The Cost of Owning an aircraft

[CrayonBox]

Owning your own aircraft is a dream for many.

 

Owning a microlight should be the cheapest means of aviating. But alas - in these parts it seems it's not so affordable. Fortunately I currently have access to a hanger on a farm - but it's recent become very crowded.

 

I have owned my XT912 trike now for a year. In the whole time I have owned it, there has been No hangerage come available at our local airport (YHBA). And it's seems it's a very 'who you know' community. There is however hanger land available in blocks of 600m2 - that's a very large hanger - 20x30m! After hanger construction, lease costs for such a block are $20k plus per annum, plus rates and power. So not really an option.

 

I have started asking people I know in the area with farm property - but everyone seems rather shy of the idea fearing the worst case scenario.

 

Option three could be to buy my own land. Build a house and fly from the backyard. But a suitable sized property would be at least $400k, plus rates etc. Then we'd have to sell our current house in town and build a house. I guess buying a property with a house already on it is an option, but they start at $500k for a run down renovator. (I'm not that rich).

 

My last option seems to be to get a trailer and store the trike at home. But by the time I rig the wing there won't be much time to fly due to thermals, sea breezes or darkness setting in. And, there are no suitable ways to access an airstrip to rig and derigg as required. (probably worse wear and tear than in the current hanger).

 

So I see 5 possible options that will work for the time being.

 

1. Stay where I am (I pay for hanger space) and move trikes around every time I want to fly. (risk mine getting damaged).

 

2. Make some new friends with property.

 

3. Win lotto and buy property.

 

4. Get a trailer - oh wait - I'll never fly then due to setup time and additional wear and tear.

 

5. In consideration of 4, sell my trike and forget about flying

 

Can anyone help me please?

 

Conclusion.

 

So - when you consider learning to fly and owning your own aircraft... don't worry about the cost of learning to fly, or the cost of buying, or registering, or insuring, or maintaining an aircraft. It will be the cost and inconvenience of finding a suitable hanger with maintained runway that will be your nemesis.

 

Aircraft >$20k. Annual fees >$1k5. Hanger >$250k.(unless you already have suitable property).

 

No - I didn't do my research properly before I got into this activity - but maybe this will help others before they do.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

 

[facthunter]

Been through all that. Hangarage is very important. Ideally you don't share hangar space from the DAMAGE aspect. The aerodrome at Porepunka seems to work OK. That's near Bright Vic. and they have a lot of trikes there.. Some places have airparks where you just taxi out of your garage onto the airfield. Seems OK but I don't know what the neighbours would be like. You should have a bit in common. Nev

 

 

[skeptic36]

How old are you?

 

If you have plenty of working life ahead of you, go out and buy the property and fly from your back yard.

 

Don't forget, it doesn't have to be entirely funded from your current income like a house in town does. Most rural land can be made to produce some form of income, even if you don't have any skills or intrest in primary production, there is usually a young farmer around that will lease the land from you.

 

Advantages include: you don't have to travel to fly, you can invite others to hanger at your place if you wish ( another form of income), and it's a great way to live with no near neighbours and room for your kids to get out and do some outdoorsy things and no one is going to fiddle with your trike when you aren't there ( happened to me at the above mentioned hangar in Porepunkah ).

 

Certainly don't give up flying

 

Regards Bill

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Add another alternative to your list.

 

Buy a shipping container (about $2000) and pay a nominal ground rent.

 

 

[farri]

Owning your own aircraft is a dream for many.It will be the cost and inconvenience of finding a suitable hanger with maintained runway that will be your nemesis.

That`s about the bottom line. No good owning an aircraft but not having somewhere to store and fly it from.

 

Like anyone else, I had to consider all options before I started flying. I decided that if I was ever going to fly I had to build an Ultralight and it had to be off my own property. I had plenty of land but I was growing sugar cane on it. I reasoned I would get far more value ( enjoyment wise ) from the piece of land that I needed to make a strip on, than the few $ I was getting from the cane, so I took out the cane and made a strip. I`ve never regretted it.

 

To cover the aircraft, I built a cover out of SHS, 'square hollow section'. It was on wheels and from memory,the width of it was about a meter wider than the length of the AC. The lenght was about two meters longer than the wing span. It was open at both ends and covered with a tarp. I wheeled it over the AC from wing tip to wing tip and wheeled it off to go flying. This worked fine for a couple of years until Cyclone Joy destroyed it and damaged the AC.

