Purchasing a plane, is it worth it?

Question

What are the benifits of purchasing your own plane such as a Cessna 172? Would it be cheaper to buy a plane or just rent your planes?

Answer 1

in the end buying is cheaper if you are gonna fly alot

Answer 2

It depends on what you want to do with it.

If you want to use it for training and building hours, and then sell it, most of the times you can recover a great deal of your expenditure (you only pay for fuel, a few oil changes and an annual or two, parking, and insurance).  Buyer beware, you don't want to have to do an engine overhaul or fix major corrosion problems which will erase any financial advantage, so get a pre-purchase inspection done.  Don't worry about paint, interior, or if the engine is close to TBO.  As long as everything checks out with your mechanic, you will get a cheap plane and it won't lose much value over 300 or so hours for a commercial license.

If you want to buy a plane to keep, this is a different story.

First, if you aren't going to fly it more than 50 hours a year, it isn't worth it.  You will be spending as much money per year for having a plane as you would to just rent one; and you are responsible for unscheduled repairs and paying the loan (unless you are wealthy or have generous parents) on top of it.

Second, although aircraft don't depreciate like cars do, they require a lot of expensive maintenance over the years.  

I am doing an annual on a Cherokee 235 right now (a simple single-engine, four passenger plane).  Already the guy has spent $2000 in labor for the inspection and basic repairs, bought a brand new prop for $9,000 (the old one failed inspection), and is doing a top overhaul on the engine (that has only 250hrs since overhaul) that will cost about $10,000 for parts and another $1000 in labor.  Now, this isn't a typical annual, but you never know what a mechanic is going to find.

Then there is getting a hangar (you don't want your investment sitting out in the wind/snow/hail/etc...)

A better bet if you want to keep a plane and have it more available is to buy into a partnership.  This means the plane will be used more (keeping fixed annual costs like insurance and annual inspection down per hour) and there will be someone to share the costs.

Answer 3

A private pilots certificate cost about $8000-9000. A decent say 172 would cost about 60,000+ , not including the A/D that have to be complied with.Parking spots on the airport which are around $200 a month. Insurance , and not to mention your flight instructor. However you get to decide when to fly , overall no.

Answer 4

I've owned airplanes, sailboats and been married twice. One thing I've learned over the years, if it flys, floats or fornicates RENT IT.

Answer 5

For me, if I fly more than 150 to 175 hours a year, it's worth it. Otherwise, it's cheaper to rent somebody elses a/c.

Answer 6

The short answer to your question would be: In the end it would be cheaper to buy,of course (if you were to put it to maximum use as an airline would); but this depends on how much you fly,and how much resources ($$$) you're willing to give up for this expensive hobby. most 172 rentals can cost anywhere in between 80-100 US. Considering cost of operation alone,the company would get about 20-30 US more or less per flight hour. Now if we use this estimated profit per flight hour, we can calculate how much of your money is ending up as a profit (money you'd save if it was your own plane). If you fly an average of 10 hours per month (yearly average for GA pilots is less than 100 hr), the company's profit would add up in a month to about 200-300 US. Let's take 300 US X 12 months = 3600 US/annual profit off you. The average 172 can cost anywhere between 200,000-40,000. Let's say you buy a 60,000 172. It would take about (60,000/3,600)= 17 yrs of renting a 172 to have the price level out with the cost of renting (company's profit). These figures do not include cost of general maintenance, cost of following AD's,cost of hangar( if aplicable), or incidentals. So I got back to my first stated answer: it's cheaper in the long run to buy it, if you're going to fly at a high rate. But for short term and long term occasional use, I recommend renting, from the financial standpoint. Being able to do whatever the h**l you want with YOUR own plane with no rental restrictions, has it's own price. I hope I helped in some way

Happy Landings

Answer 7

That completely depends on how often you plan to fly. A decent 172 can run you anywhere from 30K to 100K to purchase, and rentals, depending on where you are, can run from 90 to 200 bucks an hour.  Figure out how often you plan to fly, factor in insurance costs, and go from there.

Another option is fractional ownership.. where more than one individual owns the aircraft.

Answer 8

from the numbers I've crunched in the past, the breakeven point between renting and buying would be ~110 hours a year (assuming a $45,000 used 172).  And that's with an insurance policy for private flying (and for a higher time pilot).  It could be considerably higher if you plan on doing flight instruction in your own aircraft.

There are other variable's that will depend on where you base the aircraft... hangar rent, negotiated fuel price etc.  

Aviophage is dead on about the basic reasons to own.  I've weighed the options and it doesn't make sense for me personally, because I'll probably do less than 50 hours of pleasure flying a year.  If you're serious about training it may be worth it, just protect yourself in the purchase you don't end up with a hangar queen.

Have you considered a partnership with another like-minded person?

Answer 9

It all depends how much you fly. If you want to fly every weekend, and take trips with your plane and get airborne every chance you get, then buy a plane. But owning an airplane is very expensive, so it has to be worth it to you.

Answer 10

For regular/commercial users ...better buy.If its for status symbol

then also its good.

       For occasional users better go for rental ones.

       For short distance utility HELICOPTERS r good n viable.

Answer 11

There are three reasons for owning, rather than renting, an airplane:

--You can fly when you want to and not have to fit into the schedule

--You don't pay for a daily minimum number of flight hours when away from base.

--You have the satisfaction of ownership.

Answer 12

There are pros and cons to this question. The biggest plus in owning your own plane is that you can fly when and where you want to, provided you are qualified and trained to fly certain areas. Some of the downside of owning is the yearly annual inspection done to the aircraft. Any repairs needed, and something is needed every year, are your sole responsibility. The tie down fee, or hangar fee is yours. Upkeep, meaning cleaning the aircraft, is solely on you. This being said, I have owned aircraft, Piper J-3, Cessna 150, Cessna 172 and don't regret it for one minute. It can be expensive and time consuming, but in my eyes it's worth it. I always did the small maintenance items that didn't require a licensed mechanic to do. The satisfaction of knowing you own your own aircraft, and can go to the airport at 8:00 a.m. or 8:00 p.m. and go flying is a very nice feeling. Also, when I sold my airplanes, I never lost money on the them. I was out the money for hangar fees, maintenance and fuel, but that comes with the hobby of flying. By the way, the 172 is a nice aircraft. I don't own a airplane now, and haven't flown in private planes for 10 years due to health issues. If you have the financial means, I would purchase. One last observation. I found that keeping your airplane at a smaller county F.B.O. provided the opportunity to meet more individuals that owned their airplanes. We had fly-ins, picnics, and other activities that created lasting friendships. Good Luck and have fun!