Not your usual aviation and business question....

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TCABM

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If you were going to start a small business in the next 3 - 5 years, AND it would be directly related to aviation, what would that business be and why would you do it? The business would need to make a be able to provide a sole source of income (net profit of >$75k/yr) or achieve sole source income capability within 5 years of founding.

Let's cap the initial investment at $250k.

Locally, there is an active airfield with EAA chapter, two Pt 61 schools, glider club and about 400 acft based. Within 30 mins drive there's the AF Academy, Peterson AFB/KCOS, Ft Carson, and probably some other places I'm missing.

My first thought would be avionics (focus on exp-AB and ads-b installs) but I'm not trained in that field.





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Develop a decent aviation moving map that gives Foreflight a run for it's money, but for Android.
 
Salvage and scrapping combined with recovery and cleanup for insurance companies.
 
If you have your ratings it's always possible to do flight instruction, banner towing, ferry services, charter services, sightseeing..etc. Personally I don't think aviation is a very profitable market right now, even with a $250k investment it will be hard to pull out $75k profits in the first couple quarters. You start small and work your way up in this industry, at least that's how it seems.
 
For a 250k investment you'll get the building to work out of. Then you need the tools of whatever trade. Expect to not show a profit for about 3-5 years.
 
I'd do some STC mods. I have plenty of ideas.
 
He investment is too low, but someone needs to unseat Garmin as the only certified IFR GPS with an interface worth a damn. Honeywell ain't gonna get the job done.
 
There are at least two businesses on that airport that assist builders with their homebuilt projects. One focuses on composites, the other on RV's. You could go talk to them about the realities of their businesses. Another business is a successful aircraft paint shop, you might talk to him about that line of business.

There are some non-aviation related businesses on the airport that you could look into buying that might have the potential you are looking for. PM me if you are interested.

Finally, I would not recommend that you invest your capital in real estate to be used in your business. Rent a place, get started then consider owning your own building.

Best of luck!
Scott
 
The way aviation is going ,good luck. Think your investment dollars are a little low.
 
That's why the salvage business is good, you don't need to be on the airport. You can buy some land out in farmland and put up a big metal building for his budget plus get a truck and trailer.
 
Since being laid off three months ago, I've been wondering the same thing... But I keep hearing the voice in the back of my head chiming in with the ol response to the question "How do you make a little money in aviation? Start with a lot of money."

There does seem to be some ground to be made up in this area when it comes to sims if/when the FAA decides on how their rules are going to work... We'll see what happens though.
 
us AAirways said:
Buy a 206 and give mile high flights??
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Cherokee 6 with club seating works much better, you pull the back seats and make a foam mattress out of the back and put a curtain between the front and center seats. They can belt into the aft facing seats for TO&Landing.
 
hook_dupin said:
Buy a Seminole and a full-motion sim. Become qualified to hand out ATPs.
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That will not work when the new ATP rules go in to effect, real soon now. In addtion to the million dollar sim you'll need a formal ground school.
 
At my field, there is a sky diving outfit that seems to hum right along and they only work on the weekends. You need a big hangar, a jump plane like a King Air, or Twin Otter, a nice place on the airport for a jump zone, the FAA's blessing and some good instructors. I guess you need parachutes too. Not sure if you could start this with $250k or not.

Interesting thread as I have asked the same question myself and have no great answer.
 
JimNtexas said:
That will not work when the new ATP rules go in to effect, real soon now. In addtion to the million dollar sim you'll need a formal ground school.
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That's the idea. Be the leading edge in ATP instruction. I think you could find a full motion DC-9 or 727 sim somewhere on the cheap.
 
Dav8or said:
At my field, there is a sky diving outfit that seems to hum right along and they only work on the weekends. You need a big hangar, a jump plane like a King Air, or Twin Otter, a nice place on the airport for a jump zone, the FAA's blessing and some good instructors. I guess you need parachutes too. Not sure if you could start this with $250k or not.

Interesting thread as I have asked the same question myself and have no great answer.
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Lots of DZs start with a C-182 or 205 on shoestring budgets.
 
Lots of great ideas. Don't think I'll act on the mile-high club options.

I'll be retiring from career #1 (USAF) in three years. I've got a few thousand hours, but don't think that relying on primary/advanced training (CFI/II track) is a good bet for a sole-source income initially.

Not interested in flying for the man in the next career. The flying done will be for me--I've got about 800 or so hrs of dual-given and enjoy the teaching aspect but the student base I would target isn't quite large enough here, so that is on the table as a side business to develop over a 10-15 year period, at which point it may become the 'primary' business if I still enjoy it then (career #3)

Career #2 is a bridge, preferably self-employed/small business owner. Career #2 as a primary means of income will need to last 10 - 15 years while I grow the CFI/CFII business. Ideally career #2 will become profitable enough that I can be a nearly absentee owner if the CFI/CFII business does well.

May just have to buy a few rent houses instead. Cash flow would be much better.
 
TCABM said:
Lots of great ideas. Don't think I'll act on the mile-high club options.

I'll be retiring from career #1 (USAF) in three years. I've got a few thousand hours, but don't think that relying on primary/advanced training (CFI/II track) is a good bet for a sole-source income initially.

Not interested in flying for the man in the next career. The flying done will be for me--I've got about 800 or so hrs of dual-given and enjoy the teaching aspect but the student base I would target isn't quite large enough here, so that is on the table as a side business to develop over a 10-15 year period, at which point it may become the 'primary' business if I still enjoy it then (career #3)

Career #2 is a bridge, preferably self-employed/small business owner. Career #2 as a primary means of income will need to last 10 - 15 years while I grow the CFI/CFII business. Ideally career #2 will become profitable enough that I can be a nearly absentee owner if the CFI/CFII business does well.

