Strength of GA?

I was planning to do on-line ground school last winter, get my physical, and start flight training as soon as it warmed up in the spring. I have the time and money now to get licensed and buy a plane. What has held me up is how much a pain in the neck everything to do with GA seems to be. The training part wouldn't present a problem, but everything after that sounds like a nightmare. Find a plane to buy, probably some distance away, then worry about sinking another $30K at the first annual even though you paid a professional to inspect it, assuming you can find parts and someone willing to take your money. Not to mention the months you are going to wait on them to get your plane finished. Then try to find a hangar within reasonable driving distance. If you manage to accomplish that, worry about getting in trouble with the FAA over something stupid because no one seems to know what the rules are. Every time someone asks a question about a regulation, they get six different answers that might be right. I've come to be of the opinion it is just far more complication than I'm looking for in a recreational activity. I don't know if anyone else is staying away for similar reasons, but that is keeping me out for now.
 
squincher said:
I was planning to do on-line ground school last winter, get my physical, and start flight training as soon as it warmed up in the spring. I have the time and money now to get licensed and buy a plane. What has held me up is how much a pain in the neck everything to do with GA seems to be. The training part wouldn't present a problem, but everything after that sounds like a nightmare. Find a plane to buy, probably some distance away, then worry about sinking another $30K at the first annual even though you paid a professional to inspect it, assuming you can find parts and someone willing to take your money. Not to mention the months you are going to wait on them to get your plane finished. Then try to find a hangar within reasonable driving distance. If you manage to accomplish that, worry about getting in trouble with the FAA over something stupid because no one seems to know what the rules are. Every time someone asks a question about a regulation, they get six different answers that might be right. I've come to be of the opinion it is just far more complication than I'm looking for in a recreational activity. I don't know if anyone else is staying away for similar reasons, but that is keeping me out for now.
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I agree with a lot of what you wrote, but not all.

Disagree:
If you get your FARs information from PoA, I can see how you'd think there is disagreement on the regs. I felt the same way when I joined. But there really isn't much disagreement at all. At least not for anything that matters. If you get your license, buy a plane and go flying -- you're not going to end up in some weird ambiguous gray area where you don't know what you're allowed to do. If you find yourself in that situation with any frequency -- you're either doing some very questionable flying or you didn't learn much getting your license. For all intents and purposes, there is no ambiguity about what's legal for anything that matters.

That said, a lot of the disagreements on here are regarding subjective things. Like "is a straight in final OK" or "how far out are you supposed to call up at a non-towered airfield" or "do you use your full call sign at a non-towered field?". Ask 5 pilots and you'll probably get 5 different answers. All these things are just silly subjective things that pilots differ on. Some have consensus, others don't. These are just fun things to have civilized disagreements about.

Agree:
What you just described about acquiring a plane is almost exactly spot on based on my experience. It's a massive, expensive pain in the ass. And it's only gotten moreso since I bought.

In 2020 I bought my plane for $75,000. Getting a prebuy was a headache b/c the seller had a strict limitation of how far away he'd go (understandable in retrospect). I had to find a shop closer to his area that wasn't related to the plane and they inspected it. I felt pretty confident based on their credentials. Anyways, I felt a lot differently about that shop after my annual (which I took it to 1 month after buying) cost me $46,700 (63% of the purchase price of the plane) and took 3-4 months to finish the work on it. I learned my lesson on being a more educated buyer after that. Annuals since then have been better, albeit still not cheap since I don't defer maintenance (and one shop in particular was unscrupulous in dreaming up things to work on to run up the bill).

Getting a hangar -- I lucked out. Second place I called had an immediate heated T-hangar opening and it was a shorter drive from my place. Sweet. Another guy I know waited over a year. Some people on here talk about multi-year waiting lists. Depends on where you live. Also hangars aren't cheap. My plane payment is substantially less than hangar bill.

Ongoing maintenance is a headache. No question. Both in terms of scheduling and cost.

Insurance is a bear - but gets better with hours. Esp if your hull value isn't a half million dollar retract.

Being a pilot and having a plane is expensive as ****, will be a massive headache at times, and you'll question why you ever did it...
It's also the most fun and rewarding thing I've ever done and it would take A LOT for me to give it up. All the reasons you mentioned for not pursuing it wouldn't stop me from pursuing it again today.
 
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G-Man said:
I wonder how much the utility of General Aviation may be fading, which may be driving diminishing use?

