Why we all want to own.

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
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Mar 9, 2005
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Wichita, KS
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Tony
My students were nice enough to let me use their Cessna 150 this weekend for the trip to the farm and beyond. They were out of town and wouldn't be flying. It was so nice to have an airplane that was basically mine to use when i wanted to. It was a refreshing change for me to set the schedule for the weekend instead of the airplane setting the schedule.

Friday night I went out and got the fuel that I wanted plus checked the oil so the airplane would be ready to go in the morning. Leah was up early saturday for a rowing clinic so I got airborne about 7:30 AM and had a nice smooth and fast flight over to the farm. Originally I had planned to just spend the day but then Kim started talking about margaritas so I decided to spend the night. didn't have to call the FBO to check the schedule. Then Saturday afternoon a student in the glider club called me asking if I could fly the 2-33 with him on Sunday. Sure! With 1:30 minute flight to get back to Wichita or a 2:00 flight to just fly to Sunflower Gliderport I rolled off the couch Sunday morning and drew a new line on my chart. Didn't have to ask anyone if I could keep the airplane through the afternoon.

Landed at sunflower about 10:40 AM and spent about 4.5 hours working with the student. did 4 flights plus a lot of ground school. he should be ready for his checkride by the end of september.

Then when I was done i hopped in the plane and flew home. So convenient.
 
they havent really spent anything maintenance wise yet. they are coming up on their first oil change, will probably do that this week. need to rotate the tires too.that should be a good training opportunity

we did install 4 pt harnesses but that didnt cost more than the money for the belts plus an hour of A&P time to fill out the paperwork. need to do the same thing with fuel tank sumps sometime soon, they are leaking a little.

150s are cheap to maintain.
 
Nice Tony.....now I will be thinking of airplane ownership all day..not that I don't already.
 
Well, you just ruined my day, Tony :)

It is nice, and I miss it dearly :(
 
What I say is you pay all that money to have the keys in your pocket and always know teh plane is wating and available for you and how the last guy flew it and left it.

It's a pretty heavy cost for that. You decide if it's worth it.
 
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Does anyone have that spreadsheet that was floating around a while back to help plan on the real cost of ownership?
 
steingar said:
Owning is far better than renting. Expensive, yes, but well worth it.
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I agree, Mike (if one can afford it, of course). For those who are negative about it, keep renting and shut up and stop bitching about it:incazzato:...and the rest of us who choose to own will continue to enjoy the fruit of that ownership :raspberry:while we pray we can continue owning far into the future. All of us who fly know the cost ratio of renting vs. owning.

Another benefit Tony didn't mention...the type of airplanes available to rent are very limited compared to the overwhelming options of ownership.

Go, Tony! Glad to hear you got to enjoy the fruits of someone else's ownership! That's one' step above ownership when its available...:yes:
 
bockwoman3 said:
I agree, Mike (if one can afford it, of course). For those who are negative about it, keep renting and shut up and stop bitching about it:incazzato:...and the rest of us who choose to own will continue to enjoy the fruit of that ownership :raspberry:while we pray we can continue owning far into the future. All of us who fly know the cost ratio of renting vs. owning.
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Yikes, I don't think I really saw anyone bitching about the costs. I can't wait to own again.
 
SkyHog said:
Yikes, I don't think I really saw anyone bitching about the costs. I can't wait to own again.
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Reread the posts...one of the first posts was a negative one...great way to make one's day who is on a high about something positive they experienced.

Sorry, Scott, but don't appreciate hearing negative when someone is celebrating a positive aspect of life.
 
What makes owning good for me is having my own A&P/IA rating so I don't have to be at the mercy of someone else to do the maintenance.
 
Sure, the maintenance costs can be high (depends on what you own and what you want to do with it), but owning is way better than renting if you can afford it.

While all of us who own end up having annoying bills to pay associated with ownership, note that most of us have planes that are also far nicer than what's available to rent. In some cases, the planes just aren't available to rent at all. Most of my friends who own planes end up owning examples that are significantly nicer than most of what's available to rent out there.

The best part, though, is that I can be talking to a friend of mine and decide I'm going to just go fly out there for dinner, be airborn within 30 minutes, and not have to get anyone else's permission or worry about when I get the plane home.
 
bockwoman3 said:
Reread the posts...one of the first posts was a negative one...great way to make one's day who is on a high about something positive they experienced.

