Private flight price

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john white

Filing Flight Plan
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Jun 8, 2018
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Johnny whited
How much would a pilot charge to fly someone from az to West Virginia in their plane?
 
I’ll start the bid at $2,550.
 
How much ya got? Money, how much moola, huh?
 
Likely less than the dude living under a certain structure complaining about three gruff Capra aegagrus hircus crossing overhead.
 
john white said:
How much would a pilot charge to fly someone from az to West Virginia in their plane?
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To quote a colleague, "It depends". What sort of plane? How many people need to come along? What is the Part 135's normal charge per hour? A private pilot, such as myself, cannot charge you anything, other than a prorated portion of the cost of the flight, and then he had to be going from point A to point B, anyway. Otherwise you are looking at a charter situation (Part 135) or airlines (Part 121).
 
The pilot wouldn't charge you anything - the charter operation would charge you quite a bit. Try XOJET - they have great Biscotti.
 
Ryanb said:
I’ll start the bid at $2,550.
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What’s the break down of that? Like minus labor, what are the expenses for the pilot to make that flight there and back? Is it just fuel or are there other expenses that would have to be taken out before a pilot is making any profit?
 
john white said:
What’s the break down of that? Like minus labor, what are the expenses for the pilot to make that flight there and back? Is it just fuel or are there other expenses that would have to be taken out before a pilot is making any profit?
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Again, "it depends". When I'm flying I'm paying the club by the hour when the engine is running. How long will it take to make the trip? That depends on how fast the plane is. A Cessna 182 flies at about 130-135 kts (nautical miles per hour). That's air speed, so if there's a headwind the actual ground speed will be less (depends on how hard the wind is blowing). Then there's the hourly rate for the pilot. All this is dependent on the place you are renting the plane and pilot from having a Part 135 certificate. If they don't, they can't take you. I'll leave it to someone with 135 experience to give a breakdown, but I would expect that they would quote you a rate that includes plane, pilot and any other expenses (and there will be some).
 
Ghery said:
Again, "it depends". When I'm flying I'm paying the club by the hour when the engine is running. How long will it take to make the trip? That depends on how fast the plane is. A Cessna 182 flies at about 130-135 kts (nautical miles per hour). That's air speed, so if there's a headwind the actual ground speed will be less (depends on how hard the wind is blowing). Then there's the hourly rate for the pilot. All this is dependent on the place you are renting the plane and pilot from having a Part 135 certificate. If they don't, they can't take you. I'll leave it to someone with 135 experience to give a breakdown, but I would expect that they would quote you a rate that includes plane, pilot and any other expenses (and there will be some).
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Appreciate your time and all the information man!
 
So if fuel burn in a 182 is about 13 gallons per hour, at $5 per gallon you’re looking at $65 per hour, or about $65 to go 130 nautical miles, assuming no wind.

And that’s just the fuel, not counting other expenses that the pilot or plane owner incurs (taxes, insurance, hangar, oil, maintenance reserve, labor, return flight, per diem, airport fees).

So you can quickly see that a commercial airline AZ to WV is cheaper.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
So if fuel burn in a 182 is about 13 gallons per hour, at $5 per gallon you’re looking at $65 per hour, or about $65 to go 130 nautical miles, assuming no wind.

And that’s just the fuel, not counting other expenses that the pilot or plane owner incurs (taxes, insurance, hangar, oil, maintenance reserve, labor, return flight, per diem, airport fees).

So you can quickly see that a commercial airline AZ to WV is cheaper.
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Yea definitely, a commercial airline seems to be a better fit. I don’t think all that is worth it. I thought it would be like $1600 for a small plane. But thank you for breaking that down for me!
 
Phoenix to Charleston WV is about 1600nm, 13 hours in the plane I fly. $1750 dollars would be my rental cost to fly one way assuming no wind. I can fly commercial tomorrow for 725 and about 6 hours.
 
john white said:
What’s the break down of that? Like minus labor, what are the expenses for the pilot to make that flight there and back? Is it just fuel or are there other expenses that would have to be taken out before a pilot is making any profit?
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Well I was just teasing with that figure, but the expenses would be a sum of fuel and operating expenses based on the specific aircraft that you’d be flying plus paying the pilot per hour.
 
You might break even with commercial airlines if you have all four seats occupied. Even then you won't beat promotional fares and discount airlines.
 
SCCutler said:
We try very hard to avoid calculating the cost of flying. It is not helpful in justifying that which we are going to do, anyway.
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No joking there. Juneau to Chicago to Knoxville to Chicago to Elko, NV to Juneau. Took about 100 hrs. I still don't want to know how much that trip cost me...:rolleyes:
 
Mike Smith said:
Phoenix to Charleston WV is about 1600nm, 13 hours in the plane I fly. $1750 dollars would be my rental cost to fly one way assuming no wind. I can fly commercial tomorrow for 725 and about 6 hours.
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I used to live near Charleston, WV. Flew the wife to Yellowstone in three easy days, sightseeing on the ground whe we stopped. 1320 nm, with average groundspeed of 127 knots. Made no effort to keep up with fuel costs, just closed my eyes and swiped the card . . . . Averaged 151 knots coming home on a slightly longer route. :) Hate to think what renting a plane would have cost, we spent 5 days inside the Park.

"Other expenses" for a charter flight would include any airport charges (some have landing fees, overnight parking, etc.), food for the pilot and a hotel room for the pilot. Hourly charges should include fuel, oil, maintenance reserves, insurance, hangar fees, annual inspection, tires, wash and wax jobs, GPS updates, replacement ipads, foreflight subscriptions, FAA inspections, pilot drug testing and, of course, profit).
 
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