Share Purchase for hour Building

[Ei-MPB]

Hi Lads,

Sorry if this has been discussed before but nothing sprung up for me on the searches!

I've just got my ppl after delays, bad weather and broken arms etc. Now I'm just starting my atpl studies and am looking to hour build while I'm studying. I've seen one plane based at the airfield I fly from Weston in dublin. Its a cessna 172 with a 1/6th share for €12,000.

I've done a few comparison sums against 100 hours in the same plane in the school I'm flying in at the moment.

I don't know if the table will copy in properly, but I've pasted them in below.

Share C172 based on 100 hours over a year
Unit Price Months / Hours Totals
Share 1/6th €12,000.00 €12,000.00
Monthly €125.00 12 €1,500.00
Hourly Wet €80.00 100 €8,000.00

If Share sold for €10000

Total Cost After Sale of Share €11,500.00


REnted school C172 based on 100 hours over a year
Unit Price Months / Hours Totals
Share 1/6th €0.00 €0.00
Monthly €0.00 12 €0.00
Hourly Wet €180.00 100 €18,000.00

Total For 100 hours over 1 year €18,000.00

Assuming the sale of the share after the hour building there's a fairly decent saving. Even if i didn't want to sell it its always there as some sort of equity.

I'm sure someone out there has gone through it this way! Can anyone who is the owner of a share let me know of any hidden costs associated with it! I've looked into the obvious ones like insurance and maintenance etc, but is there anything that you wouldn't think of until it crops up?

Let me know your thoughts!

Thanks,

MPB

[BellyAir]

When you see the numbers like that the argument looks very one sided.

If I were you I'd do it only if you can afford not to sell the share afterwards.

I looked into a similar thing myself but the demand for shares isn't as great as you might want.

[r44flyer]

Difficulty getting rid of the share afterwards is one of the main reasons I decided not to go down this route for my hour building.

One other thing to consider is the other members' reluctance to see an hour builder in the group. They rack up the engine hours quickly, contributing little in the way of monthly fees towards the maintenance funds etc, then sod off when their log book's full. It depends on the group, of course.

[benish]

Why not travel to Florida!?

much cheaper

[Farrell]

Do not buy a share in an aircraft unless you are willing to wait a long time to sell it on again.

Also beware of the insurance issues on the machine.
What will happen if you damage or crash it? Will the insurance company pay up? Who knows? Depends on how it happened. If it was negligence, then maybe not.
And even if they did pay out it could take months.

I can't remember the exact cost, but even a replacement altimeter or other indicator can be pricey.

Hangar storage, maintenance.....the list goes on.

Buying a share is not something to get into for building, especially if you are working to a tight budget.

Have a look at the USA as an option. If you want 100 hours, you could do that in a three week vacation in Florida - and if you are not adding a rating then you can do it all on a tourist visa once you jump through the FAA hoops for validating your JAA PPL.

[Ei-MPB]

Right, Hangerage is included, Its on the Dutch register so they are 100 checks rather than our 50 hour (I'm based in Ireland)!

|I think the insurance and being able to sell it when I'm finished are going to be the deciders!

I think you've all raised the issues that I had in the back of my head!

Think some thorough thought is required before I went through with it!

Think I'll start with going for a spin in her!

Again if there's anyone thats chosen this route please let me know!

Thanks for the input!

MPB

[Sciolistes]

Having part owned three different aircraft over several years, the first of which was for hour building to 'save' money. If my experience is anything to go by I can tell you that the chances are that share ownership for hour building will not save you any money. You won't believe just how much money these things require and they do frequently go wrong and require expensive attention. The other problem is sometimes the labour and parts cost is not so much, but the aircraft can still be out of action for several weeks whilst the globe is scoured for an elusive part. If any major work is required this could become months.

All it takes is for one group member to overrun and your training has stalled for months, if not years in one case I know about.

As previously mentioned, selling a share is not something that is likely to happen in weeks. Plan on a few months of showing the aircraft to timewasters before a serious punter appears.

I reccommend finding a good place to hire something interesting instead.

[Ei-MPB]

Thanks Sciolistes!

I think I would be better steering clear of it a this stage alright! Out of interest, what planes did you have a share in? Anything interesting?

[potkettleblack]

I looked into this when I was doing my hour building and hitting the ATPL's. For me the killer was the inability to sell my share and the risk of something major going wrong whilst I was still a shareholder. I probably spent about 6 months on and off do research and guess what? Yep the same shares were still going which made it plainly obvious to me that there was not a liquid market for your share.

A PFA aircraft can be relatively inexpensive though and might warrant some research. I think you can get a single seater for under 5k. There are also cheap single seat microlights around as well. The cessna/warrior's of this world are seriously overpriced for the old pieces of sh*te that they are. Check out the private flying forum. Loads of info there on this type of thing. Do a google advanced search and you will get loads of hits.

[Sciolistes]

Depends on your PoV. For me the most fun was a simple Piper Cub. Also relatively cheap to run and maintain - so few parts you see. Still too problematic for an hour builder, IMHO. But we digress.