YYZ Plane Crash

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MCT said:
Two things that had me not own an aircraft.

If it is a production aircraft, you cannot do the maintenance yourself without having an AME licence. When I was instructing, if the weather was down, I'd be in the hangar wrenching on aircraft, both club and member aircraft. The full time mechanic there also worked at Transport Canada on aircraft would have me do everything, sign it off and tell me "I'm not worried, you are flying it tomorrow". Now if it is an "Experimental Aircraft", even if you did not built it, you can perform all the maintenance yourself. How does that make sense?

The cost of a hangar because I am no about to park my aircraft outside with hail, snow, etc doing a number on it.

And owning an aircraft is like owning a sailboat. It should be your number-one hobby and it consumes your life. Why I have motorcycles and sports cars; at least I can store them in my garage. The happiest days in a boat owner's life is the day he buys it and the day he sells it.

Now if I did buy an aircraft, it would be a Mooney 201 or an Extra 300 to 330 series. Two totally different aircraft with totally different purposes. A commuter aircraft like the 201 is kind of boring due to its limitations. I'll fly Air Canada and get there.

Now this is flying...
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The hangar cost is surprisingly low imo. To me, a plane is like a cottage but worse. You need to use it at every opportunity or your laziness will bite you. They don't like to sit. My buddy is normally flying twice a week or more. Sometimes to get places but often just to keep the plane and skills up. At >$100 per hour, that is a cash burn that I could not deal with even if the plane and hangar were free.
 
You can sort of store a sailplane in your garage....most leave them out in the elements in their trailers.
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Damn that took me back ....watching the 747 on final for Pearson from my perch at 2,000 m to the west,

Never flew in the level of plane that guy has ..17m high tech but close
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Happy to see my fav plane in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington ...if you have not been you must go.
 
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GreyGhost said:
The hangar cost is surprisingly low imo. To me, a plane is like a cottage but worse. You need to use it at every opportunity or your laziness will bite you. They don't like to sit. My buddy is normally flying twice a week or more. Sometimes to get places but often just to keep the plane and skills up. At >$100 per hour, that is a cash burn that I could not deal with even if the plane and hangar were free.
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Pretty hard to run a decent boat for $100/hr. A small plane might be cheaper than a small cruiser that gulps 120 l/hr!
 
Mad Mike said:
Pretty hard to run a decent boat for $100/hr. A small plane might be cheaper than a small cruiser that gulps 120 l/hr!
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Maybe. Almost no idling in a plane though. If the engine is running, you are normally over 10 gph (and depending on the plane sometimes way over). He's coming up on needing a major engine refresh due to hours. The bill will be In the ballpark of $10k/cylinder if he gets off lucky. Ouch. Overall, roughly an order of magnitude more than a bike to operate. Still cheaper than many expensive cars though.
 
GreyGhost said:
Maybe. Almost no idling in a plane though. If the engine is running, you are normally over 10 gph (and depending on the plane sometimes way over). He's coming up on needing a major engine refresh due to hours. The bill will be In the ballpark of $10k/cylinder if he gets off lucky. Ouch. Overall, roughly an order of magnitude more than a bike to operate. Still cheaper than many expensive cars though.
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Yeah my service bill on the Jag was eyewatering..but it was mostly voluntary preventative maint. and the car is 9 years old at this point. Time to start setting aside a $20 here and there for the next 9 year service 😫
 
GreyGhost said:
Almost no idling in a plane though.
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Welllllll..... I remember several flights on which I burned .5-.6 on the hobbs between winter warmup, runup/mag check, and then getting stuck in a conga line on the taxiway, or getting to the runway in reasonable time, being told to hold short, and then left waiting for a few minutes while something bigger than me was on an instrument approach and the tower didn't want to clear me for takeoff because rental plane, and sometimes rental plan pilots (*ahem*, quite possibly students) were known for sometimes not expediting takeoffs, or perhaps abandoning a takeoff, either of which could result in the much bigger plane needing to do a missed approach.
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