I do believe that there is a general lack of understanding about the costs of operating old machinery.
This is very true. That 20K per year figure is for our Chippy group, with a utilisation of over 300 hours per year. It is based on very many years experience of operating the aeroplane and is an average. Some years it is lower, other years it is higher; we recently paid 4K for a new fuel tank (plus VAT plus fitting), for instance. Annuals are rarely less than 4K and have been over 10K if problems are identified.
These aeroplanes are superb to fly but they are military machines not built with ease of maintenance as a prime consideration. Also, many are now over 50 years old and not only do parts need to be replaced, but mods are required from time to time - we recently had the heads modded to take 'modern' plugs since the originals were becoming unobtainable and were, in any case, unreliable due to sheer age.
Parts are becoming ever more rare, so command a premium price (witness our fuel tank - 4K for a rubber bag
).
The true costs of running these old aeroplanes should not be underestimated. It is tempting to think you can pick up a Chippy for the same price as an old 172, but ongoing costs are in a different league. I'd rather see these aeroplanes operated by folk who appreciate what the costs are going to be, and have budgeted for them, rather than a bunch of optimists who fly for a few hours then get a massive maintenance bill they can't afford which grounds the aeroplane.
SSD