For the pilots out there, have you ever bought your own personal plane? Any recommendations for the type? I'm not looking to go over board on the spend, but would like to know what someone thinks is a good practical plane for flying in my time off.

Thanks,

I would recommend a quiver of airplanes... one for each mission. A Super cub for off airport stuff and camping, maybe a Goose for those trips to remote islands in the Bahamas... and maybe a Citation for those trips to Hawaii. Oh and a Bell 407 for trips to the grocery store! Good luck in your quest

Piper Archer. Good performance and cheap to operate.

Mitsubishi MU-2. Great twin engine reliability and affordable.

Step 1. Define what you want to do with the plane.
Travel? Fun flying/$100 burger? Acro? ect.

Step2. How much can you spend AND afford to own?

These 2 questions will get you into the ballpark of aircraft.

My bug smasher (c-140) costs me about $700 per month to own and fly. I fly it for fun about 100 hours per year.

-Hangar 250/month or 3k year.
-Insurance 600 year
-MX 2000 year. Some years I'm under some I'm over, like 3 years ago when I replaced the mags and starter.
- gas, 5gph at $4.5/gal at 100 hours/year is $2250

Total 3000+600+2000+2250=$7850 or about 8k.

8000/12=$666 or $700/month.

I bought the plane for cash 7 years ago when I was a 190 FO on LOA93 wages. Back then I budgeted 3 hours per month to stay in my financial lane. As my pay and seniority has increased I don't really budget hours per month anymore. If it's nice I go fly. I'd rather have a simple bug smasher that gets me in the air then a more expensive plane. Although I have my eye on a O-1 Bird Dog. That will about double my flying budget. I still need to save about 50k so it's about 1.5 years off until I decide to cross that bridge. I have a rule of no financing toys, my plane, motorcycle, mountain bikes, skis ect. are all paid with cash.

Good luck. I've had a blast with my plane I the past 7 years. And now I can hold vacation over Oshkosh so I'm going to stuff my ass into that thing and head out there this year. Anyone got any tips on stuffing camping great into a 2 seat bug smasher?

I'll go with something along the lines of the Archer, up or down a bit depending on $$, time & planned use.

Yeah we all know what's cheaper to rent, no need saving all the $$ for the ex's or when one is laid up at 75. I spend some cash on recreational flying, just have to prioritize.

I own an Arrow II. Before that a Warrior II. Before that a C-150. It depends on your "mission" and amount of money you can afford. My avocation runs me 10K/yr all in with 70 hours a year. Some years more some years less. That's with cheap hangar, which is actually the biggest variable and obstacle to airplane ownership for people who live in "well to do" metro areas. There's a myriad of cities in the Country where I could not own my own airplane precisely because of lack of availability of storage and/or unaffordability (aka exceeds housing costs!), even though I otherwise can afford it in the rest of flyover Country. Lots of variables, details matter. Good luck.

There are two happy times in an airplane owners life:

-The day you bought it
-The day you sold it

If it flies or floats, its cheaper to rent...
Seriously, try renting for a while and see how much
you really have time (and money) for pleasure flying.
One AD or major mechanical breakdown (engine overhaul
for example) can consume much of your disposable
income rather quickly. The Cost of ownership
is significant.

They are getting pricey, but a C-185. All in all, I think it would be the best bang for the buck personal airplane.

And with the 185, you won't have to worry about most of your friends wanting to borrow it, lol!


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