I thought it might be interesting alongside the flying hours thread to talk about flying costs.
I tend to focus on variable costs (fuel, oil, landing fees) as I think insurance etc are personal and fixed.
Be interested what it costs to run different types which is obviously related to fuel consumption but also mission type. Shorter trips for me are expensive as I spend more time climbing than in cruise.
For the PA-46 since it came to Europe in November in 41 hours of flying - it cost me £182/hr and this works out at £1.18/nm. It also means my avg ground speed was 154 knots although this was badly affected by a long slow return from Berlin with a 100kt headwind. Cruise is a TAS of 185 knots running LOP. I can run ROP and go 13% faster but use 43% more fuel.
I will follow this one like a hawk, I was in a share in Blighty 12 of us around a C152, and the fixed/hourly rates were beautiful (£40/£40 respectively - in 2008). Now I have re-joined the rental fleet the hourly rates are not so good (€90 for a C152 and €140 for a PA28). And I have thought about getting myself something that is mine, I can do with it what I would like, a labour of love if you will.
I am interested how costs breakdown and whether this would be achievable for me. Plus I would be very interested to hear from people who maintain the aircraft themselves and how much you can do to keep costs low (I am a Mechanical Engineer by background so I do know the way around a tool kit)
Remember if it is a plane for going places, cost/nm is the right number.
Remember if it is a plane for going places, cost/nm is the right number.
Definitely, and that is the type of flying I would love to do. My ultimate aim is to have something that I could go away for a weekend trip, with fair regularity. At present the paperwork hurdle to an overnight is daunting (only club rules)
Having been a share owner I understand some of the costs but not all. The easy bits are Hangarage/Insurance/Fuel - because you know how much this costs and can factor that it. It's the maintenance I have no idea about currently; how to factor that and come up with projections, and how much maintenance you can do yourself and is advisable to do yourself etc.
italianjon, in my experience a 50h revision could be around 500€ and a 100H/anual around 2000€ (this is in Spain, with man-hour priced at about 60€) But take it just as a minimum. It's not so unusual to find out some 'surprises' during revision that increases the bill with some more euros. And, of course, there are SBs, ADs, etc
If you add up each and every expense and divide the result by the flight hours you will get a frightening figure. Being owner can be financially wise only in a few specific cases i.e. co-ownership or with an airplane difficult and expensive to rent.
Of course there is also another factor, the freedom/flexibility that you get when you're the owner. And you have to put a price to that.
The problem with regards to maintenance costs is not routine maintenance, but non-routine maintenance. This is where things can get really ugly (particularly with older aircraft) and potentially ruin your €/hour numbers, especially when flying less than 100 hours a year (which applies to most privately owned aircraft).
Also, other people's €/hour numbers are often meaningless, due to the differences in how people calculate, especially with regards to unforeseen maintenance funds, engine funds, avionics funds (big deal!), depreciation, financing costs etc. For privately owned aircraft, this really is no exact science (even though there will be someone around shortly who will share how exactly aircraft ownership costs should be calculated...)
I think that is a little harsh. I think allowing for 10% after you buy a plane for getting it right is a good idea. But buying is very convenient if you can. Equally renting is great of you want that. My problem with renting was you could never get good aircraft.
Non-hourly costs are going to vary a lot.
A lot of maintenance costs are related to how well (or badly) the plane has been looked after during its life. In other words, if you want to skimp on stuff, the chickens will come home to roost eventually, though perhaps not until after you have sold it.
Funnily enough a big factor in this is how well the various moving parts get lubricated. The GA maintenance business hates doing this properly, because doing it properly needs grease, which takes time because you have to dismantle the parts (grease-nippled parts excepted but those are rare), whereas oil is much quicker and feels just the same to the customer, who almost never looks under the covers anyway. The problem is that oil doesn't last from one Annual to the next, and any abrasive grime gets stuck inside the bearing faces and grinds things away nicely...
Annuals are normally done at a fixed price. For example, my TB20 would be quoted at about £2.5k+VAT. For that, every box in the manufacturer's schedule will be ticked, but only half of the work will be done. For example a specific bearing will specify grease (usually Aeroshell Grease #7) but the company will just squirt oil in there and tick the box.
It's the same in almost every other business. You go and see a lawyer (say, because you are getting divorced because you spend too much time playing with planes 
) and he charges £300/hr. You might get the senior partner in the firm for an hour, and the next 10 hours (also billed at £300/hr) will be stuff done by a "junior". They have to do that otherwise they would never make money.
If you insist the company actually greases the stuff (i.e. actually does it IAW the MM) you get a lot of breath drawn between teeth and they want to negotiate an extra charge. I used to pay a few hundred £ extra for these "extras". Now I sidestep the whole issue by renting a hangar and doing it all with an A&P/IA - something not possible under Part M.
That's why, in GA, an aircraft owner who wants his plane looked after properly and wants it to last a long time, needs to either get clued-up and get involved in what exactly gets done and how it gets done, or he needs to be very lucky in who does the work.
So far, in 11 years, my non-scheduled maintenance has been probably £1k in airframe parts, which is practically nil. That's because I went N-reg after just 3 years, so was able to keen an eye on things.
Anyway, onto running costs...
Fuel, low altitude flight, 3000ft, 43 litres/hr (140kt) = £88/hr at EGKA prices
Fuel, Eurocontrol IFR flight, FL120, 37 litres/hr (150kt) = £76/hr at EGKA prices
Engine overhaul fund ~ £14/hr (a gold plated overhaul in the USA, DHL shipping both ways)
Prop overhaul fund ~ £5/hr
"50hr" check = £6/hr (top grade oil + Camguard, done at 40hrs)
Insurance £2.5k (CPL/IR, 1k+ hrs, sole pilot)
Hangarage £6k
Did I leave anything out?
So the direct operating cost (DOC) is ~ £110/hr.
I can't even rent a C152 for that, and that is one of the great things about ownership. It encourages maximum currency.
With the fixed costs, and assuming say 150hrs/year, the £110/hr becomes ~£170/hr.
I can probably just about rent a PA28 for that, which doesn't even compare on mission capability.
It gets better if you syndicate, because the fixed costs get spread out.
Obviously the costs get silly if you fly say only 50hrs/year: £280/hr.
I am not counting interest on the capital, which IMHO one should not do on a private "venture" because if you did that, you would die having done nothing in life, very rich, and with everything invested in financial instruments.
£50 monthly + £80 per tacho hour for a C152. Wales.
For 100 hours a year, by the hour, based upon the aircraft kept at home with zero direct cost, and I do the maintenance myself (but have included a fair cost for that):
For the 150: Maintenance $13, Airframe reserve $5, Engine reserve $10, Insurance $11, Fuel & oil (Mogas) $30, Government fees $2, so $71 per hour.
For the Teal: Maintenance $20, Airframe reserve $8, Engine $18, Prop $5, Insurance $22, Fuel & oil (Avgas) $80, Government fees $2, so $155 per hour.
