity and 3rd party add-ins. We have solar that helps with the electric bill. Our long term care insurance helps a lot, but only covers about half.
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:(
 
Crashnburn said:
I was spending my share of my inheritance from my folks on flying lessons until my wife got terminally sick. Now, it’s going for her 24/7 caregivers. For now, all of my flying is simulated so I only pay for electricity and 3rd party add-ons We have solar that helps with the electric bill. Our long term care insurance helps a lot, but only covers about half.
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Boy that was hard to read. I hope your wife is as comfortable as possible. I can only imagine what you are going thru. West wishes to you and your family. Take care.
 
Debt free. Decent nest egg put away. I flight instruct full-time so I can afford owning my 182. Actually, I'm loving this stage of my life. It's great being a CFI without the worry of paying the bills.
 
Doing Annuals for S1.98. ( the price of a key)

I’ve always been able to buy-right & sell-right with my own too.

First date with wife was a flight over Niagara Falls.

She has no thoughts of being a pilot but doesn’t like doors or windows.

Stearmans, Wacos and Breezys are her faves.
 
CharlieD3 said:
How many of you use your aircraft for "real" travel?

ie. Going over 500 miles, staying a while (days to weeks) instead of flying in tubes or driving or RVing?

Do you prefer it over "conventional" methods?

Yes, there can be delays due to wx etc. But who cares?

Heck, the airlines are getting delayed for days due to old weather half a country away...
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I do. If it's over a 2hr drive, I'll fly. And I can get from JZP to F05 in about 8 hours with one fuel stop. Flying the "Tube" takes about 12 hours or longer, and costs more.

As to the question in the Op; "how do we afford to fly" I work a full time job, with 12 hour days. The only debt service is a mortgage on the house which will be paid off in about a year and a half. My cars cost me under $2000 to purchase, and serve me well. The only big ticket items that I purchase will pay for themselves in a short time, (tools, and whatnot) I do almost everything that needs doing myself.
 
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