How do you fund your flying "hobby"?

As a few others have mentioned, avoiding debt for anything that doesn't appreciate or make money is one of the most important keys to financial success. Pay credit cards off completely each month, save and pay cash for cars and toys (including airplanes). The only downside is you may have to postpone ownership of something you covet for a few years but if you follow this plan you'll end up being able to afford to spend twice as much or more.

When I got into flying I joined a well run club with several airplanes to fly and 75 members who collectively owned the airplanes. A few years later I and seven friends bought a biplane to share and remained involved in that for several years. In the meantime I purchased an old Bonanza (with cash) which I owned for 10 years before buying the Baron I still own today. When I upgraded from the Bonanza to the Baron I partnered with another Bonanza owner who shared the same goals and we both sold our Bonanzas to buy the Baron. That partnership ended 5 years later when my partner moved out of state. By then I had accumulated enough cash to buy out his share per an agreement we had signed when the plane was originally purchased. The fact that I had a partner to share fixed expenses and upgrade costs with for 5 years is what made it possible to own the plane outright. Had I gone into debt and bought the Baron on my own in the first place I'd probably still owe money on it 20 years later.

Being steadily employed with a relatively well paying hi-tech job and being married to someone who also had a good career certainly contributed to my financial resources but I strongly believe the fact that the only debt I ever had was the mortgage on the houses I lived in really made a big difference.

Oh, and speaking of a wife, I have several pilot friends who developed AIDS (Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome) and were forced to sell their airplanes and other expensive toys as a result. So if you do marry, choose carefully and find someone who either shares your aviation interests or at least supports it wholeheartedly.
 
Acrodustertoo said:
You really should write an autobiography! You have most definitely lived an interesting life.
Click to expand...

My wife was reading over my shoulder and saw my answer. My life is REALLY interesting today. :eek:
I'll change my answer to: I get 2 or 3 retirement checks and I fly a lot of junk no one else will touch.
 
Bought a cheap, slow but comfortable Beech Sport 20 years ago. Got my A&P ticket, park outside, rent a hanger for 1 month every year to work on my "little Beech". Work in a Silver mine to pay the bills.
 
For those of you who have been selling their bodies to fund aviation, any tips for a newbe entering into this endeavor?

I think I may need to start doing this soon.
 
RalphInCA said:
For those of you who have been selling their bodies to fund aviation, any tips for a newbe entering into this endeavor?

I think I may need to start doing this soon.
Click to expand...

increase-testosterone.jpg
 
I turned one of my other hobbies into a sideline business. That helped a little. For the most part, get rid of debt, make reasonably intelligent decisions about money. We don't live in a crappy little house, nor do we drive 20 year old rustbucket cars. But, we also don't live in a mansion or replace our leased Jaguars every two years. We don' spend a lot on booze or extravagant vacations. Most of this stuff is just common sense. Some of it is luck, and a lot of it is hard work and being willing to make sacrifices to get where you want to go and do the things you want to do.
 
I waited until I had the money to buy a plane outright, and only after all my debts including cars and my house was also paid off. Then and only then did I allow myself to buy a plane. I wanted to buy a plane for a long time and used that carrot to motivate me to start a business and work long hours building it up.
 
Learned to fly at the Base Aero Club, flew there for a few years pretty cheaply and then got involved with work and married life and parenthood. When I retired, started consulting where I was paid a ridiculous amount of money to tell people what I used to tell them for "free" while working.

House paid for, kids gone, great IRA and retired pay and building two planes while renting now.

Either wait till you've got it, or spend what you need for flying instead of something else like a bigger more expensive house or car than you need.

Cheers
 
Worked several jobs at once,untill I retired put some money away, now I watch expenses ,and fund my addiction.
 
I pay for my flying with work flying.

As for the wife thing, any woman who was fool enough to try to tell me to sell my stuff, to not do things which I enjoy, and was into before we got hitched, her butt would be gone in a New York heart beat.
 
EdFred said:
Job, no wife, no kids, no mortgage. No kids frees up at least 10k a year per kid. No wife frees up at least 100k/year.
Click to expand...

That depends on the wife. Good friend of mine's salary was getting eclipsed by his wife's so he stopped looking for work after he got laid off.
 
