Find someone at the local airport that owns a twin and offer to pay for gas if you can fly with them. That way you won't have to pay for insurance, hangar, mx, etc., and you won't have to deal with the headaches and stress of a/c ownership. I hooked up with a 135 operation and rode along on part 135 flights, and they let my fly the part 91 legs. Even though I could only log the part 91 legs, I got some free time in Barons, Queen Airs, and a King Air (all PIC). Lots of 135 guys would be happy to have some company and an extra set of eyes in the plane, as long as their OpSpecs allow it.

 

WOw. How does a college student have $45K? When I was in college, I could barely keep $2K

 

The math doesn't make any sense. You can rent a twin from $150-200 an hour. Based on the hours you want to get out of this venture, you'd spend between $22500 on the low side or $60000 on the high side. Some places will even give you a block time discount which will bring that cost down.

I used to be the president of a local flying club, and believe me, you do NOT want to own that aircraft. You must consider the cost of insuring that airplane, tie down fees (or hangar fees), AvGas, oil, and most importantly, maintenance. I know that you mentioned that your father is an A&P but that will ONLY save you on labor. What if your Nav/Com breaks? Can he fix that? What if you needed to replace a DG or the Attitude Indicator? Can your father fix that? If the items are not fixable, guess what? You need to pay out money to get new replacement parts.

Since most regionals are looking for that magical minimum of 100 ME time anyway, why kill yourself trying to impress them with 300 hours when you don't have to? If you want to separate yourself from the competition, go get yourself 150-200 hours. I think 300 is overkill. Plus, you can use the saved money to fly the single engine on cross country ventures that will give you more opportunities to kill yourself (read: Solo XC PIC time) and that will look better on the books anyway.

Bottom line, airplane ownership is very expensive. Most people don't look at the incidentals that translate to big dollars. If you still have this itch to waste all that money, then buy the plane and fly the balls out of it everyday. For every day that plane sits on the ramp not flying, the more costly it becomes to you.

Where are you located?

 

Flying Ninja is right... People forget about the extra costs. I'm Navy pilot with an A&P, and even with my pay as a LCDR and being able to do my own maint... it was too much. I wanted to get a plane and looked into all the options. I bought an old Mooney after looking at several twins. When you do your annual.... pray to the airplane gods. An older twin can run-up $5k-$20k at an annual in an instant.... and if you don't fix it... the plane can't be sold or flown... My Mooney was with insurance, hangar/tie-down, and routine maint was costing between $450-$600/month before I even started it to go flying (less if you tie down instead of hangar it.. but that destroys your investment). Then consider your engine burn will be 9-10 gal/hour if you're lucky (at$3/per gallon). If you have one big money item break... you're done... how much is the purchase tax on it...? Go fly with a piston cargo company like airnet or flight express who has C210s and Barons.. Get your time the old fashion way.
You may get lucky with a plane.. but the risk far out weighs the benefits.. One good job will fulfill all of your flight hour needs.

 

If you want to build your time.. try this place.... They need a pilot to instruct and fly freight in their Baron...

http://www.americanflightservicespa.com/page16.shtml

Job Openings
Full Time CFI Position with Multi-Engine, Commercial, Instrument Rating. (MEI and CFII preferred but not required)

Duties: Full-Time Instruction with 25 hours per month Multi-Engine time in a BE-58 flying cross-country freight.

Please contact Keith Bauder @ American Flight Services, 610-376-5447.

 

Good points. I am in ND (UND), but live in Newport (CA). My dad just got (partnership @ SNA) on a B33, so i would be able to fly that for a single engine time. I will probably come out with anywhere with 20-45hrs of multi when i graduate, depends how well i do. I dont really want to stay at UND and get my MEI, i want to come back to SoCal as soon as i can. There are some nice planes at SNA, maybe i can hang around and hope someone with a twin likes me , i am oging to try to get a job at the airport this summer after i come back from summer school. All i really need is like 100 or more TT on multi like you guys said. I just dont want to teach for a long time, since i will be graduating when i am 23, almost 24, so i will be older then most grads.


edik

 

Not sure what your hurry is. A year or 2 does not make a whole lot of difference in the grand scheme of things. If all you are going to need is 50-75 multi hours just go buy the time and spilt it with a friend. It will save you money and the headaches, like someone else said. But seriously, "23, almost 24"? You have all the time in the world pal. A year of flight instructing (especially with an MEI) will probably be better pay than at a regional AND you just might learn something on the way

 

I just wanna know how you are able to throw down 40k on an airplane, im a UND student and i worry about just making my car insurance payments each month

 

Well you save money, and if you dont have enough you take a loan. And yes i will be able to get it. I have been saving for a while (since 8th grade, and i have had like 4 jobs, getting money is the least of my worries.)

edik

 

Dont invest in aviation. You will never get a return of investments. Just when you get your 200-300hrs , who knows the airlines may require you to have shuttle commander time, lunar landings etc. My point is you will be better of investing in real estate,stocks & flipping it for profit. Still pursue aviation, but build a nest egg to pay the bills. It makes no sense to spend 70K to buy an airplane for multi time so you could get a job at a regional for 18K a year. There is no need to rush for an airline job. This is not the same industry any more. Many regionals are only asking for 100hrs of mutli these days. You could get that in an Fbo for free.