R44 operating costs!! Help needed

[paddy.pilot]

Hello Rotorheads,

My first ever post on this site, cant believe I didnt know about it.
I'm a low hour PPL and I'm considering buying an R44 Raven I to do some hourbuilding on. I'd just like to know if any other rotorheads here could give me some information on what the costs involved would be.
Such as
>Cost of a R44 Raven I (used one of course, well maintained, £99k budget)
>Maintenance
>Insurance
>Oil/fuel.
>etc. any other costs!! (im sure there's loads I havent thought off):confused:

I would be hoping to sell some hours on my machine to other local PPL pilots to offset these costs. I would be looking at trying to sell at least 200 hours per year on the machine. Can this be legally done privately or are there certain restrictions in place??

I would be gratefull for any advice at all, espically from people operating in either UK OR IRELAND!!

Thanks
Paddy.pilot:ok:

[61 Lafite]

see your pms

[biggles99]

Paddy,

here is some general guidance.

Depreciation: between 10k and 20k a year. It will depend on the amount of time/hours left on the aircraft when you buy it. Your base figure is going to be around 30k, so take whatever is the WORSE figure: purchase price, less 30k divide by number of hours remaining OR purchase price, less 30k divided by number of years remaining.

Cost of finance: even if you buy for cash, you should factor in a cost for the "opportunity loss" if you have 100k tied up in an aircraft. At today's rates, 3% would be a reasonable figure. Obviously, if you are borrowing money, you'll have an exact figure.

Insurance; between 5k to 8k, if you decide to insure the hull. (You don't have to.) if you go for 3rd party risks then it comes down to around 2k. All this will depend on the value of the aircraft, the experience of the pilots and the use to which you are going to put your aircraft.

Fuel: about £75.00 per hour

Scheduled Maintenance: on 200 hours a year plan on around 8k.

Unscheduled maintenance: use an accrual. On 200 hours use something like £20.00 per hour. You could be lucky, or you could be unlucky!

Landing and hangarage: it will depend on where you are and where you go.

Selling hours: of course you can sell hours, but you must check your insurance policy covers you for this use. Also, be choosy about who flies your helicopter and make sure you have a written contract that all pilots, including yourself, sign. You'd be amazed how quickly you can fall out with your mate who has just oversped your R44 leaving you with a 16k bill.

Conclusion:

Decide whether you can afford it, or not.

If you can, forget about the costs and go out and enjoy yourself.

if you want any more advice, then feel free to PM me.

Big Ls.

[firebird_uk]

If all you want to do is build some hours then I'd suggest you SFH. It's a big expense and risk just for a few 'cheap' hours.

I'd concur with Big Ls figures, but would expect something higher for insurance if you're gonna be letting other low hour pilots use it.

[ivakontrol]

If you can do 250hrs per year on your own machine then the hourly rate can be close to half the SFH rate and worth the stress. Question to ask yourself, can you really do these hours? If not then SFH is the answer. :hmm:

[paddy.pilot]

Thanks everyone for all your replies. Definitely food for thought!!
Really do appreciate all of your help:ok:
I'l be sure to let you all know what I decide and how it works out.

Thanks,
Paddy

[Chris66]

Hi, Iam involved in an R44 raven 11 based in weston, happy to go through all costs - email me on [email protected].

Ray

[helicopter-redeye]

I would say the BigLS insurance figures fo selling SFH are on the low side for an R44. If you want to sell 200+hrs a yea it will probably be through a flying school, so they will offer a low rate to try and make money from the deal when selling on, so you will give away most of your real operating profit in this exercise.

If you are paying £99K then it will not be a high spec machine and it will have limited time(ie well less than 12 years) left before a major cost, so you need to factor the depreciation into the financial calculation on this basis - either you are selling soon (having flown some hours) or you are riding all the way to a zero value airframe.

Selling time is also high risk. When DID that damage occur?