More plane ownership?

Three reasons I can think of to buy:

1) availability on weekends and for short flights where minimums would kick in
(eg, a day trip to Block Island..a 20 minute flight)

2) I fly IFR. When I was renting, I would not have flown any of the rentals I had
access to into serious IFR conditions. My plane, I know when things are not quite
right and get them fixed before they become a problem. I can equip the plane the
way I want, and maintain it to the level that makes me comfortable. I know when I
get in it, that everything will be left the way it was last time I flew it.

3) When the family exceeds seats on a typical rental (like mine does), you may not
be able to find any rental that suits your needs. I've got 4 kids and a 5th due
any day now. I have a Cherokee Six with the seventh seat option. Fits the family
plus the dog. Try renting a six seat single. There are a few around, but none
within several hours driving time of my home (the only one I know of in the north
east is cross keys airport in southern NJ).

I did find that owning, I fly much more than I did when I was renting. Short
trips to the local islands, or relatively short trips where the time to fly is
approximately equal to the time to drive are now done by air. It wouldn't have
happened renting. I also fly places on weekends more frequently (often on a spur
of the moment). Renting, you had to plan way ahead, and had near zero flexibility
if the weather was bad.

TTA Cherokee Driver wrote:

I own a boat and rent my airplane.

The boat I own is probably the marine equivalent of a Piper Warrior
(which is what I fly) -- it's a 15 foot 1987 ski boat with a 120
horsepower I/O motor. I rent the Warrior through my flying club.

The boat cost me less than $3,000 to buy. When it needed an engine
overhaul, that cost me $1800 including labor.

The Warrior I fly would probably cost me about $30-40,000 to buy. I bet
an engine overhaul for the Warrior would be five figures.

The flying club is great. It is economical and takes most of the
hassles out of ownership. It's pretty hard to justify owning a plane
when the club is so good. There is no equivalent for boating, if there
were maybe fewer people would own boats.

But the fact is that since I took up flying, the boat has been rotting
in my front yard. I really need to get rid of it, but I just don't want
to deal with it for the small amount it's worth.

Let's see.

Owned boat: hook the trailer up, tow it to the lake, put it in, hope it
starts. Big hassle factor before even starting to enjoy it. Counting
all that "preflight" for the boat is usually about an hour. If it
doesn't start, take it back out and tow it to a shop. If it does
work, I am confined to buzzing around that particular lake. When done,
reverse the above process taking it home. And if I don't use it for a
while, it deteriorates.

Club Plane: it's there on the ramp ready to go. Preflight is usually
about 30 mins. It gets flown regularly whether I have time to fly or
not, so it's not rotting when I can't fly and for most squawks someone
else notices it first and either it's been fixed or I know it going in.
Its maint is taken care of (club has an A&P). Whenever I find there is
a squawk or a failure I don't stay awake nights worrying "oh great how
much is THIS one going to cost me". I can go basically anywhere I want
in the plane, instead of being confined to one lake like on a boat.
Only drawback of club vs. ownership: availability on nice weekends.
But is it worth all the extra cost to just overcome that one drawback
and add some more drawbacks and expenses that come with ownership? I
have figured that even if you gave me a plane for free, there is no
honest accounting under which it doesn't cost more to fly than the club.

In short, now that I fly, boats bore me. But it's really hard to
justify buying a plane when renting through the club is such a good
deal. An equivalent boat is much cheaper to buy but IMO nowhere near as
enjoyable.

JM ramblings on the subject.

Dave Covert wrote:

This is something that has puzzled me for a while...

I (a private pilot) work in the pleasure marine industry and have noticed
that almost anyone who wants to own a boat does own a boat. Now, some boats
are indeed pretty cheap, but a $20,000 boat is fairly common (approx cost of
a 150?). Here in the Clear Lake area of Texas there are something like
10,000 boats sitting in marina slips with an average cost of something like
$30,000 each... many cost way, way more than that. A boat slip here on the
Texas coast will run you about $5/foot (which is cheap, I know) and
insurance for a $100,000 boat will run you maybe $2,000 a year. Most leave
their slips once or twice a year. Marine maintenance and gear is not cheap
either. That is a whole lot of expense for so little use.

That is 10,000 people, here in Houston alone, that never bothered to take a
class in boating, but that are willing to drop $30,000 on one, pay $150-$250
on slip rent and $100-$150 per month on insurance.

After so much effort learning to fly, why do pilots not do the same thing?
Whereas most boaters own a boat, most pilots do not own a plane.

Is it initial cost? Boats and planes cost about the same, so I don't think
that is it.

Is it storage? A boat slip can cost a bit less than a hanger, or a bit more,
but planes can use cheap tie-downs. Do people not buy planes because they
might have to tie it down outside?

Is it lack of use? Boaters have the same problem... when to use the boat in
their spare time. Why would they spring for the boat and a pilot with the
same time constraints not spring for the plane?

Is it insurance? Plane insurance is more costly than boat insurance, but
using a tie-down would make up for that.

Is it maintenance? Perhaps that is it... planes are required to undergo
expensive preventive maintenance where boats just get a tow back to shore
when something breaks. Is it really the fear of 'the annual' that causes
people not to fly?

Is it fear of flying? Do people learn to fly because they want the challenge
but secretly believe they are just asking to make their wife a widow every
time they fly? Do people not trust an airplane they could buy?

I truly want to know the reason for this and the only way I am going to find
out is to listen to more pilots.

So please, if you are a pilot, and you don't own a plane, please email me
with a candid explanation as to why you personally don't own one. I will
compile the 'data' and post it back to the group once I have some idea of
the answer.

Dave
74 Grumman AA5, N9560L
dave(a)thecoverts.com



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