Originally Posted by
sourdough44
The flying club membership is a fine idea. Some live in areas where rentals are hard to come by. If you have good rental options no real need to buy.
That said the Piper Warrior is a great platform for training.
I can look into a membership. I am pretty sure there is the DSM Flying Club here in KDSM and KIKV. The issue is when I go off to college, though. Rentals there are pretty expensive as well there as here so having my own plane could come out to be cheaper with how many hours I plan on pumping out in the next few years as well as learning aircraft ownership.
I am really working on throwing every freaking dime I have at this right now and I am planning on making this my career. I'm 18 now and have 3 years before I could get R-ATP. Gotta work fast!
Originally Posted by
SkyknightJohn
I'm a noob on here, but have been in the industry for nearly twenty years, and have looked into the same thing. Here are my thoughts/suggestions:
- Consider joining AOPA and use their many resources (flight planning, training info., ownership, etc...) There is a ton of things you can learn from them. There are other organizations, too.
- General rule of thumb is if you will fly the aircraft about 100 hours per year you will come out about even to renting, more than that and you will be saving money/hour.
- Buy an aircraft with engine time remaining. i.e. you buy one with 1500 hours and put 500 hours on it training, it's resale value drops considerably because the next owner will have to do the overhaul right away.
- Buy an aircraft with the equipment you want. Upgrades never recoup their investment on resale. Let the previous owner take the hit.
- Consider a flight club or partnership as alternate means to reduce your costs. Again, lots of information from AOPA can be helpful.
- As a student pilot, you should be able to get a free 6 month subscription to Flight Training magazine, which will have other good info.
- Caring for your own plane (as far as regs allow) can be rewarding and educational. You can & should work closely with your A&P on the other stuff to get to know your aircraft inside and out.
- You know how well the airplane has been treated vs. how did the last renter treat it/report squawks, etc...
- It's a big investment and if the economy tanks you may be left holding the bag until it recovers.
Just some thoughts. There's probably a lot of other advice out there. Keep reading. Good Luck!
After doing more research, the thought would be to buy the plane, run all the hours we can get onto it until the overhaul and resell it. Luckily, unlike a lot of pilots my age, my parents are helping me with some of the money and they would be paying for most of the aircraft costs.
On top of that, my dad likes the idea of having someone to fly him around to cities around Des Moines for his enjoyment
My dad is talking about having my grandpa also helping out in the endeavour. I feel very lucky to be one of the few with a family with just a little more money than some and the fact that they are willing to help.
Thanks for the input! Any more is always appreciated!