GA Aircrafts Owning Costs

[Magix]

Hello All.

I am in progress of writing scientific work about most owning private aircrafts in case of pilot training and GA air taxi. I need your help at following informations:

Could you confirm that owning costs for following aircrafts are correct (or are too low or too high):

Cessna 152 93USD per hour
Cessna 172SP 137USD per hour
Piper Seneca V 390USD per hour
Beechcraft KingAir C90GTX 1186USD per hour
Cirrus SR22 GTS 236USD per hour

Thank you for your support.

Greetings

[Obi_Wan]

The answer depends on so many different variables, you will not end up with one number. There are costs that are accumulated on an hourly basis and there are those that are time bound, so how many hours the aircraft accrues in that time period will have an effect on the hourly figure.

I'm sure the answers from regular contributors will pour in, but maybe the reasons for your question, or what you intend to do with the answers, will help those kind people who will reply.

[Magix]

Then what factors influence the determination of costs for each aircraft (cost per hour form) and how much they are for the specific aircraft mentioned by me?

[Genghis the Engineer]

If you look on the various UK websites that sell shares in aeroplanes, you'll see numerous not-for-profit syndicates there with an advert saying something like:

"1/8th share for sale, Cessna 172, £60/month, £85/hr wet" (I just made those numbers up).

Those adverts will tell you very accurately the real cost of operating these aeroplanes. In this case, what it tells you is that the fixed cost of owning that C172 is about 12 months x 8 owners x £60 = £5,760

And that the variable cost for a low useage aeroplane is £60/hr.

So if it flies 100 hrs per year, you can work out the hourly cost as £60+£57.50 = £117.50.

And so on.

You can go thorugh several adverts for shares on each of the types you're interested in, adjust for your local conditions (especially fuel price), predicted number of flying hours per year and you'll get some pretty accurate results.

Look up hangarage prices, and the cost of fuel in various places, put it in a spreadsheet, along with looking at the effects of high and low utilisation and you'll start to get answers that you can justify and thus will give you good marks in your student assignment, which responses purely from an internet bulletin board won't do. Even one as good as Pprune.

G

[A and C]

I would be carefull about using aircraft groups as a good example as the members who are shall we say carefull with there money tend to force the group into the cheapest option when it comes to maintenance.

The trend then is for an aircraft that is slowly entering a state of decay, only when it is sold as a low price will some one come along and restore the aircraft to a good state of repair.

[WishIWasAPilot]

The no equity group aircraft I have seen (and waiting for a place for!!) is certainly not in a state of decay. It is smarter than any of te aircraft I learned to fly in, and the hourly cost is half what I was paying.
It depends how much the aircraft is actually flown versus how many are in the group. If it doesn't fly much then the fixed costs are covered by the subs, and if there are a lot of members then the money can build up.

Result is an exceptionally smart aeroplane and loadsa money in the bank.

I guess the real answer is "It depends"! depends on the state the aircraft was in when bought, what the fixed costs are, what the usage is like etc etc.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I agree, whilst what A&C says is definitely sometimes true, on average I'd say that syndicate aeroplanes are usually slightly better looked after than most others.

G

[A and C]

You are not in a non-equity group, you are renting an aircraft on a contract ! It all depends on the way you look at things.

I have seen groups run on this basis that were running flying death traps that made more money if the aircraft never went flying, you on the other hand seem to have found an arrangement that provides you with a good aircraft at a fair price. It is groups like yours that can be used to gauge the price of running an aircraft as the appropriate amount of money is being reinvested in the aircraft.