On Jul 2, 8:50*am, "Mark T. Dame" wrote:
A friend and I are considering purchasing an airplane sometime in the
next year or so and we are looking at high performance singles and light
twins. *We're pretty much up to speed on the ownership costs of a
Saratoga or similar, but we're not real clear on what a light twin like
a Baron or 310 would cost to operate, specifically maintenance.

I've been told that the maintenance costs on a twin are four times what
they are on a similarly powered single. *Is that accurate or an
exaggeration? *Are there any really bad maintenance hogs that we should
stay away from? *Any other advice?

TIA!

-m
--
## Mark T. Dame
## CP-ASEL-IA, CFI-A, AGI/IGI
## insert tail number here
## KHAO, KISZ
"Genius is perseverance in disguise."

I would say that in general basic twin maintenance costs are probably
2.5 to 4 times a complex single, unless that single is a P210 and the
twin is a Seminole. At the very least a twin is never twice what a
single is in terms of maintenance costs. The problem with a lot of
twins is that they were bought by people who didn't consider all the
costs involved. They quickly realize they are close to being in over
thier head and try to cut costs as much as they can. Invariably
useage and maintenance suffers and the next owner ends up paying the
bills.

As with any aircraft acquisition a thorough pre purchase inspection by
a kowledgeable mechanic will be worth the cost even if you pay for two
of them before finding the right airplane. Better to pay now for a
regularly flown and well maintained plane or I would also expect to
spend two to three years getting the squawks worked out before
maintenance costs fall to a regular number.

Aircraft to consider staying away from, turbocharged and pressurized
types, they are always more maintenance intensive often because access
to the interior is inhibited by all the openings being smaller and
fewer than a regular version. Anything with geared engines as well;
parts and knowledge base on the geared engines are getting few and far
between.

The Piper Seneca has the advantage of being basically twin engined
Saratoga so there is great system and parts commonality and it is not
that great leap in terms of maintenance.

John Dupre'