On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 07:30:24 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

Margy Natalie writes:

If you want to fly in a tin can go commercial. Why would I want to ride
in a Greyhound bus when I can drive my Audi?

That doesn't answer my question. How much would it cost to rent a 737
instead of a tiny plastic plane? Just because you prefer a tiny plane
for your leisure doesn't mean that everyone else feels the same way.

Wellll... At an operating cost that ranges from $11 to $24 per mile
puts the ball park operating cost per hour between $5,500 and $12,000
per hour under airline conditions which are probably going to be the
most efficient as they spend most of their time at altitude. Stay
below 10,000 feet and it'd probably run 50 to 100% more per hour.
BTW in 2001 when fuel was a *lot* cheaper the fuel cost per mile of a
first generation 737 was about as much as the total operating cost of
the latest models.

In reality, I don't know of any practical way to fly large jets in
real life for pleasure. Even John Travolta doesn't seem to get around
much in his 707, and it's a crusty old airframe compared to the modern

That 707 is probably more expensive to operate than the above figures
for the 737. On top of that figure the cost per hour goes up
astronomically if the plane isn't flying most of the time.

None of the big iron, that I know of, is single pilot certified.
So to fly one you are going to need to get type certified and take
recurrency training twice a year. On top of that the best you might do
would be to lease one complete with a pilot and copilot.

Based on what I can find, as an individual you might be able to come
up with a 737 for around $15,000 to $20,000 per hour if you are lucky.

aircraft that some of us might prefer to fly (I'm sure he had to
compromise, as I don't think he really prefers the 707 to more recent
equipment).

You can purchase some old airplanes for not much more than scrap
prices, BUT that is still many hundreds of thousands of dollars if not
past the million mark. It's the same reason you can purchase older
piston twins for quite reasonable prices and then find out you can't
afford to fly them.

Look at the differences in maintenance costs between the first
generation 737s (Bout $2.40 per seat per mile) and the latest which I
think was about 70 cents per seat mile.

http://www.unisys.com/transportation...sightsID=88374
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com