Used to be the GA sweet spot was 150-600 miles, right? Especially compared to the 1970s, when cars and highways were less and airline travel was much costlier and rare. Shoot, most people rarely made long-distance phone calls!

These days, there are a zillion commercial flights for very little money. The experience may suck, but it's 5x faster and 1/2 the cost of driving, and travel numbers show that. And really nice highway cars safely cruise pretty good highways at 75-80mph speed limits.

That's pretty stiff competition for a SEP GA aircraft, even with the unpleasantness of airlines, commercial airports, and metro traffic.
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It depends. And there are other factors.

This summer I flew from visiting a friend in Denver to NE MD. Commerical would have been a 3.5 hour flight for about $200.

BUT, my friend lives on the west side, so add 1 hour to get to the airport. And you have to be there 2 hours ahead of time. So now trip time is 6.5 hours. And you had to deal with TSA screening, lines for check in, lines for security, lines for boarding.

Add in 30 minutes to get your bag and 45 minutes to get to my house (my hangar is 7 minutes from the house), and the airline is up to 8 hours 15 minutes. And you leave when they leave.

In my airplane, it was less than 15 minutes to the FBO. Took maybe 15 minutes to preflight and load up. 7 hour flight and I was home. And I left when I wanted to leave.

The trip cost me $480 in fuel and oil. Yes, there are other costs, but most of those are the cost of owning the plane, and don't change if I fly it or fly commercial.
 
G-Man said:
I wonder how much the utility of General Aviation may be fading, which may be driving diminishing use?

Used to be the GA sweet spot was 150-600 miles, right? Especially compared to the 1970s, when cars and highways were less and airline travel was much costlier and rare. Shoot, most people rarely made long-distance phone calls!

These days, there are a zillion commercial flights for very little money. The experience may suck, but it's 5x faster and 1/2 the cost of driving, and travel numbers show that. And really nice highway cars safely cruise pretty good highways at 75-80mph speed limits.

That's pretty stiff competition for a SEP GA aircraft, even with the unpleasantness of airlines, commercial airports, and metro traffic.
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I suspect population concentration plays a larger factor, but realistically, post-war America had a huge pool of aviators who were trained at no cost to them; statistically, in 1975, there was about 15% more active pilots than in 2014 and the overall population was 100,000,000 more in 2014. Tellingly, there was almost double the number of private pilots (305K) in ‘75 vs ‘14 (175K). There was also triple the number of ATPs back then. Commercial pilot numbers tell a similar story, with 81% more then.

In the ‘70s, more than half the pilots were private pilots and leas than 10% were ATPs; in 2014, about 1/3 were private, 1/5 were commercial, and 1/3 were ATPs. Students, RW only, Gliders, and LTA make up the delta. It also appears fewer students made it to private in the recent years, no idea why.

Rough analysis says fewer pilots as a whole and as a part of the population and more who use their ticket for work than leisure combined with drastic cuts in .mil pilot supplies says demand for light GA had to shrink, and given the lost decade of production, supply shrunk drastically. E-AB kind of filled a gap in SEP production given lower population densities, what we’re seeing now is likely a temporary, needs-based demand for SEP trainers which will eventually filter out to the leisure market.
 
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squincher said:
I was planning to do on-line ground school last winter, get my physical, and start flight training as soon as it warmed up in the spring. I have the time and money now to get licensed and buy a plane. What has held me up is how much a pain in the neck everything to do with GA seems to be. The training part wouldn't present a problem, but everything after that sounds like a nightmare. Find a plane to buy, probably some distance away, then worry about sinking another $30K at the first annual even though you paid a professional to inspect it, assuming you can find parts and someone willing to take your money. Not to mention the months you are going to wait on them to get your plane finished. Then try to find a hangar within reasonable driving distance. If you manage to accomplish that, worry about getting in trouble with the FAA over something stupid because no one seems to know what the rules are. Every time someone asks a question about a regulation, they get six different answers that might be right. I've come to be of the opinion it is just far more complication than I'm looking for in a recreational activity. I don't know if anyone else is staying away for similar reasons, but that is keeping me out for now.
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Flying is not for everyone.
 
