buy plane or get instrument rating?

Hi everyone. I have about 100 hours in 150's and 172's. I am thinking
about getting an instrument rating and buying my own plane within the next
few years. Should I go for the instrument rating first? I was thinking
this might help me build some more time, and the instrument rating would be
looked upon favorably by insurance companies when the time comes to buy.
Or, should I just buy the plane and fly it to get the instrument rating? I
am considering a 172.

Thanks for all advice!

Matt

Buy the plane!
you won't regret it.

--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE



In article ,
"Matt" wrote:

Hi everyone. I have about 100 hours in 150's and 172's. I am thinking
about getting an instrument rating and buying my own plane within the next
few years. Should I go for the instrument rating first? I was thinking
this might help me build some more time, and the instrument rating would be
looked upon favorably by insurance companies when the time comes to buy.
Or, should I just buy the plane and fly it to get the instrument rating? I
am considering a 172.

Thanks for all advice!

Matt

"Matt" wrote in message
om...
Hi everyone. I have about 100 hours in 150's and 172's. I am thinking
about getting an instrument rating and buying my own plane within the next
few years. Should I go for the instrument rating first? [...]
Or, should I just buy the plane and fly it to get the instrument rating?

You can get an instrument rating in a matter of months, not "a few years",
and it will cost a fraction what an airplane would. So, why not get the
instrument rating AND buy a plane?

If you insist on making it an either/or proposition, that's a question that
really, only you can answer. If you want to own an airplane, buy an
airplane. If you are finding that weather issues are hindering your flying,
get an instrument rating. If both are true, then you have to decide which
is the higher priority, or has the most economic benefit.

As far as insurance costs go, the savings on a 172 isn't going to be
anywhere near enough to actually pay for the instrument training itself. So
the training doesn't make sense as a cost-cutting measure; it only makes
sense for the usual reasons, such as enhancement of certain piloting skills
and increased utility for the pilot certificate.

Buying an airplane and using it for the instrument training's not a bad way
to go. But you'll still need to fly a lot of hours in order to come out
ahead of renting, cost-wise. On the flip side, assuming you do both in the
near term, you'll have the distraction of airplane ownership to deal with
while you ought to be focusing on learning what you need to know for the
instrument rating.

As a new airplane owner, you'll be distracted by things like chasing down
all the little maintenance things that you couldn't predict, scheduling
annual inspections and oil changes, and of course finding a suitable home
for your plane to park. None of these things is terribly complicated on its
own, but they will all be new, and they do tend to pile up.

Both an airplane and an instrument rating are especially useful and sensible
when you are doing a lot of flying, and not terribly sensible if you are
not. So even there, it's hard to say one is better than the other. Though,
that said, the instrument rating won't be a complete waste of money if it
turns out you aren't flying very much. An airplane will just continue to
eat holes in your wallet, even when you're not flying it. So I guess from a
risk-benefit point of view, the instrument rating comes out ahead.

In the end, both are highly rewarding ways to expand your horizons as a
pilot. But I still don't see why you have to pick just one or the other.

Pete

There's a tax break that's about to expire December 31st. You can write-off
the entire cost of a new plane brought into service by years-end, used for
business. That means that if you have the income to protect, buying a new
C172 will chop off $250K from your gross income. There are planes that can
be had for half that, brand new. Alarus comes to mind. Upshot: you can have
a plane AND an instrument rating, courtesy of Uncle Sam.






"Matt" wrote in message
om...
Hi everyone. I have about 100 hours in 150's and 172's. I am thinking
about getting an instrument rating and buying my own plane within the next
few years. Should I go for the instrument rating first? I was thinking
this might help me build some more time, and the instrument rating would
be
looked upon favorably by insurance companies when the time comes to buy.
Or, should I just buy the plane and fly it to get the instrument rating?
I
am considering a 172.

Thanks for all advice!

Matt

If all that was keeping me back from owning a plane was the instrument
rating, I would defer the instrument rating. However, I have a
classmate who begs me by email every three months to become an IFR
pilot. (He is retired military, not a GA pilot.) Since the Cub isn't
instrument rated, either, I've never seen the point.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
the blog www.danford.net

Airplane vs IFR rating? It all depends. They are two seperate decisons. If
you're sure you're going to fly 150 + hours a year, owning your own airplane
would start to become economic. Less than 100, it almost for sure wouldn't be.

If you're going to have to fly in fairly poor conditions -- say 5 miles in haze
often, or worse -- the rating would be a real comfort. It'd be less expensive
to take the rating in your own airplane, and better for you, since the platform
you're training is is the same one you'll use in real life.

Here's a real life caution: Rated or not, unless you have reason to fly often,
you'll not be proficient. What I had done is to arrange with fellow pilots
(Mooney jocks, we have to stick together) to go as safety pilots for each other
every six months. It changed into a game of trying to get the guy under the
hood really confused before giving him the airplane. You know the drill, 30
degree pitch up, steep bank, a few knots above the stall "It's your airplane".
We became pretty good pilots. IFRers will enjoy this: The safety pilot would
give clearance for a hold, and an estimated time of release. If the pilot under
the hood could make the release time +/- 20 seconds, he won an after flight
beer.

We also, on our home base, flew to touchdown under the hood. That's not as hard
as you might think on a 7000 foot runway in a Mooney because it really tells
you when you're in ground effect. It's a real confidence builder, too. Give it
a try sometimes.

Do what I did--justify buying an airplane by the fact that you are going to
get your instrument rating. This will put you in the proper mindset for
aircraft ownership

Marco


"Matt" wrote in message
om...
Hi everyone. I have about 100 hours in 150's and 172's. I am thinking
about getting an instrument rating and buying my own plane within the next
few years. Should I go for the instrument rating first? I was thinking
this might help me build some more time, and the instrument rating would
be
looked upon favorably by insurance companies when the time comes to buy.
Or, should I just buy the plane and fly it to get the instrument rating?
I
am considering a 172.

Thanks for all advice!

Matt

If you cancel flights you'd like to take because of benign (non-ice, not-thunderstorm) IFR, then you should get the rating.

If you want to fly a lot, or have the airplane available to you in ways that a rental is not, then consider buying a plane, or part of one. Other alternatives are a partnership and a flying club. Look around for clubs in yuor area - you get many of
the same benefits of ownership at a fraction of the cost.

Jose
--
for Email, make the obvious change in the address

I bought my share in a 172 about halfway into my instrument training.
Although I had access to good rental planes with good equipment, it was nice
to fly the same plane, week after week, with the same radios in the same
places, all the same quirks, etc. How many hours did it save me? Probably
not many but given the choice I'll always stick to one plane.

Depending on where you are and the quality of rentals available to you, you
may need to buy a plane to actually use the instrument rating.

-cwk.

"T.Roger" wrote in message m...
There's a tax break that's about to expire December 31st. You can write-off
the entire cost of a new plane brought into service by years-end, used for
business. That means that if you have the income to protect, buying a new
C172 will chop off $250K from your gross income. There are planes that can
be had for half that, brand new. Alarus comes to mind. Upshot: you can have
a plane AND an instrument rating, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

I've heard that the tax break's recently been extended for another
year and signed into law. Note, I'm saying that this is hearsay.
Check it out. But I didn't want you to make a hasty decision based on
a 31 Dec 2004 expiration of this.

Also, as T Roger says, the plane needs to be "used for business".
This can be done through a lease-back arrangement. But if you do
that, you're contending for time in your plane with all the other
renters again. Not exactly what many of us want to buy a plane for.

You might want to think about lease-back and the depreciation tax
break as a side business. Not as a way for you to get a plane and
have it paid for.

-Malcolm Teas