What is the cheapest plane to fly?

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Anthony M.

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Anthony M.
I've been considering getting a private pilot license but am concerned with the cost of flying afterwards (rental costs, fuel etc.). I'd like to know if there is a very inexpensive type of plane that would cost only a few thousand dollars to fly a few hundred hours a year. Like an enclosed ultralight? Can these planes be rented? Would I have to train on such a plane instead of a Cessna?
 
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Hang gliding is probably the cheapest way to get into the air. For powered flight, I'd venture to say a weight shift trike is the lowest cost.
 
If you are planning to fly ultralights, why are you getting a Private Pilot Certificate?
 
For minimum flying cost, an ultralight. Some are enclosed, most are not. Single seat, limited performance, easy cheap maintenance. For a bit more performance, a low powered experimental like a Minimax or one of the Fisher line. Half VW power, burning 2GPH. Still single seat. For a little more, a light 2 seat experimental with a full VW engine.

None of these can be rented, and will require a hangar, unless you choose one of the models with quick folding wings (e.g. Kolb, Kitfox/Avid).
 
My Sky Arrow E-LSA usually costs me about $10k a year on average. That's usually 30 to 45 hours of flight time.

Much of that is fixed costs, mainly hangar and insurance. Once that's covered, flight hours are pretty cheap, @ 5.5gph and just over $3/gal for 91+ octane ethanol-free MOGAS. A bit more for 100LL when on most longer crosscountries.

Just put out there as a data point.
 
Ryanb said:
For powered flight, I'd venture to say a weight shift trike is the lowest cost.
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I don't have the numbers but I'd guess powered parachute is even cheaper.
 
If you want to fly something that is a real airplane but economical, look into light sport/sport pilot generally


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Anthony M. said:
I've been considering getting a private pilot license but am concerned with the cost of flying afterwards (rental costs, fuel etc.). I'd like to know if there is a very inexpensive type of plane that would cost only a few thousand dollars to fly a few hundred hours a year. Like an enclosed ultralight? Can these planes be rented? Would I have to train on such a plane instead of a Cessna?
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Are you talking about renting versus owning? If renting are you talking about the dry or wet hourly? Often it's not how cheap the rental but whether you can fly what you want to rent on the field you want to rent on.
 
A real CAR3 airplane? Probably a Taylorcraft BC-12D.
001056850.jpg
 
Always thought the N3 pup was cool

0617134.jpg


n-3-super-pup-4.jpg


Like 2GPH of auto fuel, can fold the wings and store it anywhere, touches down slow enough anything can be a runway.
 
Miss Piggy is inexpensive to fly and had minimal upfront cost. She burns a touch over 5 GPH, Annuals for about $800, insures for $700 a year and is hangared for $150 month. Very inexpensive flying. A Cessna 140 is a hoot to fly too.
 
Depends on your criteria... number of seats, whether you require a certified engine, whether you are willing/able to perform some of the maintenance yourself, your ultimate mission.

Maintenance-wise, my airplane costs me ~$500-$1000 a year for maintenance, including the annual condition inspection. Been lucky to not have something major go wrong for ~30 years. Fuel cost varies, but generally runs $15-$20 an hour (autofuel). Insurance is $170/year (liability only). Planes like mine sell for $8000-$12000.
rainier_flyby.jpg


Fixed expenses are the killer. To have a hangar close to where I live (in sight of my home, in fact), I pay $400 a month. I could easily share the hangar with another person and cut the rate significantly.

Ron Wanttaja
 
In certified, buy a hail damaged (but flyable) Cessna 150, park it on the ramp, do as much of your own maintenance as possible. Sell it for close to what you paid for it.

There are a lot of experimentals that available at low cost. But watch out. Hard to tell what you are getting and they are hard to sell.
 
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Anthony M. said:
I've been considering getting a private pilot license but am concerned with the cost of flying afterwards (rental costs, fuel etc.). I'd like to know if there is a very inexpensive type of plane that would cost only a few thousand dollars to fly a few hundred hours a year. Like an enclosed ultralight? Can these planes be rented? Would I have to train on such a plane instead of a Cessna?
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Buy into any type of partnership. Share to costs.
 
Anthony M. said:
I've been considering getting a private pilot license but am concerned with the cost of flying afterwards (rental costs, fuel etc.). I'd like to know if there is a very inexpensive type of plane that would cost only a few thousand dollars to fly a few hundred hours a year. Like an enclosed ultralight? Can these planes be rented? Would I have to train on such a plane instead of a Cessna?
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You do not have a reasonable expense expectation.
 
Anthony M. said:
I'd like to know if there is a very inexpensive type of plane that would cost only a few thousand dollars to fly a few hundred hours a year.
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In short, no.

A few thousand dollars / a few hundred hours = about $10/hour. Your expectation is off by an order of magnitude for those planes available as rentals.

As mentioned, you might want to consider an ultralight of some sort, but what do you want to do in flying? Just buzz around the local area for fun? Fly by yourself a couple of hundred miles to a fly-in? Take your spouse away for a weekend? Fly a family of four across the country?

