Even if it has flaking and peeling paint? Maybe a tear here and there on the interior? Some cracked plastic? Basic radios? Maybe a dent, scratch or two on the exterior?
I thought about taking each of those things and posting them separately and attaching a picture from my plane to go along with it. My little baby fits all of those descriptions, but, like Mr. Ed, she sure flies "awful pretty".
With use, the dollars per hour do go down, but you'll have to fly an awful lot to get the cost down to where it comes anywhere close to renting. I pay 1160/year for insurance, 2500/year for a hangar, and that's before I turn the key one time. Figuring 8 gallons per hour on a 150/150 Texas Taildragger, a 200 hour year would get me 1600 gallons at roughly 4 dollars per gallon (I know I can find it cheaper, but I sometimes burn more gallons per hour) yields 6400 dollars/year on gas. There's over ten grand total. I'll do 6 oil changes in there and at least one annual (I'm an A&P/IA) so my total parts plus oil can come close to another grand.
Dang you shouldn't have gotten me doing the math...
So, for about 900/month, I get to have my own airplane. That's including doing the maintenance myself, too. So, I could either fly 10 hours a month rental, or fly 16 hours in my plane. Not a bad swap.
On the other hand, If I was to only fly 5 hours a month in a rented 172 for 100 dollars/hour, the yearly cost would only be 6000, that includes insurance(not renters), fuel, maintenance, hangar/tie-down, and 90 percent of the ownership risk. So, to each his own. To those who are just trying to justify the acquisition, I hate to disappoint you. To those who are hopelessly ate up with it, I'm in good company.
