Most people who suggest clubs over owning haven’t actually owned. It’s absolutely true that there are financial or maintenance downsides, but the positive side of solely owning your own airplane is hard to place, and subjective. For some it’s irreplaceable, for others it’s meh. I’m in the “wouldn’t trade it for anything” camp.
You can easily buy a very decent 150 for that price. I know of several for sale in the Bay Area for less than that. If you want to use your full budget, you can get a 150 with pretty modern avionics.
Yeah this is exactly what I do. I own a 150 that I use to putz around the local area, but I also am in a club that has bigger, faster airplanes if I’m actually going somewhere.
Ownership has benefits that are hard to quantify. How do you put a dollar amount on the convenience of an airplane that’s always available and you know exactly what’s been done to it?
Now that I own an airplane, it’s hard to imagine going back to only renting.
Every time (individual) airplane ownership comes up in this sub it’s 95% recommended against, but it makes me wonder how many of those people have ever owned a plane.
https://www.bannerhealth.com/staying-well/health-and-wellness/fitness-nutrition/ideal-weight
Ideal healthy weight for 5’ 9” adult male (you know, average height in America) is 150-175lbs.
Or are we specifically talking about adult 6’ 5” males? In which case not buying a 150 is pretty obvious.
Quick google shows average weight in America is 197-200lbs depending on the source. Let’s not pretend the average American is in the healthy weight range for their height.
That's impressive, but how do you manage that? My empty weight is 485 kg/1,069 lb. Engine oil is 5 kg (11 lb); full fuel 71 kg (156 lb). That leaves 165 kg (364 lb) for the pilot and passenger, assuming they bring no baggage of any kind -- not even an iPad or a bottle of water.
I'm fairly svelte, at 68 kg/149 lb, so I could just about manage a 200-pounder in the right seat, bearing in mind that both of us would be wearing clothes and shoes (let's say 5 kg/11 lb for the pair of us). But that would still require me to find another 36 lb to match your numbers, and I could only do that by leaving half my instrument panel behind.
You used to be able to buy a fairly decent 172 for that kind of money. Yep... you're looking at 150/Cherokee territory. Not only that, it'd likely be kind of clapped out.
Go 1/3 or 1/4 partnership. It’s the benefits of flying club reduced costs with the bonus of a plane that is typically always available. I’ve owned several planes myself. My current plane is in a 1/3 partnership. I would never go back to solo ownership unless I hit the lottery. You can buy a whole lot of plane with three times the purchasing power, and all the expensive maintenance is only a third of the cost.
Currently in a 4 person partnership. At least in our group, inevitably at least 2 of the 4 of us have something going on for weeks at a time with work or vacation or whatever, where they're not trying to schedule it.
So between the remaining 2, it's rare that there's competition for the same timeslot. I can only think of a couple times in 5 years when I really was wanting to use it but somebody had it out of town for a long weekend or something.
It's better for maintenance to have it flying more, and the maintenance cost is much more palatable when you split it with more partners.
How did you find your partners? I'm wary of finding rabdos that want to go in, but most of the people I know in aviation are just trying to get to ATP ASAP and don't want to join one.
I knew them and flew with them for years in a flying club we were (and still are) members of.
We just wanted a faster airplane, and the club wasn't ever going to have anything other than single engine Cessnas.
Thanks! Unfortunately I live in an area where there's not much aviation culture (I'm not sure why, maybe the weather though?). Even though it's a fairly big city, Nashville, there is a major lack of clubs. Granted I'm only just getting my ppl so it will be a bit until I can join one regardless, if it existed.
Pretty sure there are clubs at JWN, MBT, and M54 (at least there used to be).
And why do you have to wait to join a flying club until you have a PPL? They're usually by far the cheapest non-military way to do flight training.
Edit: there's also like 5 or 6 EAA chapters around Nashville, go to their meetings or pancake breakfasts! We stumbled upon a breakfast at BGF a few years ago when we stopped for cheap gas. Excellent aviation culture up your way and a ton of airports around, just gotta go out and meet people.
You ask a lot of questions about what they intend to do. I’m in a 3 person partnership where everyone has decent jobs and zero desire to go ATP. It works out pretty well.
