Skymaster ownership costs: 2015 edition

[edasmus]

Your estimate might be OK some years. Likely not the first several years though. Frankly in my opinion it is almost impossible to predict what it will cost annually to own a 50 year old complex airplane. Obviously the fixed costs are easy but maintenance is such a huge wild card. Your $8500 annual maintenance budget (unless you're an AP/IA doing the work yourself) is likely too low most years in my experience operating a 1973 337G since 2002. My annual maintenance range has been $8000 (best year) to $21,000 (first and worst year). I consider anything under $10,000 in annual maintenance an excellent year. I don't start feeling sad until the maintenance expenses start to exceed $15,000 but I still pay them with ease. I can't stress enough the importance of being able to routinely pay maintenance expenses much higher than planned. Parking the airplane in the Wx will increase your maintenance costs also.

SkyMasters are awesome airplanes. They really are, however you gotta have the money and be OK with spending it or they, as any airplane will eat you alive.

Good Luck!

Ed Asmus

[Skymaster337B]

If you need to make "payments" for the airplane then you can't afford it. Sorry to be curt, but it's the truth. An alternative is don't buy the 90K airplane. There are several cheaper ones out there, perhaps older, perhaps with high time engines, but are still airworth. The fixed costs will be the same, such as fuel, hanger, insurance, etc. But the buy-in is cheaper, and you might not feel bad tying-down outside. However, maintenance will always be issue. Just a thought.

[YankeeClipper]

Originally Posted by Skymaster337B

If you need to make "payments" for the airplane then you can't afford it.

Isn't it quite normal to buy a plane through a loan, rather than outright--even if you do happen to have 90k lying around? I would think from a risk and cashflow perspective that 7% financing would often be the more savvy approach. But I digress; is it not quite common to buy through a loan rather than outright?

[YankeeClipper]

Originally Posted by edasmus

Your estimate might be OK some years. Likely not the first several years though...

Thanks Ed. Very helpful.

I'm really just looking for an idea of the average expenses to expect in a year. It isn't so much a matter of determining what can be afforded, but rather an attempt at responsible and practical budgeting in general. Since the aircraft isn't the only thing one needs to budget for in life, it's nice to know what else might fit in the budget (i.e., given what's left-over from the Skymaster budget).