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Most pilots perform their primary flight training in rental aircraft, and once they have attained their license, most continue to rent for at least a time. But at some point in their flying career, many pilots begin to consider the possibility of purchasing an airplane. There certainly are many advantages to airplane ownership. Just the knowledge that your airplane is waiting for you to fly whenever you choose - whether on the whim of the moment, or a long-planned trip - without having to conform to the schedule of a rental airplane, is a major benefit of ownership. To be able to get in your airplane to fly, with the seat already adjusted where you want it, the radios, trim, controls, everything set just as you left them, is a wonderful contrast from flying rentals. And though most rental airplanes are well maintained, there is some comfort in knowing that your airplane is flown properly, and that it has not been flown over gross weight, or put through some non-approved aerobatic maneuvers, or that the engine wasn’t allowed to exceed redline rpm’s, or abused in any other way. Owning an airplane can also be cost-efficient compared to renting. One commonly suggested litmus for determining whether ownership might be no more expensive than renting is the number of hours you fly in a year’s time. If you rent an airplane at least 100 hours per year, the chances are good that purchasing the equivalent airplane will be no more expensive in per-hour costs than renting. Of course, there are a great many variables involved, and there is no way to predict exactly what the per-hour cost of owning an airplane will be. Maintenance is the single largest indefinable variable; there is simply no way of knowing for certain when a major repair may be needed. But a proper and thorough pre-purchase inspection can substantially reduce the risks of incurring a major, unanticipated maintenance expense. For many pilots, though, the decision to purchase rather than rent is guided not only by the cost analysis, but also by the intangible benefits. For some, it really doesn’t matter if the amount of hours they fly would make renting more cost-efficient; the other benefits of ownership are enough to justify the extra expense. |
