PPRuNe Forums - I’m the process of looking into purchasing a Cessna 172

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I’m the process of looking into purchasing a Cessna 172

Good afternoon All,

after seeing my son struggle to build flying hours, I and a couple of friends thought to put funds together and buy a plane. Hopefully we can lead to a flight club or flight school. Any information on how to source schools who are looking for planes, and also any information regarding starting this business preferably in Southern Africa and also what’s required
thanks in advance
PS as much info would be appreciated

What exactly do you plan, buying a 172 and giving it away to a flight school? Naive belief owning an aircraft and making money by letting a flight school rock the poor plane?

Business in ZA is tough and will need a ZA license, as stationing an aircraft there will most probably render the validation path unmanageable. There is one guy from Eros airfield active in this forum, so he may bring some more light into current situation down there.

Thank you Chicken House, sorry was not clear in my message, I meant to say lease it out so are you saying it’s impossivle to do it relocating there soon hence was thinking to find a business venture that can benefit others as well as a group of us who will invest , why would you say it’s unmanageable? Would like to hear of how others have managed to do this as I’m sure they is a demand in the industry having seen what I had to pay for my son to get some hours
thanks

Seems a bit of a non-starter to me.

A guy here did that with a 172S, gave it to the airplane club on the understanding that they would pay him back from the profits, duffice to say he's not seen a dollar and never will😫

It's a well documented fact that the way to make a small fortune in aviation is to start with a large fortune. :-)

My thoughts too. What exactly is the problem you're trying to solve here?

If your son is struggling with hours building (for what? Commercial? ATPL?), then what's the reason that he's struggling? Funds? Weather? Airplane availability?

If airplane availability is the (only) reason, then buying a plane might not be the only solution. There are plenty owners/operators who are willing to rent you a plane, "dry" (so not including fuel) for an extended period of time. This is normally not publicly advertised, but if you're serious then you might ask around and get a few helpful responses. Also, buying a share in a syndicated airplane might be an option too, although syndicates typically do not want owners that are only going to do hour building in a short period of time, and then sell the share.

And even then, if you decide to buy an aircraft outright, a C172 might not be the best option. Sure, it's a very rugged aircraft that's very suitable for flight training, but for hour building it's very easy to find aircraft that are significantly more frugal, which translates in more flying hours for less cost. Your best bet would be to find something that's using a diesel/Jet-A engine, such as a DA40 or DR400 Ecoflyer. These aircraft have maybe half or 2/3rd the hourly fuel cost of a C172 and that easily offsets the higher depreciation. And they're usually newer, more comfortable and typically better equipped. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, if you're just going to hour-build, find a C150/152.

Then "starting this business". What business? Are you going into the business of renting aircraft to flight schools? Is your son intending to start its own business in flying people around? I don't know what your plans are, but over the years I have seen several flight business fail because the owners were pilots foremost, not businessmen. The flying business is a highly competitive environment and the businesses that succeed are the ones where the owner treats them as businesses, not just as a way to fund an expensive hobby.

We thought of doing the same thing here in UK, to give our aircraft a bit more use. However the flying school pointed out that they had a different Public Insurance to our private insurance. Also their booking scheme would not match what we have at the moment.