Except 40-50K is not Baron salary. Heck 78K is not really Baron salary. Unless the wife is a lawyer, doctor, etc... And that changes the game for many of us - we could take a big pay hit initially if the spouse picked up the slack. In my case ATP, 9200TT, 1400TPIC, 3 types, 135, 121, 91k, PART 142 Instructor, etc. primary bread winner so I'd need more initially to return.

 

You're right STD...my measley 78K doesn't allow me to afford my exorbitant twin engine flying habit. My wife is a drug dealer for a large pharma co. and is nice enough to dump $$$ into my fuel tanks on occasion.

When I start to get sentimental about my airline days, she tells me to "just do it", meaning just go back to airline flying. As I said before, the guys on APC have given me plenty of reasons not to.

Back when I was flying, pay sucked, but upgrade to "decent" pay and TPIC was typically 18 months! Now it's 6-7 years! Those tough years as an FO until upgrade are the main factor for me not returning.

 

Not saying 78K is measly - but with .... if memory serves .... 194 gallons? I'm north of you here in DFW and we're at $5.65 for 100LL. So nearly $1100 to fill the tanks! I've owned a couple 172s, a turbo arrow IV, and been a partner on a Cherokee Six and C177RG. My annuals were running $1200 on the 172, with fixed gear and only one turning. When the wife lost her job with Merrill Lynch during the meltdown the airplane went with it. I probably would have returned if her salary was consistent. Instead I got stuck at one of those big corporate jet type rating schools and watched recency evaporate, further killing any movement. Aviation and Finance- two great occupations to be in at the same time.

 

It's even better when you and the wife are both in aviation... ask me how I know!

 

You know, I was gonna congratulate him for owning a private plane on his own...then I too realized the math didn't jibe with a B55..and certainly hell no with a B58. To make a high earning spouse a pre-requisite of aircraft ownership is a bit of a false economy IMO.

I'm not trying to hate, I truly think it is a great luxury to have [a high-earning wife] in life. We should all be so lucky. I'm not about to start hunting rich porkers just because I have a spendy habit and marrying a pretty broke girl aint' gonna get me to the finish line. That would lower me to the way the average sub-50K earning woman approaches men in relationship and marriage, but I digress. I just don't think the availability of a rich female spouse is that repeatable enough of an outcome to serve as useful advice for those who would otherwise look into private aircraft ownership as a means to part with the economic volatility and indignity of professional flying.

I own a Piper Arrow II (why would anyone own a Turbo arrow, with that horrible turbo/engine combo on such a draggy airframe as the pa-28, is beyond me) and I have positioned myself in life to be able to afford it on my own means, both the capital purchase and operation/maintenance. If I needed my wife to support that avocation then I really couldn't make a clean break from professional flying. Her job loss, or even her decision to shift her discretionary spending priorities away from my personal interests, would leave me completely in the cold regarding flying. That would just be a drag on the relationship altogether as there would be no avenue for me to fulfill my avocation. Considering the only reason I would pursue non-flying employment is to afford to live and to fly simultaneously, where flying employment wouldn't otherwise meet that goal, not being able to fly privately on a non-flying job's income is a complete non-starter.

As much as I empathize with the underpaid flying folks scattered all over the regionals and as much as I like to throw in private aircraft ownership as the often dismissed alternative to break away from the emotional dependency to professional aviation, I couldn't in good conscience proffer that option under the auspices of a subsidizing wife. Again, no disrespect intended to those who meet the black line on their wife's income, I just think it's rather disingenuous to not disclose that when asserting one is a private owner as a remedy to serial underemployment in aviation.

--break break--

For the benefit of those lurking on here wondering about private aircraft ownership, I would say that in general, for single engine piston X/C aircraft used for destination traveling (not beating the pattern perennially on a sunday morning), the range of all-in expenses for 70-150 hours a year, not including financing (I don't finance my toys) or avionic upgrades (it'd be nice, but is not a requirement to stay in the air year to year), the number would be in the vicinity of 10-20K/yr+. This is a nice round number to hang on to for the uninitiated. The huge variances in that number have to do with:

+ What system components the specific aircraft model have that add complexity to its maintenance versus simpler airplanes.
+What area of the Country you live in and thus what are gas prices.
+What are the preponderant costs of hangaring or tie down (could be free, could be 500+/mo...big variances) and your choices on that matter.
+ What kind of condition the aircraft's airframe, engine and avionics were in and thus how do they require repair and replacement as years of operation go by (again, big variances in outcome)
+ Engine overhaul costs and what attitude one takes towards confronting that cost..generally, can be as cheap as 13K for a field overhaul on a 4 cylinder engine to as expensive as 45K for a turbo six cylinder done by a high falutin' fancy name shop.

Life is also about priorities. I have a spouse that supports our frugal lifestyle in order to have the discretionary income to afford discretionary things, not just flying mind you. If my current wife was combative (like my exwife in fact was) about our cheap housing choices, old non-luxury paid off vehicles, demanded to have loads of children right ricky tick (we only have one, purposefully due to economic motivations), then I couldn't work the math to afford an airplane. Other couples will clearly make choices on the same income I make that do not provide space for an airplane. 20K/yr is very easy to gobble up on an extra 1000/mo in housing costs and another 700-1000/mo in vehicle financing costs. So it's very easy to shut the airplane out of a household budget. To each their own. Again, life is a matter of priorities and though women tend to believe their perspective on life priorities is normative and absolute, it really isn't so. It's very subjective. A woman who wishes to stifle the things that make you wake up in the morning is a woman you really don't need to have lay next to you day in and day out. Life's too short for that bullspit. I digress again.

Sorry for the de-rail, now back to what it would take to bring people back to regional flying.

 

Could argue that about anything that costs a lot, like becoming an airline pilot...

 

Thanks for the info on aircraft ownership. I'd like to be a sole owner someday. I think I will end up getting a C172, but maybe someday move up to a 182 (if I'm lucky and my wife allows it.). If you don't mind, could I PM you about ownership?

 

Sorry for the de-rail, now back to what it would take to bring people back to regional flying.[/QUOTE]


It's OK.. I lost track of this thread about four pages ago.

 

Absolutely man, fire away.

 

Because with the turbo and T-tail (don't slow below 75k on final) no one wants them so it was a steal! Keep in mind it was a 79. Had no issues with the stock manual waste gate turbocharger - but as a professional pilot I babied it).

Also I could do Dallas to Michigan (family) non-stop in 5 hours on 10 gallons an hour and still have 2.4 hours of fuel remaining!