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Old 13th Sep 2012, 16:37
  #335 (permalink)  
Helinut
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: UK
Age: 71
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Stephen,

If you do not have experience of helicopters and owning them, then I strongly recommend that you look very carefully at the REAL costs of ownership. It can be a wonderful thing to own your own and fly it for pleasure;it can also be a financial nightmare.

You need to get close to someone who has owned (preferably a similar type to the one you want to buy) and who is prepared to open their books. You need to generate (or borrow) spreadsheets of costs. They split into fixed (i.e. annual) and flying (per hour flown) costs. You will need to estimate the number of hours you will fly per year, which may not be easy. You also need to get an appreciation of the possible scale of non-scheduled maintenance. If you are unlucky, these can dwarf the other costs.

This would be my advice for any type of helicopter. Enstroms are often successfully operated by private owners.
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