Originally Posted by rickair7777

My previous estimate was a bit on the historical side .... I'll use today's real numbers this time....

$79/hr wet for a 172 (at a high-dollar SOCAL airport).

I forgot the membership fee: $28/M x 12 = $336

$336/40 = $8.40/hr

$79 + $8.40 = $87.40 /Hr my cost, wet.

My "club" is a for-profit operation, so assuming 10% margin, their cost can't really be any more than $79 or so. Of course, the airplane sees a lot more than my 40 hours/year, so that helps to spread out the fixed costs.

So for a typical owner-operator, actual cost/hr for a 172 could conceivably be $100/hr. Less if you fly a lot a more or buy a 152 or a cub, or even an experimental.

Are you thinking of buying a plane for time building? One option is to buy a fairly high-time airplane, burn the hours you need, then sell it before the engine breaks. That saves you hopefully most of the mx costs.