: Also, don't make the assumption that you save money by owning. As a rule of
: thumb, you must fly about 200 hours a year to make owning more cost
: effective than renting.

That seems a bit high to me. Trouble with "rules of thumb" is
that nothing in aviation makes any sense. If you're the kind of guy who
doesn't like to or have time to work on it, then annuals can be very
expensive. If you find a good mechanic who'll work with you, it doesn't
have to be that much. Biggest trouble is finding a mechanic that knows
what he's doing, and isn't a, "Let's replace that and see if it fixes the
problem."

These are probably reasonable numbers for the biggest things,
(assuming you can buy it outright. If you have you finance, add that in
too):

Insurance: $1200 for student pilot in C-152
Annual: $500-$3000 for the first year or two... depends on how much is
broken, and how much work you do yourself.
Tiedown: $30-$75/mo ($360-$900)/yr. Depends on where you are. Hangars
can be more
Fuel: 6 gal/hr ... $8-20 gal/hr depending on 100LL or cargas, etc.

Those add to between $2000-$5000/yr, depending on how you go, and
how lucky you are on parts, etc. Divided by 100 hrs/yr (still quite a bit
of flying), that's $20-$50/hr indirect costs. Add the $8-$20 for fuel,
and on the low end it's cheaper than renting, and on the high end it's the
same. At least around here you can rent a 152 for $65/hr.

Obviously, for a 152, the indirect costs are disproportionately
more expensive than the direct operating costs. Yet another reason for a
bit more plane. Step up to a Cherokee 140, and the only thing that goes
up is the initial price by $5-10k, and fuel from 6 gal/hr to 6-9 gal/hr
(depending on how you're flying it).

Hope that helps
-Cory

--
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* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
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