Is this like Snowmobiling, where the snowmobile costs $2000 but every day you run it it actually costs like $200 in fees, licences, and arrangements ?
Unfortunately one of his rentals engine malfunctioned and he crashed from 400 ft. Fortunately he survived but he was beat up pretty bad........
Less expensive overall.
Learn more.
Easier to store.
BFL
I can’t answer your questions, but before you spend any money of flying lessons or on a plane, look to see if there are any opportunities to go up in a small plane first and take some very basic free or very low flying lessons first.
I can’t find any links, but several years ago a local airport near me that was offering to take prospective students up in a small plane and give them a basic introductory course for free. I was very interested in signing up but never did.
From what I understand, if you’ve flown on a commercial jet liner, you have to understand that is a completely different experience than flying in a small plane.
My nephew has a good friend who owns a small plane, but FWIU, he’s quite wealthy, a CFO of a very large company and it’s still expensive for him. He typically doesn’t fly long distances or to destinations very often, mostly just taking friends and family up for a couple of hours, a local “joy ride” and sightseeing flights. His plane is kept at a very small local airport near Gettysburg PA, but from what I understand, the hanger fees are quite expensive as is the aviation fuel.
As to some that have compared it to owning a boat.
My now ex-husband and his best friend went in together to buy a very slightly used 42-foot boat that they learned about from a broker while attending the Baltimore Boat Show, an upgrade from my husband’s friend’s 21 footer that his friend could trailer and kept at a friend’s house’s driveway when not in use (and my husband didn’t consult me beforehand, but that’s another story).
Never mind that neither of them had any real boating experience for a boat that large, nor did they have any idea how much it cost to dock it at a marina or put it up during the winter or how much marine fuel cost or the cost of the engine maintenance or other maintenance.…
It was a lovely boat, and it comfortably slept 8 adults and had a head with a shower and a galley with a stove and microwave and half sized refrigerator. My husband and his friend imagined cruising all up and down the Chesapeake Bay and even going to Ocean City, and many long weekend trips to places like Saint Michael’s, sleeping and eating on the boat.
And what did we do on it?
We took a couple of cruises on the creek adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay where it was docked and once to the Baltimore inner harbor, which was very scary since neither of them had no idea about boating in such a congested area and among the big oil tankers and commercial freight ships or how to read the buoys – which fortunately since my dad had a boat when I was young, I did.
But most of the time we sat on it while it was docked, while my husband and his friend drank beer at the marina because we couldn’t afford the fuel.
Not to mention that my husband’s best friend’s wife got sea sick even while at the dock and constantly complained about everything – you are going too slow, you are going too fast, it’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s too calm, it’s too rough, I’m hungry, I’m not hungry – at one point I thought that if I threw her a$$ overboard, that it would be justifiable homicide or at least covered by some sort of rule of the sea – LOL!
They sold the boat the next year, and at a loss. : (
To be reasonably dependable, you need an "instrument rating." This allows you to fly when the weather is less than pristine, but not thunderstorm awful. You need 200 flight hours to get the instrument rating and 100 of it has to be with an instructor. (I forget whether you also have to pass a test, or you could just be signed off by your instructor.) For me, flying was most useful to go back and forth between destinations between 75 and 350 miles apart. Less than 75, driving is faster; more than 350 and you have to stop and commercial flying is faster unless you fly more sophisticated airplanes than I flew (which was mostly single engine, fixed landing gear, four seaters, that had a maximum useful load beyond full fuel of about 500 pounds).
After you get your instrument rating, you have to maintain it. You need six instrument hours and six instrument approaches during the previous six months or you have to get signed off by an instructor which makes you good for another six months. I only once got the six instrument hours, which is time spent when you can see neither the ground nor the sky. Most of the time you just climb above the clouds and you just get a few minutes of qualifying instrument time. (You also have to maintain your private license, but this is trivial.)
ML/NJ
Private planes are fun and its great to just drive right up to your plane and throw your gear in and take off. But its an expensive hobby like horses. Lots of maintenance and hanger/parking fees and licenses. Getting an instrument license is a beotch. Trust me you will get tired of flying VFR real quick.
You won’t be sleeping in your $200,000 plane. There will barely be room to cram into the seats.
Best thing is take some flying lessons, Get your license and rent planes to fly around getting miles for awhile. Then see how you feel about it.
I am thinking mid life crisis... ;)