Dreaming with a touch of realism

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Dreamer

Filing Flight Plan
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Jan 18, 2015
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Dreamer
I have a dream ...

Some people like to watch a movie, I usually use my own imagination for entertainement. This time my imagination leeds me to airplane owner ship.

Although it is basically dreaming I like to keep a touch of realism to it and was checking the annual costs of airplanes. These costs seem astronomical !

I understand there are fixed costs , variable cost and unexpected costs and it all depends on the hours you fly a year, but even then...

For example I came across this site :

http://www.cjjets.com/resources/comparing-king-airs/

In their calculation the annual cost af a King Air C90GTx would be 779.000 dollars !

Are they exaggerating ?

If a dream 'smaller' : any idea wath the annual cost of a new Seneca V would be with an 100h/year and hangar storage ?

I've read some people have an annual cost of 50k for their Seneca... Seems too much of a difference ...
 
Do they define hours per year on that chart? A rough division between variable costs per year and variable cost per hr gives me 500 hrs of usage, that's a lot of usage and a lot of fuel, so yep, significant cost there, also they are likely counting a capital cost in there, and we are talking about new multi million dollar aircraft, so again, not insignificant. Very likely there is also a salary and training cost for a pilot in there.

So yeah, for a high level of operations along with a new high capacity pressurized twin turbo prop plane, that number sounds reasonable.

While there is no such thing as cheap aviation, it can certainly be done for much less if one sets their standards not quite so high.;) Lots of capable and sufficient smaller aircraft that can be operated to great effect by the typical GA pilot for a small fraction of that number.

Seneca V figure $250 hr plus hangar which could go from $80-$800 a month depending on where you base. Once you have 100 hrs in it insurance will be roughly 1.5% the insured value. Then figure in your capital costs. Most GA pilot/owners who use their plane quite a bit will be flying in the 80-160hr a year range, so gauge your usage from there. Rarely did I see a GA plane do more than 150hrs between annuals, I saw at least tree times as many with less than 2 between annuals.
 
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Oh, BTW, 500 hrs isn't all that realistic a number for any corporate King Air operation, more like a freighter. That's a nifty little marketing trick that brings down the 'fixed cost per hour' number that is the 'bench mark' in comparison. A busy corporate operator will be more like 300hrs a year, many less.
 
I see...

In that case the King Air is too costly ... even for my dreams :)

Up to 800000 for a plane of 4 million, thats even more then a yacht would cost (10% of purchase price a year, so i've learned)

I'll stick to my dreams of a Seneca (or B58) then, and maybe they'll come true some day :wink2:

So the 50k a year seems probable for the Seneca, I know what to aim for !

Thx !
 
Dreamer said:
I see...

In that case the King Air is too costly ... even for my dreams :)

Up to 800000 for a plane of 4 million, thats even more then a yacht would cost (10% of purchase price a year, so i've learned)

I'll stick to my dreams of a Seneca (or B58) then, and maybe they'll come true some day :wink2:

So the 50k a year seems probable for the Seneca, I know what to aim for !

Thx !
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Yeah, I would choose a Baron over a Seneca (mostly because the Seneca engine is a CF the way they have the turbo), but $50k a year for either is a healthy budget that should have many years of annual carry over, and a lot of hours flying the years that don't.
 
Yeah I read there's a big fan base for the Baron. Being more powerfull and handling better and so on. But for now I'm dreaming, so I don't need to decide :)
 
Dreamer said:
Yeah I read there's a big fan base for the Baron. Being more powerfull and handling better and so on. But for now I'm dreaming, so I don't need to decide :)
Click to expand...

If you're dreaming, there are way cooler planes. A Grumman Widgeon would be a nice alternative to a Baron.
 
Wow that thing is hilarious ! And still for sale from 160k to 330k.
 
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