Running Costs

[merlinn]

Hi Guys and girls,

Just wondering what the average running costs of a C172 are, I understand this is variable on hours, hangar costs etc. Would anyone have a rough breakdown, including annuals etc?

Thanks

[CHAIRMAN]

Fuel - $60 hr... Maint $20 hr (could be$70hr with a blowout 100hrly)....Prop/Engine $20 hr.
Then factor in the insurance/hangarage at $6000 pa... 200 hrs/pa equals $30 hr.
So far $130 hr not counting capital cost or ROI. Lets say a cheapie at 70k- 8% is $5600 pa or $28 per hr on 200 hrs/yr.
We're now up to $158 hr (not counting the blowout 100hrly which could bring the cost over $200/hr for the year).... and still counting! Do the sums on 100 hrs/year and the costs go up to $190-$230/hr.
And thats a 172!
Just think what FTDK must be paying for the luxury!
But it's all good if the tax man can help subsidise the expenses.

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

Just think what FTDK must be paying for the luxury!

Its good to know I am in your thoughts!

Flying a GA aircraft for fun has always been an expensive hobby - still is. Its gone up by a factor of 10 over the 35 years I have held a licence - comparable with other costs.

Flying a GA aircraft for business (ie 90% of what I do) remains very cost effective and will likely become even more so as airlines are forced to charge real airfares to cover increasing cost of fuel etc.

If your work takes you away from the eastern seaboard, and your time is valuable - then flying something like the FTDK can be very cost effective.

I have given this example before but I will repeat here.

Last year I left Townsville at 06:30 local - flew to Charter Towers and picked up a passenger - flew to Cloncurry to refuel - flew to a cattle property north of Cloncurry and bought a dozen bulls - flew back to Charter Towers and turfed my pax out - flew to Townsville and was back in my office by about 14:00.

Cost? Call it 5 hrs flying at $300/hr = $1500.

It would take me at least 2 days to drive, and if I flew to the Curry with M##air the airfare alone would be about $1000 per person and my pax would have had to drive to Townsville and back. Plus rental car costs ex Cloncurry.

Fuel can go up a fair bit yet before it will ground me from the sort of flying I mostly do.

Sure, it is not cost effective for me to fly the Bo to Brisbane, Sydney, etc when I can go commercial (which is cheaper but often no quicker in overall travel time) but the only way I can go to Mackay or Rockhampton, for example, for a business day and get home the same day is to take the Bo.

Dr :8

[flyinggit]

how can any working class person own a plane with costs like that? How do the flying schools make any money? more hrs I guess.
I think it's like owning an expensive car, it simply costs to have it.

FG

[Biggles_in_Oz]

flyinggit
What's that old joke ?...., ah yes...,
"To make a small fortune in aviation, start with a large fortune" :)

Not all flying schools actually own all of the aircraft that they advertise they have available.
Often they'll just hire from an owner at a fixed hourly rate and then add a margin for fuel and school overheads and profit.
The mug owner has to cover the relatively fixed costs of insurance, parking and financing, plus the variable running costs, plus the degradation/damage caused by users who know that the aircraft is not their personal property.
Mug owner then earnestly hopes that the aircraft gets some reasonable usage, (eg an average of at least 10 hrs/month) to breakeven.

[flyinggit]

Gee that doesn't seem fair 'biggles'. I didn't know it was like that really, well maybe a little.
I always thought that when a flying school said they own 4x C172's I thought they meant 'they' owned them not somebody else, other than say the bank. Oh well I guess owners aren't forced into hiring their plane out.

FG

[CHAIRMAN]

If an aircraft can be consistently flown 400 hrs/yr, then it pays the flying school to own/purchase it, rather than cross hiring. If the school cannot afford to buy the aircraft doing that number of hours, then the school is merely passing on the profits to the owner - not a well run school.
Most clubs/schools that I am aware of that are viable own/buy their core fleet and use only cross hire for <200 to 300 hrs/yr.

[merlinn]

Wow, thanks for the insight everyone. I was trying to work out how schools etc make money, for example my current school charges $295 per hour with instructor, in a C172.

Must be a tough business! However from a business travelling point of view I can see how this works, particulary if you have to pay a charter company to fly you somewhere remote and pay for the pilots wages while they are on the ground waiting for you!