Sorry, Scott, but don't appreciate hearing negative when someone is celebrating a positive aspect of life.
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Well then you should also learn what those little smiles are. The post was not negative but tongue in cheek.

I also do not appreciate having someone jump down my throat for my post. I also do not think it was fair that you jumped down the throats of the people who rent just because they expressed an opinion either.
 
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smigaldi said:
Well then you should also learn what those little smiles are. The post was not negative but tongue in cheek.

I also do not appreciate having someone jump down my throat for my post.
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Scott, sorry I missed the smiley face...just get tired of hearing all the negative and for once just had to say something.
 
being and A&P would be a nice perk. being friends with a good A&P is a close second.
 
bockwoman3 said:
Scott, sorry I missed the smiley face...just get tired of hearing all the negative and for once just had to say something.
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I join the ranks of those who have responded in haste and inappropriate for the situation (even if I did miss the smiley face.):smilewinkgrin:

If I didn't feel like I was among friends...I wouldn't have even bothered responding in the first place.:cheerswine:
 
bockwoman3 said:
I join the ranks of those who have responded in haste and inappropriate for the situation (even if I did miss the smiley face.):smilewinkgrin:

If I didn't feel like I was among friends...I wouldn't have even bothered responding in the first place.:cheerswine:
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No prob. We do kid a lot here, so those little emoticons do matter. But sometimes we fail at communicating what we are trying. I have made that mistake too. Recently a poster wrote that I and another should "die" in a thread in the SZ. I was pretty annoyed, but it was a typo on his part. I retracted my post. He acknowledged the typo and fixed it.
 
smigaldi said:
That is all the good parts. Now take over the maintenance for a few months and tell us about how great ownership is!!! ;)
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Some things in life are far more important than money.

Unrestricted access to a plane and controlling it's maintenance is far better than can't take it for more than a few hours rental hassles and russian roulette with totally unknown maintenance issues.
 
tonycondon said:
being and A&P would be a nice perk. being friends with a good A&P is a close second.
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That definitely makes ownership significantly easier.
 
Somewhere on the planet there is probably some dude (or dudette) who has rented for 40 years and can show how much cheaper it is for the reasons we all know by heart. OTOH, I don't know a single pilot that has ever been able to tolerate all the BS for more than a few years. They either buy (all or or part of) an airplane or just quit.

fgcason said:
Some things in life are far more important than money.

Unrestricted access to a plane and controlling it's maintenance is far better than can't take it for more than a few hours rental hassles and russian roulette with totally unknown maintenance issues.
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wabower said:
OTOH, I don't know a single pilot that has ever been able to tolerate all the BS for more than a few years. They either buy (all or or part of) an airplane or just quit.
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I'm at that point now. All the BS just ruined the fun for me. Trying to buy instead of quit though :) Must be patient though.
 
You'll find something. Buying a piece of one was great for me. It was mine the days I flew it, that's all that mattered.

jesse said:
I'm at that point now. All the BS just ruined the fun for me. Trying to buy instead of quit though :) Must be patient though.
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jesse said:
I'm at that point now. All the BS just ruined the fun for me. Trying to buy instead of quit though :) Must be patient though.
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It's worth the wait. :yes:
(And, all of the window shopping and daydreaming [i.e., anticipation] is a LOT of fun.)
 
JoeSelch said:
It's worth the wait. :yes:
(And, all of the window shopping and daydreaming [i.e., anticipation] is a LOT of fun.)
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After the buying and the terror of actually having to be where the buck stops or rather starts in maintaining the airplane is also an experience like no other. Well except for maybe buying that first house!!

It still amazes me that I do own a plane.
 
smigaldi said:
After the buying and the terror of actually having to be where the buck stops or rather starts in maintaining the airplane is also an experience like no other. Well except for maybe buying that first house!!

It still amazes me that I do own a plane.
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You own an airplane? YOU MUST BE RICH!

You know I bought the plane first - when I used to say "No wife. No kids. No mortgage. I own an airplane." Not no more.

Buying the plane was easier than buying the house - only because I depended on my home boys. Taking care of the plane is easier, too.