I don't think it's doomed but It's never going to get better. The cost and headaches are slowly turning me away from flying. I do enjoy it but without an airline salary, inheritance, or trust fund I'm finding it increasingly more difficult to justify the cost. The little airports are getting squeezed out by developers and the big airports seem to do everything they can to ensure they are getting maximum tax revenue and gas sales. The airport closest to me will kick you out of the hangar if you don't have a registered airplane that at least looks airworthy. They threatened to kick one guy out because he takes his plane to Montana for 4 months out of the year. I am extremely fortunate that my father is an A&P IA and has passed a lot of that skill and knowledge down to me, if I had to deal with a maintenance shop I would have hung it up long ago. The Venture is such an efficient airplane the gas bill isn't horrible going places yet still makes me think twice about just going up for a joy ride.
 
squincher said:
I was planning to do on-line ground school last winter, get my physical, and start flight training as soon as it warmed up in the spring. I have the time and money now to get licensed and buy a plane. What has held me up is how much a pain in the neck everything to do with GA seems to be. The training part wouldn't present a problem, but everything after that sounds like a nightmare.
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Allow me to ask, then, why not go ahead and get the training and just wait on buying a plane? The training is not likely to be as quick as you think, so getting that out of the way makes sense. You can then keep renting to keep current, or you can just sit on it for a while until the stars align for the other elements. If you did let your license collect some dust, then all you'll need to do is go up for a few hours to get back up to speed.

And, who knows? Perhaps when you get done with your training your perspective on your mountains might change.
 
Dave Arata said:
GA ownership doesn't really pencil for the "average" guy or gal.
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Did it ever? When I was a kid in the 70s, I didn't know anyone who owned a plane. That was for the rich folk. My high school physics teacher used to rent a Cessna from time to time, but he learned to fly in the military. Otherwise, private aviation was a different world.

I will note that most of the aviation marketing is aimed at youngsters, and for the most part youngsters aren't good candidates for recreational or personal flying. The people who might choose flying as a hobby are more typically mid to late career types who have a little disposable income and have finished raising their kids, yet we don't spend much effort recruiting that generation.

We need to replace Young Eagles with an Old Buzzards program.
 
RyanB said:
I’m curious who has experienced a slow down due to prices just getting out of sight and what factors will have to occur for you to begin slowing down? That said, are you seeing any slow downs where you are?
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I can only speak to the Aviation Real Estate side of things... and it has not slowed down. Aircraft sales are strong. The existing hangar inventory is still limited. While many airports have the room for new hangars, construction pricing is the biggest hurdle we're facing at the moment. I do have a few clients that are still willing to absorb that expense.
 
squincher said:
I was planning to do on-line ground school last winter, get my physical, and start flight training as soon as it warmed up in the spring. I have the time and money now to get licensed and buy a plane. What has held me up is how much a pain in the neck everything to do with GA seems to be. The training part wouldn't present a problem, but everything after that sounds like a nightmare. Find a plane to buy, probably some distance away, then worry about sinking another $30K at the first annual even though you paid a professional to inspect it, assuming you can find parts and someone willing to take your money. Not to mention the months you are going to wait on them to get your plane finished. Then try to find a hangar within reasonable driving distance. If you manage to accomplish that, worry about getting in trouble with the FAA over something stupid because no one seems to know what the rules are. Every time someone asks a question about a regulation, they get six different answers that might be right. I've come to be of the opinion it is just far more complication than I'm looking for in a recreational activity. I don't know if anyone else is staying away for similar reasons, but that is keeping me out for now.
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Sounds like you have talked yourself out of it before ever doing anything to get started.
 
Strength of GA will weaken with the loss of A&P's and IA's. Our area has a HUGE amount of student activity now in both El Paso and Las Cruces ... you've got to schedule annuals well in advance around here, about as far forward as some make room reservations for OSH ....
 
Salty said:
I'd tell anyone that asked that GA is not worth the effort or the money….
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The most successful Marine recruiter I know uses that tactic….Marines aren’t for you; those who want it bad enough make it happen.

It’s also the same with golf and most other hobbies.
 
Salty said:
I'd tell anyone that asked that GA is not worth the effort or the money.
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Neither are fishing, auto racing, scuba diving, big game hunting, motorcycling, sailing, child rearing, etc.

Salty said:
If they don't want to do it bad enough to ignore me and do it anyway, then they probably shouldn't.
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:yeahthat:

Yep! Applies equally to fishing, auto racing, scuba diving, big game hunting, motorcycling, sailing, child rearing, etc.
 
