How much to run an aircraft

[azeman]

Maybe at the end of the year I'm looking to purchase an aircraft, maybe a DA42 and just want to know what the average cost to run an aircraft? per hour and pear year

[rantax82]

well, depends from many factor.. buying it? leasing? Hangar? Outside? which airport you will base it?

[sharpend]

DA 42 for someone age 23?

You must be rich!

[azeman]

I just meant the running cost of it

[AdamFrisch]

Roughly the same as a decent coke habit! Or slightly more than driving a Porsche, but slightly less than driving a Ferrari.

[edsbar]

If it f....., flies or floats, RENT it, don't buy it!

[Ellemeet]

basically

insurance
hangar
annual

For my commander that is 4000€ + 5000€ + 3000€ .. that is without ever flying a single hour.

a da42 runs 12gph

However .. a da42 is extremely and ridicuously expensive to maintain.

you have your gearbox overhauls and your engine overhauls/replacement

I looked into buying a da42 from 2006 with 1950 hrs on it. It had been sitting on the ground for a year.

2 shops quoted maintenance in excess of 50.000€ to get her back in flight.
of this amount €12.000 was the standard 2000hr job. This amount did not include any engine or gearbox overhaul.

[effortless]

If you have to ask..................
:}

[Tinstaafl]

Azeman, your question is imposible to answer. How long is a piece of string?

[Flying Binghi]

Maybe at the end of the year I'm looking to purchase an aircraft, maybe a DA42 and just want to know what the average cost to run an aircraft? per hour and pear year

Something i've used to get a very rough guide to ownership costs were to see what the flying schools hired a particular brand of aircraft out for at wet solo rates. I then add what it would cost me to insure the aircraft on top of the hire figure. Hangerage and landing charges are extras to be added.

...then hope nothing expensive dont make TBO..:)







.

[India Four Two]

This also doesn't answer the question, but I think it is pertinent and I would be interested in feedback.

Many years ago (in Western Canada), I looked at the costs of ownership versus renting for typical, light, fixed gear singles. Regardless of the type (Cessna/Piper), the magic annual flying-hours number came out at about 400.

Below 400 hours, the fixed costs per hour predominated over the variable costs (fuel, overhaul fund, etc.) and it was cheaper to rent. Above 400 hours, ownership was the cheaper option.

[AdamFrisch]

That can't be correct India. Or was it during the crazy period when aircraft increased in value for a few years? My calculations show around 40-100hrs before it starts to make sense to own.

[India Four Two]

Adam,

As I said, it was in the dim and distant past - mid-70s to be precise and we were looking specifically at the cost of a new Cessna Cardinal and factoring capital cost into the equation.

The 400 hour figure sticks in my head because it was a group of four and I felt that 100 hours a year for me, with a young family, wasn't workable, particularly since I was spending evenings and weekends in the summer at a gliding field!

A question for you. Does your 40-100 hours scale up to an Aerostar? :E

[AdamFrisch]

There are many ways to skin a cat, India - compared to a MU-2 the Aerostar saves me $600/hr...:ok:;)

[India Four Two]

... and think how much you would save compared to owning a Vampire.

The one I flew (briefly) in NZ uses about 260 US Gallons per hour!:eek:

[gordonquinn]

azeman, there's a lot of factors to consider, and like a car, maintenance can vary wildly year on year, so it's hard to give accurate figures without giving specific aircraft examples, locations, frequency of flying etc.

Simple/short answer, for something like a 1980s single engine Cessna, a few hundred pounds per hour will cover all costs based on 100 hours per year.

You also need to have a lot of money on hand, engine overhauls for example can cost a lot of £££.

[UV]

PA 28 Warrior
10K per year for 100 hours.

[mary meagher]

Beware of the hangar queen that has sat around doing nothing....unloved, unused, it will seize up and rot away! think of all those yachts tied up to marinas and never used, growing barnacles and weeds....and mould.

Any machine works best when used regularly, so be realistic about how much you might use an aircraft....I found it worked well to put a towhook on my Supercub and it was used by the gliding club happily for years and years, and when I had at last to sell, it had gained value because it had been looked after properly.

[Silvaire1]

Or was it during the crazy period when aircraft increased in value for a few years?

For about 40 years prior to 2000, many used aircraft increased in value by about 5% per year. That stopped as the bubble in the pilot population started to retire. Now, with values having decreased in real terms for perhaps 12 years, I think its really a very good time to buy a used aircraft... if you want fly versus invest. And if you're going to hold for quite a while, I suspect values will start to rise again in real terms for good examples. Right now, we are in a "realignment" ;)

My used aircraft ownership costs are dominated by monthly hangar expense... for a hangar that I'd want to have whether it had an aircraft in it or not. So I don't include it in my 'cost of ownership'. Beyond that its mostly fuel cost.

Buying new aircraft will always be extremely expensive in depreciation, together with insurance on the high new aircraft value a dominant ownership cost for a private owner.

