Upgrade Question

On 17-Sep-2004, Roy Smith wrote:

If e.drucker puts 100 hrs/year on his Arrow, his $600 figure works out
to $6/hr. I suspect he's overlooked that fact that his fuel injected
engine is more costly to overhaul, so he's lost sight of another couple
bucks/hr that he really should be accruing (at least on paper) against
an eventual overhaul or replacement. Overall, his figures and my
figures are in pretty good agreement.


We put an average of about 175 hrs/yr on the Arrow, so the extra maintenance
for RG and CS prop probably works out to under $4/hr. The $2/hr higher
figure for engine overhaul reserve is about right. However, with the price
of fuel so high (unless you burn mogas) the higher efficiency of the
injected engine probably almost makes this a wash.

Take care that in a more complex airplane it's maintenance and insurance
that are substantially higher. If you don't fly many hours per year, these
will really bite you.

-Elliott Drucker