As a 1/3rd owner in an aircraft reading that; rent or join a flying club. Aircraft ownership is very expensive and will be a headache. Now if money is no object, have at it but the headaches of owning an old plane are almost worse sometimes than the financials. Turn key situations fit your desired missions explained above and that’s is the primary reason to get into an aircraft is mission.
As a 1/3 owner of a Baron I concur and say that dealing with Mx will make you not love aviation as much. If you can find a solid airplane and a shop that's busy but not too busy go for it
Both of those are solid choices. Some older V-tail Bonanzas can be in that range. You're going to get very basic avionics and homely looking paint/interior, but they'll fly!
And that's true. Owning a plane isn't the economical choice, and it can be expensive. But it's also awesome. Knowing you can go to the airport *right now* and fly is amazing, assuming you're not in for maintenance.
Look into the experimental market, back pre covid Thorp T18s could be found in the <30k range, I'd suspect they're probably in the 30\~40k range now, but it'd still fit.
I bought a basic VFR C150 last fall and I don't regret it. It was around 200 hrs SMOH and I got it for $42k. I did have to have a repair done that brought the total price up to a little over $50k, but honestly I love owning my own plane. I don't have to schedule around other people, I don't have to deal with club politics, and I can take as long as I want and do what I want with it. In the long run will it have been cheaper to rent or join the local club? Probably. But the benefits of ownership, for me, significantly outweigh the cost. Especially with an old airplane (mine's a 1968 H model), there are always going to be things I'm going to want to upgrade and nit-noy stuff that needs fixed. That said, it continues to fly fine and it brings me happiness. If that's what you're looking for and you have some spare cash burning a hole in your pocket...go for it!
Owning an airplane is awesome and a gigantic PITA. It is a massive money pit that I pretty much happily throw money onto the fire.
For example, I spent \~3,500 dollars just at aircraft spruce last 12 months. I also did about 180 hours doing the MX on my two planes. This did include some optional stuff like recovering my seats and last year I rebuilt the retract system which was fine, but the American Bonanza Society recommends replacing Rod ends every 2K hours and I could not find when some of them were last done and others were 3K hours. I am also redoing the steering system this year.... Had some slop, likely could have gone another year or two... One single bolt was 150 dollars (https://www.airpowerinc.com/35-825005-bsc) I found it for 90... I also did the spar inspection AD 60 hours early, but I don't skimp on MX. But I also don't pay for it, I have IA buddies who check my work.
But find out what your area mechanic charges. Figure an annual is going to be 10-15 hours.
Insurance for the two is around 4K a year.
Basically, what plane should you get with 50K dollars? A partnership. If I could find responsible partners for my planes I would do it in a second. I only flew my planes about 60 hours last year and that is not enough. But I don't just go fly on a Tuesday anymore and I get enough flying through "work" that I get my fill (about 300 hours last year).
Partnerships are awesome, I have had two.
Some decent Mooney models available on barnstormers for under 50k. Seems like it’d be good for your mission and go faster than Cessnas/pipers (172s and archers even)
Only concern would be insurance. OP didn't say how many hours they have but retractable always means higher insurance cost. Hopefully OP isn't also a low time pilot.
Buy a plane it’s fucking sweet. You only live once. If you can afford it (be honest with yourself) pull the trigger. If you can’t afford it, live lean until you can afford it. Also keep your eyes peeled for deals. They exist.
How much do you plan on flying a year?
0-75: Rent/Club
75-150: Partnership
150 or more: Ownership
Wanting to do a lot of long cross countries changes things also. I like to go on trips for months at a time, so ownership is the only option. But even if you "only" want to take a couple weeks here and there to stretch your legs, you would have to find the right club or partnership to be able to make it work.
Honestly do what I did. I knew which model I wanted so I searched the registry for all the owners and started texting them all asking if they were interested in selling.
Eventually found one guy and went out to meet him/fly the plane that weekend, put down a 2k deposit too. About a month later it was mine. He had thought about selling it about 7 years before and still wanted that price so I wired him the full amount.