All these require different aircraft and have different costs. Money problems can usually be solved somehow, so first figure out your goals, then the cost of those goals, then address funding.
 
James331 said:
Always thought the N3 pup was cool

0617134.jpg


n-3-super-pup-4.jpg


Like 2GPH of auto fuel, can fold the wings and store it anywhere, touches down slow enough anything can be a runway.
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Did they go out of business again? Like the idea of a steel innards vs a Fisher wood construction.

Cheers
 
Second FastEddieB's suggestion. A LSA is pretty frugal, though if you get an all metal one, you can tie-down and save some of the hangaring costs. I think I'm around $5K for insurance, tie-down and annual inspection cost per year, and after that, it's 4.5 gph of SoCal priced MOGAS plus $1.25 per hour for oil change and brake pads (per my calculation).
 
X3 Skier said:
Did they go out of business again? Like the idea of a steel innards vs a Fisher wood construction.

Cheers
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Not sure, but there are enough of them out there that it's not too hard to find a nice one for sale.
 
Real, inexpensive-to-own airplane with awesomeness baked in that actually requires a PPL:
Grumman AA1, AA1A, AA1B, AA1C
Cessna 120/140/Cessna 140a
Ercoupe
Taylorcraft
<insert awesomeness here>
 
pkuhns said:
Real, inexpensive-to-own airplane with awesomeness baked in that actually requires a PPL:
Grumman AA1, AA1A, AA1B, AA1C
Cessna 120/140/Cessna 140a
Ercoupe
Taylorcraft
<insert awesomeness here>
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Well, depending on model, the Ercoupe and Taylorcraft can be flown with a Sport Pilot certificate. That might be to the OP's advantage if he's strapped for cash. OTOH, if he's strapped for cash, he should probably consider another activity.
 
Anthony M. said:
I've been considering getting a private pilot license but am concerned with the cost of flying afterwards (rental costs, fuel etc.). I'd like to know if there is a very inexpensive type of plane that would cost only a few thousand dollars to fly a few hundred hours a year. Like an enclosed ultralight? Can these planes be rented? Would I have to train on such a plane instead of a Cessna?
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Consider,


Cheers
 
Hangar and insurance are my big expenses. If I ever had to overhaul yea olde Rotax, that would be a significant chunk of change. ADS-B is going to cost a couple three thou. The marginal cost per hour of operating the Merlin GT (Avid Flyer variant) is pretty low - auto fuel at 4 or 5 gallons per hour. A couple hundred gets my condition inspection signed off by an A&P - I do everything else.

How many seats to you need?
What kind of flying do you want to do?
How fast do you need to go?
 
James331 said:
Always thought the N3 pup was cool
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And, iffen built light enough it can squeek in under the part 103 rules. Unless the company has been bought out, well, let's say that there have been some significantly dis-satisfied people. But, not much that you couldn't fabricate on your own if you need "parts" for the airframe.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
If I ever had to overhaul yea olde Rotax, that would be a significant chunk of change.
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Totally forgot to mention (thank you for bringing this up Thorpe): if you can't afford a rebuild you shouldn't be owning.
 
Half Fast said:
Did we scare him off? The OP hasn't posted since his original query.
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Well, he only wanted to fly a few hundred hours a year for a few thousand bucks.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
And, iffen built light enough it can squeek in under the part 103 rules. Unless the company has been bought out, well, let's say that there have been some significantly dis-satisfied people. But, not much that you couldn't fabricate on your own if you need "parts" for the airframe.
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I'd still want a N number plane if I ever found one. Debated commuting to work with a N3 for a while, still toss that idea around
 
pkuhns said:
Totally forgot to mention (thank you for bringing this up Thorpe): if you can't afford a rebuild you shouldn't be owning.
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Ah crud... :p

At least for the Rotax, it's a 2000 hour TBO. So if you get a low hour engine/airplane (say... 400 hours) today, and you fly 100 hours a year, you've got 16 years to save up the $20K to buy a new engine. Or you can convert to E-LSA and keep flying...;)
 
You could fly a foot launch hang glider or paraglider for $1000 per year, that would mostly be equipment depreciation, and you could fly as much as you wanted, weather permitting.
 
FormerHangie said:
You could fly a foot launch hang glider or paraglider for $1000 per year, that would mostly be equipment depreciation, and you could fly as much as you wanted, weather permitting.
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You could add a mosquito to that and fly for an hour or more, correct?


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Chesapeaketechie said:
You could add a mosquito to that and fly for an hour or more, correct?


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i suppose you could, I don't know how much fuel a Mosquito holds, I don't think it's much. I've never seen one in person and don't know anyone who has flown one. They look kind of awkward and marginal in the videos I've seen. If I were wanting something to self launch, I'd look at one of the ultralight soaring trikes, like North Wing's ATF.

Mosquito in action:
 
Half Fast said:
Did we scare him off? The OP hasn't posted since his original query.
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Was probably a troll anyway..half the newbies post "how much does a plane cost", "what does training cost", "what does an orange cost" threads, probably for research papers or to just repeat the same stuff that has already been posted 90324023 other times and is easily searchable...

Lazy newbies...
 
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