Worlds cheapest place to hire a c152

[Richie82]

Alright,


I'm beginning to look in to my hours building, assuming I can get my ATPLs nailed next week, just wondering what the absolute cheapest place to do it is? I'll go to outer mongolia if it means getting the best deal! A mate of mine paid about £45 / hr in the us a couple of years ago (pound was strong then mind!) Surely it is possilbe somewere in the world to better this price! Outer mongolia? Timbuktu! Those kinds of places must be pretty cheap.

Other than that, does anybody have any creative ideas for cutting the cost down? U can count microlite hours can't you, would that work? perhaps I run an unofficial airtaxi business shipping people about the place. (obviously not for personal gain as I dont have a cpl!...the taxi fare would be the price of the aircraft hire).....

Cheers for any help,

Richie

[GaryS]

perhaps I run an unofficial airtaxi business shipping people about the place.

No!


U can count microlite hours can't you, would that work?

Nope.



I'm beginning to look in to my hours building, assuming I can get my ATPLs nailed next week, just wondering what the absolute cheapest place to do it is?
I would walk away from cheap aircraft, how much of your hourly rate goes towards maintenance? not much :sad:

[TheBP]

Don't forget to factor in all the additional costs of travelling, accommodation, meals out etc. Potentially a rate such as £45 could go dramatically up when including such things and make staying at home better.

Why not take a look into buying a share in an aircraft? If you look around enough you'll find some very good deals - although of course there are risks to having shares too. There are some no equity groups about, where you just pay a monthly fee/lower hourly rate. If you search around these forums there's a fair bit of info.

Also I recall at least one individual/company on here who will hire out a 152 at a fairly decent dry rate for you to build hours on.

[A and C]

As you ask the question I can tell you about a very inexpensive C152 but it is not the cheapest!

For the cheapest rock bottom price just look around the USA (don't forget to price the hotels & airline tickets) and UK and you will find a shed load of under maintaned unloved aircraft that have high time engines, very old half working avionics and smell as if the carpets are supporting some type of pond life.

You have to ask your self if to save maybe £200 on your hour building you want to risk your life to one of these aircraft?

Or you can call me to find a well maintaned aircraft that has a low time engine & modern radios (as well as a company that has a good AOG spares holding in case things do go "tech") And this at a price that is inexpensive without being the aircraft being "cheap".

[INNflight]

I did my hour building on a Cessna 150, hourly price was (still is!) 65 US dollars, including fuel.

Maintenance was great, never had an issue. Not the fastest aircraft, but you gotta get hrs anyways :ok:

[Richie82]

INNflight, where did you get that deal?

[Mickey Kaye]

Full Sutton has a C150 for hire at 78 quid an hour which must be one of the cheapest around. And as C150 go it's a bit of a hotship (relativly speaking of course).

The cheapest flying I can think of that you can count toward CPL issue is an Evans VP-1. There is a 1/8th share in one at breighton for 500 quid 25 a month and about 20 quid an hour - its on AFORS website.

There is also another one up for sale at I think eddsfield for 3750 ouright purchase.

Happy flying.

[Mikehotel152]

A lot of the 'cheap' deals have gotchas that raise the actual price. Look very carefully at the terms and conditions. If you look abroad or in the UK remember to factor in:-

-Airfares.

-Accommodation. A huge cost for a months hour-building abroad!

-Car hire is often necessary.

-Costs of validating your licence.

-Extra accommodation costs for time spent validating licence, having check rides, weather, aircraft availability.

-Landing fees are not always included. This is significant because you'll want to explore the network of GA airfields wherever you do your hour-building.

-Sometimes you might even have to pay for parking and it's usually £10 per day on top of the landing fee for short term parking.

-Daily travel costs to get to the airfield where the aircraft is based. An hours drive each way = an extra £10 per flight in car petrol.

-The method of recording the hourly hire rate varies and a hobs/tacho counter is often used. You may have to fly at the minimum drag speed to get anywhere close to the published rate! You'll be flying at about 75 mph in a C150 two-up. In order to get anywhere at a reasonable speed you'll have to keep it close to the red line, which means your tacho will be spinning faster than a pro ice skater on speed... :E

-Some Flying Schools/Clubs/Groups require you to pay a joining or monthly fee and maintain your membership for a specified duration. Don't forget to add this to your costs as it bumps up your effective hourly rate.

