How much do you spend per month on flying?

jspilot

jspilot

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jspilot
I'm curious to get some feedback from people about how much each of us spends per month to fly. I'm most interested in hearing from people who own their own plane. Clearly this may not be a cut and dry answer but let's put it it his way-- If you just go flying and nothing breaks on the plane, how much do you spend per month to fly? Surely you can throw in fixed costs and the like.

I'm currently spending between 350-500 dollars per month to fly( I'm renting) 2 times a month.

I also know that the first mistake in flying is crashing, the second mistake in flying is adding up how much money it costs to keep the plane from not crashing. :)
 
what kind of a stupid question is that?....you want my wife to read this?:goofy::D



ok...$500-1,000/mo.
 
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Mission will make a big difference. Mine is cross country, 800 NM, to visit my dad. A few AMU per month on average, not including depreciation, which is significant but hard to measure. It was a lot less when I was renting, but the rental planes couldn't fly my mission.
 
I know some people will find it hard to believe, but not everyone paid cash for their planes. I'm one of the morons who is actually financing. That could shift the monthly cost quite a bit, also.
 
My magic carpet is a couple of AMUs new, not counting that, flying costs me just gas to drive to flying sites. Since I'm going to drive somewhere anyway we'll take a leap and call it all free.:lol:
Have to add about 200 bucks a year for association(insurance) and club fees.
 
I kept a sheet of all expenses ,when I first started out. Found it to be too much info. I am also financing my aircraft. I try not to pay too much attention to costs. If you do the true cost and factor in all the fixed costs,you may not want to own. If you have to ask you can't afford it.
 
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That question brings to mind the fella who was heavy breathing all over a Lamborghini in the dealer showroom.
"How much?" he asks the salesman, who was standing 20 feet away, custom made suit from Savile Row, Philippe Patek wrist watch, Italian loafers, and carefully not watching him.
"Sir" the salesman said with a slight sniff, "if you have to ask you cannot afford it.":no:
 
These days I fly about 75 hours a year. The cost, all in...including reserves, is about $135/hr.

So, that's about $850/mo.

Back when I was flying far more, about 250 hr/yr, my cost was about $100/hour.

Fixed costs eat you alive if your not flying much (when looked at on an hourly basis). My $125/mo hangar is $22/hour at 75 hr/yr but was only $6/hr at 250/yr. Similarly, my insurance is $10/hr...used to be about $2.50.
 
Fixed costs on the Mooney consistently average $12k +/- 20% yearly.
Now, add fuel.
 
I'd guess most piston owners are in for 2-3k per month all in. Turbine, add a zero.

I figured my exact hourly and per mile cost on the travel air each year. That was stupid. This year when i told my wife i was going to buy into this king air she asked if i was going to do another beechcraft cost spreadsheet. I told her nah, the exchange rate has turned 20 points in our favor so lets just call it a wash with last year.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Fixed costs on the Mooney consistently average $12k +/- 20% yearly.
Now, add fuel.
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JHW said:
I'd guess most piston owners are in for 2-3k per month all in. Turbine, add a zero.
.
Click to expand...

Yikes! I hope you also factor in some money for a bug tub of KY :yikes:


Just got a new plane.

On my last plane, land lease on my hangar was 70 a month, annuals were 500, and what ever fuel I burned.

This is why I like well maintained, low maintenance aircraft.

Having a certified aircraft I normally would do a few photography flights, or a scenic or something to cover the land lease and annuals, I'd just pay fuel, and write the expenses off my taxes.
 
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James331 said:
Yikes!

Just got a new plane.

On my last plane, land lease on my hangar was 70 a month, annuals were 500, and what ever fuel I burned.

This is why I like well maintained, low maintenance aircraft.
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Hangar, $300/mo, no squawk annual ~$1300, insurance ~$1300, then add XM and FF subscriptions. The big unpredictable is unscheduled MX. Some years it's great, some years things need to be repaired/refurb'd. That's where the +/- 20% comes in.

If you ask around, $12k/yr is an average fixed cost figure to keep a single.
 
Bill Jennings said:
If you ask around, $12k/yr is an average fixed cost figure to keep a single.
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I'd estimate that it's half of that or less for the typical 182/172. That's probably one of the reasons why over 60% of single engines alive today are Cessnas.
 
Depends. When I'm training I try to fly twice a week. When I'm not training I don't fly too much.
 
Hangar costs vary widely, too. Mine is $180/month. I've heard about people paying in the 7-800 price range in south Florida. That alone is a swing of several thousand per year.
 