RyanShort1 said:
They wouldn’t be buying FBOs if they thought they were going to be losing money in 5-10 years, just sayin’…
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Probably will make money pumping jet fuel, corporate jet servicing, etc. GA might just be an after thought or a nuisance.
 
Salty said:
I'd tell anyone that asked that GA is not worth the effort or the money.

If they don't want to do it bad enough to ignore me and do it anyway, then they probably shouldn't.
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Flying as a hobby does not make financial sense for many of us. The things I could’ve done and places traveled to had I not spent tons on learning to fly, adding ratings, renting, owning, buying at an airpark, building a hangar, flying 19 miles to breakfast when I can make it at home…

And it’s proven to be worth every penny and then some when I am overcome with joy as the plane lifts off the runway, the nose pitches upward and the earth and life’s problems fall away. Flying has made my life immensely better - it’s a special gift that cannot be measured in dollars.
 
squincher said:
then worry about sinking another $30K at the first annual even though you paid a professional to inspect it,
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FWIW: the main cause in a number of these cases is you have the wrong professional look at it. The only professional opinion that matters is the mechanic you will use to sign off that 1st annual after purchase. Not involving that mechanic in any “prebuy” loop increases your odds of unknown problems. But keep in mind, in reality, the vast majority of "new" aircraft owners do not have such 1st annual issues plus you only hear of the bad ones as nobody “complains” when things go right. Or Plan B is you can simple buy at the upper end of the market where prebuys are rarely used and 1st annual issues are almost non-existent.
squincher said:
Every time someone asks a question about a regulation, they get six different answers that might be right.
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When you get down to it the majority of the established rules and guidance have one meaning and it's written in black and white. Where most of the “difference” evolves from is that some people substitute personal opinion in place of that established meaning, or do not understand how the regulatory system works. PoA has a number of examples of this. However, that said, there are a few meanings that include both an objective part and a subjective part with the definition of airworthy being the most prominent.
squincher said:
I've come to be of the opinion it is just far more complication than I'm looking for in a recreational activity.
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Its only as complicated as you make it. As a pilot and owner you have established responsibilities and knowledge requirements that fall on you. However, none of those responsibilities or requirements are dealt with at any meaningful levels to get your certificate or purchase an aircraft. Same on the A&P side with maintenance rules and knowledge.

So unless one personally makes the effort to learn and practice those responsibilities and requirements, aviation will always appear to be complicated. The best part is all the material to teach these items is readily available and free to those who want to learn. One of the interesting parts of performing owner-assisted maintenance was to show those owners how “uncomplicated” owning and maintaining an aircraft can be. Which in turn upped the enjoyment level for them as most of the mystery was removed. And that can include you if you want.
 
WDD said:
Probably will make money pumping jet fuel, corporate jet servicing, etc. GA might just be an after thought or a nuisance.
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FBOs service GA. It may be the "upper end of GA" but it is still GA.
 
G-Man said:
I wonder how much the utility of General Aviation may be fading, which may be driving diminishing use?
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I don't think that's too much of a problem. Technology such as GPS and uplinked weather has increased, in my view, the utility of light general aviation as a travel tool, compared with, say, 20 years ago. At the same time, airline travel is becoming less glamorous and more uncomfortable year after year. And recently airfares have gotten significantly more expensive, too.

So yes, the utility is there in GA, but I see fewer and fewer people who are willing to invest the time it takes to get certificated and stay proficient and safe.
(And yes, flying light GA hasn't exactly gotten any cheaper, either...)

- Martin
 
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RyanShort1 said:
FBOs service GA. It may be the "upper end of GA" but it is still GA.
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Our flight schools are busy. Our field is going to tear up its runway for the 2nd or 3rd time in just a few years to widen it and lengthen it for 747 traffic (Fed Ex-UPS) am sure we'll be Class D.

Our rich flyers all have muliple Gulf Streams each on field and one of the rich guys is buying all the hangars up and re-renting at three times original cost. The same 3 guys in EL Paso make all the big bucks on massive projects around here, so am guessing the runway project falls into that realm ....
 
guest user said:
Allow me to ask, then, why not go ahead and get the training and just wait on buying a plane? The training is not likely to be as quick as you think, so getting that out of the way makes sense. You can then keep renting to keep current, or you can just sit on it for a while until the stars align for the other elements. If you did let your license collect some dust, then all you'll need to do is go up for a few hours to get back up to speed.

