Anytime one buys an old aircraft where the previous owner has skimped on the upkeep for financial reasons, which is the case with almost all aircraft that get sold, one is in for a couple of steep annuals. Once caught up, so to speak, the operating costs go down. My old Commander was no different. She was extremely reliable the last year, I have to say. And I've put a lot of hours on her in the 2.5 years I've owned her. We've been all across the US and even to Canada. The reason the last annual was hefty was because I had to do some metal work and comply with a few AD's and overhaul the props and the magnetos. Everything else was chicken feed compared to that. If it hadn't been for those things, the annual would have been less than $4K, probably.
I'm sure this new one will be similar. Pretty much right off the bat I'll have to do the engines, so that's a very big cost. The annuals are also a bit more complex on the Aerostar. The last one was about $10K, so I should assume next years annual will be in that region, barring any big things. They can probably be worked down to around $5-6K on a well maintained specimen, even less if you do owner-assisted ones.
Engine funds - I don't do them.
Far too depressing - I just grunt and suffer. And I try to delay it as long as possible - top overhauls etc. I'm not afraid of flying over TBO if they're behaving and not making metal. And in the case of my Commander I'm selling now, it will be sold with engines over TBO. So in essence, except for the loss in value that entails, I didn't have any engine costs at all. Well, that's not entirely true because I did top both engines, but you catch my drift. An engine O/H is never going to increase the value of the hull by more than the cost to O/H, so financially it almost always makes more sense to sell the aircraft with the engines not done.
