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I'm getting close to my first plane purchase and have filled out the spreadsheet on operating, re-occurring etc costs and so far no major surprises.

Then after reading several trip reports from fellow 150-152 pilots, I keep seeing statements like, "then x, y, or z broke..." So how much fudge factor needs to be set aside for these oops type items?

I'm planning on about a fair amount of time building as my daughter and I both finish our licenses and hopefully progress through IFR.

Or, should we just keep renting our 4 hrs per week? Thanks for your thoughts and sage advice.

If you have a small time FBO in the area that rents 150/152s you can often figure they're just about breaking even on them (in a good year). This is one way to quage the price of ownership.

Otherwise you can sit down and run the figures on the cost of fuel, oil, insurance, tiedown/hangar, financing costs (if applicable),etc. It costs approximately $5 per hour for a major overhaul (if all goes well), but over the course of the engine's lifetime there may be the once-in-awhile repair needed...or the dreaded "Oh crap! Not again" problems that seem to plague some aircraft. Other possible considerations would be repair/replacement of avionics, instruments, electrical, airframe, tires, etc. etc. ad nausium.

Sound bleak? Well it isn't...not unless you inadvertantly buy a lemon. By and large the 150/152 is dependable and affordable.

There is no difinitive answer to your question because there are too many variables and no guarantees. If I had to financially justify owning N150DM I'm afraid I'd have to put her on eBay tomorrow. Most folks own small airplanes because they want to, not because it pencils out on a spread sheat.
Best of luck with your decision making <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I absolutely agree with Dan on this.

It doesn't make much financial sense to own your own airplane. The financial sacrifice is one made out of love for flying, and the desire to have the ultimate freedom, that to go and fly whenever you wish, without having to match a rental fleet's schedule. Unless you rent in Iowa or Illinois, you won't be able to fly to Clinton for example.

It's very very hard to make ownership look practical on paper. Renting will pencil out cheaper, and with less risk of unexpected expenses.

Sounds bleak,I know. Only you can decide this for yourself. It's certainly true that it can make much more sense for a pair of pilots or a small group of partners if they can get along.

For me personally, the higher cost of ownership is well worth the extra freedom, and knowing my airplane intimately in a way I never would with a rental.

Lastly, no matter how impractical or expensive, it is certainly true that a Cessna 150-152 will likely cost far less to own than any other airplane, certified or otherwise.

We groan at the high cost of gas, hangars and unexpected repairs, but guess what? Owners of practically every other airplane (especially higher performance ones) are paying much much more. Yeah, you could get a lemon, that could happen to anyone with any sort of vehicle. It's my view that there aren't a lot of "money pit" 150's still flying, and those that are can be avoided with some research. It's all relative though. After all, we are talking about vehicles that are between 20 and 46 years old with systems designed in the 1940's.

Here's an example: Let's say you're very careful and you end up spending about $25K for a decent airplane. The way I look at it, your maximum "unexpected" expense hit would not likely exceed $15K, Unless you are one of those people that wants to customize the airplane to death (hey nothing personal guys, I'm one of em'). This might sound like a lot, but a serious repair or engine overhaul could cost about that. Say you don't have another $15K to spend though. You could likely turn around and sell the airplane for no less than $10K. Net loss, $15K or so.(whether you keep or sell.) In the world of aviation or any expensive hobby, this is virtual peanuts. With any luck you'll get several years of good flying out of the airplane without even approaching this sort of repair.

Most really involving hobbies are expensive. Compare things like owning a horse or two, or a boat, classic car or motorcycle. (Priced Motorhomes lately?) Folks who have a passion for those things spend a lot of money and time on them too. I choose to fly.

Both of you offer wisdom that I'd sum up like this...

Buying a plane; $25,000
Major overhaul if needed; $10-15,000
Various oops parts; $1000?
Avionics replacememts; $1000?

Learning to fly with my daughter before she grows up; PRICELESS

Richard, I bought a 172M about 16 months ago, so I've recently gone through the same exercise you're doing now. Before I bought, I read that you should plan on 10% of the purchase price in unexpected maintenance the first year, and In my case that was just about right.

No prebuy is going to catch everything as far as I'm concerned.

You have some control over how much the "oops" items cost. If you've got a basic VFR bird, the surprises shouldn't be too much unless there is major corrosion or missed ADs, etc. (which a prebuy should catch). If you get into replacing avionics, that can be painful. If you're going for your IFR rating, I would strongly encourage you to buy a plane already IFR equipped to your liking - it is much more expensive to upgrade.

I agree with Royson that you can't financially justify ownership. But, there are 2 factors to consider strongly:

1. If you want to go anywhere for recreation, renting is a pain both in terms of scheduling for consecutive days, and also paying for non-flying days. If you rent for a weekend trip, you can easily double the cost of the rental just in minimum daily charges.

2. If you fly IFR much at all, you will quickly tire of playing the game "guess which avionics are broken or have expired databases on the rental today?"

AMEN, brother, AMEN !

Although, for the used airplane buyer, the actual set-aside depends on how many hours the engine already has.

For example, if you buy a 150 with 1200 hours SMOH, you might figure on an overhaul at 1800 hours. (My understanding, as a non-owner myself, is that the average time-between-overhauls is less than that "in the real world".)

An overhaul would be, what, $12,000? So if you set aside $20 an hour into an account, you'd be guaranteed to have 12G by the time 1800 hours rolled around.

If you had only 600 SMOH, you've got twice as long to get to 1800, so the set-aside would be half that.

Or you could just wing it, and scrape up the dough when the time comes.

What do most folks here do?

- Jeff

P.S. If you haven't checked it out already, AOPA has an operating cost calculator on their "Aircraft Valuation" page. I think you have to be a member to get to it, but hey, you should be one anyway.

When I bought my 152 is March 2001, the engine had 2000 SMOH. I didn't see the point of setting aside money per-hour for the overhaul. I had $35K in cash. Paid $19K for the plane. Put the remaining money into a CD for use when an overhaul is needed. The engine now has 2350 SMOH (TBO is 2400); compression is 68 to 70 in all 4 cylinders. I'll just play it by ear at each annual. I probably will do the overhaul when compression drops to low 60s, or at 2500 SMOH, whichever comes first.

Thats what I plan on doing, I'll more than likely take out a loan and overhaul it myself (with the company of my friend/A&P-AI). But with only 400 hours on the new limits major, I'm hoping that it will be at least 7 years or so before I will have to worry about it.

Buy N5816G and there will be no reason to plan for the unknown.