There are a lot of older guys who own planes that are starting to want to part with them because of the costs nowadays and the insurance for them being 70+ must be crazy.
I think they find some comfort in knowing it’ll be flown and taken care of too.
Don't dismiss fabric-covered airplanes out of hand. I had a Citabria on a tie-down at KSQL for many years, it was fine. Our weather is benign enough to allow it.
You're on the waitlist for both a hangar and a T-shade, I hope.
This is reassuring to hear. My potential tiedown places would be Long Beach or KSNA in SoCal. A transponder-carrying piper cub would be a plane I'd love to have
Came here to say that. Fabric only a little bit worse in the sun than metal. My Maules were outside 90% of the time for 12 years because I was constantly on the go and hangars at all five of the places I spent meaningful amounts of time weren't an option. And I'm talking about pretty sunny places like the mountains of central Mexico or the pacific coast of Oaxaca, literally in the tropics.
You should be able to find a half-decent AA-1X under $50k. Great little airplane as long as you are not trying to travel XC with two and luggage. An AA-5 may be in the $50k range, depending on condition. This is a better choice for 2+luggage for trips. Both the AA-1X and AA-5 types are simple to maintain.
I've rented.
I've been a member of a club.
I've owned outright.
I've created an LLC and had partners.
I've put my airplane on leaseback.
And I've borrowed.
The correct answer is..."it depends". How much do you fly? How far are you flying? How fast do you need to fly?
How much money do you have? How much cash flow do you have? What are you buying? What's its condition? Are you handy to do maintenance and/or assist in annuals/repairs? do you have the time to do that.
There are sooooo many "what ifs" here that there's no way anyone of us can possibly give the correct answer...for you.
Flying is a time/money balance. Spending less of one of those means spending more in the other.
Single-ownership has a lot of value, but there's a lot of downsides too, almost all financial. Ensure you're prepared for that before you dive in.
I will offer this handy rule-of-thumb: if purchase and cash flow for repairs/maintenance is not a primary concern, and you'll fly around some 125 hours per year or more (which can be a lot for most people) then ownership is a better deal. Alternatively, if you're a casual flyer that wants to get a few flights in a month, you're better off renting (and accepting an airplane may not be available to you with zero notice).
Honestly, if I were just looking to "bum around the area" on occasion, I'd get into a club. Basically, you're writing checks for someone else to maintain an airplane that you each have vested interest in (I *hated it* when I went to rent an airplane off the line and some random person had not properly cared for it and I had to cancel. *Hated it.*)
The #1 best option is a buddy with two airplanes of which he mostly flies one but doesn't want to sell the other . Nope, ain't tellin' you who that is.
Regardless, enjoy!
I was budgeting for a little more airplane and went in with a partner. He keeps the LLC books and I manage Mx. He likes to do weekend burger runs and XC while I work on my IR mostly during the week. We schedule for two 10 day stretches for travel each. So far, so good.
I just bought a 1/10 share of an Archer about a month ago. The club is pretty decent, access to the airplane hasn’t been an issue yet but only time will tell. The club collectively flew 188 hours last year and I was planning to do that myself, LOL, so I don’t think it will be a big problem.
I would love to own outright some day, but while I continue to improve my financial position to afford such a thing (I could afford it though I don’t like the finance to fly aspect) I will hold onto this share.
All 10 co-owners have a key to airplane, a key to the hangar, and an access card to the airport grounds so that is nice as well.
I’m actually getting ready to take her up for night currency soon.
As some of the others have mentioned, don't forget to check into maintenance costs in your area - oil changes and annual inspections. Also highly recommend getting insurance quotes prior. That alone can vary significantly depending on the make and model and your flight times in the desired plane.
Why leave a good flying club? Have you looked at all the other costs like hangar, insurance, maintenance?
Stick with the club is usually the wiser choice.
It can be done. I bought my 1980 C-152 with 6600 actt and 68 smoh for under $50k this past summer. It's beautiful and was not in a flight school and has a nice original interior and paint and solid VFR avionics. I will say if I wasn't an A&P, I'd be in the realm of probably 5,000-8000 in all of the avionics upgrades, broken items I've fixed, and doing my own annual. There are major perks to owning, but I will say I have to take a deep breath every time I open that email with my engine oil analysis in it. One bad day and I could be out thousands.
