"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...


You might add a (6) Ability to take overnight trips.

I would only add that if your overnight trips require IFR equipment not
available in a rental airplane.

As much as it is frustrating to pay 9 hours minimum rental for a 2-3 day
trip, almost certainly this would be cheaper than buying an airplane.
Suppose your rental airplane costs $80/hour and you have to pay for 4 hours
you do not use -- $320 is nothing compared with surprise maintenance bills
you could get owning an airplane. Suppose you make 10 such trips in a year
for $3,200 in rental "overcharges" -- you will pay far more in maintenance,
hangar/tiedown, and insurance for an airplane you own.

Fortunately we'll be able to afford a "newer" airplane (1987-1992).
Anything
to look out for going THAT way?

It all depends what your flying mission is -- the best advice though was
given earlier in this thread by Mike Rappaport and that is to buy an
airplane which you can buy without thinking about the cost per hour to fly.
It is quite common for pilots to own airplanes and then not fly them as much
as they would like because they are concerned about the incremental costs of
fuel or maintenance to fly the airplane; that means they bought more
airplane than they can afford to fly OR maintain. They would be much better
off either renting or buying a less expensive airplane. And by the way,
this phenomenon applies to everything from a C152 to a cabin-class twin;
there is definitely a tendency of pilots to buy the most expensive airplane
they can stretch their budget to afford, whereas a much better plan is to
buy an airplane which is a step down to something where cost is not a major
concern in the family budget.

--
Richard Kaplan, CFII

www.flyimc.com