Drew Hamilton writes:

I guess, what it comes down to is: How much per month should I
expect to pay and how much per hour (assuming that I pay myself each
hour to save up for overhauls/repairs/whatnot) will it cost to
operate for a single-engine 4-seater like a C-182 or such?

There are some wild variables involved -- hangaring will add several
hundred dollars per month, for example, and if you buy a plane that
hasn't been maintained well or hasn't been flying enough, you could
have thousands more in maintenance costs every year.

Here in Ottawa, with my PA-28-161 (160hp Piper Warrior II), I'm paying
about CAD 2500.00/year for insurance, CAD 75.00/month for tiedown (at
CYOW; probably much cheaper at a country airport), CAD 30.00/month for
landing fees (possibly non-existant at a smaller airport), and
something like CAD 60-70.00 for the annual Nav Canada fee. I've paid
a few hundred getting my avionics checked and fixed up, and about CAD
1000.00 putting in a four-place intercom (a non-recurring expense),
but otherwise I haven't had any big surprises yet. Fuel runs about
CAD 30.00/hour, and I allow CAD 10.00/hour for engine overhaul reserve
and another CAD 5.00/hour for avionics and paint reserve.

My first annual will be in a couple of weeks, and I'll have a better
idea then of what my costs will be, but I'm guessing that CAD
10,000.00/year isn't too far off for a properly-maintained 172 or
Cherokee flown about 100 hours/year. Maintenance costs are lower in
Canada and fuel isn't much higher (I pay CAD 60/hour for basic
maintenance and 75/hour for avionics work, which comes to well under
USD 40.00 and 50.00 respectively) -- in other words, keeping a plane
costs about the same as keeping a cottage (but the plane flies, while
the cottage just has flies).


All the best,


David

--
David Megginson, , http://www.megginson.com/