Larry Dighera wrote:

As long as you overlook the price differential between the per hour of
operation cost of owning vs renting, your recommendation is valid. One
generally gets more by paying more.

The price differential depends on a lot of factors Larry. I'm assuming
that you're implying owning is more expensive than renting. In many
(perhaps most) cases, I would agree, it's cheaper to rent. However, I
think it depending on what you fly, how much you fly, whether you own
outright or through a partnership, and whether you're willing to do some
of the maintenance.

I fly a '71 Arrow and co-own with two other guys. We do as much of our
own maintenance as we can. The local cost of renting a newer Arrow
(Arrow III, they don't say what year) is $151/hr. wet. I flew 170 hours
in my first year of ownership. Renting would have cost $25,670. I
spent way less than that in my first year of ownership (even after
dividing up an $8K bill three ways as a result of the required repairs
discovered at our first annual).

Will I always fly 170 hours per year? Probably not but I'm shooting for
more than 100/year. Will we continue to have really expensive repairs?
Hopefully not but time will tell. Will I always have two other
airplane partners? I sure hope so.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane

"To become a Jedi knight, you must master a single force. To become
a private pilot you must strive to master four of them"
- Rod Machado

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