Affordable Flying ??

[frank einstein]

Can anyone help ..??
I need to do some hours building but have a bit of a cash-flow 'situation' ( sound familiar!!??) .
There must be a way to obtain 100 hours without being ripped off ( sound familiar...) .
I've flown in the good ole' USofA which is currently top of the list for the " paying for it route " ... Anyone any info on flying in Slovenia re:cost ?
Anyone explaine the " Shared time " route as advertised in one of the mags. ?
Thanks in advance if you can help .
Cheers . F.E.

[buzzc152]

I've found the cheapest flying is to be found by buying a share in a small plane (C150 fpr example). As long as you don't get ciaght with any enormous maintainance bills you should be able to build hours quite cheaply. I own a share in a C150 and it works out a roughly £27/hour all inclusive.

Failing that, I found there were plenty of people out there willing to hire out their planes for a reasonable rate. For example, one guy was offering his Beagle Pup at £50/hr wet.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Buy a cheap PFA single seater such as a VP1, group-A Minimax or MW7, which should cost you under £4k if you shop about.

Spend a happy summer touring the farmstrips of Britain, doing your own maintenance and running on mogas - should cost around £20/hr

Sell it for probably £500 or so less than you bought it.

Total expenditure about £2500 for 100 hours flying.

Pay off the money you borrowed to start with, less the £2500 or so that the flying has really cost you.

G

[frank einstein]

Genghis the Engineer ,
Thanks for the info it sounds like a smashing route to extra hours !!
Any more info regarding where I start my search for a working aircraft of that particular price range ( £4-8k) ?
Cheers , F.E.
p.s. what about insurance costs .. astronomical ??

[Genghis the Engineer]

I'd start at www.afors.co.uk, the PFA's website at http://www.pfa.org.uk/the_pfa/sales_wants/classifieds_list.asp or Popular Flying Magazine. No joy there, go to the PFA rally at the start of July, I saw a rough and ready MW7 there for I think £3500 which I was quite tempted by myself.

Insurance shouldn't be more than a few hundred pounds for 3rd party cover, last I looked hull insurance (not sure I'd bother on such an aircraft) would cost you around 8% of hull value per year. I personally wouldn't bother since generally the parts to repair most accidents will only be a few hundred pounds and PFA rules would allow you to do your own repairs.

If you can afford £4-£8k I'd also give John Hamer a call at the Minimax Club and see if there's a group A minimax going, they're usually around £5-6k and a much more refined aircraft than one or two single seaters I could mention. Alternatively the Rand KR2 is a cramped and unrefined but fast 2-seater that you should be able to pick up for under £8k.

G