In article 5SGtc.58$3x.29@attbi_s54, Jay Honeck wrote:
*Buying*, on the other hand, is sooo expensive up-front -- way more
expensive then renting -- but then you tend to forget all about it after the
initial pain.

When you own the economics change hugely. All the costs are incremental
in renting, where as only a small fraction of the cost is incremental
when you own. I found during the ownership of the C140, most of the
costs - including many maintenance costs - were fixed and you paid them
whether you flew 10 hours a year or 300 hours a year. The vast majority
of the annual inspection was the actual bits that had to be done whether
you flew the plane or not. The hangar fees still had to be paid, the
insurance still had to be paid etc.

That meant that flying an additional hour was very cheap, mainly fuel, a
little for oil, and a little for maintenance reserve. Instead of
thinking 'It's going to cost $BIGNUM to fly another hour' as you do with
a rental, it was 'I'm going to have to pay $BIGNUM per year anyway, and
it only costs $SMALLNUM to fly an additional hour. Let's go flying.' I
flew three times as many hours as an owner compared to renting.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"