You mention "hobby" and "310." Most people flying expensive aircraft to operate like a 310 or larger are either funding it because they have high incomes (into the 6-figure range), and/or the airplane isn't a hobby, it's part of the job whether it's a corporate aircraft you get to fly, or you fly professionally. Certainly it is possible to own one of these planes cheaper and on lower incomes (owner assisted maintenance is a big deal), but you also have to keep in mind the financial risk factors. What happens when you need to overhaul a prop? An engine? Avionics upgrades? These are big dollar items that you must have plans on how to pay for.

Also, most expensive planes are travel machines. Most individuals don't have the need to travel that much, and those larger planes are not particularly fun (or practical) to use just for sight seeing or counting cows. Maybe you have a lot of people you'd like to see, but the other question is how much will you really travel to see them just because you have a plane? Or will you need other reasons to drive the travel? The travel isn't free just because you own the plane. Although we have access to a very nice plane for family travel (a Cessna 414), we only use it for personal use a couple of times a year because it's expensive and life gets in the way, you only have so much vacation time, etc. There are lots of people all around the continent we want to see.

I wanted to fly twins like you, but I also wanted to do charitable flying. I ended up buying an old clapped out Aztec and starting a non-profit. My initial intent when I started thinking about charitable flying was Angel Flights, but that pretty quickly morphed into animal rescue (a long story which is documented in the pages of this forum), which has really been a great fit for the kind of flying I like to do and for my personal interests. It's been a great deal of work and personal expense, though ($0 salary). I find it's a bad fit for most people, but my situation is pretty unique.

I generally think if you want to fly bigger planes, then your best path is to try to get into professional flying. That gives you the plane and the mission figured out, plus you get paid for it.

The mission defines the plane pretty readily, though. I would suggest that you continue doing more flying and figure out what exactly it is you want to do. Once you have that figured out, the plane you want will make itself readily apparent. For example, the 414 is an excellent fit for my non-profit work, and also an excellent fit for flying my family (there are 5 of us) when we do family trips. It is a terrible plane for going out and counting the cows in the fields surrounding our house in the middle of nowhere, which is why building a STOL aircraft (thinking Zenith 750) is also on the list.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
You mention "hobby" and "310." Most people flying expensive aircraft to operate like a 310 or larger are either funding it because they have high incomes (into the 6-figure range), and/or the airplane isn't a hobby, it's part of the job whether it's a corporate aircraft you get to fly, or you fly professionally. Certainly it is possible to own one of these planes cheaper and on lower incomes (owner assisted maintenance is a big deal), but you also have to keep in mind the financial risk factors. What happens when you need to overhaul a prop? An engine? Avionics upgrades? These are big dollar items that you must have plans on how to pay for.

Also, most expensive planes are travel machines. Most individuals don't have the need to travel that much, and those larger planes are not particularly fun (or practical) to use just for sight seeing or counting cows. Maybe you have a lot of people you'd like to see, but the other question is how much will you really travel to see them just because you have a plane? Or will you need other reasons to drive the travel? The travel isn't free just because you own the plane. Although we have access to a very nice plane for family travel (a Cessna 414), we only use it for personal use a couple of times a year because it's expensive and life gets in the way, you only have so much vacation time, etc. There are lots of people all around the continent we want to see.

I wanted to fly twins like you, but I also wanted to do charitable flying. I ended up buying an old clapped out Aztec and starting a non-profit. My initial intent when I started thinking about charitable flying was Angel Flights, but that pretty quickly morphed into animal rescue (a long story which is documented in the pages of this forum), which has really been a great fit for the kind of flying I like to do and for my personal interests. It's been a great deal of work and personal expense, though ($0 salary). I find it's a bad fit for most people, but my situation is pretty unique.

I generally think if you want to fly bigger planes, then your best path is to try to get into professional flying. That gives you the plane and the mission figured out, plus you get paid for it.

The mission defines the plane pretty readily, though. I would suggest that you continue doing more flying and figure out what exactly it is you want to do. Once you have that figured out, the plane you want will make itself readily apparent. For example, the 414 is an excellent fit for my non-profit work, and also an excellent fit for flying my family (there are 5 of us) when we do family trips. It is a terrible plane for going out and counting the cows in the fields surrounding our house in the middle of nowhere, which is why building a STOL aircraft (thinking Zenith 750) is also on the list.
Click to expand...

