SR22 operating costs

This is a very rough list from the top of my head, no time to do it better at them moment due to high worklod:
SR22-G2 G-YORC

Fix Costs per year
Insurance: € 3600 (hull value: € 225.000, which is too low now, because the average price for a comparable planes is more around € 250.000 at the moment)
Hangar: € 2000 (club hangar)
Annual plus 150 h inspection: € 4000 (average)
2 × 50 h inspection: € 2000
Databases: € 2700
CAPS savings: € 1500
Savings for next Engine: € 3500
Upgrades, mods, repairs, parts: € 15.000 (per year, 6-2013-11-2015) for: WAAS upgrade, DFC90 autopilot and PFD/MFD overhaul, 4 blade prop, ADL120, overhaul of interior, exhange of Skywatch processor, new roll servo, several EGT probes
Cleaning, Accessories, Batteries, etc. € 500
Total: € 34.800

Variable cost
Fuel per hour: € 135
Oil, Tires, Brakes, Oxygen: € 5

Flown hours, average: 130
Cost per hour: € 407

If you take away the “luxury” items like the new interior and the 4-blade prop then € 350 / hour is quite realistic.
Of course the airplane could be had for even less money: No hull insurance, no upgrades, no refinements or improvements and you can probably have it for € 250 per hour (based on my 130 hours). You can also only update one GPS/month and not have the Jeppesen charts on the MFD, which would save a lot of money.

Flyer59 wrote:

Hangar: € 2000 (club hangar)
Annual plus 150 h inspection: € 4000 (average)

You’re doing real good on these two.

My WAG for the “average” SR22 based Western Europe, probably 2 times more on both hangar and Annuals.

Owning a sailing boat is comparable to owning a GA aircraft in cost.

Now which sailing boat owner calculates “cost per hour” for sailing? It’s all fixed cost and the marginal costs of using it are low.

My airplane costs me 48l fuel per hour plus maybe 20 €. That is all I have to pay compared to letting it sit in the hangar on that day. The 50 € costs nothing and the 100h check I have to do anyway every year per EASA regulations so it’s a fixed cost.

So my cost of flying is 48*2.3+20 = 130€/h. For that money I can travel 270km in one hour. Not too expensive.

Yes, the hangar woukd be around € 500 now in our area, but this is a space on a turntable in a Flying Club hangar.
Of course there’s many different ways to see or calculate these costs, but I think my calculation is not untypical.

The 50 hours checks: At every other 50 h one or more life or time limit parts have to be changed. I do them ower assisted and they are in no way “rip offs”.
Every Cirrus pilot i know knows about the 10 year repack of CAPS, and at the moment it’s around € 15.000

The engine will be a little less, but not under € 45.000 I guess, but I have not really evaluated the options yet.

Yes, Jeppesen is a cash machine, but I don’t have to buy all the data. I do it because I find both the IFR and VFR approach charts on the MFD very helpful, they reduce the workload a lot and give me better situational awareness. I know many Cirrus pilots who don’t have them. You can print every chart form Jepp FD, right? I could also share my data, but actually I could never find somebody who pays 1/4 to get all charts on his iPad (only 1 MFD installation is possible plus 4 devices)

I forgot the CAMO (RGV), that’s another € 650 per year. I have no time to do any documentation and since the a/c is G-reg this is the easiest way.

There’s many different concepts, I know that. Of course I could also fly a 20 year old JetProp with old radios for the same money, but I prefer the modern avionics and CAPS.

@ achima

The 50 € costs nothing

That’s great. Oil for free, oil filter for free, tools for free, and obviously your time is for free aswell. Of course Cessnas never need repairs and parts either, That’s why they’re so successful :-)

@ Michael: My LAST annual was € 990

Flyer59 wrote:

That’s great. Oil for free, oil filter for free, tools for free, and obviously your time is for free aswell. Of course Cessnas never need repairs and parts either

“Nothing” is a relative term here as you surely understand. I do all maintenance myself and yes my time is free because it is a hobby. Oil is very cheap, filters are very cheap, it doesn’t even affect my total airplane spends in the third digit. Engine fund etc. doesn’t make much sense either because the amount of flying I do, 2000h is a lot of years and the resale value doesn’t really depend much on 100h more or less on the engine.

Things break with the airplane but most of it is not attributed to flying it, more to the general age and degeneration. When looking at cost I just take the airplane as granted (I own it, it’s there and I have to pay the cost anyway if I fly it or not) and then consider what it costs extra to fly it versus not fly it. That is my cost of flying.

If I calculate my full car acquisition, depreciation, insurance, tax, maintenance bill etc and divide it by kilometers driven, I would quickly conclude that it’s cheaper to order a stretched S600 Pullman with driver in velvet gloves every time I drive somewhere. Still few people would calculate like that. You own a car because you want to and when asked what driving to place X costs, you only take variable costs.

resale value doesn’t really depend much on 100h more or less on the engine.

No, 100 make little difference. But 2000 make a difference of € 40-50 K wth the Cirrus, so why should i not calculate that cost? The aircraft market reflects engine hours very well, IMHO.

Again: I do not say that I “CARE” much about the cost. I actually couldn’t care less. I can afford it, for now, and as long as i can the money means little to me. But if we discuss cost we cannot conclude that it doesn’t exist. Otherwise we should open a new thread abut the philosophy of life regarding money.

I think I could technically do most of the maintenance on the SR22. I could buy tthe tools i don’t have, no problem. But first i have no wish to spend my time like that (many other interests) and i also don’t have the right hangar for it. Two or three days for an owner assisted manual in the shop, ok that’s fun for me too. I do a lot of it myself and i can ask a very experienced mechanic who will check and supervise my work. I have no wish whatsoever to work alone in an unheated hangar, maybe because I spent a BIG part of my youth in unheated garages, welding cars … those days are over.

Even if I paid a Part 145 to do the maintenance outside the annual (for which a 145 is required), it would still not change the cost much. Flying 50 hours more costs maybe 15 € per hour in extra maintenance.

My airplane is just like boats and cars — a mostly fixed cost driven thing. The marginal costs are low.

Just yesterday I had a discussion with somebody (who reads this forum, too) and his airplane is owned by his company and whenever he uses it, he has to pay the company the full cost (total cost / hours flown) plus VAT. For him an extra hour is really expensive but a private owner gets a much more realistic picture by considering incremental costs only. Looking at the hangars at my airport, most airplanes fly virtually never, some of them leave the hangar once a year for the annual inspection. Still, the costs are virtually the same as with more frequently used planes. What should they calculate as cost per hour? Infinite?

What should they calculate as cost per hour? Infinite?

That’s almost philosphy now :-) But that’s the most stupid way of having an airplane. If I wouldn’t fly my airplane, and that might happen one day, I will sell it immediately.

Also, i do not like the car comparison. For my life I really need a car, at least a couple of days every week. So it’s out of the question if I will pay the fix cost. And yes, in that case, since the maintenance on my cars is very cheap (all done in my own company with a good discount – but not for free) I can calculate variable costs only.

But as i said, I do not calculate much. I just try to live by a simple principle: spend less than i earn.

The airplane is a sheer luxury. And although i have a good income it is real money i am putting into it every year. I do not calculate capital cost (where would i have invested the € 225 K otherwise?). But there’s no way denying how much each of the 130-150 hours of flying cost. All the other methods of simply closing your eyes (“i have the airplane anyway”) is what i would call naive. It is money you have to earn, and it is real.

Jason, what do you think about this?