Think of every possible penny that you may have to spend per year on: -
- Purchase or lease cost of the Helicopter
- Interest rate increases on the above
- Fuel costs rising in price by the second
- Scheduled maintenance costs x 1.5 (Manufacturers lie! especially French ones!)
- Early component replacement costs for items not achieving TBO's
- AOG surcharges for the above and below
- Estimated unscheduled maintenance cost x 2 (If you're lucky)
- Depreciation on everything you buy
- Hangarage
- Vehicle transport to and from work and for marketing trips
- Office accommodation costs (even for a scabby portakabin)
- Accountancy costs
- Bank charges for the overdraft you will need for unforseen events and the inevitable late payments from customers
- Telephone bills
- Advertising costs
- Cleaning bills
- At least 1000 items not mentioned which will still cost you money!
Add all the above together and divide by the number of flying hours you expect to achieve per year. If you are estimating revenue hours for a business venture, factor these by 50% for cancellations due to weather, unserviceability, cancellations etc.
There is your answer.
This is only partially tongue in cheek - lots of us have been there.
Cheers
Trog