Kent's story of the cost of the overhaul has scared the living wheee outta me, though. :yikes:
 
JoeSelch said:
It's worth the wait. :yes:
(And, all of the window shopping and daydreaming [i.e., anticipation] is a LOT of fun.)
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Agreed! It's a lot of fun to look around at the various options and see what you think you want, and figuring out what it is you want and what it is you need out of a plane for your mission. Figuring out what your mission really is is fun, too.

smigaldi said:
After the buying and the terror of actually having to be where the buck stops or rather starts in maintaining the airplane is also an experience like no other. Well except for maybe buying that first house!!
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Definitely. Those first couple maintenance bills seem to be the biggest, at least so far. The first 50 hours I put on the Aztec were more expensive than the following 100 hours, if you discount my avionics upgrade, which was optional. It starts to get really rewarding when you do some maintenance on the thing that results in significant improvements in operation.

It still amazes me that I do own a plane.
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For me, the smile hasn't worn off yet (although it's only been 8 months). Whenever I fly the thing (or even look at it), it puts a smile on my face.
 
wabower said:
OTOH, I don't know a single pilot that has ever been able to tolerate all the BS for more than a few years. They either buy (all or or part of) an airplane or just quit.
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I grew up with unrestricted access to the family plane and seen everything that involves from the happy fun stuff to assisting in the annual and maintenance and forking out for repairs. I've also played the rental game. Owning wins by a long shot.

At this point I've stopped flying because I simply can't tolerate the rental nonsense anymore. The annoyance factor exceeded the fun factor that was controlled by silly and unreasonable rental rules.

I'm patiently waiting until I can get my own plane.
 
Yeah, Leslie and I are still in the rental category, and expect to be for the foreseeable future. Luckily, we have a good selection of planes, but I definitely would love to be able to walk up to one and say "ours, all ours!"
 
If I didn't own, I wouldn't fly. Its just that simple. I use my plane to go places. It can sit on a far flung ramp for weeks if need be, not so with a rental or even a partnership. However, if and when I do decide to upgrade from the Tiger it will most likely be in a shared ownership arrangement of some kind. Its just getting ridiculous with regards to maintenance and avionics costs. I've gotten used to the hangar, insurance, gas and loan payment, but the MX costs are just dead dog nuts. Thirty year old planes eventually need lots of stuff. Sooner or later it will cost $$$$.
 
I just got back today Northampton (Barnes)MA non-stop to HUT, 6 hours of great flying in the Malibu. We dropped my girl off at Smith. GA is the easiest way for us to do this, we can load the plane with all of their junk. We haul my boy to Buffalo on Friday and My youngest girl to Albany over Memorial day. Owning the airplane lets me have the freedom to do these trips or fly out to fix a downed aircraft any day. I cant do that anymore on the air carriers.

The downside is that I need to do an oil change and pay for all of the fuel we used.

Kevin
 
mikea said:
Kent's story of the cost of the overhaul has scared the living wheee outta me, though. :yikes:
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I think that was the effect he was going for. But it was not so bad when he explained that the price was not just the engine, but a new prop and an engine analyzer.

When I bought my plane it was after looking at a much of frogs and this one was a real prince. But the thing that scared me the most was having to do an engine replacement early. My friend had recently bought a plane and had to do an engine rebuild about two years before he had planned to. The cost of a new engine was about half of what I paid for the plane.

Imagine my chock when 6 months later I had to basically do a massive engine job because of the the ECI cylinder ADs! I was really not happy and really second guessing myself on the purchase. But I got through it. When the 2nd ECI cylinder AD came out I was livid, but not scared.
 
mikea said:
You own an airplane? YOU MUST BE RICH!

You know I bought the plane first - when I used to say "No wife. No kids. No mortgage. I own an airplane." Not no more.

Buying the plane was easier than buying the house - only because I depended on my home boys. Taking care of the plane is easier, too.

Kent's story of the cost of the overhaul has scared the living wheee outta me, though. :yikes:
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Cheers,
I bought my C150 before I bought my wifes ring. You really have to get priorities straight.
Owning is awesome, it can be alot of work ,emotions, $$ but nothing can replace standing in the hanger just looking at the thing.
 
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I really didn't buy to own outright. I bought because where I live there really wasn't any other option to fly regularly and I planned my finances (or not :rolleyes2: ) accordingly.

That being said, it is nice to keep the keys in my pocket and out of someone else's. Would I do it again? Probably a partnership next time, assuming I'm living somewhere where I can find one.
 
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