Cost of C-172 ownership in canada

[Bojinda]

I love flying (as I am sure you all do as well) and was attending Confederation College last year for Flight Management but my college career was cut short by a lack of necessary funding from OSAP. I am looking to go a different route this time around by trying out ownership... I am aware that this is extremely costly but as it currently stands I have about $1500 of disposable income each month that I can afford to dedicate to my cause (living with parents / currently out of debt / new job) Would that be sufficient to care for a Cessna 172 or 152? I still haven't decided which I would prefer, I am just not sure what the current approximate price per hour taking everything into consideration including tie-down (about $80/month), engine overhaul reserve, insurance (PPL when Igget it but I plan on training for CPL), current 100ll gas prices, etc. I calculate about $1300 a month if I fly about 10 hours a month, is that an accurate estimate? I plan on financing it for about 10 years hopefully but if the cost is overwhelming I may sell after getting my CPL.

Thanks in advance and sorry about spelling / grammar errors, I wrote this on my phone and may have missed some of them

[Mostly Harmless]

I can't say for sure what the cost for care and feeding of a plane would be, but I hear that these folks might have some pretty good numbers for you. COPA - Canadian Owners and Pilots Association

Barring that, I know there are a few owners on AvCanada that might have decent numbers they could offer.

Good luck.

[80-87]

Care and Feeding.....

As a past owner, you have a lot to consider....you haven't discussed where you're going to park it...storage is expensive. You need to put money away for maintenance and overhaul. If you purchase an older aircraft, you need to be thinking of replacement parts.....starting with the engine, propeller, tires...then there is an annual inspection by an engineer. There are certain things that you can do on your own to reduce costs. Then, occasionally a radio or nav unit decides to misbehave and its off to the radio shop for a few hundred dollars.

Save your cash and rent at your local club. In the end, you'll save money and at the end of the day if something is wrong with the machine, you write the snag in the logbook and hand the airplane back and let them worry about the fix.

Owning an airplane isn't cheap, in fact it is a 'black hole'. You can get rid of a lot of disposable cash very quickly.