Hour building at 15 $/hour?
 

hello everybody,
I have been told by an Iberia pilot that are many places in Usa where pilots can make hours in Cessna 150/152 for almost 15 $/hour (shared time).does anybody knows anything about that?Thank you very much

Unlikely
 

Sorry, but I think that either he is pulling your leg, or there has been some sort of misunderstanding. Renting aircraft in the USA (or Canada) is certainly much cheaper than in Europe, but you can't get a Cessna for US$15 per hour. Not one that you'd be willing to trust your life in, anyway!

If you do an Internet search for "Florida flight schools" or something like that, you'll find many websites that will give you the actual prices currently available. :)

Was recently chatting to someone in California who bought an elderly 152 for USD 20,000. He reckoned on $12 an hour for fuel alone. Cheapest US rental rates I've seen are around USD 50.

Obviously, beware false economies...

There used to be a way that the FAA would allow both pilots to log P1 if one was handling pilot with goggles (simulated IFR) and the other was safety pilot. Check FAR/AIM. If so a C152 could work out at $30 an hour if a large block was purchased, giving you P1 at $15 an hour.

I think you can only share P1 time if you're both flying on FAA licenses. Not that getting an FAA PPL to do your hour-building should be a problem, just an unnecessary hurdle when you can fly a PFA aircraft in the UK, without having to worry about travel, accomodation, leaving your family, etc, for as little as £10/hour if you look hard enough, and £25/hour without having to look too hard at all.

FFF
--------------

cheapest price i've found is in KRVS (Tulsa metro, in OK) and its a 1000 USD block. Price per hour if bought in that quanitity would be $42 + $4 tax = so $46/hr thats for a c152

on an airport not 10mi further away than that you can get a tomahawk for $37/hr & a warrior for $50.

There are aircraft in the UK that are very cheap to hoursbuild on but I cant tell you about them because that would be advertising on Pprune .

$15 per hour? This might be what they pay their pilots...:D .

Don't know about $15 per hour, but I honestly maintain that it is possible to fly in the UK for £15 per hour. It costs me a little more than this due to my choice to base at an expensive airfield in the SE, but if you cut out the massive hangarage costs and fly your socks off it should be possible to get things down below £7 per hour (REALLY!).

If something sounds too good to be true it nomally is...

The catch here is that you have to take (part) ownership of an aircraft which does involve some finite financial risk and plenty of time spent cleaning and maintaining (I have however learned LOADS during my 6 years of ownership). If you don't find the time to fly the bills still have to be paid and the hourly cost do effectivly increase.

Feel free to e-mail me if you need any information on starting or joining such a group.

dan
 

Are you flying a PFA type ? becuse I dont think that you can get the cost of an aircraft on a PT C of A much below £50/hour and that just the aircraft costs and insurance, to this you would have to add hangerage and landing fees.

A and C, what's wrong with PFA aircraft???

Dan, I completely agree. As for the cost of buying a share of the aircraft, this can be les than £1000 if you look hard enough - that's the cost of 10 hours of renting a PA28! And, what's more, you'll be able to get most of it back when you sell the share - assuming you don't get so hooked that you decide not to sell of course!

The only problem is that most of the cheapest aircraft are single-seater tail-draggers, so you'll need to get a tail-dragger checkout on a different aircraft first, and find someone who will insure you without much tail-dragger time.

FFF
--------------

I have normally persuaded the insurers to cover a pilot with limited taildragger experience, albiet with increase excess, so the only catch now is that you must do differences training on a different aircraft. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn't have to be 5 hours, only sufficient to get a sign off from an instructor. Most PFA types I've flown are more flattering/foregiving than the Cub you are likely to train on.

I know someone who picked up a share of a single seater for £200 last year! NO hourly costs, just fuel, monthlies and a share of liabilities. That should be cheep flying...

Look, a 152 will burn about 7 gph...at say $2 a gallon, that'll be $14 an hour just for the gas. and these are conservative numbers so round it up to $20 an hour, just for the gas.

Then comes a repair fund, an anual fund, a new engine fund, debt service on the note if you financed the a/c, fixed insurance costs, fixed tiedown costs and costs for any upgrades you want to make, or that you're required to make due to regulations.

On top of that, if you own the a/c, you've got availability issues. When it breaks, you've got to organise the repairs and wait for them to be done - even if you're doing them yourself.

Still owning is a wonderful thing. It'll make you a better pilot and it'll teach you all kinds of things that renting won't. Just don't ever buy an aircraft and put it out for lease.