Quote:
Originally posted by onewhippedpuppy
Mike, something else to consider if you're considering purchasing a plane. I don't know what instruction + plane are around you, but here it's only $89 for a 172 + $30 for instructor. The maintenance costs for a plane make a Porsche look free, a magazine I recently read said to budget between 10-20k yearly for maintenance and repairs on a single, depending on what you buy, the hours you put on, etc. Of course, this is having a mechanic do it all, but there's a lot of stuff you can't do on a plane without an A&P license. Plane and Pilot has an article on buying a plane in this months issue, might be worth picking up.
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I did this exact same thing and came out like a bandit! Bought a C-150 and two of us got our private licenses out of it. Flew it another 200 hours then traded up to a C-177 Cardinal. Flew it long enough to realize that it was time to quit my mega bux job and go back to school. Sold both airplanes for either a profit or no loss and flew them for years to boot.
Then spent two years in Douglas Arizona, right on the border with Mexico, getting my aircraft mechanics license and EMT/paramedic training. Came out of there and got a job 3 days later twisting wrenches on planes. Six months later got a job flying night cargo. One year later was flying copilot on a 4 engine Viscount hauling rock n roll stars around. 18 months afterwards jumped in the right seat of a Learjet and the rest is history...
One trick on paying for aircraft maintenance is to find an A&P who wants to fly. Partner the plane with him and trade him maintenance for flight time. He pays the fuel cost and works on the plane in exchange for using it.
There is nothing like getting paid (and very well I might add) to do something that you would do for free, and love to do day in and out as well. You tend to walk around with a smile on your face a lot more, kinda like I did today when I took the 911 for a spin!
Motion, not to disagree with you but you get a lot more money's worth flying at a small airport then heading to a larger one to get used to the traffic. Start out at a larger one to get used to it, then move to a small one where you fly all you want to, not waiting at the hold line or flying holding patterns waiting to get worked into the pattern. That costs money and you do not learn anything from it.
If any of you guys on the left coast want to get together let me know. We are doing trips to Carlsbad, San Jose and Vegas in the next month and can give a tour of the jet and talk flying for a while.
JoeA