Well I can tell you unless I receive some large amount of cash I don't plan on owning a twin unless I've at least gotten into the 6 figure area at some point in my career. It's pretty cool that you dedicate your time for non profit work. If you don't mind elaborating it'd be great to hear how you can afford(financially) spending most of your time working as a non-profit with a $0 salary. Thanks.
 
Matthew K said:
Well I can tell you unless I receive some large amount of cash I don't plan on owning a twin unless I've at least gotten into the 6 figure area at some point in my career. It's pretty cool that you dedicate your time for non profit work. If you don't mind elaborating it'd be great to hear how you can afford(financially) spending most of your time working as a non-profit with a $0 salary. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I don't. I'm an engineer with a normal full time job and then work the additional full time job for the non-profit. Since the non-profit has been around for about 7.5 years now, it (fortunately) doesn't require as much time as it used to. Early days it was 40-60 hours/week, now it's come down considerably. If I was able to retire and just do the non-profit full-time, I would.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I don't. I'm an engineer with a normal full time job and then work the additional full time job for the non-profit. Since the non-profit has been around for about 7.5 years now, it (fortunately) doesn't require as much time as it used to. Early days it was 40-60 hours/week, now it's come down considerably. If I was able to retire and just do the non-profit full-time, I would.
Click to expand...
Ahh okay. What type of engineer are you? Sounds like you're pretty dedicated to your non profit.
 
No debt. Good job. Modest but paid for house. No children. No ex-wives. The girlfriend has her own career and pays her own expenses. I share a 182 with a great partner (not the girlfriend).
 
I have a decent (but not great) job and no debt, aside from a home loan on a modest home. I've always lived within my means, been responsible with my money, and do all my own work on whatever needs work. Essentially, everything I own is a project and I put sweat equity into it. Aside from my main job, I also work for one of the local FBOs and take a very occasional contract flight. The money made at the FBO and contract flying is generally what funds my hobby flying and aircraft ownership.

I currently own 2.5 airplanes. I own an old Bonanza, an old Stinson, and half of a Mooney. All of them are or were projects, and a lot of personal time has been invested in getting them back in shape.
 
mondtster said:
I currently own 2.5 airplanes. I own an old Bonanza, an old Stinson, and half of a Mooney. All of them are or were projects, and a lot of personal time has been invested in getting them back in shape.
Click to expand...

The ability to work on the plane yourself is a huge money saver. The only reason we were able to make the jump to the 414 was because it's a project.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
The ability to work on the plane yourself is a huge money saver. The only reason we were able to make the jump to the 414 was because it's a project.
Click to expand...
For future reference, how much did you snag that 414 for?
 
Ted DuPuis said:
The ability to work on the plane yourself is a huge money saver. The only reason we were able to make the jump to the 414 was because it's a project.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. There is no way I could afford to play like I do if I had to pay a shop to do all my work.
 
Matthew K said:
For future reference, how much did you snag that 414 for?
Click to expand...

The 414 (N620CA for those keeping track) is owned by Cloud Nine. It was purchased for $100k. This is at the bottom of the market for 414s, and for a 1977 model (last year of the tip tanks) with low TTAF, no corrosion, and P&I that I rate as 8/10 (only reason it's not 10/10 is because it's dated) was an excellent value.
 
mondtster said:
Absolutely. There is no way I could afford to play like I do if I had to pay a shop to do all my work.
Click to expand...

how do you guys work on your own stuff? Do you need to find an A&P AI that will sign off on things?
 
midcap said:
how do you guys work on your own stuff? Do you need to find an A&P AI that will sign off on things?
Click to expand...

Work hard and get your mechanic ratings too. That's how I do it.
 
midcap said:
how do you guys work on your own stuff? Do you need to find an A&P AI that will sign off on things?
Click to expand...

That's what I do. It's usually not too hard to find someone who will work with you.
 
Matthew K said:
Relative to flight training how much does it cost to get a mechanic's rating?
Click to expand...

Depends on how you do it. I got mine for free (well, I got paid some) apprenticing for the local FBO. But you could go to a part 147 school instead, which costs money. Costs are typically whatever it takes to get a two year degree.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top