[Lightning Mate]

The one I flew (briefly) in NZ uses about 260 US Gallons per hour!http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/eek.gif

One I flew (not a Vampire) used almost fifty gallons per minute during take-off alone!! :E

[Molemot]

The short answer is that aircraft ownership will cost you at least twice as much as your highest estimate. Utilisation is key to lower hourly costs, so group ownership makes sense to keep the aeroplane flying. As has been said, aeroplanes that only rarely fly deteriorate quickly and require shed loads of money to bring them up to standard. We never managed to get all four (or sometimes five) of the owners to stay in good standing financially...there would always be one laggard!

However...I know of no other way to get properly involved in flying; the level of commitment is way ahead of renting, and you get to choose what aeroplane you buy...thus escaping from the ubiquitous Cessna/Piper offerings.

[Silvaire1]

The whole point of owning an aircraft is to get away for the cost/hour paradigm. Instead, you think about how much it costs to own the thing per year, in total. If you can afford it, you can choose to do it. Then you can fly it as much as you want without worrying about the relatively small additional cost/hour.

I have absolutely no idea how much it costs me per flight hour to own my aircraft... ownership and enjoyment of ownership is the primary goal, not the side effect of a calculation.

[Tinstaafl]

It's just not possible to answer the OP's question. He or she hasn't even defined what aircraft type to apply the question to. Homebuilt or factory? Single or twin? 2 or 4 seat/fixed gear/4 cyl or 6 seat/retractable/constant speed/6 cyl turbo? Hangared or parking fees? New or 2nd hand? How many hours left on the engine & prop? Insurance for the type of operation & will it require some sort of annual recurrency training?

Utilization makes a huge difference. Fly a single hour per year and all the fixed costs have to be covered in thatsingle hourl's cost. Fly the same aircraft for 1000 hrs and the fixed costs/hour are only 0.1% of the single hour situation. For example, let's say the annual costs come to $10,000. That sole hour/year will cost $10,000 + variables such as fuel. Fly it for 1000 hrs and the cost per hour drops to $10/h + variables.

[Silvaire1]

Utilization makes a huge difference. Fly a single hour per year and all the fixed costs have to be covered in that single hour's cost.

Which makes precisely zero difference if you'll be paying the total cost regardless. ;)

[AdamFrisch]

The whole point of owning an aircraft is to get away for the cost/hour paradigm. Instead, you think about how much it costs to own the thing per year, in total. If you can afford it, you can choose to do it. Then you can fly it as much as you want without worrying about the relatively small additional cost/hour.

Well said, Silvaire.

With a rental you have to pay for each hour every time. As an owner, you can defer that to whenever it suits you. Only thing you need to pay that's directly related to your flying is the fuel. This suits some people better than others. For me it's perfect - I fly 30hrs and just fill her up, and then when she needs servicing/repairs I'll do that when I have the money. And if I don't have the money (bad month, many bills, whatever), then I defer it to next month, or the month after that. I don't have an engine fund or repair fund - I just pay that as it comes along. I don't even budget, because I actually don't want to know how much they cost to run. Far too depressing!.:};)

[Tinstaafl]

The original post requested cost per hour and per year. Even if you'll be paying the fixed costs irrespective of utilization, knowing the $/hr is still useful eg for tax purposes if the plane was used in some way to earn income.

[M14_P]

I can tell you right now, with my limited involvement in aircraft ownership, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it. The ongoing checks are fine, if there are no problems, but when the big jobs come up, you need some serious dosh in the bank, even for the most straight forward aircraft.

[Dan the weegie]

My annual cost is about £2500 for a permit super cub. It isn't the cheapest but it is bloody close to it. So now you know the lower end, the upper end is without limit.
The rest is only fuel, a few parts, some oil, and my time to service it.
Once you start looking at EASA certified machines then the cost will go up to about 6k a year minimum for a c152 or similar and then jump a couple of thousand for each additional seat.

[piperboy84]

I seen your question and thought i would throw some numbers together just to get an idea of what i am currently spending, think i will go lie down i am feeling a little lightheaded.

Note for accuracy I included some costs i don't actually have like hangar fees




Assumptions:
1 Purchase price 60,000
2 Buying a reasonably good condition + equipped used 160/180 HP
Cessna/Piper spamcan
3 With zero or low time engine that will get to TBO by babying it
4 Hourly + annual cost does not include cost of money for purchase
5 Engine reserve based on non factory OH at TBO in todays money @ 20k
6 Flying 100 hours per year which foklore has it is the minimum
break-even for buying over renting
Uniit price Annual Hourly
Fixed cost
Fuel 30LPH X100 Hours per year 3000 2.10 6300 63
Insurance Low time VFR/ 60k hull 1 1000 1000 10
Annual Maint Test 1 3000 3000 30
Hangar 1 2500 2500 25
Landing Card Home field 1 500 500 5
Landing away fees 30 15 450 4.5
GPS Subscription 1 100 100 1
Flight Planning Sub i.e. skydemon 1 100 100 1
Engine reserve 1 1000 1000 10
Misc. out of the blue ****
Repair/Troubleshoot outside Annual 1 1000 1000 10
Tyres 1 200 200 2
Oil+filter 3ea 25hr outside annual 3 100 300 3
Spark Plugs 2 30 60 0.6

£ 16,510 £165

I cant seem to get the columns aligned but basically the four numbers after each line item are, Unit , price, annual , Hourly
Bottom line is £16,500 per year or 165 quid an hour