Slap me please.. I shouldn't be buying...or should I?

[TazzyTazzy]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. It's very much appreciated. After looking at our finances, we can afford it. Hanger fees, annuals, maintenance, fuel, insurances, potential ADs, etc etc.

However, I do agree that it's too early for me. After I get my PPL in the 172, I'll check out a few other types of planes to get a feel. If I find that I like something else, I'll get checked out in that and do a few missions. I also want to complete a few missions post-PPL to get a feel if a the 172 is a good fit..and also the 182 since they are fairly close from what I understand.

I'm perfectly happy to rent for now. I've scheduled time 2x a week until Jan 2014 for PPL training.. It's easier to cancel times since the planes book up. Thank goodness I'm in Cali....Today's high is 77, clear and calm. Hopefully I won't miss too many flights due to weather until winter gets here (January-Feb).

However, I think I will get frustrated after I get my PPL and planes are booked up and we want to find a new burger joint on a beautiful day.

I've also been debating about a partnership. I think that would be the ultimate for me. Find one or two others to fly with...Keep the fixed monthly/yearly/initial costs down but with only 1 or 2 other partners, the plane is sill plenty available. My fixed costs are half with just one other. With the money saved, we can do more $100 hamburger runs. The other half is a foodie and he loves checking out new places!

My A&P buddy who moved back east is also planning to move back to Sacramento...He hinted about doing a partnership after I get my PPL. To bad my CFI buddy move up north. Would have been perfect! No cheaper way to get my IFR.

Thanks again everyone. Very much appreciate your comments. Keep the shinny side up....oh wait, wrong forum?

 

[ChitDisturber]

I guess there's lots of kids with ten grand or more burning a hole in their pocket where you're at, but they're not here.

Actually, I'm talking out my ass and guessing, new starts may be up, but I wonder how many complete? How fast?

GA is enormously expensive. To say it any other way is kidding yourself.

We're doing OK, probably half or so will go all the way to PPL. Not sure about children, most of our customers are working guys late 20s to 40s

It's not 10k though, we are about $130hr plane AND instructor.

All in most of our guys are getting done around 7-8k.

And flying is as expense as you want to make it.

Ive seen some really cool Chiefs going for 20-25k, thats the price of the average new car people buy.

It burns under 5 a hour and can be squeezed in someones hangar at a small GA airport alongside a 172, etc.

Most workin folks can manage that



No if you have more money then brains you can spend stupid money on a 172 G1000 or cirrus, your hours count just the same and you'll be a better pilot flying the Chief anyways!

 

[Ruthless53]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. It's very much appreciated. After looking at our finances, we can afford it. Hanger fees, annuals, maintenance, fuel, insurances, potential ADs, etc etc.

However, I do agree that it's too early for me. After I get my PPL in the 172, I'll check out a few other types of planes to get a feel. If I find that I like something else, I'll get checked out in that and do a few missions. I also want to complete a few missions post-PPL to get a feel if a the 172 is a good fit..and also the 182 since they are fairly close from what I understand.

I'm perfectly happy to rent for now. I've scheduled time 2x a week until Jan 2014 for PPL training.. It's easier to cancel times since the planes book up. Thank goodness I'm in Cali....Today's high is 77, clear and calm. Hopefully I won't miss too many flights due to weather until winter gets here (January-Feb).

However, I think I will get frustrated after I get my PPL and planes are booked up and we want to find a new burger joint on a beautiful day.

I've also been debating about a partnership. I think that would be the ultimate for me. Find one or two others to fly with...Keep the fixed monthly/yearly/initial costs down but with only 1 or 2 other partners, the plane is sill plenty available. My fixed costs are half with just one other. With the money saved, we can do more $100 hamburger runs. The other half is a foodie and he loves checking out new places!

My A&P buddy who moved back east is also planning to move back to Sacramento...He hinted about doing a partnership after I get my PPL. To bad my CFI buddy move up north. Would have been perfect! No cheaper way to get my IFR.

Thanks again everyone. Very much appreciate your comments. Keep the shinny side up....oh wait, wrong forum?

Get a 3k hour mid time engine piper archer II or a Grumman Tiger and fly the sucker. Why rent a plane and pay somebody else's not. Treat the plane right, find a good used garmin 430 to put in it and use it until you get your IFR. When you go to sell it your not going to take a huge hit. I have done alot of the work on the planes that i have flown and ended up making money on all of them. We were patient and found good deals first though. Amazing what new plastics, recovering the seats, and adding a 430 will do for an airplane.

I will never fly a rented plane. My dad is at the airport every single day and I never have a second thought about jumping in and going flying. We know every second our planes spend flying, who's flying them, what maintenance is done and if its done right. Im not going to ever put my wife and kids in a plane that i don't know every single thing about. Hell there are very few pilots that I know and trust to be PIC with them in the plane. But besides all that....why pay rent on someone else's plane when you can be building equity in your own (if you make a smart buy).

 

[Capt.Crash'n'Burn]

If the 182 is still outside your budget, then check out the Cardinals (C177). There are many good "B" models out there at attractive prices. Cardinals are a good "middle ground" choice between the Skyhawk and Skylane.

I thought the C175 was the middle ground between the 172 and 182. The 177 was supposed to be a replacement for the 172.

