Originally Posted by Imeneo
I've been dreaming of this since I started my PPL over 10 months ago. Perhaps someday when I have the money I will buy a plane and just do island hopping in the Caribbean.
There are several planes that I like at least asthetically, the Cessna Cardinal (177), Rockwell Commander 114, and especially the Cessna 210. A Cessna 210M was on eBay.com several weeks ago and the photos just took my breath away... what a well kept, good looking airplane!
I guess what this all boils down to is that once you pay your 150K for an airplane, what kinds of expenses do you incur regularly or even periodically to keep the plane in flying order. I've been told that at some point you have to replace the engine and that costs upwards of 15K for a low time used one.
Additionally, what might be the size of your loan payments each month as well as the cost of insurance? I've heard that insurance can get pretty expensive, but then again I've heard people say that $80/month for car insurance was pretty expensive.
That Cessna 210 might cost you 8,000 to 10,000 thousand per year to insure. Plus at least 3,000 to 5,000 per annual. Unless you are filthy rich I would stick to planes with only two seats, much cheaper.
SkyHigh