-Do consider a group share. You may find it proves useful in the long run because you'll be able to keep flying cheaply after you complete your training and while you're looking for a job!

If I were to give any advice I would suggest you view your hour-building as a fantastic opportunity and not as a mere 'tick in the box'. If it costs more to do some flying abroad, do it. You won't regret it. Or join a good non-equity group and sign up for all the Fly-outs.

Have fun.

MH152

[dwshimoda]

perhaps I run an unofficial airtaxi business shipping people about the place. (obviously not for personal gain as I dont have a cpl!...the taxi fare would be the price of the aircraft hire)

Not the best basis for starting out in a professional career. Let's hope the CAA aren't reading this website.

As many have said, cheapest isn't necessarily the best - indeed is very rarely the best. Look at all the options, and definitely consider a share - that's how I did it. But don't in any way shape or form, cheat. If you do and are found out, you will never fly professionally - and rightly so.

[civil aviation]

With this option, you don't have to take passengers-the only condition is that you only have to deliver a package to a remote airfield in the United States at least once a week. There could be some problems if you log your hours accurately and you should budget for legal and funeral expenses but, what the hell, if you'll do anything for nothing.
for further info. do a search on whitepowdermonkey

[SAS-A321]

I know about a very cheap C152 in central India at a cost of 5£ a day.
It is strapped onto the back of an elephant. It is not the fastest, but have a rock solid landing gear. Expect lots of low level flying and try to avoid getting an cowstrike.

:E

[captain_rossco]

Try sunrise aviation, Ormond Municipal Airport, Florida.

[B2N2]

What a lot of people tend to forget is how usefull these 100 hrs can be.
It's not just another hurdle towards your CPL.
This is the chance to work on your own skills and expand your horizons.
These 100 hrs need to be used to train yourself and practice for your CPL.
Flying the cheapest, clapped out death trap that you can find is not going to help you towards those goals.
Just my opinion...:rolleyes:

[ewsd02]

Try South Africa, or the military flying clubs if you have any service connection.

And I agree that you are best using the hr building to train for the CPL. Flying up and down the florida keys burning holes in the sky won't help you as much as structured flying supervised by a good instuctor.

[smith]

Stay at home and wait for the long summer nights, take a job that finishes early in the afternoon and fly for 2-3 hours at night. Stay at home with mum and dad and cycle to the local flying club, eat baked beans and toast for the next three years.

This will work out infinately cheaper than taking a month off work, paying expenses at home while not being there, hotel rent, flights etc etc.

If you really want to save money don't do anything coz there will be no jobs for a good few years to come, so renewals and revalidations will bump up the cost. Wait til we see the green shoots of recovery before you do 'owt!

[flyboy1818]

Thanks for that smith, very charming indeed. Right lads, you gotta be in it to win it and if your gonna sit at home and eat baked beans with mummy and daddy then you might as well stop posting on pprune!

I have recenlty done a cost analysis of my hour building and I have looked into a number of different options including leasing an aircraft, buying a share, continuing to fly in my non equity group, buying the hours in block from my local FTO, hour building in spain and hour building in the USA.

Its a difficult choice and I have considered all the factors including travel (fuel costs to drive to the airfield or flight to another country, accommodation, landing fees, membership costs and even the cost of that all elusive cup of coffee during the turn around! total values came surprisingly close all within +-1300. All in all even with an exchange rate of 1.36 USD to the pound America is still cheaper if only just, this is even when you include £500 spending money over a two week period. Hence my tickets are booked and I'm off to build 50 hours in sunny Florida to get to my 100 PIC, I have done all my flying in the UK to date and plan to do the CPL and IR in the UK too!

p.s I'm doing this on annual leave smith so I'm effectively getting paid for the pleasure!

[ct2003]

Recently paid less than 65 Euros/hours for the C152s close to Cape Town, with a fine Flying Club. Rand weakened (against the Euro) again so it should come close to 60 Euros now.
Other SA flight schools offer dedicated hour buliding programs form Europeans.

[G SXTY]

The cheapest C150 I rented tried to kill me . . .

By far the most valuable hours-building was when I stumped up a few quid extra and got an instructor to come along as safety pilot. IFR and IMC work at 50hrs TT - I wouldn't have been doing that on my own.