 

[Capt.Crash'n'Burn]

There are soo many great airframes that are VERY diffrent, go fly a Maule, fly a glasair, fly a PA24, fly a Navion, fly a super Viking, C210, C180/5, lancair, Grumman AA5, fly a Nanchang CJ-6, etc etc

Did you just tell a beginer to get behind the stick of a Lancair??

 

[ChitDisturber]

Did you just tell a beginer to get behind the stick of a Lancair??

I also told him to get 100hrs

Ya gotta read my post again. I told him to build hours and fly and bum rides on everything he can. Heck I even told him to fly a HP and tailwheel w/o a endorsment by your logic

Flying all those planes he's obviously going to have a CFI or owner with him, don't see someone just giving him the keys and let er rip!

If he found one of those he liked, he could start transitioning to it with a experienced in type CFI and it wouldn't be a issue. Not like a recommended a F104 or a MU2!

 

[txflyer]

We're doing OK, probably half or so will go all the way to PPL. Not sure about children, most of our customers are working guys late 20s to 40s

It's not 10k though, we are about $130hr plane AND instructor.

All in most of our guys are getting done around 7-8k.

And flying is as expense as you want to make it.

Ive seen some really cool Chiefs going for 20-25k, thats the price of the average new car people buy.

It burns under 5 a hour and can be squeezed in someones hangar at a small GA airport alongside a 172, etc.

Most workin folks can manage that



No if you have more money then brains you can spend stupid money on a 172 G1000 or cirrus, your hours count just the same and you'll be a better pilot flying the Chief anyways!

That's not too bad. I didn't know you could get PPL'd for less than 8 grand. And I know what you mean by flying on the cheap, cuz I do it.

But it's still expensive as an added activity that you can either afford, or not afford with tall fences if you ask me. There is a 'tier' of income and $$$$ that a person must have access to in order to fly much on their own dime.

Hey, but back to the OP, check this out.

A C-172 Texas Taildragger

I see one fly in around here from time to time. It's a beautiful green and white painted 172 conversion and the guy can fly the **** out of it. He lands and turns off the runway with the tail in the air and whips that plane around wherever he wants it.

 

[48dodge]

I thought the C175 was the middle ground between the 172 and 182. The 177 was supposed to be a replacement for the 172.

I think that's true for the first iteration of 177. But then they started adding the 180 then 200hp engines plus the cabin being decent sized, larger than 172 and close to 182.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[FormerHangie]

<SNIP> We're doing OK, probably half or so will go all the way to PPL. Not sure about children, most of our customers are working guys late 20s to 40s

It's not 10k though, we are about $130hr plane AND instructor.

All in most of our guys are getting done around 7-8k.

And flying is as expense as you want to make it.

Ive seen some really cool Chiefs going for 20-25k, thats the price of the average new car people buy.

It burns under 5 a hour and can be squeezed in someones hangar at a small GA airport alongside a 172, etc.

Most workin folks can manage that

Can't say I agree with that. Median household income in 2013 was $51,010. Folks in the middle can't afford a new car, let alone flying lessons. Maybe if you're single and live in a lower cost of living area and you have no student loans, but it would take a pretty strong set of extenuating circumstances for anyone anyone near the middle income range with a family to be able to afford lessons, let alone pay for storage and upkeep on an airplane.

 

[stratobee]

The answers are wrongly and profusely worded. The correct answer is always: of course you should buy an aircraft!:wink2:

 

[rich0]

I honestly think aircraft prices will decrease more as the 2020 ADS-B deadline approaches. Or there will be more just sitting and not flying.

That is a concern I share when thinking about my plans after I get my PPL. The other concern I'd have is the fate of 100LL - aircraft which can't run on diesel or avgas may face significant depreciation once there is talk of a deadline for phasing it out. Sure AOPA/etc are funding work to find alternatives, but there is no guarantee that one will be found.

My other concern is the general slowness of the FAA to adapt to technological change. We are tested on the use of NDBs when few planes even have ADFs, we are supposed to know how to read a textual radar report when everybody has a device capable of displaying a radar image in their pocket, and there is even talk of getting rid of VORs. Certified GPS units and their databases cost a fortune despite the raw data essentially being in the public domain and the hardware being implemented in chips that costs pennies.

It just seems like we should be on the verge of a revolution in avionics/etc, and sinking many thousands of dollars into an aircraft feels like buying a car with a $1500 navigation package with a UI out of the 90s and $90 update CDs instead of getting a nice $30 cell phone holder and using Google Maps.

It is also a bit frustrating that inexpensive aircraft are also fairly limited in capability. Sure, hours are hours if your only goal is to get a job flying, but if hours alone aren't the goal then the kind of aircraft you could share for a few thousand dollars outlay is very limited.

 

[TazzyTazzy]

Rich, it's like a computer, a better one is coming shortly, so wait. Though, converting away from 100LL is way more expensive than the latest tablet and installing ads-b isn't cheap either. There's a cat and mouse to every 'hobby'.

I'm happy renting for now. After I get my PPL, I'll reevaluate my decision occasionally of course. The plane that I found is gone, but there will always be another.

Now...back to my burning man planning.

 

[denverpilot]

Now...back to my burning man planning.

Flying or driving. There is an airport...