Helicopter prices?

Question

ten points for anyone who has info or can find the best site/s for cost of a privately owned helicopter. and any extra info on fuel costs for trips etc.

Answer 1

The cheapest (the most affordable) helicopter is about $20K.

http://www.innovator.mosquito.net.nz/mbb...

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All other helicopters are over few hundred thousand dollars.

Good Luck...

Answer 2

A "privately owned helicopter" could be anything from the Mosquito mentioned above to Donald Trump's Sikorsky-76.  You could spend anywhere from several thousand to several million dollars depending on what helicopter you have in mind. The $200K-$800K figure doesn't tell you anything because there are numerous helicopters that fit both within and outside of that price range. The best thing to do is to take a look at some common examples.

The Schweizer 300C is a two seat piston helicopter used mostly as a training aircraft:

http://www.sacusa.com/products/300main2....

It will cost somewhere around $275K-$300K to purchase. This document breaks down the direct operating costs:

http://www.sacusa.com/products/pdfs/300C...

Now, you always have to add to that insurance, hangar fees, etc. etc. The factory price estimates are always therefore low.

Take a look at the Bell 206BIII JetRanger:

http://www.bellhelicopter.com/en/aircraf...

You might spend $500K or more for a decent used one. This document breaks down the operating costs (near the bottom):

http://www.bellhelicopter.com/en/aircraf...

Obviously the costs only go up from there if you start getting into much larger aircraft, like the S-76:

http://www.sikorsky.com/sik/products/com...

Here are a couple of web pages that dicuss the operating costs of the Robinson 44 helicopter (4 seats, piston helicopter) in detail, as well as comparing it to some others:

http://www.helicopterflight.net/R44.htm

http://www.helicopterflight.net/r44_ops_...

http://www.helicopterflight.net/r44_v_be...

The bottom line is that you can spend as much or as little as you want. The cost will depend on the aircraft, and which aircraft you want depends on what you want to do with it. I personally wouldn't want to go with the cheapo ones. For something decent you will be looking for a couple hundred thousand at least for acquisition, and thousands per year in operating and insurance costs.

Answer 3

Average is $200,000-$800,000