Originally Posted by
nigelh
You make some incorrect assumptions
1) No AOC is going to allow you as a low time pilot to stooge around in your machine on their ticket.
2) No AOC is going to deliver that no of hrs flying...they may promise but they will not deliver...period. The only way to get that no of hrs is a pipe or power line contract and the rate is very low and the a/c will not be available to you.
3) Can you pay the bill when after 50 hrs the engineers tell you you need a thingy which is £35,000 ? If not you will be selling your £200,000 machine for £120,000. Dont forget that insurance and basic maintenance will cost you circa £20,000 p.a and there will probably be costs going onto their AOC and you may have to let them flt X hrs to keep their pilots checked and up to date.
4) The Agusta Bell is generally a lot cheaper to run due to there being spare parts available at 50% or more discount to Bell prices. ( Airandground being just one company that have loads of cheap parts ) Also you can fit Bell to Agusta and Agusta to Bell , it is only forbidden in the USA and Canada. Most old Bells will have various Agusta parts on them .
Sorry to be a killjoy but if it were that simple everybody with 40k would be doing it . IF YOU CANT AFFORD IT DONT BUY IT !!!!! If i were you i would lease a 300 and get an instructor to do some training on it...MUCH better than an R22 or go to the states and hour build maybe as an instructor.
anyway good luck !!!!!
Many thanks for your response and this is exactly why I'm very dubious about buying an A/c. As there's a lot of 'snake oil' in this industry and much conflicting advice, I'm going to carry out my own research and go from there.
If I had to pay the going rate to do my hr building, I wouldn't have much change from the £40k and little chance of findong a job. At least if I buy a machine it will hopefully reduce the cost of my flying. I'm sure that if I got around 200hrs paid commercial work within a 12month period it would more than cover itself & allow me to hr build at a minimal cost. (Is £260/hr leaseback a realistic sum)? If so, that's £52k income minus hangarage, insurance, maintenance, finance etc I'd estimate that to be around a break-even mark and with some luck, enough for a contingency pot.
In response to your comments:-
1/ Are you saying that I would not be allowed under any circumstance to work as a fully qualified (albeit low time) pilot? Is this due to the restrictions on the insurance or because of the potential 'risk factor'?
I have been told by a Company that I would be able to get some paid work on my own machine, on their AOC?
2/ I'm trying to negotiate a guarenteed number of hrs & I know that they have a desperate shortage of A/c & are continually turning down work! (They have done approx. 250hrs in the past 7 months in a friends 206).
3/ I'm told that when you buy an A/c you can quite accurately forecast component times/costs. As long as you build up a large contingency fund I'm told it's quite a safe bet! Would your insurance or maintenance contract not cover any large unexpected components?
4/ It's easy to say 'if you can't afford it, don't buy it' the trouble is etsablishing if I can afford it or not? What are the likely returns on a 300/hr?
Many thanks in advance,
Kopterman