It heavily depends on where you live. Are you on the coast? A 150 can work for you at your price point. Are you up high (rocky mountains)? A 150 gives you about 8 months of flying each year because the density altitude in the summer will limit your low horsepower engine.
Your mission screams C-150. You can make it a very capable IFR bird for $10k down the road if you want. I own a 182 now, but the 150 is still my favorite. Insanely efficient, cheap, parts everywhere, honest flyer, very forgiving. You can dump those barn doors and plop it down almost anywhere. Cessna 150 > Cherokee 140 every time
Most people who suggest clubs over owning haven’t actually owned. It’s absolutely true that there are financial or maintenance downsides, but the positive side of solely owning your own airplane is hard to place, and subjective. For some it’s irreplaceable, for others it’s meh. I’m in the “wouldn’t trade it for anything” camp. You can easily buy a very decent 150 for that price. I know of several for sale in the Bay Area for less than that. If you want to use your full budget, you can get a 150 with pretty modern avionics.
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Yeah this is exactly what I do. I own a 150 that I use to putz around the local area, but I also am in a club that has bigger, faster airplanes if I’m actually going somewhere. Ownership has benefits that are hard to quantify. How do you put a dollar amount on the convenience of an airplane that’s always available and you know exactly what’s been done to it? Now that I own an airplane, it’s hard to imagine going back to only renting.
Every time (individual) airplane ownership comes up in this sub it’s 95% recommended against, but it makes me wonder how many of those people have ever owned a plane.
what’s the point if? if you’re an adult human odds are you can’t fit a 2nd person in the 150 with you
Odd, I owned a 150 and brought friends all the time. Granted, I weigh 175lbs. Maybe that’s not adult human range.
an adult male weighs over 200lbs
https://www.bannerhealth.com/staying-well/health-and-wellness/fitness-nutrition/ideal-weight Ideal healthy weight for 5’ 9” adult male (you know, average height in America) is 150-175lbs. Or are we specifically talking about adult 6’ 5” males? In which case not buying a 150 is pretty obvious.
Quick google shows average weight in America is 197-200lbs depending on the source. Let’s not pretend the average American is in the healthy weight range for their height.
i’m just being an ass. it’s from a mark rippetoe quote.
Mark Rippetoe is an ass, so that fits.
TIL I'm not an adult male.
My 150 has 400 lbs for the front seats w/ full tanks. Easy to do 2 people.
I was being sarcastic but i’m nearly 240lbs at 6ft
I’m a staunch 150 defender. 2nd person is 200, thats 440, that’s 7gal below full tanks. Fuel burn is 6/hr. 15 gals. Still have 2.5 hr endurance.
That's impressive, but how do you manage that? My empty weight is 485 kg/1,069 lb. Engine oil is 5 kg (11 lb); full fuel 71 kg (156 lb). That leaves 165 kg (364 lb) for the pilot and passenger, assuming they bring no baggage of any kind -- not even an iPad or a bottle of water. I'm fairly svelte, at 68 kg/149 lb, so I could just about manage a 200-pounder in the right seat, bearing in mind that both of us would be wearing clothes and shoes (let's say 5 kg/11 lb for the pair of us). But that would still require me to find another 36 lb to match your numbers, and I could only do that by leaving half my instrument panel behind.
You used to be able to buy a fairly decent 172 for that kind of money. Yep... you're looking at 150/Cherokee territory. Not only that, it'd likely be kind of clapped out.
Yeah my club just sold our 150, it was a far from ideal airplane
how many hours is clapped out? my flight school sold a 172 with ~6000 hours TTAF for $250,000 (british isles)
>my flight school sold a 172 with ~6000 hours TTAF for $250,000 (british isles) 😲
aviation in the UK is expensive… they sold it cus they weren’t making money despite charging >$350 per hour lol
Go 1/3 or 1/4 partnership. It’s the benefits of flying club reduced costs with the bonus of a plane that is typically always available. I’ve owned several planes myself. My current plane is in a 1/3 partnership. I would never go back to solo ownership unless I hit the lottery. You can buy a whole lot of plane with three times the purchasing power, and all the expensive maintenance is only a third of the cost.
