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Now that I have done my PPL, should I buy a plane? Which one?

Mooney_Driver wrote:

The primary goal has to be to define your mission and then decide what to get to fulfill it.
- How many people are you going to regularly be? One, Two, or a family of four?
- What do you primarily want to do? Travel? Local flying? Short and grass strips?
- How many hours will you roughly fly per year? The number there is between 60 and 100 minimum to warrant your own plane.

I am willing to Travel, both with the family or friends, that is what I hope to do. I have already done enough local flight and grass strip with the C172 rented from the local aeroclub, now I want to go abroad (when it will be possible).

In order to get more than 100hr/year on the plane, I found a partner that is willing to share it.
The point is that we don’t know what to buy to have reasonable maintenamce cost, and hopefully no bad surprises.

Now that SR20 can be found at price similar to a C182 or PA28RT, means they also can have similar maintenance cost?

I do not understand why renting an SR20 is much higher than a plane with similar power, similar engine and similar performance: is it because of maintenance cost or is about depreciation?

LIDB LIPH, Italy

Domenico wrote:

I do not understand why renting an SR20 is much higher than a plane with similar power, similar engine and similar performance: is it because of maintenance cost or is about depreciation?

It’s a mix of things. Our club is looking into getting a Cirrus and we’re running into various issues. The biggest one is insurance. After having had extensive discussions with our insurers, what I learned is that they see a Cirrus as a high-risk airplane. This comes down to two main factors:
- too much airplane for many private pilots, especially speed management on approach / landing leading to overruns
- inability to repair; from an insurance POV pretty much any Cirrus accident means the airplane is written off

Next up is maintenance. It’s a bit like, say, Ford vs. Mercedes. The same part costs x times more for the Merc than for the Ford.

The point is that we don’t know what to buy to have reasonable maintenamce cost, and hopefully no bad surprises.

The budget should find a decent well maintained example. Constant speed propeller and retractable gear attract more maintenance.

In Europe finding a good maintenance base is getting harder as the GA market shrinks, or shifts to permit aircraft. In a way find a maintenance base first, which has a good reputation and is convenient for you, and then based on their knowledge and experience select an aircraft type. Get a proper pre buy survey.

Also your passenger comfort should be taken into account when selecting a type.

Flying more than 100 hours a year in GA personal is quite unusual, most owner pilots fly around 50 to 100 hours. If you are forming a syndicate then should work economically.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

It’s a mix of things. Our club is looking into getting a Cirrus and we’re running into various issues. The biggest one is insurance

No issue here. insurance is easy in Europe.

Maintenance cost of an SR20/22 is largely similar than a Turbo Arrow or 182, but a bit higher. Mostly due to the CAPS and a couple of other things.

An SR20 is not a adequate for touring in central Europe. Not good at grass fields (you won‘t really want to totally abandon them) and not able to climb to IFR minimum altitudes across the Alps. In fact, even in the European flatlands, minimum IFR levels are often between 70 and 100 and a loaded SR20 will not really get there either. And as soon as you encounter a trace of ice, you will be going down. Similar with the DA40.

With your purchase budget, you will not get it „all“. So choose well what you really need, what you really want, and what you don‘t need or want at all.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

LeSving wrote:

X-Plane ?

Already bought.

And I also bought the optional plane Cirrus SR20 for x-plane.

But i still havent found what I am looking for.

LIDB LIPH, Italy

Peter wrote:

My ownership story is here and hours/year didn’t come into it at all.

Thank you Peter,
I have read all the story, interesting and detailed, but I found one sentence that is scaring:

" general aviation maintenance is a minefield"

This is not unexpected, but I am asking myself if I am ready to face the " steep learning curve" that you mentioned.
.

Last Edited by Domenico at 26 Feb 17:43
LIDB LIPH, Italy

You do have to check out that the “ground situation” will be workable before you buy a plane.

For example if it is something nice, you will probably want hangarage. And having a good maintenance company based there will save you a load of hassle.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Get a non-turbo Cessna 182 for a lower price and use the extra money to install a Garmin G3X and autopilot servos that you can control from the G3X.

ESSZ, Sweden

Peter wrote:

And having a good maintenance company based there will save you a load of hassle.

Very, very, very true!

Yes if you get anything, it has to be the C182 that would be the ideal tourer for Italy with nice fair weather, hot days and load of grass places, not sure why you need glass in one but you can get one ready with G1000 or upgrade

Don’t get lured by shiny glass cockpits in DA40s/SR20s, the Skylane being light and overpowered it would punch through some shitty weather and has sub-40kts stall speed which is a sort of get out of jail card, the only problem is your/others taste: it still an ugly big C172 but it’s overpowered & fast

Last Edited by Ibra at 26 Feb 18:59
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom
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