Operating Costs Per Hour

My Mooney has pretty much the same engine as yours but variable pitch prop. Converted to Euros, it costs roughly 265€ to operate per flight hour, based on the last few years. This is also based on 100 hrs. Primary costs are higher maintenance hour costs in Switzerland and higher taxes plus IFR additions like Jeppview and GNS 430W data.

Adding the fixed costs to flight time pricing just spoils all the fun. ;)
But I appreciate your post, it is always interesting to see actual costs of aircraft ownership.

On the average, during every hour I breathe I need to gross maybe $25 USD from all sources combined to pay every obligation, voluntary and involuntary.. Aviation related expenses seem to average about 5% of the total outgoing expense and provide 50% of my fun. As long as I’m enjoying life, successfully paying all the bills, preparing for retirement some day and still breathing that’s all I need to know!

My biggest expense is storage and insurance, more than half of the total but the hangar is also where I hang out and enjoy life. The hourly flying expense is almost irrelevant but I fly something like 50 or 100 hours a year – I could figure it out if needed but don’t keep track any more than I keep track of how many hours I ride a motorcycle every year.

At that utilization my maintenance cost is almost entirely discretionary – in other words stuff that I decide to do like adding an instrument or whatever. Actual periodic maintenance costs essentially nothing except for materials, I do most of it myself in collaboration with A&P friends. My radios are 1980s vintage, work fine for my use and I have spares. Engines seem to be doing fine. Someday I need to do a paint job and add ADS-B, and I’m thinking of selling one plane to fund that ‘upgrade campaign’ – the potential to sell one plane is my ‘emergency’ fund while I’m using cash to pay mortgages and like.

I calculate my fuel cost as roughly $17 or $34 per hour, depending on whether its an A-65 or O-320 that’s drinking the fuel.

I do wonder how much “man maths” is involved in peoples’ plane cost calculations. Speaking for myself, a little while ago I made the mistake of working out how much my plane has cost me in the previous twelve months and the answer was a cool 80% more than I had originally budgeted. The cost per hour is ridiculous…but my plane is my only extravagance (if I disregard the others of course).

The costs I had initially ignored included recurrent training, Jeppesen and Garmin data updates, all those various paper charts and VFR guides, national train fares when travelling back from the airfield where my plane has its annual, the six month check, the true (not estimated) cost of the annual including VAT, and oil and landing fees….oh and of course avionics upgrades – most recently a PowerFlarm portable.

Hmmm.

Some definitions
“man maths” : the inaccurate sums done by men to prove to themselves how cost-effective it would be to buy that new car / bike/ plane etc in terms of reduced repair / servicing costs, better fuel economy etc.

An “extravagance”: Something that is of no earthly use…. to your wife :-)

Howard wrote:

I do wonder how much “man maths” is involved in peoples’ plane cost calculations.

My wife knows better than to question the expenses associated with my ‘mechanical pets’ and lifestyle. The lifestyle was what led me to her, the mechanical pets arrived long before she did, and she’d go before some of them would. It’s not a casual thing, it’s who I am…

I was a middle aged bachelor for a long time and my lovely wife knows I had a pretty good life She has similar limits that I respect in the same way.

An “extravagance”: Something that is of no earthly use…. to your wife :-)

my plane is my only extravagance (if I disregard the others of course)

Wives in my view are a bigger extravagance than planes, and a far great financial risk, which is why as resources build you get a plane first then later a wife if you think you can stretch that far within your risk tolerance

Personal experience: the 66 year old Super Cub very predictable with no surprises in five years, complex piston twin also no surprises over ten years except the massive inflation over that period in operating costs – the twin had so many periodic items that a pleasantly predictable annual, probably based on wishful thinking, only came around once. You then have the effort of keeping avionics up to date.

Timothy’s quip that you will spend the purchase price again every year is not that far off.

The RVs that combine simple systems with excellent performance seem to be the future, especially if they are allowed to fly airways.

In 2015 I flew 60.9 tach hours for £4254, not including landing charges, but including insurance, hangarage, and maintenance, as a member of a Group of 6 operating a Jodel DR1050 on an LAA Permit, and using supermarket EN225 UL95 fuel.. There’s a good engine fund, and a good profit despite upgrading to 8.33. We already had Mode S.

Engine is over 2000 hours. Oil changed at 25 hours, oil and filter at 50 hours.