May just have to buy a few rent houses instead. Cash flow would be much better.
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I'm telling ya, the salvage business is where to be. You can also use it to build and support a rental/training fleet. I worked a couple years for Al Martin doing this. Cleaning up for insurance companies pays well.
 
I think there may be a business model that caters to urban flight training. What I mean by this is getting a location located near where everyone works and putting in a Redbird simulator. These things are surprisingly affordable. Then designing a training program that provides instruction in the sim as a way to reduce the number of hours required to get a PPL or IR. I think using this model you could make the entire process more affordable and more convenient for the student. I'm not saying substitute flight hours for sim hours from a regulatory standpoint, but most students take more than 40 hours to get their ticket. Using a sim that costs less than a plane would help prepare a student to get there in 40 hours. Also, a sim located near work instead of the airport means students could be "flying" more often, like say 2-3x per week with only one of those in the airplane. That kind of frequency greatly reduces hours required and also increases the likelihood that someone will finish. Also better from a marketing perspective in terms of giving free discovery flights in the sim which really won't cost anything since most of the costs are fixed.
 
250 grand would have done something in aviation 30 years ago, not today. Your better off playing the market, something like 60 percent stocks, then bonds etc. in aviation you'd probably just lose it, and quite rapidly.
 
So you expect a 30% return on your money and have no expertise in aviation?
 
TCABM said:
Lots of great ideas. Don't think I'll act on the mile-high club options.

I'll be retiring from career #1 (USAF) in three years. I've got a few thousand hours, but don't think that relying on primary/advanced training (CFI/II track) is a good bet for a sole-source income initially.

Not interested in flying for the man in the next career. The flying done will be for me--I've got about 800 or so hrs of dual-given and enjoy the teaching aspect but the student base I would target isn't quite large enough here, so that is on the table as a side business to develop over a 10-15 year period, at which point it may become the 'primary' business if I still enjoy it then (career #3)

Career #2 is a bridge, preferably self-employed/small business owner. Career #2 as a primary means of income will need to last 10 - 15 years while I grow the CFI/CFII business. Ideally career #2 will become profitable enough that I can be a nearly absentee owner if the CFI/CFII business does well.

May just have to buy a few rent houses instead. Cash flow would be much better.
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Let me know if you figure this out so I can copy it.:D I'm in the process of getting out of one industry/business and would love to do something in aviation at the airport. Problem is, I can't think of anything that I won't lose all my money on.

I think avionics is a winner, but you pretty much have to buy an established shop because that sort of business is based on reputation and the quality of the technicians you employ. Starting an avionics shop from nothing would be a challenge.

Henning's salvage and recovery idea is good, but in the coming decade I predict that GA will continue to decline and that means that there will be lots of planes to scrap, but the parts will be less and less valuable, or needed. At some point you are picking up airplanes just for the value of the scrap metal. Scrap metal prices can rise and fall rapidly depending on world demand for metals, so it's risky. In addition, more and more new planes are composite and have much less scrap value.

The part about working for the insurance companies to do recoveries could be lucrative as long as you can accurately bid/quote costs to go and pick wrecks from whatever location. Again there is risk involved and as GA declines, your services will be needed less and less.

I think the future of success in aviation businesses is going to be specialization more and more rather than generalization.
 
Dav8or said:
Let me know if you figure this out so I can copy it.:D I'm in the process of getting out of one industry/business and would love to do something in aviation at the airport. Problem is, I can't think of anything that I won't lose all my money on.

I think avionics is a winner, but you pretty much have to buy an established shop because that sort of business is based on reputation and the quality of the technicians you employ. Starting an avionics shop from nothing would be a challenge.

Henning's salvage and recovery idea is good, but in the coming decade I predict that GA will continue to decline and that means that there will be lots of planes to scrap, but the parts will be less and less valuable, or needed. At some point you are picking up airplanes just for the value of the scrap metal. Scrap metal prices can rise and fall rapidly depending on world demand for metals, so it's risky. In addition, more and more new planes are composite and have much less scrap value.

The part about working for the insurance companies to do recoveries could be lucrative as long as you can accurately bid/quote costs to go and pick wrecks from whatever location. Again there is risk involved and as GA declines, your services will be needed less and less.

I think the future of success in aviation businesses is going to be specialization more and more rather than generalization.
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Let me know if you want to move to Miami, my buddy's dad is about to retire and sell his shop, Peninsula Avionics.
 
Henning said:
Let me know if you want to move to Miami, my buddy's dad is about to retire and sell his shop, Peninsula Avionics.
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I might be really interested, but the timing isn't right. My wife and I really like Florida, particularly the Keys. However, my wife is firmly rooted to California for the next 7 years to get her full pension, and believe me, it's worth waiting for.
 
Van Johnston said:
Didn't anyone else watch the show?

Airplane repo!
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You know, it is an interesting business. I bought my plane from a real repo man. He runs a clever little full service operation in Santa Barbara, CA. He repos airplanes from wherever they are for the bank and then he helps the bank sell them. So he's part repo man and part airplane broker. Pretty much a one man business and when he needs help recovering planes, he hires people on contract, so no full time employee over head. He recovers everything from LSAs to business jets. So you need to have lots of experience, most of the ratings and some type ratings don't hurt either. It is one of those businesses where you do need a good reputation to get hired, so I have no idea how you get started.
 
AFaIK the only sure fire way (assuming you don't get caught) to make money in GA is low level flights across borders. :D
 
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