BUYING AN AIRCRAFT FOR HR BUILDING IN THE USA???

[celticflyer]

After obtaining my cpl-ir in August as I'm sure like a lot of you out there, I am starting to get a bit frustrated with the current climate. What does one do in his quest for those valuable hrs to give yourself some chance of a job. One idea that came to mind was buying an Aircraft in the US, Say a C172 between about 4 other pilots over a period of about 8 months . Get your hrs and get out. With avgas in parts of florida at about $1.90 per us/gal I think you could do quite well. Of coarse insurance would be a huge deciding factor in the feasibility of the idea. Or would one be just waisting his time, will 400hrs get you in the door compared to 250hrs. Any ideas or suggestions would be grateful.

[liverbird]

Thats a really good idear. i came up with that about three years ago. another plan is to advertise your services to the many british tourist that own or rent villas in the orlando area. in the local tourist mags.
so this will cover the fuel and costs. say an hours flying for £30 is agreat bargain to anyone. hey let me know i may join you.

[Cyclic Hotline]

If I might recommend this publication to you, it will answer some of the questions regarding the practicalities and legalities of a venture of this nature.

The ownership of an "N" registered aircraft is limited to US citizens, resident aliens or Corporations (although you can also get a title held in trust).

It's an interesting concept.
http://www.cyberair.com/tower/faa/ps/content.html

[ 01 November 2001: Message edited by: Cyclic Hotline ]

[Strangely Brown]

Another option if you have no commitments in the UK.
Go to the states and convert your license to an FAA ATP. Cost $2000-$3000. You could then work as a banner tow pilot or similar.
There are a couple of companies in Florida that will sponser your visa for up to a year and pay you $20 -$30 per hour whilst working. I know of one company looking for 40+ banner tow pilots. Another option is to then get a CFI rating. Plenty of instructional work in the states and you will get the hours in.

[celticflyer]

Thanks for the ideas guys.
If you could make some profits from the aircraft like liverbird mentioned, fantastic even without , an average GA aircraft runs at about 10gals per hour, that makes avgas less than $20 an hr. And when you have got sufficient hrs sell the aircraft , one would hope for some where around the same price you bought it for. Say you charged british and Irish pilots $50 an hr for a C172, that profit would cover the owners hr of flying.

[Luke SkyToddler]

I seem to recall there was a bunch of a half dozen British guys that did exactly this down in New Zealand, when I was learning to fly at the school across the airfield. They'd all chipped in a couple thousand quid, bought a nice C172 and then went and flew all their hour building in it before selling it on.

The cost of flying a privately owned aircraft down there, for something like a C172 or PA28 should work out at no more than about $60 NZ per hour, i.e. a bit less than £20. There are of course plenty of existing aircraft syndicates that you could buy into, if you don't want the hassle of owning a whole plane yourself.

Of course if you really want to be enterprising and cash in on the current outstanding Brit-downunder exchange rates, you could do what my pal did last year, bought shares in a Beech Duchess when he trained for his kiwi instrument rating, I seem to recall he was paying $140 kiwi per hour wet for the thing ... that's about £45 at the current rate of exchange, not bad by anyone's standards. Needless to say if you were to do your hour building in one of those, it would certainly make your CV stand out amongst the rest of the 200 hour people :D

I'm heading back home for a holiday myself for a couple of months in the new year, and I'm already taking one pal with me to do some cheap and cheerful hour building. I'm qualified as a JAA and NZ instructor and I'm more than happy to offer advice or assistance for anyone thinking of heading down thataway, just pop me an email.

[Grandad Flyer]

I know a British guy who went to the States and bought a Piper Seminole. He did his multi engine instructor rating and then advertised by word of mouth for multi engine ratings. It was really cheap for the students as he only asked for a bit more than the operating cost of the aircraft. He got valuable twin time and enough to live on.
Once he had enough hours he sold the aircraft.
An excellent idea for both student and aircraft owner. I did my FAA rating soooo cheaply!

[Aaron123]

Sounds like a great idea…. I’m here in Florida at the moment, finishing off my PPL. I am planning to buy a 172 or Cherokee and fly it around for six months for fun.

Having looked around at prices you can pick up IFR twin Apache’s for around $35,000-$45,000 goods ones as well. There are 3 for sale locally

If any of you time builders are keen to join me and split the costs of the plane and fuel
e-mail me…

Aaron UK

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