Twin operating costs

[nick14]

Hello all,

I was just trying to get a feel for the operating costs of a light twin like a Seneca V or Baron 58. Per month/Annum.

What other costs apart from fuel, maintenance, insurance and hangerage are there?

Thanks

Nick

[LowNSlow]

Airways charges if you are over 2,000kg?

Running big light twins (if that makes sense) were once described to me as like throwing £50 notes on the fire :eek:

[nick14]

Not possible to make any money off them then?

n

[Pace]

Nick

if you register the Seneca Five twin under 2000kg ie 1999kg then no navigation charges and often cheaper landing fees.

On the Seneca count on 26 USG per hour fuel.

With any aircraft dont fool yourself on the costs look at the direct and fixed costs and make sure you are using the hours to make the whole thing viable.
Unless you are churning out the hours ie 200 to 300 per annum you may find it cheaper sharing or leasing.

On something like a Seneca five AND BEING REALISTIC not head in the sand £400-450 per hour all in on 200 hrs per year.
renting or head in the sand £300-350.

Pace

[nick14]

Thanks,

So in all 80,000 per year with 200 hours.

In terms of leasing an aircraft, under dry lease, I would have to organise my own maintenance, hangarage and fuel etc for operation.

How much does maintenance cost for something like that? Do you employ your own engineer or do you approach a company.

N

[vanHorck]

In the cruise LOP you can save a bit on the 23 gallons in my IV.

I budget on 310 per hour @ 200 hrs p year and it seems to do well but that all depends on how you treat the engines....

I had a JPI installed with gami injectors to treat the babies well (temp checks on all cylinders). These engines are notorious for not dealing well with shock cooling.

The heater is a bit sensitive and needs good care.

All the V's have the new waterbased paints and so I see a lot of V's who look worse than my IV, but then I still run on steam gauges and many V's have glass panels if you want that. Hangerage will conserve your paint a lot.

There are excellent buys at the moment for Seneca II, IV and V .
Most are at 1999 kgs and save you a lot of money (it s paperwork only, no mod to the aircraft). I think it would be foolish to fly a 2000+ Seneca

[Pace]

VanHorck

I flew a four for 2 years and saw her not long ago. The paint still looked stunning so maybe some truth in the better paint on the four.
The Senecas especially the fives are good aircraft and IMO better and cheaper than the Barons.

Pace

[silverknapper]

Does anyone know if it is possible to limit a B55 to 1999kg?

Cheers

[dirkdj]

You can't limit any of the Barons to 1999Kg, but the Beech Travelair is a nice light twin that would fall below 2T.

[julian_storey]

the Beech Travelair is a nice light twin that would fall below 2T

It's a lovely twin - once you get used to the throttle and prop levers being in the wrong places :-)

[Tinstaafl]

Until around 1980 Barons also had RPM & Throttle positions swapped + gear & flap

[vanHorck]

I agree with Pace the 1999 Seneca is the one to go for over the Baron unless you want to spend much more for a little better.

There was a IV for sale in Holland (grey with red strip) a few months ago, I met the owner in Romania 2 years ago, but I have no idea if it s still available,

there were not many IV's made, so they are a rare find, essentialy a III with V looks, some wil say the II/IV flies slightly faster than the V