 

To construct a cover ( I wouldn`t call it a shed ) like mine, doesn`t require any permanent foundations, simply wheel it over the AC then secure it to the ground, unfortunately, a trike has a kingpost which requires the structure to be higher, therefore, stronger.

 

At Port Douglas, up here in FN,QLD, a farmer who owns and flies an X-Air Hanuman, leases some of his land for AC storage and to fly from. There`s been Trikes there for many years and the`re housed in Igloos.

 

I think an Igloo could be constructed out of PVC tubing and these days there`s plenty of materials to cover it with. It would not be a permenent structure and could easily be disassembled and removed.

 

Frank.

 

 

[metalman]

My hangar is a vinyl "bellman" type, seems to work okay ,and although the front is open it doesn't seem to get much water inside, still gotta pay for the dirt under it but it'll do for a while,

 

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Conclusion.

So - when you consider learning to fly and owning your own aircraft... don't worry about the cost of learning to fly, or the cost of buying, or registering, or insuring, or maintaining an aircraft. It will be the cost and inconvenience of finding a suitable hanger with maintained runway that will be your nemesis.

 

Aircraft >$20k. Annual fees >$1k5. Hanger >$250k.(unless you already have suitable property).

That's about right, GA and RA has hit that roadblock with most airports full of planes that rarely get flown. It looks like aviation is always going to be a rich man's game.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

can I really bum you out crayon, this is what is happening @ my local airport.

 

I have no idea if the Caribou are flying but they are worth a lot less than the hangar. My guess is the shipping containers aren't worth a lot less than the parts they hold.

 

http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/a-kingsthorpe-company-is-building-a-super-sized-ha/1986043/

 

 

[gareth lacey]

Why do you call it a rich mans sport , i am not rich, but can afford to fly every week and have nearly finished my half of a plane(about $40k) and the running costs are much cheaper than my 4wd

 

buy a boat and that cost would be more per week ,any sport that is motorized will cost more than riding a bike , its all about priorities i prefer to fly than go to the pub every night ,smoke ing and drinking ,a far less

 

exiting thing to do but would eat in to most peoples pay packets

 

cheers gareth

 

 

[fly_tornado]

gareth, where is your plane hangared?

 

 

[gareth lacey]

currently at our workshop ,(its not flying yet about 4 weeks ,but i fly at Pathfinder Aviation Jab 170 every sat)but possibly we will fly out of caboolture

 

if no slot there we go to plan b at Kooralbyn ,very good hanger and the runway is not to bad and the cost is abot $25 per week

 

cheers gareth

 

 

[fly_tornado]

This is what crayon is complaining about, no hangars available at a close airport like Caboolture and its a long drive an alternative airport.

 

 

[DGL Fox]

The Caboolture Flying Club have been talking to council here for while now to get them to release more of the airfield land for a new club house and land for new hangars, not sure where they are with all of that..when dealing with councils the wheels seem to turn very slowlyyyy..talk about reducing red tape..geeeezzzz..

 

David

 

 

[M61A1]

Maybe you need to change to an aircraft type that can be trailered and rigged easily. I couldn't afford to fly at all, if it was really as expensive as these people are talking.

 

 

[dazza 38]

currently at our workshop ,(its not flying yet about 4 weeks ,but i fly at Pathfinder Aviation Jab 170 every sat)but possibly we will fly out of cabooltureif no slot there we go to plan b at Kooralbyn ,very good hanger and the runway is not to bad and the cost is abot $25 per week

cheers gareth

I am not sure about kooralbyn. Some aircraft from there have been moved to boonah and there are dirty great big white crosses painted on the runway.

 

 

[dodo]

Yep. Hangarage anywhere close at less than $2500 pa is pretty much a dream for most of us.

 

Once you are paying $2-3 thousand pa, you migth as well buy a relatively expensive aircraft (>$50,000), then insure it for another couple of thousand a year, and you are spending real money before you even fly it.

 

The lack of somewhere to hangar and fly from, within an hour or so at less than $2K pa is why I haven't bought an aircraft.