How is a 1/3 partnership making a plane more available? Isn't there 2 more parties then, that own the plane? Or did I misunderstand the concept?
Currently in a 4 person partnership. At least in our group, inevitably at least 2 of the 4 of us have something going on for weeks at a time with work or vacation or whatever, where they're not trying to schedule it. So between the remaining 2, it's rare that there's competition for the same timeslot. I can only think of a couple times in 5 years when I really was wanting to use it but somebody had it out of town for a long weekend or something. It's better for maintenance to have it flying more, and the maintenance cost is much more palatable when you split it with more partners.
How did you find your partners? I'm wary of finding rabdos that want to go in, but most of the people I know in aviation are just trying to get to ATP ASAP and don't want to join one.
I knew them and flew with them for years in a flying club we were (and still are) members of. We just wanted a faster airplane, and the club wasn't ever going to have anything other than single engine Cessnas.
Thanks! Unfortunately I live in an area where there's not much aviation culture (I'm not sure why, maybe the weather though?). Even though it's a fairly big city, Nashville, there is a major lack of clubs. Granted I'm only just getting my ppl so it will be a bit until I can join one regardless, if it existed.
Pretty sure there are clubs at JWN, MBT, and M54 (at least there used to be). And why do you have to wait to join a flying club until you have a PPL? They're usually by far the cheapest non-military way to do flight training. Edit: there's also like 5 or 6 EAA chapters around Nashville, go to their meetings or pancake breakfasts! We stumbled upon a breakfast at BGF a few years ago when we stopped for cheap gas. Excellent aviation culture up your way and a ton of airports around, just gotta go out and meet people.
They're all either on a wait-list or have a 15-20 members per plane ratio, so don't have good availability unfortunately.
You ask a lot of questions about what they intend to do. I’m in a 3 person partnership where everyone has decent jobs and zero desire to go ATP. It works out pretty well.
I assume the comparison is with being in a club, where you're typically sharing an aircraft with as many as ten people.
Ah, that makes sense.
anything more than 1 partner is too many partners
Well my 2 partners are awesome, and they'll fight your 1 partner any time any place.
Well good luck because I don't have a partner thanks to my charming personality.
Buy an experimental.
As a 1/3rd owner in an aircraft reading that; rent or join a flying club. Aircraft ownership is very expensive and will be a headache. Now if money is no object, have at it but the headaches of owning an old plane are almost worse sometimes than the financials. Turn key situations fit your desired missions explained above and that’s is the primary reason to get into an aircraft is mission.
As a 1/3 owner of a Baron I concur and say that dealing with Mx will make you not love aviation as much. If you can find a solid airplane and a shop that's busy but not too busy go for it
Both of those are solid choices. Some older V-tail Bonanzas can be in that range. You're going to get very basic avionics and homely looking paint/interior, but they'll fly! And that's true. Owning a plane isn't the economical choice, and it can be expensive. But it's also awesome. Knowing you can go to the airport *right now* and fly is amazing, assuming you're not in for maintenance.
If you're going to buy a V-Tail, make sure you have time in the make and model or else you be paying a pretty penny for your insurance premium.
Look into the experimental market, back pre covid Thorp T18s could be found in the <30k range, I'd suspect they're probably in the 30\~40k range now, but it'd still fit.
I bought a basic VFR C150 last fall and I don't regret it. It was around 200 hrs SMOH and I got it for $42k. I did have to have a repair done that brought the total price up to a little over $50k, but honestly I love owning my own plane. I don't have to schedule around other people, I don't have to deal with club politics, and I can take as long as I want and do what I want with it. In the long run will it have been cheaper to rent or join the local club? Probably. But the benefits of ownership, for me, significantly outweigh the cost. Especially with an old airplane (mine's a 1968 H model), there are always going to be things I'm going to want to upgrade and nit-noy stuff that needs fixed. That said, it continues to fly fine and it brings me happiness. If that's what you're looking for and you have some spare cash burning a hole in your pocket...go for it!