If you fixate on the bottom line, your priorities are wrong.

[Groundloop]

Thanks for that smith, very charming indeed. Right lads, you gotta be in it to win it and if your gonna sit at home and eat baked beans with mummy and daddy then you might as well stop posting on pprune!

That's a pretty unnecessary response, flyboy. It might not suit your or Richie's situations but for a lot of young wannebees it is PERFECTLY good advice.

[Herjan]

Now when the Swedish Krona is low you should look here!I have heard aboute an airfield in Varberg,30 km south of Gothenborg, where you pay ca 600kr/h for Piper Cub. Thats about 45-50 pound.I think you could find even cheeper if you search around here!

[cypilot77]

The cheapest one is always that well maintained aircraft which happened to be very close to your house!!!

[smith]

flyboy 1818

I was being perfectly serious except for the baked beans lol.

If you can work and do it at night after work it really will end up "cheaper". No flights, hotels, car hire etc to bump up the costs. I suppose it also helps if you live close to to a flying club.

I have done both, flown from my local airfield after work and headed west to the states for a block booking. Both have advantages and disadvantages, wx probably the biggest advantage stateside oh and possibly the bikini clad beauties on FL's beaches too:}

If you can manage to save your annual leave time and carry it over to the following year it will stand you in good stead for ATPL brush up courses, CPL, IR etc

Good luck.

[Kash360]

Just come back from the states. $39 dry or $57 wet including a free check ride.

[flyboy1818]

I'm pleased to see that you have tried both smith. I started out doing my hour building during my days off, but since last years fuel crisis the cost of operating my group aircraft per hour has risen 30%, and even with the exchange rate as it is its a no brainer. In addition to this I have not been able to fly as much as I would like as I have spent most of my time trying to nail these ATPL exams. 11 months later and I am weeks from the finishing line with all the brush ups done! There is a valid point for doing some hour building in the uk, but to be honest after 50 hours PIC flying around southern england, I think its time for a new adventure!

[A and C]

$57 is a good rate but that is only the flying, the real rate must include airline tickets, hotels & all the other things that you have to pay for when living away from home.

Let me take a guess the real rate is about £85/hour!

[Mungo Man]

Why a C152? Any SEP hours will count. I paid £19 an hour for a D31 Turbulent when I lived in France and was hour building, from a club, no other fees. Sure, right time right place, but look around carefully and you might find a good deal on 'different' aircraft.

[MartinCh]

$57 is a good rate but that is only the flying, the real rate must include airline tickets, hotels & all the other things that you have to pay for when living away from home.

Let me take a guess the real rate is about £85/hour!

Wouldn't it be strange having a thread about flying abroad, having fun, exploring new places, having freedom, no landing fees in many cases, racking up hours in much nicer weather etc, having much needed break from it all while working towards own goals, without your constant stream of promoting your business, right? You're not suggesting ideas/third party. Banner space, maybe?

You're like an anti-Mastercard advert. Just twist it round and replace 'priceless' with 'pointless'.

This website may be revolving around UK in wannabe and PPL forums, but.
Maybe all the US based wannabes should go to the UK and rent your aircraft to take advantage of your deal.

Look at Phillippines. Or South Africa. Wherever. Doesn't matter.
Plenty time to 'become familiar with UK airspace and weather' during CPL/IR module. Or during PPL done in the UK for some. Why not making the most of opportunities when available?

On topic:
I know of a place with 48 dollars per hour wet incl instructor in PA11 or 68 bucks for C150 dual wet. Housing cost negligible. Swimming pool, lake for fishing, golf club right nextdoor, besides club's BBQs and bar. BUT, it's far away and this particular place weekend only club.
OR, 75 dollars C152 dual, $88 for Cherokee training, out of towered airport elsewhere (commercial FTO, more expensive)

I do agree that <60 bucks an hour wet rental (for Florida) is good deal.

[Spunky Monkey]

Mickey Kaye

Nice cheap flying. But F That.
Have you seen those things?

VP1 Volksplane Structure (http://www.evansair.com/structure.htm)

and

Volksplane Photos! (http://www.evansair.com/photos.htm)

I personally like the Scottish one...:}

Little bit of turbulence and you may be outside of the aircraft.

If you live in the UK, fly in the UK.