And, who knows? Perhaps when you get done with your training your perspective on your mountains might change.
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That is very likely what I'll do. There is a local club that operates 7 aircraft out of two airports close to me. They have several CFI's who offer PPL and instrument training. I could also get HP and complex endorsements through them with their aircraft. Their reservation schedule is available for public viewing on their website and it doesn't look like it would much trouble to get something about any time, and the costs seem reasonable. I would really prefer to own a plane, but as I posted, it seems like it could easily turn into more trouble than fun.
 
samiamPA said:
Sounds like you have talked yourself out of it before ever doing anything to get started.
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I probably have talked myself out of buying a plane. I'm not worried about the financial aspect, just ruining a fun leisure activity with problems beyond my control.
 
squincher said:
That is very likely what I'll do. There is a local club that operates 7 aircraft out of two airports close to me. ….
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Clubs are a great way to have access with fewer headaches, and usually cheaper than sole ownership over time. The break-even access point for sole ownership is around 100 - 150hrs/year of flying.
 
Smart to get your ratings and fly a bit anyway before buying. That way you’ll have a much better idea of what flying you’ll be doing and what plane handles they way you like, what fits you best, etc.
 
Bell206 said:
FWIW: the main cause in a number of these cases is you have the wrong professional look at it. The only professional opinion that matters is the mechanic you will use to sign off that 1st annual after purchase. Not involving that mechanic in any “prebuy” loop increases your odds of unknown problems. But keep in mind, in reality, the vast majority of "new" aircraft owners do not have such 1st annual issues plus you only hear of the bad ones as nobody “complains” when things go right. Or Plan B is you can simple buy at the upper end of the market where prebuys are rarely used and 1st annual issues are almost non-existent.

When you get down to it the majority of the established rules and guidance have one meaning and it's written in black and white. Where most of the “difference” evolves from is that some people substitute personal opinion in place of that established meaning, or do not understand how the regulatory system works. PoA has a number of examples of this. However, that said, there are a few meanings that include both an objective part and a subjective part with the definition of airworthy being the most prominent.

Its only as complicated as you make it. As a pilot and owner you have established responsibilities and knowledge requirements that fall on you. However, none of those responsibilities or requirements are dealt with at any meaningful levels to get your certificate or purchase an aircraft. Same on the A&P side with maintenance rules and knowledge.

So unless one personally makes the effort to learn and practice those responsibilities and requirements, aviation will always appear to be complicated. The best part is all the material to teach these items is readily available and free to those who want to learn. One of the interesting parts of performing owner-assisted maintenance was to show those owners how “uncomplicated” owning and maintaining an aircraft can be. Which in turn upped the enjoyment level for them as most of the mystery was removed. And that can include you if you want.
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I suppose making contacts and finding out what resources are available locally, and who they are, might provide a clearer picture of the situation than the internet.
 
squincher said:
I suppose making contacts and finding out what resources are available locally, and who they are, might provide a clearer picture of the situation than the internet.
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That and start your own learning process with references like these... and others which you can follow as deep as you want down the proverbial rabbit hole of aviation knowledge.

https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/f...handbooks_manuals/aviation/faa-h-8083-19A.pdf
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_43-12A_CHG_1.pdf
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_43-9C_CHG_2.pdf
 
G-Man said:
I wonder how much the utility of General Aviation may be fading, which may be driving diminishing use?

Used to be the GA sweet spot was 150-600 miles, right? Especially compared to the 1970s, when cars and highways were less and airline travel was much costlier and rare. Shoot, most people rarely made long-distance phone calls!

These days, there are a zillion commercial flights for very little money. The experience may suck, but it's 5x faster and 1/2 the cost of driving, and travel numbers show that. And really nice highway cars safely cruise pretty good highways at 75-80mph speed limits.

That's pretty stiff competition for a SEP GA aircraft, even with the unpleasantness of airlines, commercial airports, and metro traffic.
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The real utility of travel via general aviation is when you're going to or from a small or medium size town to another of similar size. Unfortunately, most of the rural communities have very few people who see GA as the tool that it is. Many of the most active GA airports are around a large metro area where there are plenty of airline flights available to go almost anywhere for minimal cost (if you can stand the experience), so it is easy to see how those people could convince themselves that GA travel is expensive and useless at this point.

