There is an old rule of thumb that 4x cost of fuel will get you in the right
ballpark. If you look through all the what-it-costs threads here you'll
likely find this rule holds up as well as most of the spreadsheets and takes
a lot less time to use.

The essential thing to realize is that you will have no guarantees no matter
what you do. You could buy a Bonanza and get 3-4 years of cheap annuals and
little unexpected maintenance or you could buy a 172 and have the engine
chow a valve and need a major 800 hours sooner than you expected. Neither
are likely, but they are not impossible either.

The key is to not just pay the bills but to have a little reserve. For a
plane like a 172 you'll want 5,000-7,500, that will absorb just about
anything you're likely to encounter. If the engine dies you can always get
an overhaul loan or just sell it and eat the loss. The more goodies the
plane has- autopilot, CS prop, retractable gear, bigger engines, fancy
radios, etc. the bigger this number needs to be. You can make do with less
but in my case I'd prefer to not be tempted to take too many shortcuts.

Best,
-cwk.

"Lou Parker" wrote in message
om...
Can anyone tell me where to find a spreadsheet (fill in the blank) of
the the true cost of ownership. I'm looking at a few aircraft with a
friend and we would like to know what this is going to cost. I'm
trying to figure fuel, insurance, mait., etc..