The fixed cost on my Comanche/yr

Hangar: $2220
Annual: $1200
Insurance: $1200
GPS stuff: $800
Total: $5420

Conclusion:
Comanche > Mooney
 
rbridges said:
Hangar costs vary widely, too. Mine is $180/month. I've heard about people paying in the 7-800 price range in south Florida. That alone is a swing of several thousand per year.
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I *think* a guy I know pays $500...$600 a month for a tie down on long island.

Isn't that what he pays, Norm?
 
Hangar: $4500
Loan: $4800
Insurance: $1200
Annual: $2500 (fingers crossed)

Comes out to $1083 per month...but we've got 4 partners, so that's $270 per person.

Then you've gotta feed the thing...~5 hr/mo, 10gph, $6/gal is $300 in fuel. We also add $25/hr to a mx fund, which is another $125.

All in, I'm looking at $695/mo.
 
Just to let the plane sit in the hangar, I'm looking at $900/mo.
 
JHW said:
I'd guess most piston owners are in for 2-3k per month all in. Turbine, add a zero.
Click to expand...

My experience has been different. You can operate a nice turboprop aircraft for about $10k-$15k per month. The jet is about 30% more than the turboprop.

Abram Finkelstein
N48KY
 
Averaging about one AMU/month (8-10 hrs/mo) but flying lots of cool stuff and with airborne videography work spend an additional 6-8 hrs flying back seat in T-34's and Yak-52's.

Life is pretty damn good.

'Gimp
 
For a month...
225 for hangar
54 for insurance
25 for owner assisted annual
10 for oil and filters and analysis
3 for various lubricants and cleaners
so...
317 before I put fuel in it.
at 3.80 for a gallon of alcohol free gas and burning 7 gal/hr I pay 26.60 per hour of flight.
 
I figure on $90/hr (6$/gal at 15 gph cruise) direct flying expenses. I flew 100 hrs this year. So that's $9000-ish in flying cost.

Annual last year cost me $8k due to a lot of little things. Hopefully a lot less this year.

Hangar ground lease at KAPA is $275/mo (not counting what I paid for the stupid 1980s port-a-port structure - don't get me started on KAPA!)

So leaving out the cost of the aircraft... $1691/mo or $203/flight hour.

But I receive $100/hr worth of peace-of-mind by owning vs renting.

So that drops it down to $103/hr, which is cheaper than renting. :thumbsup:
 
$1000-2000 as a renter. I keep thinking about buying, but I just can't make the numbers work.
 
Hangar for two airplanes is $1000.00 per month, insurance is $9K per year, maintenance is another $15K or so, I really don't want to keep adding this stuff up! :mad2: But, I really enjoy flying! :yes::yes:
 
petrolero said:
Hangar ground lease at KAPA is $275/mo (not counting what I paid for the stupid 1980s port-a-port structure - don't get me started on KAPA!)
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I used to live very close to KAPA in Lone Tree, but chose to get a hangar at KFTG due to the lower cost. Yes, it is a bit of a drive, but I had a large, new hangar for around $230/month.
 
Me too, I spend about $12K per year on maintenance on the Conquest, 70 GPH, plus subscriptions, training etc, I don't think I am over $60-70K per year for 80-100 hours
Abram said:
My experience has been different. You can operate a nice turboprop aircraft for about $10k-$15k per month. The jet is about 30% more than the turboprop.

Abram Finkelstein
N48KY
Click to expand...
 
600-hanger
$225/hr all in
25 hrs per month
50%/50% bus personal

$3k that is non-billable per month
 
Fixed cost/yr:

Hangar N57 $2850 (10 months)
Hangar OXB $1250 (5 months) overlap for 3 months through end of summer
Insurance $690
Annual $1500 (avg over 5 years)
GPS/XM $800

Total $7090 ($590 a month)

Fuel - 9 hours a month 10 gal/hr at 5.80/gal. @ $522 month
 
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Anthony said:
I used to live very close to KAPA in Lone Tree, but chose to get a hangar at KFTG due to the lower cost. Yes, it is a bit of a drive, but I had a large, new hangar for around $230/month.
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I'm making a very ugly face at you right now.

:D

I've considered that but I guess I was prejudiced by the experience with my previous airplane. It was based 20 miles away and that distance just made me fly it less. So this time around I decided I wanted it as close as possible.

The good news, I guess, is that I'll get to sell my hangar someday and recoup some of the residual value of the structure at least. Prices for these hangars were WAY higher 5 years ago so I bought low. Maybe I'll get to sell high! :no: :D
 
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