AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2024 - 82

RUDDER & WRENCH
What makes airplanes different isn't
just the cost of acquisition, it's the expense
and legal responsibility of ownership. The
FAA has a lot to say about this, as do the
manufacturers of the airframe, engine, and
propeller. When we learn to fly and rent
an airplane, we are told that there is a cost
of X dollars an hour to rent it. In time, we
learn that those dollars are broken down
into various sub-costs, such as fuel, oil,
tiedown (or hangar), and insurance. The
fixed costs are easy to compute, and the
variable costs of fuel and oil are at least
understood, if not known. Maintenance
gets complicated because there is no such
thing as a fixed cost of maintenance. Ten
mechanics might look at one airplane and
come up with 10 completely different lists
of squawks-even if they are all using the
same checklist or reference materials.
What does owning an airplane
actually cost? When I bought my 1977 turbocharged
Piper Arrow I decided to track
every dollar I spent on the airplane in a
blue spiral notebook ($1.06 with tax). I'm
not sure why I decided to do this, other
than to educate myself a bit, and maybe
to hold myself accountable. My wife only
cares that the airplane is safe and available.
I decided when I bought it that I would
make every effort to fix discrepancies
sooner versus later, that in the long run
would be both safer and cheaper.
The airplane itself cost me $122,000,
and I also paid up front ($600) for an eddy
current inspection on the wing spar given
the issues that cropped up after the EmbryRiddle
Arrow crash in 2018. The prebuy
turned into a combination of an annual,
upgrades that I wanted to make, and major
repairs that had to be made, some of which
were covered by the previous owner. A new
firewall, a new engine mount, a propeller
overhaul, and other odds and ends set
the previous owner back almost $40,000.
Because the firewall had to be replaced, the
engine had to be removed. On a 45-year-old
airplane, it was to be expected that several
suddenly accessible parts might be ripe
for a change. It was a long list, but I didn't
hesitate. One thing led to another, and
combined with the improvements I made
(gap seals, door stewards, a new passenger
window with a scoop, and a Merlyn wastegate
controller for the turbocharger), my
82
AOPA PILOT / July 2024
final bill turned out to be $47,000. That's a
gut-punch of a number, but the wastegate
controller alone was more than $5,000
installed. While the gap seals and door
stewards were optional, the items that were
replaced or repaired would have come up
again soon and cost more money in the long
run, and the wastegate controller will help
me maximize the life of the engine. But,
from the firewall forward I have an almostnew
airplane.
When I bought my 1977
turbocharged Piper Arrow
I decided to track every dollar I
spent on the airplane in a
blue spiral notebook ($1.06
with tax).
While the airplane was undergoing
all this work, I wasn't idle. My hangar sat
empty for several months to the tune of
$320 a month. I spent a day at Lowe's getting
some basic items to keep in the hangar,
such as a few tools, a couple of buckets, a
mini Shop-Vac, a step ladder (which also
fits in the cargo section), trash can, work
gloves, microfiber cloths, shop towels,
extension cords, and a set of shelves to
put it all on-$600. Then there was the
stuff that I " had " to have to be an owner:
a Sidewinder tug was $2,300, but it makes
getting the airplane in and out of the hangar
a snap, and I can take it with me if I need
to; a case of oil filters was $400, a couple of
cases of oil was $185, jumper cables were
$152, and a GPU (ground power unit) was
$284. I also bought some safety gear, such
as a first aid kit, a crash axe, an emergency
position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB)
kit which alone was $492. I bought a
Sentry and ForeFlight subscription ($660
combined) and a backup data card and programmer
for the Garmin 430 ($420 before
the subscription fee). A sampling of other
items included customized cowl plugs, two
sets of tiedowns, stick-on sun visors for the
windows, type club memberships, a GAMI
G100UL supplemental type certificate,
and dual instruction in another Cherokee
to keep current while mine was being
worked on. The first two years of the airplane
purchase and all the extras came out
to $195,858.68. Very little of that was actual
operating expenses.
Looking at my notebook, since the
beginning of 2023, most expenses are for
fuel and parking at various airports and
the cost of the hangar. An oil change runs
about $300 if I pay someone else to do it.
Insurance is averaging $2,200 a year.
Items that stand out are a new pair of DC
Pro-X2 headsets for my wife, a consultant
fee for some avionics work, and the second
annual, which came in at $7,984. The base
price for an annual at my shop is $2,700, but
because it was the first time this shop had
seen the airplane, the mechanics needed
to spend some time going through the logbooks.
I had one or two minor squawks I
wanted addressed, and they found some
others, such as needing a new nosewheel
hub, brakes, some minor corrosion treatment,
fixing some binding on the nosewheel
gear door, and a lot of small labor expenses
that added up. More important, it gave my
shop a chance to get familiar with my airplane
while solidifying our relationship with
each other. The owner knows I'm not going
to fight over every dollar, and I feel comfortable
with his experience and assessments. In
short, we made things easier for each other.
I'm confident that the cost of my next annual
will be much closer to the quoted $2,700.
I've never been a fan of trying to determine
the direct operating costs. I feel like
you can either afford to own or you can't.
If you can, the costs become secondary to
the experience. In my case, the direct operating
costs run about $80 to $90 a flight
hour for fuel and oil, with fixed costs of
$520 a month for the hangar and insurance.
If my next annual comes in high at
$4,000, then the hourly cost works out
to just under $200 an hour at 100 hours
a year. It's totally worth it. There is never
a schedule conflict. I don't have to worry
about the way someone else flies the airplane
or the trash they leave in it. The seats
are always adjusted for us. We can cut trips
short, make them longer, go somewhere at
the last minute. Perhaps most importantly,
we love the airplane, and isn't that what
it's really all about? Chip Wright is an
airline pilot and frequent contributor to
AOPA publications.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2024

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