by Brett_Henderson » Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:49 pm
The magic number is 26 hours per month.. for just about any plane. I won't bore you with another set of numbers for A $15,000 C152.. or make you cross-eyed with the numbers for a C310, or a Baron :o
If you fly less than 26 hours per month, it is cheaper to rent. At 30 hours per month you start truly saving.. but the weird thing is... even at a TOTAL ACTUAL COST, owners rate of say , $50/hour for an old C170... youd have to spend $1,500 a month just to get to the point where you start saving ... Unless you're retired, you won't find the time to fly anywhere near that, let alone assume to have $1,500 per month to do it. And that's STILL assuming nothing unforseen happens (Murphy loves airplanes).
One option is to lease the plane back to a club/school... but that's not only a head-ache (with liability issues to keep you up at night), you'd have to get in line to fly your own plane.
Another option is multiple owners. Two or three people whom you trust and know are reasonable (when you all want the plane on a nice Saturday). You can actually start lowering the cost of flying in that situation..but that has many pitfalls, too... Too many to list here.
If it's all about being able to build a few hours when your budget has an extra few hundred in it... renting is the only way to go.