I've owned my own light GA aircraft for 24 years. I wouldn't have it any other way; it's been a marvelous experience.
Is it practical? No, I could have flown all of my "needed" trips first class on the airlines for a pittance compared to what I've spent.
Is it cost-effective? No, especially in the modern era of $8.00 Avgas and ramp fees at many medium+ airports.
Does it make any financial sense whatsoever? No. Virtually every other means of traveling, to include enjoying GA by renting or joining a flying club, are better.
Should you do this, especially with a grand total of 50 hours under your belt, with only a vague justification of why you might want to own an aircraft? Probably not. If you're being purely rational, that is.
GA used to be the realm of the upper middle class. That's still possible, but the standard of what that looks like has changed. I once had dreams of upgrading from my Twin Comanche to a Baron. If that ever does happen, it'll be with a partnership of at least two other potential owners. But, I'm not in any hurry to push that button. I've played with the idea of selling my airplane and renting a FIKI SR-22T from a local operation whenever I need to travel. Even though the hourly costs are eye-watering, 50-75 hours per year or so would still pencil out to less than the cost of operating my own light twin, after all the costs are accounted for.
- Hourly fuel
- Hourly DOCs to include engine/prop reserves
- Annual inspection
- Insurance
- Monthly hangar cost
- Unscheduled maintenance
- IFR cert (every 24 mo X 3 altimeters)
- Database subscriptions (GPS)
- Firmware updates (GPS, transponder)
- Tires
- Oil changes
- Interior refurb
... the list goes on. A mag will die. A starter will fail. Your fuel gauge sender will start sticking. Your engine will have cooling issues. Your flight control cables will need to be re-tensioned. You'll need new fuel bladders. The seats will need to be reupholstered. Your shimmy dampener no longer stops the shimmy. Your retractable landing gear will need big time maintenance. Some new AD will come out. On, and on, and on. It never, ever ends.
Last year one of my props failed to pass inspection. It wasn't possible to overhaul. It cost $12,000 for a replacement which had been recently overhauled. That prop "may" have one overhaul left before it, too, is scrap. A year or two prior I overhauled my 1960s era two-axis autopilot and did a light panel upgrade to include a second G5, glideslope coupler, GPS roll steering, and a few other odds and ends - that was $25,000.
There are just a few observations from the other side of the coin. Don't ask me what my true hourly operating expenses are. I stopped calculating that in detail. I know roughly what they are, of course, but I don't really "want" to know exactly what they are anymore.
What are the benefits, though?
For one, no one flies the aircraft but me, so I never worry about it being abused or damaged by some unknown other party.
And it's a magic carpet that can take me wherever I want to go, whenever I feel like it. Most of the time... weather in the northeast can get pretty gnarly.
And it keeps me out of EWR and other similar unpleasant places (major airports) some of the time. Airline travel has become nearly intolerable in the modern age, at least for me. (Job security, though - I fly business jets.)
And, it makes me happy. For a huge, nearly back-breaking sum. Every time I think about selling the airplane the "void" of that ability to simply hop in and be 500 miles away in a few hours feels stifling. I don't often leave on a lark, but whenever I do, it's quite the liberating feeling.
My final thoughts? Give it some time. Sure, you could buy an airplane and get your instrument rating in that, but aircraft ownership is a whole learning experience in and of itself. It would be quite a lot, especially at your current stage of development, to dive into the many rabbit holes associated with buying an older vintage aircraft and dealing with all of the inevitable challenges that presents, no matter how well-maintained it was by the previous owner.
I don't agree with the notion that you should learn in what you will be flying. You can, but you don't need to. It's always a relatively easy adjustment to a new panel so long as it's not pure glass to pure steam, and even then, the transition time isn't going to move the needle much on your ownership cost. I'd beat up someone else's trainer, generally speaking, even though IFR isn't usually too hard on a rental. You show up, you focus on learning, you leave, they worry about the airplane. That's nice while you're training, especially if you have a career and family to tend to when you're not training. (It sounds like you do.)
There you have it. Not sure why the big data dump, but now you're in receipt of it. It's worth what you paid for it.
