What do you think this will cost me?
Tim,
I'm not trying to give a smart-ass answer, but our cost numbers won't be of much use to you. The costs of insurance, hangar/tiedown, property tax, usage tax, loan interest, repairs, maintenance, annuals, etc vary so much from one owner to another. What you need to do (which I think you've done) is to find out what those costs are for YOU from sources like your banker, AOPA Insurance, your local tax dept, your local airport and FBO.
Once you have the numbers, you can decide whether ownership is AFFORDABLE. If you just flat can't make the payments, no amount of persuasion from us will amount to a hill of bean.
Now, if you're able to make the payments but not sure if ownership is JUSTIFIABLE, then we'll give you the spiel about the great advantages of ownership, blah blah blah
P.S. Just so you won't think I'm being stingy with information, my average cost is around $4000 year and I fly 70 to 90 hrs per year. I set up a checking account for my flying. Each month I deposit $400 into it. At the end of the year, I subtract the current balance from last year's balance and know exactly how much I spent in the previous 12 months. I also kept a detailed list of expenses to know where the money went.
