"New Pilot" wrote in message
. ..
Hello all,

Wanted to hear your advice about buying a brand-new plane even before
getting the PPL ticket.

Here is my situation: I am a businessman sitting on quite a bit of cash
being generated by my business, and I am also a student pilot, will
probably
get my ticket by the next Summer. I am thinking about buying one of them
Cirri SR22.

You've probably heard the saying that "A fool and his money will soon have
more airplane than either can handle." You're probably not a fool but it's a
wise statement to heed nonetheless.

Does this make sense economically, or am I totally crazy? In general, how
good an investment are those brand-new airplanes, provided one can afford
to
pay cash for them?

There's only one kind of new asset that stands a good chance of appreciating
over time: a house. And that works only because they ain't makin' any more
land. If you want to preserve your equity buy a low-time plane that's 10-20
years old in good shape.

If you do buy a new plane with the intent to do a leaseback you want to buy
a common plane that everyone knows how to fly already. A new 172SP or 182
with the G1000 would be the queen of any rental fleet and would probably get
plenty of usage. Since it's under warranty you won't have to sweat
maintenance costs. Oh, and either of these would be very realistic planes to
learn to fly in and not get murdered on insurance. I'm usually very bearish
on leasebacks but this one could work.

-cwk.