 

dodo

 

 

[gareth lacey]

Will have to fly over this weekend and see rang the guy who owns the hanger but no answer maybe he is not using hanger for planes ah well back to the drawing board

 

 

[farri]

My hangar is a vinyl "bellman" type, seems to work okay ,and although the front is open it doesn't seem to get much water inside, still gotta pay for the dirt under it but it'll do for a while,

Looks good to me and there`s enough room and plenty of light.

 

Up here at the Innisfail aerodrome, one aircraft owner spent the money and constructed a very nice hangar. Used it for a while then sold it to someone else. As far as I`m aware, part of the deal was, he got a permanent place in the hangar for his Jabiru....Something worth considering.

 

Frank.

 

 

[Neville75]

Crayon

 

Have you looked into the recently approved airpark development at Booral? Certain to cost a bob though. For a bigger drive the Maryborough Aero Club has some hangars (not sure of availability though).

 

Not sure if it is still available but a gent I know of had a hangar at the bay a while back. I could pm details - most likely a very long shot though.

 

Nev

 

 

[dazza 38]

Out at work on the Darling Downs we have a few of them Hangars similar to Matts Bellman hangar with machinery parked in them. The difference is that they are designed and mounted on top of shipping containers. The containers act as the walls with the front left open. The containers give ample storage. I guess the containers wouldn't be cheap though.

 

 

[DWF]

currently at our workshop ,(its not flying yet about 4 weeks ,but i fly at Pathfinder Aviation Jab 170 every sat)but possibly we will fly out of cabooltureif no slot there we go to plan b at Kooralbyn ,very good hanger and the runway is not to bad and the cost is abot $25 per week

cheers gareth

John Walmsley at Coominya (between Gatton and Esk) had some hangar space he rents out. Nice 1000m grass strip, solid steel hangars.

 

I don't know if he has anything available at the moment but he may be worth a try. Coominya Flight Training 0421 342 677

 

 

[CrayonBox]

CrayonHave you looked into the recently approved airpark development at Booral? Certain to cost a bob though. For a bigger drive the Maryborough Aero Club has some hangars (not sure of availability though).

Not sure if it is still available but a gent I know of had a hangar at the bay a while back. I could pm details - most likely a very long shot though.

 

Nev

Nev, airpark will be a while and i expect very expensive to buy into.

There is land for hangers but no hanger space in Maryborough just like Hervey Bay. No one is keen to build as far as i know.

 

Any info re hanger space would be great.

 

 

[CrayonBox]

John Walmsley at Coominya (between Gatton and Esk) had some hangar space he rents out. Nice 1000m grass strip, solid steel hangars.

I don't know if he has anything available at the moment but he may be worth a try. Coominya Flight Training 0421 342 677

That's 3 hours drive -way to far for a nice 1-3hour sunrise jaunt in the sky. But thanks anyway.

 

 

[CrayonBox]

Out at work on the Darling Downs we have a few of them Hangars similar to Matts Bellman hangar with machinery parked in them. The difference is that they are designed and mounted on top of shipping containers. The containers act as the walls with the front left open. The containers give ample storage. I guess the containers wouldn't be cheap though.

The hanger (building) itself isn't the problem. It's having somewhere with a runway to put it, and the council certainly wont let anything less than professional and sturdy into the airport here. There is not really even a way i can see to tow an aircraft by trailer into the airport to assembly and install the wings. Our airport is registered and has RPT movements.

 

 

[Marty_d]

My last option seems to be to get a trailer and store the trike at home. But by the time I rig the wing there won't be much time to fly due to thermals, sea breezes or darkness setting in. And, there are no suitable ways to access an airstrip to rig and derigg as required. (probably worse wear and tear than in the current hanger).

CB, I don't know much about trikes but I used to fly a hang glider, assume the wing is fairly similar (pockets in the fabric hold aluminium battens, spars hinged at the nose etc?)

 

We had to rig those after lugging them for half an hour up the side of a hill, yes it takes a little while but surely time management kicks in here... just saying if you can't afford any other option then trailering might be it.

 

Don't really understand the bit about "no suitable ways to access an airstrip to rig and derigg"... you have to fly from somewhere and presumably any airstrip has a gate to allow vehicles in... please forgive me if I'm missing something blindingly obvious!

 

Cheers, Marty