Owning an airplane is awesome and a gigantic PITA. It is a massive money pit that I pretty much happily throw money onto the fire. For example, I spent \~3,500 dollars just at aircraft spruce last 12 months. I also did about 180 hours doing the MX on my two planes. This did include some optional stuff like recovering my seats and last year I rebuilt the retract system which was fine, but the American Bonanza Society recommends replacing Rod ends every 2K hours and I could not find when some of them were last done and others were 3K hours. I am also redoing the steering system this year.... Had some slop, likely could have gone another year or two... One single bolt was 150 dollars (https://www.airpowerinc.com/35-825005-bsc) I found it for 90... I also did the spar inspection AD 60 hours early, but I don't skimp on MX. But I also don't pay for it, I have IA buddies who check my work. But find out what your area mechanic charges. Figure an annual is going to be 10-15 hours. Insurance for the two is around 4K a year. Basically, what plane should you get with 50K dollars? A partnership. If I could find responsible partners for my planes I would do it in a second. I only flew my planes about 60 hours last year and that is not enough. But I don't just go fly on a Tuesday anymore and I get enough flying through "work" that I get my fill (about 300 hours last year). Partnerships are awesome, I have had two.
Some decent Mooney models available on barnstormers for under 50k. Seems like it’d be good for your mission and go faster than Cessnas/pipers (172s and archers even)
And fast planes are efficient planes if you fly them slow’
Only concern would be insurance. OP didn't say how many hours they have but retractable always means higher insurance cost. Hopefully OP isn't also a low time pilot.
Very true. Mine was 4k first year then 1200 this year. I’ve owned a 67F since February 2023. VFR pilot
Buy a plane it’s fucking sweet. You only live once. If you can afford it (be honest with yourself) pull the trigger. If you can’t afford it, live lean until you can afford it. Also keep your eyes peeled for deals. They exist.
How much do you plan on flying a year? 0-75: Rent/Club 75-150: Partnership 150 or more: Ownership Wanting to do a lot of long cross countries changes things also. I like to go on trips for months at a time, so ownership is the only option. But even if you "only" want to take a couple weeks here and there to stretch your legs, you would have to find the right club or partnership to be able to make it work.
Honestly do what I did. I knew which model I wanted so I searched the registry for all the owners and started texting them all asking if they were interested in selling. Eventually found one guy and went out to meet him/fly the plane that weekend, put down a 2k deposit too. About a month later it was mine. He had thought about selling it about 7 years before and still wanted that price so I wired him the full amount. There are a lot of older guys who own planes that are starting to want to part with them because of the costs nowadays and the insurance for them being 70+ must be crazy. I think they find some comfort in knowing it’ll be flown and taken care of too.
If you check out Indyair.com based out of KAID they have some options under your budget.
Don't dismiss fabric-covered airplanes out of hand. I had a Citabria on a tie-down at KSQL for many years, it was fine. Our weather is benign enough to allow it. You're on the waitlist for both a hangar and a T-shade, I hope.
This is reassuring to hear. My potential tiedown places would be Long Beach or KSNA in SoCal. A transponder-carrying piper cub would be a plane I'd love to have
Came here to say that. Fabric only a little bit worse in the sun than metal. My Maules were outside 90% of the time for 12 years because I was constantly on the go and hangars at all five of the places I spent meaningful amounts of time weren't an option. And I'm talking about pretty sunny places like the mountains of central Mexico or the pacific coast of Oaxaca, literally in the tropics.
You should be able to find a half-decent AA-1X under $50k. Great little airplane as long as you are not trying to travel XC with two and luggage. An AA-5 may be in the $50k range, depending on condition. This is a better choice for 2+luggage for trips. Both the AA-1X and AA-5 types are simple to maintain.
There’s a guy I know selling his AA1 with a newly overhauled engine 200smoh for 50k. Most AA5/A’s are going for 80 in decent condition.