I have been commuting between my two residences on a weekly basis. Even in my VFR only Cub I have had the ability to do 70% of the travel via airplane. The rest has been driven by truck due to the need to transport things and the occasional weather volatility. Neither home is in or near any large metro area so a 2.5 hour flight or a 4.5 hour car ride would turn into a two leg, 10 hour ordeal via commercial airline. The airline factor would be different if I lived somewhere like Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Dallas, etc. If I lived in one of those places I probably wouldn't own an airplane as there is no point.
 
Maybe a bit of a derail, but...

I've been a flight instructor a long, long time. Much of it in the heydays of the late 70's and 80's. And things were definitely jumping then, at least in S FL.

I keep my certificate active, though just to give occasional flight reviews, transition training, that sort of thing. I've not had a primary student in decades, and doubt I'll ever take one on again.

All of my students were trained to the appropriate Practical Test Standards, which seemed clear and concise and easily digestible. But when the FAA switched to the Airman Certification Standards, I had a chance to look at them. My impression was that, on the surface, they seemed incredibly complicated. I try to imagine myself looking at them as a prospective student and thinking it would be just too much to deal with. Perhaps its just the format, and most of the actual tasks are the same, but that new format seems daunting and potentially discouraging. I just wonder if any other instructors had/have the same impression.
 
FastEddieB said:
Maybe a bit of a derail, but...

I've been a flight instructor a long, long time. Much of it in the heydays of the late 70's and 80's. And things were definitely jumping then, at least in S FL.

I keep my certificate active, though just to give occasional flight reviews, transition training, that sort of thing. I've not had a primary student in decades, and doubt I'll ever take one on again.

All of my students were trained to the appropriate Practical Test Standards, which seemed clear and concise and easily digestible. But when the FAA switched to the Airman Certification Standards, I had a chance to look at them. My impression was that, on the surface, they seemed incredibly complicated. I try to imagine myself looking at them as a prospective student and thinking it would be just too much to deal with. Perhaps its just the format, and most of the actual tasks are the same, but that new format seems daunting and potentially discouraging. I just wonder if any other instructors had/have the same impression.
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I feel the same about the ACS. I bought a paper copy of the ACS thinking it would be helpful to make sure I'm prepared for PPL oral/checkride. It had the opposite effect. IDK how any student gets any value from that thing.
IMHO you're better off just learning the material from the PHAK/FARs/AIM, and then invite your instructor to throw every conceivable challenge your way in-flight. And then keep doing it until its not that challenging anymore.
 
squincher said:
I was planning to do on-line ground school last winter, get my physical, and start flight training as soon as it warmed up in the spring. I have the time and money now to get licensed and buy a plane. What has held me up is how much a pain in the neck everything to do with GA seems to be. The training part wouldn't present a problem, but everything after that sounds like a nightmare. Find a plane to buy, probably some distance away, then worry about sinking another $30K at the first annual even though you paid a professional to inspect it, assuming you can find parts and someone willing to take your money. Not to mention the months you are going to wait on them to get your plane finished. Then try to find a hangar within reasonable driving distance. If you manage to accomplish that, worry about getting in trouble with the FAA over something stupid because no one seems to know what the rules are. Every time someone asks a question about a regulation, they get six different answers that might be right. I've come to be of the opinion it is just far more complication than I'm looking for in a recreational activity. I don't know if anyone else is staying away for similar reasons, but that is keeping me out for now.
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Parts availability-which plane are you interested in? Since you haven’t purchased yet, you should be fine unless you’re set on something rare

Hangar availability-if a hangar is required because you plan on buying a fabric plane etc….call around now. Otherwise, why is a hangar required? (Hurricanes/ tornadoes /8 months of winter /whatever)

Hangar availability 2 - can you move?

Everyone wants a hangar until they find out the waitlist is 15 years long. Then they say I’d rather fly now than wait. Besides, it’ll probably be 15 years before you have your plane the way you want it
 
The rising costs don't help, but the thing that scares me the most about ownership is excessive downtime for maintenance. Stories on here about six month annuals, or year long engine overhauls (if you can find anyone to do it at all, apparently) - I pay $85/mo to my flying club and get ****ed about writing that check when I don't fly - I can only imagine how I'll be when paying $2K or more in fixed costs for an airplane waiting on parts or a mechanic to find the time to work on it.
 
Remember, you mainly hear about those that go wrong. People do no come online to report that their annual was done in a week with no issues.

My first annual tooks 2 weeks and there were only two minor things found and dealt with. There was a list of things I wanted to get done while it was already in the shop opened up.
 
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