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Old 04-09-2006, 07:16 AM
  #7  
Jared
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Joined APC: Jul 2005
Position: E190 FO
Posts: 66
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I have had more fun for less than the price of a typical bass boat or snowmobile by owning a Cessna 150. Back when I had mine I flew it all over the US and to Alaska and back several times. I never paid more than $200 on an annual and didn't have insurance since I had so little into it. Since it had an autogas STC I could fly it for just a few dollars per hour. I honestly flew it till I was tired and never had my finances cramped or felt guilty for all the money I was spending, which wasn't much. They are easy to buy and to insure. If you have any maintenance skills at all they are easy to work on. It takes longer to get places than in a 210 but when you are young and building time who cares?

To give you a more current picture of pricing for even the inexpensive 150, annuals usually start around $500 for labor. Then add labor and parts for anything that was broken or worn. You know how much more expensive 6 gallons per hour of car gas is, and insurance will probably be a few hundred dollars per year. If the 150 is that expensive, just imagine the 210. In fuel alone, a more realistic burn is 15 gallons per hour, and it doesn't burn car gas so you can about $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon to the price of fuel.

Instead of buying the 210 now, why not buy something more like a 150? You can use it to get your private pilot certificate (often eroneously called a license) and fly it for 100 hours or so. Use that time to decide how much you like flying and owning. You will get an idea for how much a hangar costs (or at least you can get on a waiting list for one). You can discover the reality of the $500 broken whatever that will come up from time to to time. If you financed it, you can pay it off. THen, if you are still ready to buy the 210 (chances are that you will be), get an insurance quote. When you recover from the shock of that, ask the 210 owners that you have met over the past 100 hours about how much their maintenance costs have been. Sell the 150 for more than what you paid for it, and use the proceeds as part of your down payment on the 210.

Your insurance company will probably require an instrument rating before you can solo the 210, but that's ok since you will have met lots of instructors over the previous 100 hours. You might have even found another plane that you like even more than the 210! In the rare chance that you have decided that ownership is not right for you, you will have invested 5 digits in the 150 instead of 6 in the 210. And your insurance company will be much more willing to insure you if you can get some more experience in a less complex airplane. One time I called up an agent to get a quote in an airplane that was more advanced than my experience called for and he kind of laughed and said "no really, how much time do you really have?" I wouldn't want for you to be in the same position.

Keep in mind that flying a 210, while not an extremely complicated task, is much more complicated than flying a 150. You will learn faster and have more fun in the 150 than in the 210, and your chances of success will be much better.
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