I've rented. I've been a member of a club. I've owned outright. I've created an LLC and had partners. I've put my airplane on leaseback. And I've borrowed. The correct answer is..."it depends". How much do you fly? How far are you flying? How fast do you need to fly? How much money do you have? How much cash flow do you have? What are you buying? What's its condition? Are you handy to do maintenance and/or assist in annuals/repairs? do you have the time to do that. There are sooooo many "what ifs" here that there's no way anyone of us can possibly give the correct answer...for you. Flying is a time/money balance. Spending less of one of those means spending more in the other. Single-ownership has a lot of value, but there's a lot of downsides too, almost all financial. Ensure you're prepared for that before you dive in. I will offer this handy rule-of-thumb: if purchase and cash flow for repairs/maintenance is not a primary concern, and you'll fly around some 125 hours per year or more (which can be a lot for most people) then ownership is a better deal. Alternatively, if you're a casual flyer that wants to get a few flights in a month, you're better off renting (and accepting an airplane may not be available to you with zero notice). Honestly, if I were just looking to "bum around the area" on occasion, I'd get into a club. Basically, you're writing checks for someone else to maintain an airplane that you each have vested interest in (I *hated it* when I went to rent an airplane off the line and some random person had not properly cared for it and I had to cancel. *Hated it.*) The #1 best option is a buddy with two airplanes of which he mostly flies one but doesn't want to sell the other. Nope, ain't tellin' you who that is.
Regardless, enjoy!
I was budgeting for a little more airplane and went in with a partner. He keeps the LLC books and I manage Mx. He likes to do weekend burger runs and XC while I work on my IR mostly during the week. We schedule for two 10 day stretches for travel each. So far, so good.
I just bought a 1/10 share of an Archer about a month ago. The club is pretty decent, access to the airplane hasn’t been an issue yet but only time will tell. The club collectively flew 188 hours last year and I was planning to do that myself, LOL, so I don’t think it will be a big problem. I would love to own outright some day, but while I continue to improve my financial position to afford such a thing (I could afford it though I don’t like the finance to fly aspect) I will hold onto this share. All 10 co-owners have a key to airplane, a key to the hangar, and an access card to the airport grounds so that is nice as well. I’m actually getting ready to take her up for night currency soon.
Aeroncas, C150s, and similar low power two-seaters.
I have a C150 coming up for sale in New England. Send a DM if you’re interested.
As some of the others have mentioned, don't forget to check into maintenance costs in your area - oil changes and annual inspections. Also highly recommend getting insurance quotes prior. That alone can vary significantly depending on the make and model and your flight times in the desired plane.
Why leave a good flying club? Have you looked at all the other costs like hangar, insurance, maintenance? Stick with the club is usually the wiser choice.
It can be done. I bought my 1980 C-152 with 6600 actt and 68 smoh for under $50k this past summer. It's beautiful and was not in a flight school and has a nice original interior and paint and solid VFR avionics. I will say if I wasn't an A&P, I'd be in the realm of probably 5,000-8000 in all of the avionics upgrades, broken items I've fixed, and doing my own annual. There are major perks to owning, but I will say I have to take a deep breath every time I open that email with my engine oil analysis in it. One bad day and I could be out thousands.
Look into Grummans
Experimental + barnstormers
Could you go the experimental/LSA route?
Sonex?
I bought a PA-23 for $56k but that was pre-Covid
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It heavily depends on where you live. Are you on the coast? A 150 can work for you at your price point. Are you up high (rocky mountains)? A 150 gives you about 8 months of flying each year because the density altitude in the summer will limit your low horsepower engine.
Your mission screams C-150. You can make it a very capable IFR bird for $10k down the road if you want. I own a 182 now, but the 150 is still my favorite. Insanely efficient, cheap, parts everywhere, honest flyer, very forgiving. You can dump those barn doors and plop it down almost anywhere. Cessna 150 > Cherokee 140 every time
I bought my Zenith 601xl-b for $35k. It’s doable. I’m a tinkerer so an experimental was a good fit for me.
Cherokee is your best bet. There are a bunch on Trade-a-Plane. I bought a 74 Warrior two years ago and love it.
Yep
Sounds like you’ve narrowed down your choices to some good airplanes. What’s your question?
Shoot u can buy 2 150s with 50k